Welcome to our 106th issue!
Like many of you, we’ve spent the past few months catching up on long delayed projects and getting to see the artists, galleries and museums we’ve been away from for far too long.
After hearing reports of strong sales in Boston’s SoWa District, especially during First Friday and Sundays during SoWa Open Market,when large crowds are in the neighborhood, it seemed like a good idea to start the fall previewing several of the exhibitions taking place there this September and October.
Just as we arrive on the streets, Krystle Brown’s “Better Homes Than Gardens” exhibition which explores displacement, on both a global and local scale, opens for a September run at Kingston Gallery.
Marjorie Kaye, who recently announced that she’s stepping down from her longtime position as director of Galatea Fine Art, profiles sculptor Christine Palamidessi and previews her “Couples” show that’ll be there in October.
A few doors down the hall at 460 Harrison Ave., Boston, Fountain Street Gallery will be hosting Virginia Mahoney and Nathalie Miebach’s “Undercurrents” show in which, Claudia Fiks writes, the duo will be “Harmonizing art and data.”
Miebach, one of the earliest SoWa artists to be featured in these pages, returns to Boston after a busy summer in which she was part of an exhibition at the Design Museum of Chicago, had her work included — in basket form — in “The Basketclub,” a book first released at Alcova at Salone del Mobile in Milan, Italy, and on the cover of Mike Fortun’s “Genomics with Care: Minding the Double Binds of Science” book published by Duke University Press.
I was able to preview the works that will be on view in the “2023 New England Regional Juried Exhibition” in September at Guild of Boston Artists; I was looking at the paintings during a time that our planet was dealing with catastrophic environmental disasters, suggesting there was a distinct possibility that these quiet pastoral scenes, a major part of the show, might not look the same even 10 years from now.
It’s complimented in a preview by Beth Neville of “Robin Colodzin: Embodied,” a show taking place simultaneously two doors down, at Copley Society of Art on Boston’s Newbury Street. Neville explores the process in which a burgeoning artist’s work is introduced, large scale, to the audience of a long-established gallery and the challenges of sharing some of their more experimental work with those viewers. Our verdict? You only have to look at our cover.
Marjorie Kaye was thrilled to get to see and review the “Edvard Munch: Trembling Earth” exhibition at the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, Massachusetts, calling it “a gorgeous show” and “a knock-out and an honest look into the emotional construct of Munch himself by way of the environment.”
Just prior to the opening of the “Edward Hopper & Cape Ann: Illuminating an American Landscape” exhibition at the Cape Ann Museum, longtime Artscope contributor James Foritano left an urgent message noting that he was “deeply interested in Hopper’s relevance for our times and for all times and would enjoy airing my views on this quirky and interesting artist.” His reporting shows the importance of preserving the architectural treasures painted by our most beloved artists.
Linda Sutherland indulged herself in the “mysterious and fascinating” work and careers of photographers Chelsea Ellis and Todd Watts that is on view through September 30 at the Maine Museum of Photographic Arts in Portland.
Suzanne Volmer traveled to Connecticut to see the “Ellen Carey: Struck by Light” exhibition at the New Britain Museum of American Art before continuing west to the luxurious Delmar West Hartford Hotel — a venue with its own noteworthy private collection — to see its NMBAA-curated “Elizabeth Gourlay: Color, Chords, and Threads” show. She shares how it’s a perfect example of how major institutions can share their collections with a wider audience.
J.M. Belmont, who recently moved to Manchester, New Hampshire, reviews “The Living Forest,” the first United States solo exhibition featuring trans-Indigenous/Brazilian artist UÝRA whose bold work, Belmont writes, “attempts to capture the society around her, assembling brilliant costumes that synthesizes it all: the natural world, the after-effects of industrialization, [and] the horrifying push … to see the extermination of Brazil’s Indigenous peoples and integral ecosystem.” The photographs of Matheus Belém in the show serve as first-hand reports — and warnings — of the damage being done to our ecosystem globally.
Indigenous Brazil is also the focus of “Véxoa: We Know” at Tufts University Art Gallery, an exhibition previewed by Claudia Fiksalongside “Double Arrows,” a show taking place as the SMFA at Tufts Gallery in Boston spotlighting rich purple wampum jewelry, textiles and maritime arts directly tied to the Aquinnah Wampanoag tribal heritage of Elizabeth James-Perry, as well as other participating artists.
“Always inspired by the 17th century Dutch masters’ still-lifes,” Lee Roscoe writes about Kimberly Witham’s “Vignettes,” a visually pleasing collection of floral paintings that will have you considering a drive to Provincetown to see them at Gary Marotta Fine Art, where they’re on view through September 21. You might want to couple that with a visit to the Fuller Craft Museum, where “Joyce J. Scott: Messages” combines beadwork, fine art, craft and social commentary in her first New England show.
Beacon Gallery’s Associate Curator, Chenoa Baker (she/her) has been traveling to artist residencies in Pittsburgh, Omaha, and Montana this summer. In her spotlight feature on Kledia Spiro, Feda Eid, and Jo Nanajian, she explains why the sculptural work and deep friendship of the three artists stands out to her and why you should track down their work for personal viewing.
Rachel Flood Page has been looking for the opportunity to write about Allison Tanenhaus, a glitch artist whose video work adds a unique aspect to special events — think of how the light shows of the 1960s enhanced the San Francisco music scene — and whose “GlitchKraft” can be seen at Simmons College’s Trustman Art Gallery in Boston this September and October.
If you’ve used social media to share your artwork or exhibition information in recent years, you know how challenging finding an outlet with a level of consistency that your target audience would find dependable. Over the past decade, we’ve strived to house all our digital offerings in the “Artscope Universe” in one place. We’ve spent the summer fine-tuning and upgrading app.artscopemagazine.com. We hope, if you haven’t already, that you’ll download it and will let us know what aspects you like and what you’d like us to improve.