artscope magazine: January/February 2010 Welcome Statement: Brian Goslow, managing editor Letters to the Editor roundtable - Three Professionals. One Question. cornered: a conversation with an art exhibition attendee FEATURED ARTIST GEORGE NICK - Reflections of an impermanent world Not Your Typical Photo Place - PHOTOPLACE GALLERY TARO SHINODA: LUNAR REFLECTIONS ODDLY PRETTY PAINTINGS - HANNAH COLE TANGIBLE EXPERIENCE: BRIAN KEITH STEPHENS Belonging and Longing - Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons: Works on Paper FIXED CHAOS at Montserrat SILENT CIRCLES: THE HEALING - Barbara Gagel FEATURE - Evolution: Five Decades of Printmaking by David Driskell FEATURE - Historic Japanese Kiri-E and Contemporary Tibetan Thangka GOLDEN LEGACY: Original Art From 65 Years Of Golden Books DECEIVINGLY SIMPLE - Charles Duback: Collages EMMA AMOS: HEROES AND FOLK GHOSTS OF THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE: ZUGUNRUHE wanderlust - The (Right) Brainpower Triangle: The Finest Free Art in Somerville and Cambridge community - THE KATE: A Little Gem With A Movie Star Name industry focus - BUY WHAT YOU LOVE education - SPACE TO DISCOVER: MASSART/FAWC LOW RESIDENCY MFA Capsule Previews

FIXED CHAOS at Montserrat Gina Fraone Montserrat College of Art 23 Essex Street Beverly, Massachusetts Through January 23 CAN TRUE SPONTANEITY OCCUR WHILE CREATING WITHIN A MEDIUM THAT REQUIRES CAREFUL PLANNING AND NUMEROUS STEPS TO EXECUTE? Etching, for example, is a printmaking process that takes several painstaking steps to complete: covering a metal plate with a waxy acid-resistant ground, “drawing” the image by scratching through the ground with a pointed needle, dipping the plate in acid to eat away at the exposed metal, cleaning of the remaining ground, inking the plate, etc. When does spontaneous creativity ever come into play when so much planning and technicality are required? The answers often lie in one’s willingness to experiment while engaged in the process (“what if I were to leave the plate in the acid bath a little longer this time?”), and to relinquish some artistic control to the possibility of happy accidents (“what if I don’t entirely wipe the plate of ink before running it through the press?”). “Fixed Chaos” is a ceramics exhibition that explores the idea that “letting go of control does not relinquish the artists’ authority of their medium, though it may appear that way at first,” according to curator Shana Dumont. “Rather, the artists have released their grip on the clarity of the work’s content,” she said. Like printmaking, ceramics is another kind of artwork that requires, as Dumont described, “a regimented set of steps in their creation; kneading, shaping, bisquing, glazing and firing at specific times and temperatures to set and transform the clay.” For this exhibit, Dumont has assembled a very talented group of ceramicists from around the country, each with distinct approaches to the medium. In a field where superior control and perfect execution are highly prized, it is refreshing to Read the entire article in our magazine pages...