Welcome to the Ninth Anniversary Issue of Artscope magazine. Just as it’s been for all New Englanders, these past two months have been challenging, not only in surviving everyday life, but for us in being able to put together the best possible issue regardless of what Mother Nature threw our way — and what barriers she sent us.
Margie Serkin was met with heavy snows on two occasions when she tried to travel to the Springfield Museums to review its current “Above the Fold: New Expressions in Origami” exhibition; on a third occasion, Peter Pan had shut down all bus travel on its routes north of New York City.
There were other instances where artists literally couldn’t open their studio doors to give a preview of the work that’ll be seen in an upcoming exhibition. Then there’s James Foritano, who threw his Neos sports boots over his walking shoes and made his way through the streets of Cambridge to interview Marjorie Kaye about her March show at the Atlantic Works Gallery.
Kristin Nord braved not only the elements, but also the effects of recent shoulder surgery to take the train to Greenwich, Conn. to visit the Bruce Museum to see “Northern Baroque Splendor” and talk to Dr. Peter C. Sutton, the Bruce’s executive director, about the show. Even if your tastes sway to the more modern, the way Kristen
conveys Sutton’s enthusiasm for the work will win you over.
Similarly, Elizabeth Michelman found a break between snowstorms to travel to Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire from her home in greater Boston to review its “Alumni in the Arts: Biennial Exhibition 2015” at the school’s Hopkins Center and Black Family Visual Arts Center, which was my own starting point to engage some of the participants of the “Pulse: New Work by Faculty Artists”
show at the College of the Holy Cross.
Current artscope intern Sarah Kinkade, a student at Lesley University, first started working on a story on the school’s newly opened Lunder Arts Center in Cambridge for our
artscopemagazine.com zine, but it soon became apparent that her article, which also reviews the facility’s first exhibition, “Breaking Ground” featuring its BFA alumni, belonged in these pages, giving us a trifecta of strong campusbased exhibitions.
Another challenge this time around was the fact that some of the work for exhibitions we wanted to preview was literally being created as we sought to cover it. That included Taryn Plumb, after that omnipresent snow — which cancelled a visit to Christina Zwart’s studio to see her in-progress installations that’ll be at the Boston Sculptors Gallery — created the challenge of the artist having to talk over the phone about something that hadn’t yet taken its final shape. But, we got the scoop and hopefully we’ll all be able to see the work in person when it opens in April.
Then there’s Suzanne Volmer, who took on the enormous task of trying to put into words the dozens of exhibitions taking place in the Providence and New Bedford/South Shore Massachusetts area in conjunction with the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts Conference (NCECA) that takes place at the Rhode Island Convention Center from March 25-28. This was all while Volmer, an installation artist in her own right, worked to create a special installation for the “Honoring Harriet Brisson: Ceramicist, Mentor and Friend” exhibition at the URI Providence Campus Arts and Culture Program.
As has been the case with past anniversary issues, we’ve put together a special section celebrating artists and exhibitions we felt deserved greater attention. Our “Nine for Our Ninth” includes two artists from Portland, Maine — Elizabeth Atterbury and Dawna Bemis, along with Bridge City Tool Works founder John Economaki and cover artist Matt Brackett, whose work is currently on view at Catamount Arts in St. Johnsbury, Vermont.
The aforementioned Foritano also contributes a timely review of the “Gordon Parks: Back to Fort Scott” photography exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Its images of 1950 African-American life taken just prior to the filing of the Brown v. Board of Education class-action suit will be well appreciated by those of you captivated by “Selma” in the movie theaters.
This issue’s centerfold contest winner, with a ceramic tile mosaic theme, is Joshua Winer’s “Aspire 4.” Thanks to our jurors: L’Attitude Gallery owner Betty Bothereau and Cambridge, Mass. glass sculptor Carrie Gustafson. For our next contest, we’re looking for your original 3-D paper works; full details can be found in our Classifieds section.
We continue to make preparations for this year’s Art Basel taking place from June 18-21 in Basel, Switzerland, where we’ll be participating in the magazine sector of the collective booth. As the May/June 2015 issue of our magazine will be available to attendees at the show, please consider partnering with us through taking out an ad, event listing or digital online package to bring the artwork of New England artists to an international audience.
Special thanks go to our office staff that braved sub-zero temperatures and a cranky and sometimes non-existent public transportation system to ensure that this issue not only got out on time, but is one of our strongest ever. Much appreciation goes to account executives Shani Abramowitz and Kate McBride and interns Rhiannon
Leigh and Sarah Kinkade for their
devotion to our magazine.
With the vision of springtime and out-of-town art wanderlust adventures on the horizon, please dig into our Ninth Anniversary Issue, a tribute to the support received from our readers, advertisers and the museums, galleries and educational institutions devoted toward making both artscope magazine and the New England visual and performing arts scene as rewarding an experience as possible.
Brian Goslow, Managing Editor
bgoslow@artscopemagazine.com