(CT) Cathie Bleck, Artist Reception, 3-5 p.m. Sunday at the New Britain Museum of Art

Press release below:

NEW BRITAIN MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact – Please note new telephone number!
Paula Bender, New Britain Museum of American Art
(860) 229-0257, ext. 212

Artist/Illustrator Cathie Bleck Shares Her Work
In NBMAA Retrospective

New Britain, Conn. – Nationally known artist/illustrator Cathie Bleck will
be featured in a retrospective of her work at the New Britain Museum of
American Art starting Feb. 8.  The exhibition — Cathie Bleck: 13 Years of
Artistic Expression — will be on view through April 27, 2008.

An artist’s reception and book signing will be held from 3-5 p.m. Sunday
Feb. 24; the artist will speak and sign books at 3:30 p.m.

Bleck is best known for her distinctive scratchboard illustrations,
involving a process similar in concept to woodblock printing. Working on
clayboard, Bleck carves delicate yet powerful black and white illustrations
that have become her trademark.

She has contributed to Esquire, Atlantic Monthly, The New York Times, Wall
Street Journal, Time Magazine, Washington Post, Random House and Warner
Brothers Records.  Bleck has received numerous national awards for her work,
most notably a gold medal from the Museum of American Illustration at The
Society of Illustrators in New York City.

Bleck began her career as art director for the Chicago Tribune and Dallas
Times Herald, after studying under noted Chicago designer Carl Regehr at the
University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana.  Currently a resident of
Cleveland Heights, Ohio, Bleck is also co-founder of the Northern Ohio
Illustrator’s Society and past president of The Illustration Conference,
ICON.

“When I was a girl I fell in love with darkness,” Bleck says, describing her
style.  “The tools I work with — pen, ink, and clayboard — became natural
choices for someone drawn to observe and record the world in close detail,
and to best orchestrate the balance between opposing forces: light, dark;
intimate, huge; static, moving.”

The exhibition on view in the NBMAA’s Davis Gallery will feature more than
30 paintings including many from the artist’s monograph, Open Spaces,
published in 2006 and in the collection of the Library of Congress.  Also on
display will be several new works that have not been previously shown, as
well as prints, drawings, sketchbooks, artist’s tools and letters to the
artist.

New Britain Museum of American Art

Museum Hours

Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday: 11 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Thursday: 11 a.m. – 8 p.m.
Saturday: 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Sunday: noon – 5 p.m.
Closed on Mondays and on national holidays.

Tours
Tours for school and adult groups are available by appointment and should be
booked four weeks in advance. American Masterpieces Tour at 1 p.m. Sundays.

Admission
Adults: $9; Senior Citizens, $8; Students, $7; Children under 12: free. Free
admission from 10 a.m. – noon on Saturdays.

Café
The Café on the Park serves American fare with regional emphasis.

Museum Shop
The Museum Shop offers unique items related to the Museum’s collection.

Directions:
From Interstate 84:
Take Exit 35 onto Rt. 72. Take Exit 8. Follow signs to Museum.

From Interstate 91:
Take Exit 22N (Rt. 9 North). Take Exit 28 onto Rt. 72W to Exit 7. Follow
signs to Museum.

56 Lexington Street
New Britain, CT 06052
www.nbmaa.org <http://www.nbmaa.org/>
Accredited by the American Association of Museums