Los Angeles to New York: Dwan Gallery, 1959 – 1971, VI: Some Art Is Hard to See: Field Trips with Virginia Dwan

Jane McFadden, department chair of humanities and sciences, ArtCenter College of Design. For the public symposium held on November 19, 2016, in conjunction with the exhibition Los Angeles to New York: Dwan Gallery, 1959 – 1971 at the National Gallery of Art, Jane McFadden describes how Virginia Dwan offered pivotal support to artists expanding the field of sculpture beyond the gallery in the late 1960s. Exploring these early endeavors, McFadden considers what unseen histories might emerge from understanding Dwan as a central collaborator in well-known works of land art. By tracing the resonance of key works like Michael Heizer’s Double Negative beyond established interpretations of site and land art, McFadden draws from the shadows the ghosts and other hallucinatory effects of this historical moment that are difficult to see.