Press Packet Tsb 2 2 2012

t M a s s o n i A r t t
Contemporary Fine Art

E xhibitions | N ews & E vents | C uratorial C onsulting | A rtist R epresentation

t Press Release
2/4/12

t The Space Between – Exhibition
Greg Mort and Shelley Robzen
Also featuring work by Jon Mort
March 24 – May 6, 2012

Open House: Saturday, March 24
Artists Talk – 2 pm with an Introduction by Erik Neil, Director
of the Academy Art Museum

t The Space Between – Symposium – Art/Science
Saturday April 7, 2012 – 2 pm
The Garfield Center for the Arts – at the Prince Theatre
210 High Street, Chestertown, Maryland

Ambassador Cynthia P. Schneider will introduce the symposium. Greg Mort will serve
as moderator and panelist. Dr. Richard Mushotzky, an astrophysicist and NASA X-Ray
astronomer, Tom McCabe, Founder and CEO of McCabe Software, Rebecca Hoffberger,
the Founder and Director of the American Visionary Art Museum, and Erik Neil,
Director of the Academy Art Museum will complete the panel.

Free and Open to the Public
Sponsored by the Kent County Arts Council

MassoniArt | 203 High Street, Chestertown, Maryland 21620
410-778-7330 | info@massoniart.com | www.massoniart.com
Contact: Carla Massoni | 410-708-4512 iPhone | cmassoni@mac.com
1

tM a s s o n i A r t t
Contemporary Fine Art

t The Space Between – Exhibition
Greg Mort and Shelley Robzen
Also featuring work by Jon Mort
March 24 – May 6, 2012

Open House: Saturday, March 24
Artists Talk – 2 pm with an Introduction by Erik Neil,
Director of the Academy Art Museum, Easton, Maryland

On March 24, The Space Between opens at the Carla Massoni Gallery/MASSONIART and remains
on exhibit through May 6, 2012. There will be an OPEN HOUSE from 11 – 4 pm at the gallery
located in historic downtown Chestertown, MD. An Artists Talk will take place at 2 pm with
Greg Mort, Shelley Robzen and Jon Mort discussing their work. Special guest Erik Neil, Director
of the Academy Art Museum will introduce the artists. Last year, the Academy Art Museum
was the recipient of the largest collection of Mort paintings in a public venue gifted by the late
David Hickman.

Greg Mort | Inner Sea Shelley Robzen | Dancing in the Clouds #1
Watercolor | 27” x 29” Carrara White Marble | 18” x 17.25” x 13”

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M a s s o n i A r t / Press Release / February, 2012

Saturday April 7, 2012 – 2 pm
The Garfield Center for the Arts – at the Prince Theatre
210 High Street, Chestertown, Maryland
Free and Open to the Public
Sponsored by the Kent County Arts Council

Since the dawn of human creativity, art in its myriad forms has endeavored to investigate and
understand the world around us. This symposium will explore humankind’s enduring quest to
unravel the importance of what is seen and understood, but also the significance of what is absent.

Introduction: Ambassador Cynthia Schneider – American diplomat and art historian.
Panelists: Artist and astronomer Greg Mort
Dr. Richard Mushotzky, Astrophysicist and NASA X-Ray Astronomer
Tom McCabe, Founder and CEO of McCabe Software
Rebecca Hoffberger, Founder and Director of the American Visionary Art Museum
Erik Neil, Director of the Academy Art Museum

In addition to the exhibition, on Saturday, April 7th at 2 pm, The Space Between – Symposium –
Art/Science, an educational program sponsored by the Kent County Arts Council and underwritten
by private donors, will take place at the Garfield Center for the Arts. The event is FREE and open
to the Public.
Artist Greg Mort is a gifted amateur astronomer and was an early participant in NASA’s American
Artist program. He served on the Board of the MacDonald Observatory and currently serves on
the Executive Board of the Lowell Observatory and the Night Sky Conservation Foundation. New
discoveries in physics and cosmology are challenging long held assumptions concerning the
evolution of the galaxies and opening new opportunities for research and exploration. Abstract
concepts often require metaphor so that we might understand their meaning. Throughout history
the artist and the scientist have been challenged to create the language their discoveries demand.
Greg Mort, a frequent speaker on the collaboration of art and science, has invited others on the
forefront of this visionary quest to serve on the panel for the April 7th symposium.
Ambassador Cynthia P. Schneider will introduce the symposium. Greg Mort will serve as
moderator and panelist. Dr. Richard Mushotzky, an astrophysicist and NASA X-Ray astronomer,
Tom McCabe, Founder and CEO of McCabe Software, Rebecca Hoffberger, the Founder and
Director of the American Visionary Art Museum, and Erik Neil, Director of the Academy Art
Museum will complete the panel. Additional biographical notes on pages 7 – 9

