Continuing the Art of Play
November 5 + 12, 2025

Painting Energy: The Alex Katz Foundation Collection at the Portland Museum of Art

Join Zoom Meeting / Class
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87618016665

For over 70 years, Alex Katz has boldly pursued figurative painting, perfecting his disciplined approach across a storied career. This unique creative vision has also guided the selection of works collected by his foundation. The Alex Katz Foundation Collection includes artists with strong ties to the state (Lois Dodd, Rackstraw Downes, Fairfield Porter), leading figures in American modernism (Stuart Davis, Arthur Dove, Marsden Hartley, Edward Hopper), today’s rising artists (Kamrooz Aram, Chase Hall), and major figures in the global art sphere (Marlene Dumas, Philip Guston, Anselm Kiefer, Sigmar Polke). These gifts establish the PMA as a center for the study and display of modern and contemporary art to be shared with visitors in collection galleries, study room visits, and special exhibitions.  

Exhibition Website

Warm-up + Project

Painting Energy: The Alex Katz Foundation Collection at the Portland Museum of Art
Katz showcased over 40 artists from his collection in a group show in Portland Maine this year. His focus was on emerging and established artists that he collected and admired for their specific artistic quality. He refers to it as energy or pow.

What artist speaks to you with energy or pow? Choose an artist this week and explore the work and the narrative ideas of that artist. See how that resonates with your own ideas and your own work.

Questions to consider: 

1. What images do you connect with?

2. Is there an energy or power factor that you connect with viewing a particular artist’s work? 

3. Does this style relate to your own work or is it a style or idea you wish to explore further? 

4. Look at your own work. What is your energy?

We will each choose an artist to explore and learn about for a week one. This journey may take us to continue with the exploration on week two or choose another artist to be inspired by.

Please send me the artist you choose to explore or the idea you want to explore if it’s not particular to one artist before class on Wednesday.

Painting Energy: Exhibition Page

CBS Sunday Morning

Impulse Magazine

Artists featured in the exhibition*

• American Modernists:

  • Stuart Davis

  • Arthur Dove

  • Marsden Hartley

  • Edward Hopper

• Artists with ties to Maine:

  • Lois Dodd

  • Rackstraw Downes

  • Fairfield Porter

• Contemporary and International Artists:

  • Kamrooz Aram

  • Georg Baselitz

  • Katherine Bradford

  • Marlene Dumas

  • Jane Freilicher

  • Philip Guston

  • Chase Hall

  • Anselm Kiefer

  • Chris Martin

  • Sigmar Polke

  • Sojourner Truth Parsons

• Other artists mentioned:

  • Martha Diamond

  • Charles Burchfield

  • Sam Gilliam

  • Jeremy Frey

  • Winslow Homer

  • Andrew Wyeth

  • Yasuo Kuniyoshi

  • Daniel Minter 

*This is was Ai generated and may not be a complete list

© Copyright 2025 | The Joy of Creativity