Category Archives: James J Hennessey

Second Opening for the Hampden/Woodberry Artists’ Exhibit at the Studios at the Fox Building Gallery

02 Friday Aug 2019

Posted by in Art History, Artistic Exchange, Artists, Baltimore Art History, Baltimore Artists, Exhibitions, Gallery at the Studio at the Fox Building, James J Hennessey, Landscape Painting, Maryland Artists, Painting, Uncategorized

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The most recent exhibit at the Studios at the Fox Building highlighted the production of Hampden/Woodberry artists. There were 13 participants, with more than 50 works, including paintings, sculptures, and photographs.
The opening, on June 28, was crowded, with more than 120 people in attendance. The closing, on July 19 was also well attended, with more than 60 visitors, even though the weather was abominable, with temperatures of more than 100 degrees! This was Artscape weekend, guaranteed to be the hottest of the year.

The most recent exhibit at the Studios at the Fox Building highlighted the production of Hampden/Woodberry artists. There were 13 participants, with more than 50 works, including paintings, sculptures, and photographs.

The opening, on June 28, was crowded, with more than 120 people in attendance. The closing, on July 19 was also well attended, with more than 60 visitors, even though the weather was abominable, with temperatures of more than 100 degrees! This was Artscape weekend, guaranteed to be the hottest two days of the year.

 

 

 

 

Enduring Concerns II: Next Show by James Hennessey

19 Friday Jan 2018

Posted by in Artists, Baltimore Art History, Baltimore Artists, Figure Painting, Italy, James J Hennessey, Landscape Painting, Maryland Artists, MICA, Painting, Uncategorized

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Eutaw Grey: oil on canvas

James Hennessey’s exhibit at the Creative Alliance in Baltimore, Enduring Concerns, closed a few days ago on January 13.  Part II of Enduring Concerns has opened at the Maryland Institute College of Art’s Lazarus Gallery. 131 W. North Avenue, Baltimore, Md., 21201,

About 25 different paintings are hung in the spacious gallery space. Not one repeat from the last show.  This exhibit offers a fresh look at Hennessey’s production from the past 50 years.  He came to Baltimore in 1966 to teach at the Maryland Institute, where he was a member of the painting department for 37 years.

MICA’s Exhibition Department released this description:

Enduring Concerns: Paintings by MICA’s James Hennessey

A career-spanning exhibition by the MICA emeritus faculty member, focusing on work produced in Baltimore from 1965 to the present day.

Reception: Thursday, Feb. 15, 5 – 7 p.m.

Biography:
James J. Hennessey earned his undergraduate degree at Illinois Wesleyan University and a graduate degree at the University of Colorado, Boulder, where he studied with Richard Diebenkorn, Wendell Black, and Roland Reiss. Hennessey’s first teaching position was at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, where he was hired in 1960.

In 1962, one of Hennessey’s paintings was included in the Museum of Modern Art’s (MOMA) exhibition, “Recent Painting U.S.A., The Figure”. The show was a juried exhibit that subsequently toured the country after the New York opening. In the same year, the American Academy in Rome, Italy awarded Hennessey “The Rome Prize”. As a result, he was in residence for two years in Rome and exhibited in several galleries both in Rome and Milan.

In 1965 Hennessey joined the faculty of MICA, where he taught until he retired in 2002. During this time he accrued an extensive exhibition record with works shown in New York at the Marilyn Pearl Gallery, the Boris Mirski and Alpha Galleries in Boston, and at the Pensler Galleries in Washington, DC, among others. He directed programs for students, faculty, and professional artists in Italy and France, including the MICA Italian Program in Sorrento, Italy, and the Alfred and Trafford Klots Residency Program in Rochefort-en-Terre, France. His paintings continue to be fueled by his extensive European experiences.

James Hennessey maintains an active studio in downtown Baltimore, Maryland.

 

James Hennessey, Retrospective at the Creative Alliance, Baltimore, Maryland

28 Thursday Dec 2017

Posted by in Art History, Artists, Baltimore Art History, Baltimore Artists, Exhibitions, Figure Painting, James J Hennessey, Landscape Painting, Maryland Artists, Uncategorized

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Press Release from the Creative Alliance, 3134 Eastern Avenue, Baltimore, Maryland, 21224, 410-276-1651

On View: ENDURING CONCERNS, December 9, 2017 – January 13, 2018
Opening Reception: SAT DEC 9 | 6 – 8PMjim hennessey image
Gallery Talk: SAT JAN 6 | 7PM | FREE

When artist James Hennessey moved to Baltimore in 1965 to teach painting at the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA), he never anticipated the influence he would have on thousands of young painters who took his classes until 2002. Beyond his impressive career as a teacher, Hennessey’s success as a painter has seen his signature soft palate aesthetic and subtle depictions of mythological fables exhibited across the globe. Enduring Concerns focuses on Hennessey’s large paintings and celebrates more than 50 years of his work in Baltimore.

James Hennessey is a painter’s painter: his daily studio practice finds him methodically working his large canvases, adding and subtracting inflections of color and light, scraping and sanding away excess, and repeating as necessary to achieve his thoughtful surfaces. While his subject matter varies slightly between series, he concentrates on landscapes, interior spaces, figures, light, and atmosphere in his carefully constructed compositions. Hennessey paces himself when creating work, sometimes taking months to complete a single painting, and generally working on only one painting at a time.

