TEACHER RESOURCES
FOR INSTILL
GALLERY EXPERIENCES
This packet is designed to provide a snapshot of key ideas related to the art and life of Clyfford Still to help
teachers prepare for their visit. We hope you enjoy your visit to the Clyfford Still Museum.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
I. Preparing for your Visit (Chaperone and Arrival Information)
II. Clyfford Still and the Clyfford Still Museum
III. Looking at the Work of Clyfford Still
IV. Abstract Expressionism 101
V. Clyfford Still Quotes
PREPARING FOR YOUR INSTILL GALLERY EXPERIENCE
BEFORE YOUR VISIT
• Please go over our gallery norms with your class before your visit. Our artwork is priceless!
• Please remind students to stand 18 inches away from the artwork and not to touch
the artwork or museum walls.
• We ask that visitors walk through the galleries and be mindful of other groups and
guests enjoying the Museum.
• Only pencils are allowed in the galleries for note taking and sketching.
• Please ask students to use inside voices for discussions in the galleries.
• Only non-flash photography is allowed in the galleries.
• Please review expectations with chaperones:
• At least one adult chaperone for every 10 students is required; please observe this
ratio in the galleries.
• Chaperones should assist students with adherence to the gallery norms listed above.
• Chaperones should plan to stay with their group and play an active role in the museum visit.
• Use this packet to review what the Museum is all about and share as relevant with your students.
BUSES & PARKING
• Buses may drop students off on Bannock Street between 12th and 13th Avenues.
• There is no bus parking for groups at the Clyfford Still Museum.
• For cars, the Cultural Complex Parking Garage at 12th Avenue and Broadway is the most convenient
place to park. The garage opens daily at 6 a.m. Enter the garage from 12th Avenue just west of
Broadway. Parking rates start at $1 per hour and are posted inside the entrance.
ARRIVAL AT THE MUSEUM
• Please arrive as a group. School groups should arrive at the rear entrance to the Museum and ring the
bell for security.
• A Museum representative will greet you at the rear entrance, hand out inStill badges, and review gallery
norms.
• They may also direct you to a coat rack and bins where coats may be stored for the duration of your visit
FACILITIES
• The Clyfford Still Museum does not have lunch facilities for school groups.
• Backpacks and other items should be left at school or on the bus. Coats may be stored in unsecured bins
upon arrival.
• During nice weather groups may eat on the lawn. Please be responsible to clean up any trash.
ACCESS
• The Museum is accessible to wheelchair users. We have a wheelchair available on-site, which is
available pending use by museum patrons.
• Accessible parking spaces for visitors with disabilities are available in the surface lot directly across from
the Museum on Bannock Street. Metered spaces are also available on Bannock Street and 12th Avenue
near the Museum.
LEAVING THE MUSEUM
• Remember to collect any belongings that were stored in bins upon your arrival.
• Groups should exit through the front entrance of the Museum and walk around to the rear of the
building if meeting buses for pick-up.
• Buses may wait at the rear entrance of the Museum to pick up groups for no longer than 15 minutes.
TELL US WHAT YOU THINK
• Please tell us about your museum experience. What did your group enjoy? How did you use the museum?
Was this information useful to you?
• Contact Victoria at (720) 354-4876 or [email protected] or fill out a comment card
at the Visitors Services’ desk with your feedback. We are currently building our school programs and
piloting school materials. Please check our website, www.clyffordstillmuseum.org, for updates and to
keep in touch with us.
MATERIALS FOR TEACHERS
CLYFFORD STILL AND THE CLYFFORD STILL MUSEUM
CLYFFORD STILL - A BRIEF BIO
Clyfford Still was born in Grandin, North Dakota in 1904. A
self-taught artist, he began to paint at a young age. Even by the
age of 18, his works showed a mastery of traditional drawing and
Clyfford Still.
Canada and the Western United States, working as a teacher
of art at the college level, before moving to New York in 1951 at
the height of the Abstract Expressionist art movement. Although
Still was considered to be a leader in the movement by other
artists like Jackson Pollock and Robert Motherwell, he became
increasingly critical of the people and politics of the art world.
Still eventually severed ties with the commercial art world by
withdrawing his work from gallery representation and moved
to Maryland in 1961. In 1979, Still was honored with a major
one-person exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It was
the largest exhibition of his work, with 79 paintings spanning
the years 1942 to 1978, and to date, the only time the Met has
afforded a living artist this type of exhibition.
THE ARTIST’S VISION
Metropolitan Museum of Art , 1979 Still Exhibition.
