2013 Visual Arts

Gilda Pervin: Art work

Pervin, Gilda

Gilda Pervin was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. After receiving BA and M.Litt degrees from the University of Pittsburgh, she went on to get her art training at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia. The year she was graduated from the Academy, 1974, she moved to Dallas, Texas, where she lived and worked for seven years. During those years she helped create “500 Exposition Gallery”, a showplace for artists to try out and exhibit new ideas and visions. Then, in 1981, she moved to New York City. Since that time, she has been awarded a New York State Council on the Arts Project Grant; a Visiting Artist Project Grant from Texas Christian University and the Pangburn Foundation; a Penny McCall Foundation Grant; a Supporting Grant from Art Matters, Inc; an Artists' Fellowship Grant in sculpture from New York Foundation of the Arts; a Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant; and was selected for the Art Cart: Saving The Legacy Project. Gilda has shown work in galleries and museums throughout Texas, Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey. She has also exhibited in Sweden and Brazil.

She is a sculptor whose work includes both figurative and non-representational bas-reliefs and three-dimensional sculptures. Her work is varied in size, from hand held pieces to larger-than-life panels. Over the years she has sculpted with Portland cement, acrylic paint, black cement, burlap and found objects. She also draws/paints small figurative works on paper, using acrylic paint, ink, pencil, graphite, or charcoal. Her art relates to issues of the passage of time and memory.

www.gildapervin.com

Artist's statement: "I was born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Those were the grimy years of Pittsburgh, when the sky and rivers were ablaze with colors of fire reflected from the steel mills. Soot crusted the white snow, and you could watch the passing seasons blister and peel the painted surfaces of the houses. It was a great visual education for future artists. My other education included BA and M.Litt degrees from the University of Pittsburgh and then a four-year-certificate training at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. After graduating from the Academy I moved to Dallas, Texas, where I made and exhibited art for seven years, alongside an exciting community of artists. Finally, in 1981, I made the big move to New York City. Here I have been fortunate to be awarded a New York State Council on the Arts Project Grant, a Penny McCall Foundation Grant, a New York Foundation of the Arts Fellowship Grant in Sculpture and a Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant. I have shown work in galleries, alternative spaces, and museums in the United States, and in Sweden and Brazil. My work is included in the Jewish Museum, NY; the Burchfield-Penny Art Center, Buffalo, NY; the Morris Museum, Morristown, NJ; the Surdna Foundation, NY; and other public and private collections. I have been teaching at the New School in New York for 28 years."