Meeting: December 2005
Guest artist: George Herms
Our presenter, assemblage artist George Herms, met fellow artist Wallace Berman and poet and printer Robert Alexander at UC Berkeley in 1955. Alexander introduced him to the emerging ’50s Beats. The direction of his life was changed forever and Mr. Herms began to make art.
His work was exhibited in the group show The Art of Assemblage at MOMA and in Fifty California Artists at the Whitney, in New York. His assemblages are in major art museum holdings as representative of the California assemblage movement.
Mr. Herms has never limited his curiosity, exploring poetry, film and theater as well as drawing, painting and sculpture. In the ’60s Herms published woodcuts and books of poetry on a hand press he named “The LOVE Press.” With painter Pixie Guerin he co-founded Pixilated, a company that supports creations by fine artists.
Herms has been honored with the highest awards for excellence in the arts, including three Individual Fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, a Guggenheim Fellowship in Sculpture, the Prix de Rome Fellowship in Sculpture from the American Academy in Rome, and the 1998 Adolph and Esther Gottlieb Foundation Award. Mr. Herms has taught and lectured extensively, and I know you will be delighted with his program for us on December 2. — Carolann Watterson, Program Chairperson
Further surfing:
The Tobey C. Moss Gallery online has a number of pages on George Herms, including images of his work, a detailed Resume, plus info on the exhibit, From George Herms with Love (May 2005).
More images of George Herms’ work are posted at askart.com