FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Crocker Receives Donation of
Important Contemporary Artwork from AT&T

Two pieces by acclaimed artists Jennifer Bartlett and Barbara Rogers added to the museum’s permanent collection

April 23, 2008 – Sacramento, Calif. – The Crocker Art Museum unveiled today two artworks by acclaimed artists Jennifer Bartlett and Barbara Rogers generously donated from AT&T to the museum’s permanent collection. Pacific Ocean, oil on canvas, by Jennifer Bartlett and Renee and Nehemiah, acrylic on canvas, by Barbara Rogers, are both important contemporary works that strengthen the Crocker’s permanent collection.

“We are thrilled to receive these paintings from the AT&T collection,” said Lial A. Jones, Museum Director, Crocker Art Museum. “Jennifer Bartlett and Barbara Rogers are influential contemporary artists that add depth and monumental size to the collection. Pacific Ocean is the largest painting in the collection and will be hung prominently in our new building scheduled to open in 2010.”

AT&T is donating select pieces from its corporate art collection to museums around the country. For more than 60 years, AT&T and the AT&T Foundation have committed resources for philanthropic programs, including support for performing and visual arts. This effort was a way for the company to extend its historic support for the arts.

“At AT&T, we have a long history of supporting organizations and institutions that connect people in our community,” said Kathy McKim, Vice President of External Affairs for AT&T. “The Crocker Art Museum plays a vital role in the rich culture of the Sacramento community, and we’re pleased to add to the museum’s collection by contributing pieces by important women artists with strong ties to California.”

“I was excited to learn that AT&T was donating my painting Renee and Nehemiah to the Crocker Art Museum. It is always meaningful when a piece of art leaves a private collection and becomes accessible to a broader audience." said artist Barbara Rogers. "I created this painting in the early 70's at a time when racial and political turbulence seemed to dominate the American news media. My intent has always been to make paintings that transcend the lead stories on the evening news and focus on what is beautiful, life affirming and worth protecting in our natural world.”

Born in Ohio, artist Barbara Rogers received her Bachelor of Science in Art Education from Ohio State University. In California, she studied painting at The San Francisco Art Institute with Richard Diebenkorn, Elmer Bischoff and Frank Lobdell; she studied life drawing with Nathan Oliviera at California College of Arts and Crafts. Rogers received the Eisner Prize and her Master of Arts in Painting from the University of California at Berkeley. Barbara Rogers has exhibited widely both nationally and internationally, and her work is in major public and private collections including The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, The Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, The Oakland Museum of Art, and The San Jose Museum of Art.

Artist Jennifer Bartlett was born in Long Beach in 1941 and is best-known for paintings combining abstract and representational styles. Bartlett received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Mills College in Oakland, and her Master of Fine Arts from the Yale School of Art and Architecture. Her work is represented in prestigious collections, including The Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C., London's Tate Gallery, and the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.

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Media Contact: Kathleen Conaty
Media: (916) 808-5157
Public: (916) 808-7000
216 O Street
Sacramento, CA 95814
www.crockerartmuseum.org

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