PHILADELPHIA, Aug. 29, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) is pleased to announce the launch of a new three-year partnership with global financial services company SEI , the exclusive Presenting Sponsor of the Morris Gallery Exhibition Program.
The new partnership between SEI and PAFA is a reflection of shared core values between PAFA and SEI, particularly a commitment to excellence in innovation and creativity.
“We are thrilled that PAFA’s dynamic contemporary programming will continue to flourish thanks to this commitment from SEI, an internationally-recognized leader in wealth management,” says David Brigham, PAFA President and CEO. “SEI could not be a more ideal partner as we re-launch the Morris Gallery Exhibition Program, as SEI has demonstrated a long, visionary commitment to fostering innovation in contemporary art."
The PAFA-SEI partnership kicked off with the Morris Gallery’s spring/summer 2016 installation entitled Alyson Shotz: Plane Weave. The installation featured a large tapestry-like work composed of thousands of pieces of punched aluminum and stainless steel rings of the artist’s design, which appears to change from translucent to opaque and from a reflective screen to a solid object in response to the shifts in light.
For the current Morris Gallery site-specific installation which opened on August 20, entitled Fernando Orellana: His Study of Life, the artist created four robotic machines that will attempt to interact with the ghost of Thomas Eakins a century after his death. Orellana took inspiration from PAFA’s long-standing tradition of working from the figure, and its wealth of Eakins’ archival materials, to create the work.
“We look forward to partnering with PAFA and the Morris Gallery,” says Mark Samuels, Chief Marketing Officer, SEI. “We see a strong connection between SEI’s culture and PAFA’s promotion of creativity and the arts.”
SEI has a history of supporting arts and culture and encouraging its more than 2,900 employees to embrace appreciation of and engagement with the art of our time. Through the renowned West Collection of emerging contemporary art, which is owned by SEI’s CEO Alfred P. West Jr. and curated by his daughter, Paige West, SEI shares challenging and inventive work of emerging artists with audiences at SEI and around the world. At any given time 1,500 works from the West Collection are installed at SEI’s headquarters in Oaks, Pennsylvania as well as its offices in the U.K., Ireland, Canada, South Africa, and Hong Kong. PAFA has been the recipient of loans from the West Collection, which includes work by PAFA alumni including Elizabeth Hamilton and the Dufala Brothers.
PAFA’s Morris Gallery Exhibition Program, inaugurated in 1978 to present the work of living artists in the Philadelphia region, expanded during its over 30-year run to show work by some of the most influential artists of the time including Robert Ryman, Vik Muniz, Nan Goldin, Laylah Ali, and Virgil Marti, among many others.
The program has most recently been reinvigorated as a showcase for a diverse array of emerging and mid-career artists from the Philadelphia region and beyond who will create new work, often site-specific, for their respective Morris Gallery exhibitions. SEI joins an array of sponsors supporting the Morris Gallery Exhibition Program’s 2016 season.
ABOUT PAFA
Founded in 1805, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) is America's first school and museum of fine arts. A recipient of the 2005 National Medal of Arts, PAFA is a recognized leader in fine arts education with a world-class permanent collection of American art.
About SEI
SEI (NASDAQ:SEIC) is a leading global provider of investment processing, investment management, and investment operations solutions that help corporations, financial institutions, financial advisors, and ultra-high-net-worth families create and manage wealth. As of June 30, 2016, through its subsidiaries and partnerships in which the company has a significant interest, SEI manages or administers $707 billion in mutual fund and pooled or separately managed assets, including $269 billion in assets under management and $438 billion in client assets under administration. For more information, visit seic.com.
ABOUT THE WEST COLLECTION
West Collection artworks are on long-term loan to SEI, the financial services firm founded by Al West. Al and his daughter Paige have spent two decades years collecting 3,100 compelling contemporary works by over 700 leading international artists, visit http://westcollection.org.