I believe in intuition and inspiration. Imagination is more important than knowledge. For
knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world, stimulating
progress, giving birth to evolution. It is, strictly speaking, a real factor in scientific research.
—Albert Einstein

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t The Space Between – Exhibition Narrative
Almost twenty years ago, painter Greg Mort and sculptor Shelley Robzen had their first show
together. In the intervening years, both have gone on to achieve great success on the international
stage. The new work exhibited in The Space Between marks a significant shift in their individual
artistic trajectories as they seek to capture the ideas and emotions important to them as mature artists.
Also featured in the exhibition, will be work by artist Jon Mort, Greg’s son, and a recent graduate
of the Rhode Island School of Design graduate program.

t Greg Mort
Greg Mort is widely recognized as a leading
influence in contemporary art. He is a self-taught
artist and a gifted amateur astronomer. Throughout
his career, he has focused on the natural world
incorporating his knowledge of space exploration
and environmental issues. Given his talent and
insight, the artist has drawn considerable attention
from collectors, dealers and museums. A commis-
sioned NASA artist since 1983, he was an early
participant in NASA’s American Artist program and
was honored to be included in the NASA/ART – Greg Mort working on Space Between
50 Years of Exploration – a traveling exhibition
sponsored by the Smithsonian Institution featuring
work by Calder, Hurd, Leibovitz, Rauschenberg, and
Rockwell. His work can be found in the Smithsonian
Air and Space Museum, the Corcoran Gallery of Art,
the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Vatican
Observatory, the Brandywine River Museum, the
Farnsworth Museum and most recently the Academy
Art Museum. Through his Art of Stewardship Project,
Mort has used his art to spur dialogue with numerous
arts, environmental, educational and research groups. Plurality of Worlds | Watercolor | 22” x 28”

As we begin our journey into the 21st century, Mr. Mort’s work takes on an even
greater importance. Not only will his paintings stand the test of time as great works of art,
they will continue to challenge us to question our role as stewards of this delicate thing
we call Mother Earth and the universe that guides her.
—Christopher J. Brownawell, Director of the Farnsworth Art Museum.

The paintings comprising The Space Between collection represent the continuation of a theme
Mort began with an oil painting entitled Planet Evolution completed in 2008. The painting was a

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transitional piece in that it departed from the representationalism that had been the hallmark of
Mort’s art. In this new work he seeks to express the ideas confronting those on the forefront of the
modern sciences – physics and cosmology – the profound connections found when one looks
inward or outward and the questions generated about the depth of those connections. Ideas about
space and time, realms of the infinite and the infinitesimal are combined with a raw emotional
quality in order to create an otherworldly atmosphere. Although abstract in nature there is a fully
three-dimensional quality to the work and at the same time a deliberate lack of information regarding
a sense of scale. Are we in inner space or outer space? How does one represent in visual form what
is unseen or absent? For Mort, art and science share a similar process of scrutiny and examination
representing the human longing to understand why and how.

Greg Mort is an imaginative force who communicates the wonders of planet Earth
and the universe beyond through stunning works of art that juxtapose ordinary objects with
extraordinary visions and interpretations of the cosmos . . . allow(ing) the reader to go beyond the
mere fabric and structure of the creation in order to arrive at the ‘visual song’ and ‘symphony’
that emotionally connect us with the fundamental underpinnings of nature.
—John S. Hendricks
Founder and Chairman, The Discovery Communications / The Discovery Channel

t Shelley Robzen
Sculptor Shelley Robzen graduated from Syracuse University
College of Visual and Performing Arts with a B.F.A. in 1974. For the
last thirty-eight years, she has lived and worked in the medieval town
of Pietrasanta, Italy renowned as an international center of art and
sculpture since the time of Michelangelo. Robzen is a carver – one
of an elite group of women working in monumental scale and fully
engaged, i.e. hands-on, in the production of their work. She carves
exclusively in marble with bronze sculptures cast from the original
stone creation. Her work has been exhibited throughout the United
Shelley at work
States, Italy, France, England, Norway, and Hong Kong. Since 2004,
she has been a member of the Royal British Society of Sculptors –
an honor she received when the Society amended their constitution
in 2003 allowing prominent international sculptors full membership.
In 2009, Robzen was selected as the sculptor representing the United
States for the 7th Donna Scultura exhibition featuring the work of
four women from four different countries. This year marks the 10th
anniversary where the thirty-six women honored in previous years
will each exhibit one sculpture.
Anima #2
Robzen’s early sculptures were based on her observation and Carrara White Marble
interpretation of the natural world. Abstract in form and highly 12.25” x 13” x 7.25”
cerebral, she sought to convey the essential line of mountains, waves,
and seascapes. Several years ago, Robzen’s younger sister was diagnosed with aggressive breast
cancer. She attributes her new body of work to the extraordinary gift she received in being able to
5


accompany her sister on her difficult and final journey. The intensity of the experience resulted in a
need to express powerful emotions. In the sculptures titled Anima, she sought to convey the weight
of the soul as it transitions from the body and ultimately releases itself from the earth. In the Dancing
in the Clouds series she celebrates the essence of spirit using the marble itself to represent the space
between reality and spirit. The translucent light she captures on the edges of the exquisitely carved
marble signals to the viewer that what we cannot see - exists.