Clyfford Still believed that his art should be seen in groupings
that included only his work. Still wanted his paintings to
be experienced by the viewer as a body of work, without the
distraction of the work of other artists. His desire that his
paintings be seen together was, in part, what led Still to keep
the majority of his works in his possession (about 94% of his
entire artistic output). At the time of his death in 1980, Still’s will
revealed that he wished to give all of the work in his posession to
an American city that would establish permanent quarters for the
exhibition and study of his life’s work.
THE CLYFFORD STILL MUSEUM
Photo: Raul Garcia.
Since the artist’s death in 1980, several major cities had
seriously pursued the Still collection, all of which were denied by
the Still estate. In August 2004, the City of Denver, under the
leadership of then Mayor John W. Hickenlooper, was selected
by Still’s wife, Patricia Still, to recieve the substantial Still
collection. In 2005, Patricia Still also bequeathed to the city
her own estate, which included select paintings by her husband
as well as his complete personal archives. The Still Museum
collection represents nearly 94 percent of the artist’s lifetime
output. It includes approximately 825 paintings and 1575 works
on paper created between 1920 and 1980, many of which had
never been seen by the public until the opening of the Museum.
ABOUT THE ARCHITECTURE
(Portland, OR), the Clyfford Still Museum is primarily constructed
from cast-in-place concrete. The architects designed the building
poured into an extensive wooden framework and upon removal
Photo: Raul Garcia.
designed to make use of its surrounding environment, particularly
the daylight, a prime feature of Denver’s location. The changes in
the works are seen in the galleries.
WORKS ON PAPER
A large portion of the Clyfford Still Museum’s collection
consists of drawings and works on paper executed in various
media, including: pastel, crayon, charcoal, gouache, tempera,
graphite and pen and ink. Sometimes these works were made
in preparation for larger works; in other cases Still revisited his
Clyfford Still Museum Installation View, 2011.
Photo: Raul Garcia.
in prints. The works on paper provide key insights into Still’s
working process and methods.
TITLES (PH-101)
Still did not title his artwork. Instead, he used an alphanumeric
system to identify each artwork. Still eschewed the use of
titles because he wanted viewers to experience the work
for themselves, without the interference of pre-determined
associations that titles might create for the viewer. PH stands
for Photo, and the number refers to the order in which the
artworks were photographed (not made) for documentation.
Other abbreviations include PP (Photo Pastel), PD (Photo
Drawing) and PL (Photo Lithograph).
Clyfford Still, PH-963, 1957.
MATERIALS & TECHNIQUE
Palette Knives.
MATERIALS FOR TEACHERS
Clyfford Still was known for his large-scale canvases as well
as his innovations in painting techniques. Still painted with
his canvases stretched and set up against a wall, using ladders
when necessary. After a painting was dry he would typically
roll them up, stacking several paintings at a time, for storage.
Still mixed most of his paint with dry pigment and linseed
oil. To apply paint to canvas, the artist used a palette knife to
trowel paint onto the surface, building up layers and scraping
paint away. Often, Still intentionally chose to leave areas of his
canvases bare.
LOOKING AT THE WORK OF CLYFFORD STILL
THE FIGURE
PH-414, 1934-35
VERTICALITY
1942-No 2. (PH-85), 1942
LIFELINES
1944-J (PH-67) 1944
SURFACE
PH-272, 1950
Detail
COMPOSITIONS OF COLOR AND SHAPE
1957-J-No.2
ENVIRONMENTS & EXPERIENCE
Clyfford Still Museum Installation View, 2011.
Photo: Raul Garcia.
MATERIALS FOR TEACHERS
ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM 101
WHAT IS ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM?
WHAT MAKES A PAINTING ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONIST?
IMAGERY
Abstract Expressionist artwork does not generally contain
Clyfford Still, PH-1123, 1954.
SCALE
experienced
Barnett Newman, Cathedra, 1958.
ALL-OVER COMPOSITION
Jackson Pollock, Autumn Rhythm, 1950.
MOVEMENT
Jackson Pollock, 1950.
TECHNIQUE
Franz Kline, Mahoning, 1956.
EXPRESSION
Clyfford Still, 1950-A-No. 1 (PH-272), 1950.
MATERIALS FOR TEACHERS
QUOTES BY CLYFFORD STILL
My painting is a life statement, not an autobiography.
These are not paintings in the usual sense; they are life and death merging in fearful union. As for
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MATERIALS FOR TEACHERS