THANK YOU to all of our wonderful partner artists, colleagues and collectors who have shared in MFA and *a pop-up project’s journey over the last decade. It’s wonderful to celebrate 10 years together!
From our first *a pop-up project by Morton Fine Art on E St NW in Penn Quarter in 2010 – WE APPRECIATE YOU!
To nearly 9 years on Florida Ave NW in Adams Morgan, 2010-2018, WE APPRECIATE YOU!
To our current home at 52 O St NW in NoMA, 2018 onward – WE APPRECIATE YOU!
Celebrating 10 years of placing exceptional contemporary art in global private and public collections.
Founded in 2010 in Washington, DC by curator Amy Morton, Morton Fine Art (MFA) is a fine art gallery and curatorial group that collaborates with art collectors and visual artists to inspire fresh ways of acquiring contemporary art. Firmly committed to the belief that art collecting can be cultivated through an educational stance, MFA’s mission is to provide accessibility to museum-quality contemporary art through a combination of substantive exhibitions and a welcoming platform for dialogue and exchange of original voice. Morton Fine Art specializes in a stellar roster of nationally and internationally renowned artists as well as has an additional focus on artwork of the African Diaspora.
Morton Fine Art Location: 52 O St. NW #302, Washington, DC 20001
Hours: Weds-Sat: 12pm – 5pm; Sun – Tues: by appointment
Katherine Mann’s mural “Small Planet” in the HUB-Robeson Center on Sunday, Jan. 12, 2020.
Lindsey Toomer
The HUB-Robeson Center will look more colorful this semester as the HUB Galleries commissioned Katherine Mann to create a new mural for the space.
Mann, an independent artist and Washington, D.C. local, prepared a few potential pieces for selection for the HUB’s newest mural. A work entitled “Small Planet” was chosen, and she worked on the collage elements of the piece throughout the semester in her studio.
“This piece was chosen, I think, because it combined free floating, verdant and textured painting technique with fluid dynamics, maximalism and an interest in the local landscape,” Mann said via email. “Each of the flowers, leaves or branches in the mural is a depiction of a plant or tree that is endemic to Pennsylvania and the region directly around State College.”
Plants scattered throughout the mural include magnolias, fringe trees, tupelos, redbuds, dogwoods and maple leaves, along with other twigs and flowers native to Central Pennsylvania.
“I wanted to take details from the daily scenery of the region – mostly, tree leaves – and use them to populate a fantastic, immersive and imaginary world,” Mann said.
Along with paying attention to the State College landscape, Mann said the mural holds personal significance to her.
“The mural represents, to me, a joyful celebration of the mess of matter that make up the world around us,” Mann said. “The local maple tree on the meridian in the middle of the street might not be given a second glance, but recontextualized into this kaleidoscopic landscape it becomes alien, invites a new appreciation.”
Installed during the final week of the fall 2019 semester, Mann signed the mural with 15 minutes left to spare before the HUB closed for holiday break.
Curator of HUB-Robeson Galleries Lindsey Landfried said she hopes the piece not only touches the Penn State community, but those who visit, as well.
Katherine Mann’s mural “Small Planet” in the HUB-Robeson Center on Sunday, Jan. 12.
Lindsey Toomer
“The HUB-Robeson Center commissioned this work by Katherine Mann to share high quality contemporary art with our students in the spaces they work and engage in during their Penn State experience,” Landfried said via email. “This artwork enriches the University community and its visitors by deepening a sense of place and the experience of space, stimulating viewer curiosity and wellness and ensuring that art engages the educational, cultural and historical dimensions of our environments.”
Landfried praised the mural for being “rich, complex and dynamically and visually arresting” and hopes each student resonates with artwork in their own way.
“We anticipate that students will each have their own response to its physical presence and transformative potential,” Landfried said. “The HUB-Robeson Center is a cultural destination at Penn State, and we activate the arts here in the Union to address today’s complex questions and serve local and global communities through access to the arts.”
Campus Arts Associate Tamryn McDermott helped Mann carefully install and hammer the mural, alongside HUB Galleries staff and student interns.
“Katherine was wonderful to work with,” McDermott said via email. “While we nailed, Katherine added more layers of paper and paint to the mural to integrate her work into the architecture and surrounding space.”
According to McDermott, students would stop by the mural throughout finals week to watch the installation process and ask about the piece. Students thought it added energy to the space.
“One student told us how grateful she was that we were installing the mural for the students to enjoy,” McDermott said. “Another brought up something she learned in one of her psychology classes. She said she learned that plants help to increase productivity.”
McDermott added that the HUB team is looking forward to the student body “seeing new things within the dense and layered surface over time” and enjoying the mural.
Salon style wall of contemporary art at Morton Fine Art, Washington, DC
As an art collector, you invest time, energy and money in a collection which fits both your aesthetic and interests. Oftentimes you develop strong relationships with galleries, auction houses and sometimes the artists themselves. How do you translate your passion for your collection into a shared family value?
A few questions to ask yourself:
What reflected in your art collection is most relevant to your family members?
Does your collection mirror family values or non literal family narratives or concepts?
What art on your walls most influences you?
What art on your walls most inspires your respective family members?
Do you have family discussions about art?
Do you visit art institutions and galleries with your family?
Have you shared the influences which have lead to you collect as you do?
Stein collection (detail), Paris
Here is a wonderful example of family legacy created by a shared passion for art collecting:
Did you know that the legendary American writer and art collector Gertrude Stein actively and profusely collected art with her brothers Leo and Michael and her sister-in-law Sarah? In fact, the family was integral in the rise of modern art in western Europe and America including early acquisitions of Cezanne, Gauguin, Renoir, Matisse, Toulouse-Lautrec and Picasso – much of the art which now fill the world’s museums. In the early 1900’s Henry McBride (the critic for the New York Sun) commented that Stein “collected geniuses rather than masterpieces. She recognized them a long way off”.
Morton Fine Art: curator's notes 