The exhibition’s title, Enduring Concerns, references his steadfast consistency, and intense focus on a small number of subjects. According to Hennessey, “my work is episodic – there are clusters of paintings that fall into categories, such as ‘Windows’, ‘Irish Paintings’, ‘Italian Paintings’, and ‘Furniture’, among others.” All episodes of the artist’s illustrious time in Baltimore will be represented in this rare survey.

Artist Biography:

James J. Hennessey earned his undergraduate degree at Illinois Wesleyan University and a graduate degree at the University of Colorado, Boulder, where he studied with Richard Diebenkorn, Wendell Black, and Roland Reiss. Hennessey’s first teaching position was at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, where he was hired in 1960.

In 1962, one of Hennessey’s paintings was included in the Museum of Modern Art’s exhibition, “Recent Painting U.S.A., The Figure”. The show was a juried exhibit that subsequently toured the country after the New York opening. In the same year, the American Academy in Rome, Italy awarded Hennessey “The Rome Prize”. As a result, he was in residence for two years in Rome and exhibited in several galleries both in Rome and Milan.

In 1965 Hennessey joined the faculty of MICA, where he taught until he retired in 2002. During this time he accrued an extensive exhibition record with works shown in New York at the Marilyn Pearl Gallery, the Boris Mirski and Alpha Galleries in Boston, and at the Pensler Galleries in Washington, DC, to name a few. He directed programs for students, faculty, and professional artists in Italy and France, including the MICA Italian Program in Sorrento, Italy, and the Alfred and Trafford Klots Residency Program in Rochefort-en-Terre, France. His paintings continue to be fueled by his extensive European experiences.

James Hennessey maintains an active studio in downtown Baltimore, Maryland.

ALEXA

28 Sunday Apr 2013

Posted by in Artists, Baltimore Art History, Baltimore Artists, Figure Painting, Italy, James J Hennessey, Travel

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A recent film for Shine Creative’s “Bright” series is a studio interview spotlighting Baltimore’s veteran painter, James Hennessey.  The artist reveals some of his strategies for painting while chatting with the film maker in front of several large-scale works, including a close-up view of a painting about Mad Sweeney.

Film maker, Drury Bynum, chose to highlight Hennessey’s working methods, tools, materials, inspiration and subject matter in this intimate view of a contemporary artist in his working environment.

Sorrento and Surrounding Region: Artistic Inspiration

18 Friday Jan 2013

Posted by in Artistic Exchange, Artists, Baltimore Art History, Baltimore Artists, Italy, James J Hennessey, Landscape Painting, MICA, Travel

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sagnello1

For nearly a decade the painter Jim Hennessey was the director of a summer painting program in Southern Italy. He and his wife, Dr. Pamela Potter-Hennessey, were the artist and the art historian in residence. Together they brought more then 75 painting students to the region where they experienced the landscape and light of this amazing region.

Each fall Hennessey returned to his Baltimore studio with numerous Italian references– recorded on paper and canvas, or stockpiled as memories and ideas in his head. This raft of material was the fodder for winter production, and out of his summer experiences the artist created many paintings and drawings that are either directly referential, or inspired by the area.  His tendency was to make watercolors, or drawings while in residence in Italy, and then on his return to Maryland the studio production became oil paintings– some large and some small, like the painting above.  The subjects range from expansive views out of the hotel window or from perches on the regional hill tops, to more intimate views of familiar locales.  This particular painting is from 1995, and is titled S. Agnello, 24.5″ x 18.5″ the name of the tiny Italian town where Hennessey stayed with his students.

The group was always in residence at the Grand Hotel Cocumella, a wonderful, historic hotel that has a long history (since 1777) of hosting artists, writers and other creative people like Goethe, Freud and the Duke of Wellington!  cocumella

The opportunity to spend time in Italy at this amazing locale was the gift of Nino del Papa, a well-known Neapolitan architect who was the proprietor at the time. His interest in supporting artists extended to young American students from the Maryland Institute College of Art, in Baltimore.  The Cocumella staff helped create an atmosphere that was supportive of creativity and was welcoming, warm and intimate.

Each year, at the close of the painting program, the City of Sorrento would host an exhibition of the young artists’ work in the City Hall courtyard, or at the nearby Cloisters of S. Francesco.   sfrancesco  The facilitator of these exhibitions and the person who forged a link between Hennessey’s student groups and the town of Sorrento, was Antonino Fiorentino, a member of the Sorrento City government.  Fiorentino’s father, Domenico Fiorentino, was one of the local artists the students met and were fortunate enough to interact with (see past post: Domenico Fiorentino: Influence Reassessed).

sagnello6

Hennessey’s paintings that were inspired by his time in Southern Italy always seem to take into account the amazing light of the area.  Because the towns of Sorrento and S. Agnello sit on the cliffs above the Bay of Naples, there is often a misty quality to the air, even if the sun is shining.  The detail above illustrates how Hennessey took into account this hazy, mysterious light.

If you are interested in purchasing this painting, the link is:http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=221179061531&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT#ht_1497wt_1163