The simplicity of line is the key to Shelly Robzen’s work using marble
to a different effect, bringing out its sensitivity.
—
Valentina Fogher, Curator of the Museo dei Bozzetti
notes from Sculpture in the Garden – University of Leicester catalog.

t Jon Mort
Art has captivated Jon Mort ever since he was old enough to balance
a stubby pencil between his child’s fingers. He was ten years old
when his father and Robzen had their first show together. When
his father was on sabbatical in Italy, they visited Robzen’s studio in
Pietrasanta where she gave him a lesson using her amazing pneumatic
hammer and chisels. Inspired by his artist father and motivated by
his teacher mother, he was privileged to live in a home where art
and education were celebrated. Jon Mort at work
He graduated from Franklin & Marshall with a degree in Studio
Art in 2006. He was awarded a Master of Arts in Architecture from
the Rhode Island School of Design in 2009 and promptly decided
to pursue a career as a full-time artist. His work has been exhibited
in Washington, DC, Maryland, Delaware and Maine. Jon is fully
a product of the 21st century. He has been exposed to all the
technical bells and whistles of his time and training. And yet, he
chose graphite as his medium – a simple pencil and sheet of paper
are his tools. His subject is the classic figure and his inspiration –
the ancient myths. As an artist and a modern man he travels back
in space and time engaged in a creative process that is controlled,
precise and shaped by premeditation in his effort to produce work
that is energetic, expressive and examines our assumptions about
the familiar. His life-size depictions are at once allegiant to the
craft of physiological exactitude and immersed in the breadth
of fantastical narrative. By blending time honored techniques
and the classical narrative – Jon Mort tells us new stories in his Neptune
fresh compositions. Graphite | 24.5” x 36”

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Biographical Notes

Introduction: Ambassador Cynthia P. Schneider
Ambassador Cynthia P. Schneider teaches, publishes, and organizes initiatives
in the field of cultural diplomacy, with a focus on the Muslim world. As a
Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution she leads the Arts and Culture
Initiative within the Saban Center for Middle East Policy. She is Co-Director
of Muslims on Screen and Television Resource Center (MOST). Professor
Schneider teaches Diplomacy and Culture in the School of Foreign Service at
Georgetown University, where, from 1984-2005, she was a member of the art
history faculty, and published on Rembrandt and seventeenth century Dutch
art. She also organized exhibitions at the National Gallery of Art and the Museum of Fine Arts,
Boston. From 1998-2001, she served as U.S. Ambassador to the Netherlands and was awarded
the Office of the Secretary of Defense Exceptional Public Service Award. Dr. Schneider received
her B.A. and Ph.D. from Harvard.
.

Panelist and Moderator: Greg Mort
Greg Mort is a self-taught artist and a gifted amateur astronomer. Throughout
his career, he has focused on the natural world incorporating his knowledge
of space exploration and environmental issues. He was an early participant in
NASA’s American Artist program. His work can be found in the Smithsonian Air
and Space Museum, the Corcoran Gallery of Art, the Smithsonian American
Art Museum, the Vatican Observatory, the Brandywine River Museum, the
Farnsworth Museum and most recently, a major body of his work from the
Hickman Collection was gifted to the Academy Art Museum. Through his Art of Stewardship
Project, Mort uses his art to spur dialogue with numerous arts, environmental, educational and re-
search groups. He served on the Board of the MacDonald Observatory and currently serves on the
Executive Board of the Lowell Observatory and the Night Sky Conservation Foundation.

