HUNTOPIA - Catalog - Page 7
DEDIC AT ION
T
hrough my involvement with the Whitney Museum of American Art (where I have served as a
trustee for almost thirty-five years and counting), I have had the privilege of spending my entire
adult life embedded in the contemporary art scene in New York City. For years I heard stories about
the gregarious—and somewhat mystical—artist, Hunt Slonem, but it was John Turbyfill, former
Board Chair of Roanoke College, along with his lovely wife, Kate, who finally introduced me to him. Longtime
collectors of Hunt’s art, Kate and John convinced me to accompany them for a visit to his cavernous studio with its
expansive views of the Hudson River. Upon our arrival, greeting us warmly over the cacophony of sounds emanating
from dozens of exotic birds who were calling out to us from somewhere far in the background, and dressed in a
colorful short-sleeved shirt stained with rainbows of paint, stood the artist himself—with his ever-present cellphone
easily accessible in his front pocket. I felt transported to another place and time. Then Hunt’s cellphone rang, and the
sound jolted me back into the present. From that very moment when I crossed the threshold into Hunt’s intimate
and inspiring world, I was hooked; I was smitten. Hunt and I have been close pals ever since.
It is a pleasure to share Hunt’s world, his HUNTOPIA, with the Roanoke Valley—and hopefully beyond.
As a Trustee of Roanoke College, my beloved alma mater, and most recently as the newest member of the Board of
Trustees of the Taubman Museum of Art, I am proud to support HUNTOPIA, an exhibition as well as an
experience which provides a nexus between the contemporary art world and our community. At a time when the
world we live in seems so fraught with animosity and political turmoil, it is my hope that our visitors will find
delight inside these walls, experience familiar works of art from our permanent collection in new ways, and
then return home with both their eyes and their hearts feeling refreshed and restored. That is the alchemy and magic
inherent in Hunt Slonem’s work and interior installations; those are the powerful, healing qualities one is fortunate
enough to find and discover in art.
Welcome to HUNTOPIA!
Joanne Leonhardt Cassullo
Board of Trustees, Taubman Museum of Art
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