Description:

Join us in the gallery for a talk with exhibition co-curator Corinne Granof, Block Museum Academic Curator.  

Presented in conjunction with Pouring, Spilling, Bleeding: Helen Frankenthaler and Artists’ Experiments on Paper, this talk will explore works in the exhibition by artists from Helen Frankenthaler’s creative circle—fellow members of the New York School with whom she shared artistic dialogue and personal relationships, as well as artists whose later work shares aesthetic affinities. It will include works by Sam Gilliam, Grace Hartigan, Joan Mitchell, Robert Motherwell, and other artists in the exhibition. 

Together, these works offer insight into generations of artists who redefined abstraction in mid-20th century America and later, each embracing gesture, materiality, and experimentation in their own way.

 Block Curator Talks explore the ideas behind our exhibitions with the Block team.  These talks offer a chance to ask questions, share thoughts, and connect more deeply with the art on view.

Participation level – medium, participants are encouraged to share thoughts and questions during the program.

Programs are open to all, on a first-come first-served basis. RSVPs are appreciated, but not required.

Pouring, Spilling, Bleeding: Helen Frankenthaler and Artists’ Experiments on Paper is curated by Stephanie S.E. Lee, 2024–25 Art History Graduate Fellow and Corinne Granof, Academic Curator, at The Block Museum of Art. Generous support for the exhibition was provided by the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation. The exhibition is supported in part by The Alumnae of Northwestern University. The Graduate Fellow is generously supported by The Graduate School (TGS), Northwestern University.

Corinne Granof is Academic Curator at the Block Museum of Art, Northwestern University where she directs curatorial initiatives with students and faculty. She is the co-curator of the current Block exhibition Pouring, Spilling, Bleeding: Helen Frankenthaler and Artists’ Experiments on Paper, and has collaborated on over 30 past exhibitions and publications for the Block, including Dissident Sisters: Bev Grant and Feminist Activism (2024); For One and All: Prints from the Block’s Collection (2023); Up Is Down: Mid-Century Experiments in Advertising and Film at  the Goldsholl Studio (2018); and  William Blake and the Age of Aquarius (2017).