Beacon, NY— Dia Art Foundation announces exhibitions and programming at Dia:Beacon, Riggio Galleries for spring and summer 2007. The final presentation in Dia’s retrospective of works by Agnes Martin, which focuses on the last decade in the artist’s career, will be on view April 6 through November 26, 2007. Upcoming programs at the museum include Notable Women: A Celebration of Women Composers, a series of music performances presented by St. Luke’s Chamber Ensemble, and ongoing monthly Gallery Talks and Community Free Days.

Dia:Beacon’s days and hours of operation change seasonally to accommodate the change in daylight. Extended summer hours begin on Thursday, April 19, 2007, when the museum will be open from 11 am to 6 pm, Thursday through Monday. This schedule continues through October 15, 2007. The museum’s café and bookshop open at 10:30 am daily.

EXHIBITIONS AND SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS
Agnes Martin, Homage to [a] Life: Paintings 1990-2004
The fifth and final installment in a series of exhibitions devoted to Agnes Martin’s work, Homage to [a] Life: Paintings 1990-2004, will be on view from April 6 through November 26, 2007. Organized by Dia Art Foundation, this presentation of some twenty paintings produced during the last decade of Martin’s career culminates a career-long survey Dia inaugurated in 2004. During the final years of her practice Martin continued a long-standing preoccupation with themes of innocence, joy, and happiness, often titling her paintings to evoke these states. The exhibition includes Innocent Love, an eight-part suite of paintings commissioned by Dia in 1999, as well as the "black" paintings from 2002—2003. Informed by a more foreboding or disturbing tenor, these works echo the exploratory paintings she made after first moving to New York in the late 1950s.

Sol LeWitt, Drawing Series. . .
Also currently on view is Drawing Series. . ., an exhibition of fourteen early wall drawings by Sol LeWitt, chosen, sequenced, and sited by the artist specifically for the galleries at Dia:Beacon. Seen in combination with other works by the artist at Dia:Beacon, Drawing Series. . . illuminates the scope and complexity of the artist’s vocabulary. A particular highlight of the exhibition is the monumental four-color rendering of Drawing Series—Composite, Part I—IV, #1—24, A+B (1968), realized for the first time for this exhibition. The graphite version of this work, on view in an adjacent gallery, is part of Dia’s permanent collection.

An-My Lê, Trap Rock
An-My Lê’s Trap Rock features twenty-two color photographs examining the operations of the trap rock quarry located on the Hudson River at Clinton Point, New York. This fall, Dia will present a recently completed series of Lê’s photographs documenting additional scenes of the site. Trap Rock is part of a series of Dia-commissioned projects with contemporary photographers and follows a presentation of Vera Lutter’s pinhole camera photographs of the former Nabisco box printing factory that now houses Dia:Beacon.

PUBLIC PROGRAMS
St. Luke’s Chamber Ensemble
Notable Women presents the St. Luke’s annual contemporary music series Second Helpings as a festival over three weekends in June at Dia:Beacon, featuring three programs focusing on the work of 20th century American women composers. In addition, the three concerts will present world premieres of works commissioned by St. Luke’s in collaboration with the BMI Foundation and the Jerome Foundation.

In 1993 the St. Luke’s Chamber Ensemble initiated Second Helpings, a contemporary chamber music series presenting premieres and repeat performances of works. Characterized by a commitment to ensemble playing and diverse programming, St. Luke’s has a distinctive, vital identity among the nation’s finest musical institutions. Second Helpings offers an informal format, encouraging interaction between composers, musicians, and audience. Continuing a collaboration begun with St. Luke’s in 1998, the series is presented at Dia:Beacon each spring.

The concerts will take place June 3, 10, and 17 at 3:00 pm. For more information on the full program and tickets, visit www.oslmusic.org or call 212.594.6100.

Gallery Talks
Gallery Talks at Dia:Beacon take place on the last Saturday of each month at 1 pm and are free with admission to the museum. The presentations focus on artists in Dia’s collection and are given by curators, art historians, and writers. The spring and summer schedule includes presentations by Claire Barliant, George Stolz, and Luc Sante. Reservations are suggested. Please call 845-440-0100, extension 44.

Saturday, April 28, 2007
Claire Barliant, independent curator and Associate Editor of Modern Painters, on Louise Bourgeois

Saturday, May 26, 2007
George Stolz, curator and writer based in Spain, on Sol LeWitt

Saturday, June 30, 2007
Luc Sante, Visiting Professor of Writing and Photography, Bard College, on An-My Lê

Community Free Days
For Dia’s series of Community Free Days, residents of neighboring counties are invited to visit Dia:Beacon free of charge on selected Saturdays throughout the year. The dates are chosen to alternate year to year, offering residents of each county an opportunity to experience the range of seasons at the museum. The dates for 2007 are April 14 (Orange County); June 9 (Putnam County), and August 11 (Ulster County).

Dia:Beacon, Riggio Galleries
Dia:Beacon, Dia Art Foundation’s museum in the Hudson Valley, presents a distinguished collection of contemporary art from the 1960s to the present. Situated on the banks of the Hudson River in Beacon, New York, the museum occupies a former Nabisco box-printing facility, which was renovated by Dia with artist Robert Irwin and architect OpenOffice.

Dia:Beacon’s expansive galleries comprise 240,000 square feet of exhibition space illuminated by natural light. The museum houses works by a focused group of some of the most significant artists of the last half century, including Bernd and Hilla Becher, Joseph Beuys, Louise Bourgeois, John Chamberlain, Walter De Maria, Dan Flavin, Michael Heizer, Robert Irwin, Donald Judd, On Kawara, Imi Knoebel, Sol LeWitt, Agnes Martin, Bruce Nauman, Blinky Palermo, Gerhard Richter, Robert Ryman, Fred Sandback, Richard Serra, Robert Smithson, Andy Warhol, and Lawrence Weiner.

Programming at the museum includes a series of temporary exhibitions, as well as public programs designed to complement the collection and exhibitions, including monthly gallery talks, music performances by St. Luke’s Chamber Ensemble, Community Free Days for neighboring counties and an education program that serves area students at all education levels.

Dia:Beacon is easily reachable via Metro-North Railroad. The Hudson Line station in Beacon is within walking distance of the museum. Trains depart hourly from Grand Central Terminal in New York City. For schedule and fare information, please visit the MTA’s website at www.mta.nyc.ny.us. The museum is also reachable by major roadways. Driving directions are available on Dia’s website at www.diaart.org. Admission is $10 general, $7 for students and seniors, and free for Dia members and children under 12. Summer hours are 11 am to 6 pm, Thursday through Monday. The public information line for the museum is (845) 400-0100.

Dia Art Foundation
Dia Art Foundation was founded in 1974. A nonprofit institution, Dia is internationally renowned for initiating, supporting, presenting, and preserving art projects. Dia presents public programs and its permanent collection of works from the 1960s through the present at Dia:Beacon, Riggio Galleries, in New York’s Hudson Valley. Dia is currently exploring the relocation of its contemporary exhibition program, formerly Dia:Chelsea, to another site in New York City. Additionally, the foundation maintains long-term, site-specific projects in the western United States, in New York City, and on Long Island.