PAAM’s popular Fredi Schiff Levin Lecture Series, presented June through September, returns with a roster of presentations on contemporary artists and in conjunction with exhibitions in the museum galleries. The series was established in 2003 in honor of artist Fredi Schiff Levin, a member of Provincetown's arts community from the 1960s until her passing in 2002.  PAAM gratefully acknowledges John and Toni Levin and Herbert Lee, who make this program possible with their generous support.  FSL lectures are free and open to the public. No reservations are required. Bill Barrell: Full Circle  Tuesday, June 7, 7pm A Gallery Talk with the Artist in Conjunction with the Artist's Exhibition on View at PAAM May 27-July10, 2011. The artist Bill Barrell came of age artistically in the 1950s, inspired by the figurative expressionist movement, and the heady atmosphere of Hans Hofmann's Provincetown School of Fine Art.  Born in London, England in 1932, Barrell emigrated to the US in 1954 and took up residence in Provincetown in 1957. While unable to afford the Hofmann school's tuition, he attended the renowned teacher's open critiques and became close friends with Hofmann students Robert Beauchamp, Red Grooms, and Robert Thompson. Since that time Barrell has travelled extensively and called New York City, Jersey City, and most recently, Easton, Pennsylvania home. This summer Barrell's work will be celebrated in the place where his creative life took root. The exhibition will present work created over Barrell's more than fifty-year career. Curator Robert Henry says of the artist and his work, "Bill Barrell is a Modernist. The physicality of painting and of paint, and its application is at the core of his work. More recently a kind of post-modern attitude has arisen. Quite a few of the paintings in the exhibition are clearly tributes to modern masters such as Gorky, Picasso, Matisse, and Guston. They are Barrell's interpretation of the history of Modernism." John Grillo: Abstract Expressionism: The Formative Years (1946-48) Tuesday, June 28, 7pm A Gallery Talk with the Artist in Conjunction with the Artist's Exhibition on View at PAAM June 24-August 14, 2011 John Grillo played a seminal role in the development of Abstract Expressionism in the San Francisco bay area and is acknowledged as "perhaps the first and purest action painter on the west coast." (Thomas Albright Art in The San Francisco Bay Area 1945-1980). In 1946 Grillo enrolled in the San Francisco School of Fine Arts under the G.I. Bill; when funds and art supplies were short, he experimented with whatever was on hand, including coffee grounds and cocoa. But as the art historian and curator Susan Landauer describes, "he reserved his most radical experimentation for the medium of watercolor.  For sheer inventiveness of technique [his watercolors] rivaled vanguard developments in the East, and in their spontaneity and dramatic intensity, many of these paintings bear the hallmarks of classic Abstract Expressionism."  Remarkably, Grillo's gestural work predates or parallels the development of action paintings by celebrated abstract expressionists Franz Kline, William De Kooning and Jackson Pollack.  The exhibition at PAAM will feature over thirty of Grillo's groundbreaking watercolors.  Please join the artist, now in his 95th year, for a gallery discussion at PAAM. Debbie Forman:  Perspectives on the Provincetown Art Colony Tuesday, July 12, 7pm A Lecture and Book Signing with the Author Join author Deborah Forman for a talk about the evolution of her book, Perspectives on the Provincetown Artist Colony, (Schiffer Books, 2011). Describing the creation of the book, Forman says, "This was a journey of discovery as I sought out the artists and writers who could tell me about their love of art, their fascination with Provincetown, and how the town influenced their work. Woven together, the stories of the artists and writers bring into view a picture of the artist colony from 1899, when Charles Hawthorne opened his school, through the early days of the 20th century when the Provincetown Art Association was established and modernists and traditionalists were vying for favor." In this groundbreaking book, first-hand accounts of those Forman interviewed develop the history further as they explore the impact of Hans Hofmann and the Abstract Expressionists, the glory days of the 1950s and early '60s, and the efforts to revitalize the artist colony as the 20th century drew to a close. Anecdotes of her encounters with the artists and writers will add spice to her presentation, and examples of their work will be shown. A book signing will follow the lecture. SUBJECTIVE ENVIRONMENTS: Chromatic Paintings of Bernd Haussmann Curated by Chris McCarthy Join the artist along with Curator and PAAM Director Chris McCarthy for a gallery talk about his exhibition at PAAM. Tuesday, July 19, 7pm In Conjunction with the Artist's Exhibition on View at PAAM July 1-August 14, 2011 Bernd Haussmann's recent paintings-luminous abstractions that take full advantage of the sumptuousness of dripped and layered paint-grapple with the artist's relationship to nature, and what Haussmann describes as "the invisible, the fantasy, the place where you want to be."  Whether perceived as pure abstraction, or the peaks and turbulent waves alluded to in his Mountain and Oceans series, the muscularity and gestural quality of his mark-making, and the integrity of surfaces align Haussmann's work with the contemporary heirs of abstract expressionism. LECTURE CANCELLED: Will Barnet in Provincetown Tuesday, August 23, 7pm The Artist's Exhibition will be on View at PAAM August 19-October 23, 2011 The American master Will Barnet will be celebrated during his centenary year with an exhibition at PAAM entitled Will Barnett in Provincetown. Best known for his iconic images of women and children, often paired with sibylline and enigmatic cats, the artist has worked across movements and genres during his 80 year career, expertly segueing between figuration and abstraction. His lesser-known contemporary abstract work can be seen as part of a continuum dating to 1940s, when along with Peter Busa and Steve Wheeler, he forged the "Indian Space" movement. These compositions are inspired by the bold geometries of Native American artists, and feature interlocking flat forms and patterns, with an emphasis on positive form and negative space. Barnet is also a revered printmaker and teacher, who has taught artists such as Louise Bourgeois, Cy Twombly and Paul Jenkins at the Art Students League, Yale University, Cooper Union, and Montclair. Join us for a discussion of his prints, paintings and drawings at PAAM. Judith Trepp: Beyond Line Tuesday, September 6, 7pm  In conjunction with the Artist's Exhibition on View at PAAM August 19-October 2, 2011 The artist Judith Trepp's formative summers were spent in Provincetown, where she developed the basis of her drawing methodology in Seon Moy's summer classes. Trepp graduated from Bard College, was one of the initial residents of Westbeth-the first federally sponsored housing for artists-and in 1970 moved to Zürich, Switzerland.  Since 1990 she has spent the summer months living and working in Provincetown.  Recurring travels in India and Japan contribute to the global impulses inherent in her work. Trepp's painting, drawing, and sculpture reflect the trans-nationality of her life and the pluralism of her thinking.  Implicit in the designation "Expressive Minimalism" that Trepp has given to her work is both the artistic tradition of her original home, "Abstract Expressionism," and that of her newer chosen home, "Minimalism."  These dual artistic roots unite in her work to form an individual artistic vision.  In THE ART BOOK (March 2004), the artist and critique Mark Staff Brandl addresses the "rich artistic and intellectual possibilities available when the creator has a sense for, and experiences of, a cosmopolitan, intercultural global community."  Nowhere is this sensibility more evident than in Trepp's approach to her work.  Join the artist for a gallery talk and a window into her creative processes. The 2010 Fredi Schiff Levin Lecture Series Archive