Jo-Ann Boback and Dave Richardson Luis Villanueva’s Colo Colo Gallery doubled its space in mid-2013 when it moved to the Kilburn Mills, a roughhewned yet industrially elegant exhibition facility that also hosts several other galleries, amidst a collection of working artist studios, in New Bedford’s South End. The added capacity allows Villanueva the ability to present two sizeable solo shows simultaneously. April will feature a three-week untitled exhibition by painter Jo-Ann Boback and furniture maker David Richardson. It is an interesting pairing. Both are what are diplomatically referred to as “mid-career artists” and both have distinct admiration for some of the techniques and stylizations of Asian artisans and image-makers. Boback, who maintains a studio in Revere, Mass., has had four solo shows at the Colo Colo and has participated in one group show there. She refers to … [Read more...] about Point/Counterpoint at Colo Colo
March/April 2015
Northern Baroque Splendor
Reliving the Golden Age at the Bruce The work of Caravaggio had a tremendous influence on what would become a golden age in the Netherlands of the 16th Century. Artists flocked to the region — by some estimates as many as 3,000 — and were soon embarking on work that would capture the visible world in myriad ways. These painters moved from then– revered history paintings to specialize in genre paintings, portraiture, landscapes and seascapes. Their still lifes reflected the wealth and increased sophistication of that seafaring region, championing the hunt, as well as sumptuous and exotic fruits and flowers that were now adorning banquet tables. “Northern Baroque Splendor,” completing a six-month stop (the first of two in the United States) at The Bruce Museum, offers a comprehensive overview of this time of artistic growth, ferment and technical prowess. It draws upon 64 works … [Read more...] about Northern Baroque Splendor
Lively Experiments
NCECA Conference inspires Galleries, Artists Providence began preparing for the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts (NCECA) Conference two years ago, winning the coveted role of host with the proposed title “Lively Experiments.” Over 5,000 people will be visiting Providence from March 25-28 for the NCECA Conference, based at the Rhode Island Convention Center. Myriad exhibitions are scheduled throughout the city — and beyond — during March and April to coordinate with this dynamic event, offering collectors and art enthusiasts a view of innovation that explores clay works by masters and emerging talents, large and small, fine art and functional. Participating venues have crystallized efforts into a massively tiered set of exhibitions that includes those directly sponsored by NCECA, like the Pop-up “2015 NCECA Biennial” at Bell Gallery at Brown University (through … [Read more...] about Lively Experiments
Ceramics On the South Coast
From the Historic to the Contemporary The sophistication of ceramics in the New Bedford area owes much to Chris Gustin’s active career as a catalyst of pottery enterprise and the influence of fellow ceramicist James Lawton. Both men have long affiliations with the New Bedford campus of UMass Dartmouth. Its University Art Gallery and Performing Arts Center are located in the UMass Star Store, a large refurbished former department store in New Bedford’s historic downtown. Gustin is a professor emeritus of UMass and Lawton is a professor who heads its ceramics program. Both are involved in South-Coast exhibitions that coincide with this year’s National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts (NCECA) conference in Providence. Six South Coast Massachusetts sites are presenting exhibitions of importance during the NCECA timeframe. New Bedford offers “The Uncommon Object” at University … [Read more...] about Ceramics On the South Coast
Gordon Parks Takes a Hard Look at Life
Looking Sharp at the MFA No one can predict the trajectory of a life, especially not an African-American life in the spring of 1950, just months before Brown v. Board of Education. That successful challenge to segregation set off decades of accomplishment and strife that still continue today. But Gordon Parks felt he was up to the job. He had a faith in his own near-mythical trajectory to an appointment as the first black photographer for that ultimate chronicler of American life, Life magazine. And that faith was based on works. And also on a peculiar, for his time and status, openness to optimism. The black principal of Gordon’s elementary school in the small, bustling prairie town of Fort Scott, Kansas urged every class there to “Look sharp, act sharp, be sharp!” Grouped around and on the running board of their principal’s car for their 1927 class photo, the 12 members of … [Read more...] about Gordon Parks Takes a Hard Look at Life
Forever & After
Looking Beyond at South Shore Art “Thou know’st ‘tis common; all that lives must die, Passing through nature to eternity.” Curator Bill Houser's exhibition statement for "Forever & After" starts with that quote from William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, and it’s perfectly apt. The show revolves around the subject of mortality and related themes: death, loss, mourning, commemoration, monument and, as he rather eloquently puts it, “belief in spirit with its uncertain evolution or transcendence.” History, art, literature, religion, song and popular culture are rife with references to belief in transformation at life’s end. Whether that process involves crossing the River Styx with the boatman Charon, being welcomed by the carnal pleasures delivered by 72 virgins, being forgiven for one’s sins by a hippie messiah, being reincarnated into insect or beast, or being reunited with Mom, … [Read more...] about Forever & After