Gertrud Parker: The Possible

Exhibition Dates:
* January 13 – March 30

2024 Bay Area Legends Exhibition

Gertrud Parker: The Possible reveals how radical experimentation in craft and materiality emerged as a cornerstone of Parker’s lifelong practice.

Born and raised in Vienna, Austria and later fleeing the Nazis on the eve of occupation, visionary Gertrud Parker (1924-2021) settled in San Francisco and founded the San Francisco Museum of Craft and Folk Art in 1982, a museum that was instrumental in launching artists’ careers beyond the confines of then limited definitions of craft.

Surveying the artist’s impressive range and expansive approach, Gertrud Parker: The Possible will offer an unparalleled window into the artist’s exploratory and resourceful approach to materials, line and surface through a selection of her sculptures, watercolors and paintings as well as works from the Parker family collection of key European and Mexican Surrealist women artists and Dynaton artists whose work influenced the artist.

Co-curated by Natasha Boas and Jennifer McCabe

Gertrud Parker (b. Vienna, Austria 1924- d. Tiburon, CA. 2021) Select solo exhibitions include Keith J. Varadi, Gertrud Parker Künstlerroman 2019, Et.Al. Gallery San Francisco; Gertrud Parker Recent Works in Encaustic, Parker Gallery Los Angeles, 2018; Gertrud Parker: Watercolors and Prints, Godwin-Turnbach Museum, Queens College, NY, 2015; Gertrud Parker, Artist and Collector, Sonoma County Museum, Santa Rosa, CA, 2011; Dominican University, San Rafael, CA, 2009-10; Gediegen, Haaaauch, Klagenfurt, Austria; Verfremdung (2008), Galerie Haasner, Wiesbasden, Germany, 2006; The Visceral Sculpture of Gertrud Parker, Richmond Art Center, Richmond, CA, 2002; Drahkt Object, Galerie Haasner, Wiesbasden, Germany; Vernissage & Kolloqium, (2001) Bundesinstitut, St. Wolfgang, Austria, 2001; Scheinbar Vertraut, Haaaauch, Klagenfurt, Austria, 2001; and Gertrud Parker: A Lightness in Being, San Francisco Craft and Folk Art Museum, San Francisco, CA, 1993.

Her work is included in the permanent collections of the Oakland Museum and the Berkeley Art Museum Pacific Film Archive.

Drs. Natasha Boas and Jennifer McCabe are both contemporary art curators and scholars who have collaborated for over two decades.

At the San Francisco Museum of Craft and Folk from 2007-2012, the curatorial duo produced critically acclaimed and Warhol Foundation-sponsored exhibitions with contemporary artists who engaged in a very broad definition of craft and folk art.

At the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art since 2018, the curators have been dedicated to activating transnational, Indigenous and diverse critical contemporary dialogues and creating visibility for otherwise overlooked artists.