Welcome Statement, January/February 2010
Seeing the new issue of artscope for the first time is always a pleasant surprise. After going through the hundreds of press releases and story ideas we receive each two-month cycle and selecting which ones we’d like to cover, we contact our writers: men and women scattered throughout the New England region, working in various professional capacities. After confirming their availability (and hearing of any shows or new artists they want to throw into the mix), we settle into a five-day editing period. The stories and accompanying images trickle in, are formatted, checked and forwarded through our production line. By the time the final story has been edited, our heads are spinning.
Then comes the morning - not unlike a holiday morning from which many of
you are still recovering as you read this - when we wake up to get our first view of the new issue, assembled as carefully as any fine work of art by Kim Ryan, our graphic designer. Going through it for the first time never fails to bring a tear to my eye when the clarity of the devotion of our writers to the magazine comes into view and the realization hits that once again, we’ve put together a product we’re proud to have filled with stories and artists that we’re excited to be sharing with you.
His stay sounds like one of our “wanderlust” features, as he went from
Pittsfield and Lenox to North Adams and Williamstown. On day one, Mojtabai
was dazzled by the Dale Chihuly glasswork at the Holsten Gallery in Lenox; the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge; the Colonial Theatre in Pittsfield; and the Chesterwood Estate and Museum, the one-time home of Daniel Chester French, sculptor of the Lincoln Memorial and Concord, Mass.’s landmark Minuteman statue.
Many times, due to space restrictions, we can’t cover every exhibition or venue we’d like. Sometimes it’s disappointing because that chance may not come along again. Other times, keeping a museum or gallery on our radar can lead to a more pleasant surprise. The latter happened this issue with our coverage of the C.X. Silver Gallery’s Chuntui Lama’s Tibetan contemporary art exhibition of thangkas and kiri-e paintings by young women who survived Hiroshima in 1945. You can’t read Paula Melton’s review of this show and not feel that taking a mid-winter drive to Vermont to see it wouldn’t enrich your life..
Charles DuBack drove down from his Tenants Harbor home to June Fitzpatrick’s High Street Gallery in Portland, Maine so that Elena Sarni could preview his work for you that’ll be on view in his “Collages” exhibition this February. As an editor, I find it personally rewarding when a writer passionately proposes covering an artist he or she is fond of — a situation made even better when that artist is willing to do whatever it takes to make the story happen despite the time differential between the show’s opening date and our deadline.
I had the same experience visiting with George Nick at his studio in Concord, Mass. Within 30 seconds of entering his home I found myself surrounded by a retrospective of his long career, which you can see at St. Paul’s School in Concord, New Hampshire beginning in late January. Over the next hour or so, we discussed his realist approach to painting; a few hours later, I posted a capsulated version of what I took from our talk on Facebook and within minutes, two of his former students admitted they wished they had paid more attention in class. Both you and they can learn from his teachings in this issue.
Some of the other ideas turned into stories by our writers in this issue include Franklin W. Liu’s feature on art buyers and the processes by which their collections are built; Lisa Mikurski’s visit to the newly opened Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center and Theatre in Connecticut; Alexandra Tursi’s introduction to the new PhotoPlace Gallery in Middlebury, Vermont; and Meredith Cutler’s exploration of Rachel Berwick’s Birdwatching exhibition on the campus of Brown University in Providence.
This issue introduces three new writers to artscope: Gina Fraone, reviewing “Sacred Monsters” at Tufts University; Tony Maroulis exploring “Connecting the Dots … The Warhol Legacy” at UMass Amherst; and Mark Drummond Davis going behind the scenes at Reynolds Advanced Materials with the artists who use their products.
While they’re close to our home office in Greater Boston, we haven’t covered as many museums and galleries in the Cambridge/Somerville area as we’d have liked to - until now. Mark Drummond Davis gives you a blueprint for a two-day weekend visit to some of its best-known and not-so-well-known visual arts attractions alike. And Gina Fraone visits the campuses of Pine Manor College and the Montserrat College of Art to experience their latest shows.
As we head into the holiday season, we hope you’ll make it a point to do
much of your gift shopping at one — or more — of the holiday art shows
and festivals taking place throughout New England. The artists spend many
months prior to these shows creating work to ensure you can tell your loved
ones how special they are with a one-of-a-kind, “you probably won’t find this on the Internet” kind of gift.
If you haven’t yet signed up for our twice-monthly artscope email blast!s,
which complement our magazine coverage, compiled by Sarah E. Fagan,
please drop me a line at bgoslow@artscopemagazine.com and I’ll make
sure you’re added to the mailing list; the same goes for our new artscope
magazine fan page on Facebook which we’ll be utilizing to get the word
out on more of the goings-on around the visual and performing arts
scene here in New England. Also make sure to regularly visit our website -
artscopemagazine.com - for other non-magazine features and to subscribe
for the next year to ensure you don’t miss an issue.
That of course, is not all that’s included between these covers. Dig into all our stories and make a late New Year’s resolution not to spend your winter weekends inside - especially with all these great shows to take in.
Here’s wishing you a 2010 filled with great moments of visual and aural
ecstasy. Now dig in.
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