The Attleboro Arts Museum “Members’ Exhibition” is a mini–Art Basel in Attleboro. There are 406 original works by 206 member artists, mostly from Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut. Two loyal members in the current exhibition shipped their works from Texas and Oregon.
The building has always been a family heart of Attleboro. Originally as London’s department store, it clothed everyone in town. Now it transports all who visit with an outpouring of art made by many in Attleboro, members and invited guests.
Juror Julia Swanson, owner/creator of Art Walk Project, contributor to The Culture Show on GBH and this magazine, awarded Best Representational to “Magec,” a painting by Simone Scholes and Best Abstract to “Emergent” by Joni Lohr. There are six more Juror’s Choice awards, four Blick Artist Material Awards and 12 Merit Certificates. Bright blue award tags next to the labels provide quiet but constant applause to each of the winning works.
This is a group show with added depth and intrigue. Members may submit up to three works which allows a deeper look into the work of an artist. Also, an artist may be submitting for the Attleboro annual “8 Visions” juried exhibition for which it is a highly prized honor to be selected. This gives each visitor to the Members’ exhibition the added pleasure of picking favorite artists and then returning to see if their selections were chosen for “8 Visions.”
Executive Director Mim Fawcett and staff are masters of curation. They have massive movable walls to manage a distinct layout for each exhibition. The walls are rendered in a scale model in Fawcett’s office where she can design each exhibit footprint.
It takes curatorial expertise to display the outpouring of art at the scale. Fawcett has a gift for combining what she calls “art works separated at birth,” finding visual clues in color, shape, subject or dramatic gesture to place works together. Fawcett revealed another bonus for all who submit as she takes mental notes about the works of each artist and stores them to use for future invitations to display when appropriate.