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Earlier this year, members of the Morrison-Shearer Foundation’s Board of Trustees visited the Chicago Film Archives  and the studio of noted photographer, Judy Natal. Through these visits and others, the Foundation is establishing the basis for its future support of the creative processes of media artists and their collaborators, set to launch…

The Morrison-Shearer Foundation is proud to announce plans for the digitization and wider distribution of Sybil Shearer’s three-volume autobiography: Without Wings The Way Is Steep. In addition to providing a fascinating view of an insider’s history of modern dance in America, the volumes offer intimate views into Shearer’s thoughts about leaving…

On Thursday, September 15, Jenny Harris, COSI Research Fellow for Modern and Contemporary Art at The Art Institute of Chicago presented a talk on her research into the fascinating connections between the seminal Pop Art figure, Ray Johnson, and Sybil Shearer. Her investigation was inspired by the acquisition of a…

In the fall of 2022, Scott Lundius, MSF’s executive director, discovered that the Hamburg Ballet would perform in Chicago at the Harris Theater in 2023 as part of a special tour celebrating John Neumeier’s 50th anniversary as its artistic director. Lundius called the Harris Theater’s CEO, Lori Dimun, setting off…

Milwaukee-born JOHN NEUMEIER has been the Director and Chief Choreographer of the Hamburg Ballet since 1973. Yet his dance career and formative training took place in mid-century Chicago, most notably with modern dancer Sybil Shearer and the Stone-Camryn Ballet. This video documents a conversation between Mr. Neumeier and dance scholars…

It was an astonishing find in the attic of the Morrison-Shearer Foundation back in 2013. There it was; a pristine collection of Ray Johnson “moticos” tucked inside their original envelope with the postmark December 30, 1955. With this discovery, the exciting times of Sybil Shearer and Helen Morrison’s connection to…

A Space to Create is a visually stunning, poetic and complex sixteen-minute film that tells the remarkable story of Sybil Shearer and Helen Balfour Morrison. As artful as the work of these two artists themselves, the film itself is in motion and exquisitely complements the visuals of Helen Balfour Morrison…

The Morrison-Shearer Foundation and the Ragdale Foundation marked the opening of the Sybil Shearer Studio in the new Studio House of Dance and Music with “Space to Move,” a celebratory event held on National Dance Day, Saturday, Sept. 18, 2021. The event featured a promenade-style dance performance directed by Kristina…