The weeks leading up to this issue’s publication have made us feel as if we were working out of a variety of offices, which — during the period publisher Kaveh Mojtabai was attending Art Basel Switzerland — we were.

While those of us back home were putting this issue together, Mojtabai was transmitting reports and images from exhibition halls filled with people of all ages and experience in the art world, from a 21-year-old just out of college, to three generations of family members, to 35th-time collectors at the fair, along with many of the world’s most successful galleries.

We were proud to represent New England at this great event, and we appreciate comments such as the one saying that artscope is unique in its ability to maintain a regional flavor while celebrating exhibiting artists from outside the area, allowing collectors an opportunity to see others’ perceptions of an artist’s work away from their
“comfort zone.”

As always, we’ll talk — in great detail — about how to apply what we learned at Art Basel to help us continue to best expose New England artists, galleries, museums and performance venues to a wider audience, in the hope that we all continue to grow and prosper. I’m pleased to announce that artscope has been invited to participate as an exhibitor in the magazine collective booth at this year’s Art Basel Miami Beach, taking place December 3-6.

If you missed the online coverage of artscope’s Basel trip, I encourage you to visit our Facebook and Instagram pages to see our posts — after reading in these pages a first-hand report on the Basel experience by former Vermont correspondent, now Ireland-based writer Clara Rose Thornton (the current Dublin Slam Poetry Champion, whose first book, “Alternatives,” was released the night prior to her departure for Switzerland).

Along with Basel, over the past two months we’ve made our-now traditional visit to the International Encaustic Conference in Provincetown and at the Truro Center for the Arts at Castle Hill, attended the Art League of Rhode Island’s Annual Meeting, Providence Art Club Auction and Gateway Arts’ “Taste of Gateway” auction fundraiser, and sponsored the Cambridge Arts River Festival and South Shore Indie Music Festival.

Meanwhile, Laura Shabott co-presented a talk on “Artists! How to Market Yourself” at the South Shore Art Center’s 60th Annual Arts Festival. That followed a busy week for Laura, during which she completed two stories for this issue: a feature on Paul Resika, whose work can be seen at the Provincetown Art Association and Museum and the Berta Walker Gallery, and a “gallery crawl” through some of Provincetown’s must-see shows of the summer.

We always plan our July/August issue to serve as your source for summer New England art wanderlust adventures. Kristin Nord provides a travelogue of Litchfield County, Connecticut and Arlene Distler will introduce you to a few of the artists participating in Vermont’s Rock River Studio Tour.

You could make a wonderful day trip to North Central Massachusetts, with only eight miles separating the Fruitlands Museum — whose “Art in Nature” exhibition of outdoor sculptural art is reviewed by Elizabeth Michelman — and the Museum of Russian Icons, whose current exhibition features icons and artifacts from the British Museum in a once-in-a-lifetime viewing opportunity,covered by Suzanne Volmer.

Also not to be missed: “Alfred Maurer at the Vanguard of Modernism,” on view at the Addison Gallery of American Art in Andover, Mass. and reviewed by James Dyment, director of the Brush Gallery and Studios.

We spotlight four great group exhibitions currently on view: J. Fatima Martins surveys “The Eternal Feminine: Icons and Images from the Regional Collection” at Newport Art Museum while looking for the next great collection of regional artists at the “Annual Juried Exhibitions” at DanforthArt. Linda Chestney previews its northern counterpart, the “Coming of Age (Artists Under 30)” exhibition at the Sharon Arts Center at the New Hampshire Institute of Art, while Elizabeth Michelman reviews the Art Complex Museum’s “Look Again: The ACM Collection Inspires the Boston Printmakers” show.

At times, we’re asked to “change clothing” and play a role in an exhibition. New Bedford/South Coast correspondent Don Wilkinson was asked to curate an exhibition for the Narrows Center for the Arts; I “grilled” Don on how he selected the artists for his “The Tenacity of the Human Figure” show and what makes a trip to Fall River to see it worthy of your time.

There are also a number of solo artists we hope you’ll be encouraged to check out after reading our previews. Ogunquit Hartwell House Inn bed and breakfast owner Eric Taubert previews the Barn Gallery’s August show featuring woodcut/printmaker Don Gorvett (whose former Black Bear Fine Art Gallery space served as his first residence there) and painter Norman E. West and the Ogunquit Art Association’s annual auction on August 1, while Taryn Plumb got an early glimpse of “visual poet” Robert Saunders’ “Game Theory” exhibition at Monkitree in Gardiner, Maine. Plumb also stopped by Gloucester’s Trident Gallery to see a preview of Nadine Boughton’s “American Home” exhibition, and visited the Brush Art Gallery and Studios in Lowell for an early glimpse of the “Book Illustration: Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys” exhibition, on view in August.

This issue’s watercolor-themed centerfold contest winner is Greg Mort’s “Stewardship.” Thanks to our jurors: Anne LaPrade Seuthe, director of the Hampden Gallery at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and Nancy Gaucher-Thomas, founder and president emerita of the Art League of Rhode Island and a signature member of the National Watercolor Society. For our next contest, we’re looking for your original costume design work; full details can be found in our Classifieds section.

After all that, I’m glad to present you with our July/August 2015 issue and hope we cross paths in the months ahead.

Brian Goslow, Managing Editor
bgoslow@artscopemagazine.com