Category: Events

Screening and discussion of Color- Light – Spirit: Studio Sam Feinstein held in the Hermann Gallery.

Film Screening and Panel on Thursday, May 14, 2026 7:00-8:30 PM, at Springside Chestnut Hill Academy in McCausland Lower School – Doran Hall.

Please join us for a special screening of Color – Light – Spirit: Studio Sam Feinstein, a 40-minute documentary celebrating the life, teaching, and artistic vision of Sam Feinstein. The evening will include a post-screening panel conversation with Pat Feinstein, Binney Meigs ’72, Terry Clattenburg ’59, Pia Druggan, and Megan Monoghan, reflecting on Feinstein’s work on loan to the SCH Permanent Art Collection—including Rising, Immigrants, Rip Van Winkle, and Starry Night—and his lasting influence on generations of artists.

In 1938, Sam Feinstein became Head of the Art Department at Chestnut Hill Academy, the boys’ school that later became part of Springside Chestnut Hill Academy. His philosophy and pedagogy, much of which was shared and carried forward by Chestnut Hill Academy art teacher Barbara Crawford, shaped countless students and helped define the artistic spirit of the school. Their shared belief in art as a vehicle for perception, presence, and transformation continues to resonate throughout our community.

Through vibrant paintings, archival audio, video, and film footage, the documentary brings to life Feinstein’s dynamic approach to art and creativity. Alumni voices offer personal insights into his teaching, which invited artists to see—and paint—in transformative ways. As Feinstein famously said, “We don’t paint flowers; we paint flowering.”

Samuel L. Feinstein (1915–2003) was a painter, teacher, and filmmaker whose work and pedagogy were rooted in a deeply spiritual approach to artmaking. Born in Russia and raised in Philadelphia, he exhibited widely at a young age before devoting his life to teaching and creative exploration. Over a seventy-year career, his work evolved from realism through modernist movements to his own radiant form of Luminist Abstraction, driven by an extraordinary exploration of color.

A revered educator, Feinstein taught at institutions including the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Pratt Institute, and Chestnut Hill Academy, and led influential private workshops for more than five decades. He also created significant art documentaries, including a landmark film on his teacher Hans Hofmann. His legacy continues to inspire artists to see, feel, and create with depth, integrity, and light.

When: 8/7/2024 6:00 pm
Where: Provincetown Art Association and Museum (PAAM)

PAAM’s screening of Hans Hofmann, a documentary film by Sam Feinstein, with narration by Sam Feinstein and Hans Hofmann (premiered in 1999 at MMA), will be followed by an excerpt from Sam Feinstein at Scargo Pottery, 1986, a documentary film produced by Paul Fitzgerald.

Date: Thursday, June 27th, 6 – 7 pm

Provincetown Art Association and Museum’s Fredi Schiff Levin Lecture Series welcomes curator Dr. Barbara Wolanin to discuss The Radiance of Color: The Paintings of Sam Feinstein.

Live lecture recording:
Dr. Barbara Wolanin on Sam Feinstein – Fredi Schiff Levin Lecture

A 40-minute documentary film about the provocative and inspirational art and teaching of Sam Feinstein. Premier Screening plus Q&A with filmmaker and participants on Saturday, June 22nd at 2 pm. Cape Cod Museum of Art, Dennis, Massachusetts. Also available online on the film page here.

“Creativity is spirituality looking for a form.  It is a quest of the human spirit to find a way of flowing with the universal pulse that runs through all things.” – Sam in the documentary Color – Light – Spirit: Studio Sam Feinstein.

July 15 – October 16, 2011

New Britain Museum of American Art
56 Lexington Street
New Britain, CT 06052

Film Screening:  August 24th, 4pm  Hans Hofmann by Feinstein, Intro by Patricia Stark Feinstein

Pieta III  48” x 36” oil by Sam (p 130 in Feinstein book) is exhibited and included in color catalog

This exhibition travels to the following venues:

Westmoreland Museum of American Art,  Pittsburgh, PA  Oct. 30, 2011 – Jan. 15, 2012
Wichita Art Museum, Wichita, Kansas  February 5 – April 29, 2012
Cape Cod Museum of Art,  Dennis, MA  May 18 – August 26, 2012