7


Panelists: Dr. Richard Mushotzky, Thomas J. McCabe,
Rebecca Hoffberger, and Erik Neil
Dr. Richard Mushotzky is a world-renowned astrophysicist and expert on
high energy astrophysics. During his outstanding thirty-year tenure at NASA
Goddard, Dr. Mushotzky had been involved in the acquisition, analysis and
interpretation of data from many of the X-ray spectroscopy and imaging
experiments flown in space. He is presently an interdisciplinary scientist on
the Chandra Science Working Group, a mission scientist on the XMM Science
Advisory Group and a member of the National Academy of Sciences Astro
2010 Review. In 2009, he left NASA to be a full professor at the University of
Maryland. In June 2011, Dr. Mushotzky received the NASA Honor Award – Distinguished Service
Medal in recognition of his remarkable scientific career, his influence on the development of x-ray
astronomy and the inspiration he has provided to generations of young astrophysicists. This is the
highest honor that NASA confers. His accolades also include the NASA Medal for Exceptional
Scientific Achievement in 1983 and 2003, the NASA Exceptional Achievement Award in 2000 and
the Goddard Space Flight Center Lindsay Award for Scientific Achievement in 1985 and the Robert
Goddard award in 2010. He has been the author and co-author of more than 360 referred publications
including numerous mentions in “Science News” and the New York Times. The Joint Space Science
Institute (JSI), the University of Maryland – Department of Astronomy, and NASA Goddard are
hosting a three-day international scientific conference in June 2012 honoring him. Dr. Mushotzky
received his B.S. from MIT, and his M.S. and Ph.D. from the University of California, San Diego.

Thomas J. McCabe, mathematician, entrepreneur, author and founder of
McCabe Software is widely recognized as an international superstar in the
high-tech world for his early work on cyclomatic complexity and for solving
the Y2K computer challenge. McCabe is a highly sought after speaker and
has presented throughout the United States, Italy, China, Greece including
testifying before Congress and appearing on CNN. He is the recipient of
many awards including the international Stevens Award, created to recognize
outstanding contributions to the literature or practice of methods for software
and systems development, and the University of Connecticut’s Distinguished Graduate Award. Tom
has authored many scholarly computer publications and a book of poetry. He founded and leads the
Artists Connection, the Mentors Network and Washington, DC Entrepreneurs, three organizations
that inspire and encourage creative expression and entrepreneurial ideals.

Rebecca Alban Hoffberger is a recognized leader in the arts, human rights,
and spirituality. She is both Founder and Director of the innovative American
Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor, designated by unanimous
vote of Congress as America’s official national museum for intuitive self-taught
artistry. This wildly popular museum celebrates the grassroots spirit and power
of the individual as it communally explores grand and timeless themes, fleshed
out by bold, imaginative, thematic exhibitions and programming. Hoffberger
is the recipient of many honors including Maryland’s Top 100 Women and
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the Urban Land Institute’s coveted National Award for Excellence. In addition to a 1996 Honorary
Doctorate from the Maryland Institute of Art (followed by doctorates from four additional
institutions), she was awarded the title of ‘Dame’ for her work on behalf of establishing medical
field hospitals in Nigeria. She received the Sarah’s Circle Award, celebrating the diversity and strength
of women’s spiritual presence in the world, from the College of Notre Dame of Maryland; the
Golda Meier Award and the Baltimore Urban League’s Award for Outstanding Involvement and
Support of Equal Opportunity. She was inducted into the Maryland Women’s Hall of Fame and
recognized with The Willow Award for helping establish the education mission of the NYC Lower
East Side Girls Club. A life-long activist, Hoffberger is widely published on a broad range of subjects
and served on the Board of Directors of the Elisabeth Kubler Ross Center. In 2011, she was awarded
the Katherine Coffey Award by the Mid- Atlantic Association of Museums.

Erik H. Neil is the Director of the Academy Art Museum in Easton, Maryland.
He has served successfully in this position for the last two years, garnering
praise for his guidance of the museum during a challenging economic period
and his leadership in setting the stage for long-term growth and development.
Neil is an accomplished museum professional who began his career as Director
of the Newcomb Art Gallery of Tulane University; he was also an adjunct
professor in the History of Art at Tulane. More recently he was the Executive
Director of the Heckscher Museum in Huntington, New York where he spear-
headed the complete renovation of the museum building, organized a series of critically acclaimed
exhibitions, and introduced new fundraising events. He holds an undergraduate degree in History
from Princeton University and earned his M.A. and Ph.D. from Harvard University in the History of
Art and Architecture. He also earned a certificate in Museum Leadership from the prestigious Getty
Leadership Institute in California. In his scholarly publications, Neil has investigated the relationships
between art, science and collecting in early modern museums and gardens. He also has written
about the mathematics and architecture in Italy and Sicily in the 17th and 18th centuries. Originally
a scholar of Italian Renaissance and Baroque Architecture he has also lectured, published and
curated in the areas of Modern Architecture, Contemporary Art and the History of Photography.

t t t

MassoniArt | 203 High Street, Chestertown, Maryland 21620
410-778-7330 | info@massoniart.com | www.massoniart.com
Contact: Carla Massoni | 410-708-4512 iPhone | cmassoni@mac.com
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Press Packet Tsb 2 2 2012

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