In the Biblical tale of the Tower of Babel, the Hebrew God punishes proud humans who build to the heavens, scattering and cursing his would-be rivals to chatter henceforth in a welter of tongues. Modern linguistics takes the more appreciative view that evolution bestows on our species a chameleon-like capacity for languages. We are born into language with a brain equipped to learn it, and each child matures within a particular culture through the medium of its language. “Beyond Words,” a survey of visual art engaged with language, gathers 35 works in many media by both local and international artists at Boston’s Fountain Street Gallery, on view through March 27. Juror Gabriel Sosa, who teaches “Con(text)ualized Drawing” at Massachusetts College of Art and Design, wisely resists a Western-centric emphasis on written “text.” He delivers an inclusive overview of the diverse ways language … [Read more...] about MORE THAN WORDS: FOUNTAIN STREET’S INTERNATIONAL LANGUAGE SHOWCASE
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HAVE CAMERA, WILL TRAVEL: ARMSTRONG, STUDENTS REUNITE ON FITCHBURG WALLS
There are few things in life that photographer Frank ArmstronglovesmorethanheadingoutfromhisWestBoylston, Massachusetts home and driving the backroads of America at 35 miles an hour in search of a unique piece of Americana, drawn by the curiosity of what he might find. “Nothing else but curiosity. I’m just nosey,” said Armstrong prior to the opening of his “American Roadsides: Frank Armstrong’s Photographic Legacy” exhibition at the Fitchburg Art Museum. “I just like to get out there and see what’s there. Once I got out there, I found there was interesting stuff.” Featuring photographs taken between 2012 and 2021, and chosen by Fitchburg Art Museum Director Nick Capasso, who curated his portion of the exhibition, Armstrong shares the spotlight with six of his former students at Clark University (where he has taught analog and digital photography since 1999) and one from the … [Read more...] about HAVE CAMERA, WILL TRAVEL: ARMSTRONG, STUDENTS REUNITE ON FITCHBURG WALLS
LIGHT & LAYERS: SUSAN WAHLRAB’S “GARDEN IN THE FOREST” OFFERS RESPITE
Mark and Angie Setevdemio, founders of Creative Connections Gift Shop & Gallery in Ashburnham, Massachusetts, have known Vermont artist Susan Wahlrab since she was their art professor at Framingham State College 30 years ago. Fast forward, and they are now hosting her exhibition, “Garden in the Forest,” in their second-floor gallery space. “We’ve been admirers of Susan’s work since we were in college,” Mark said. “We were taken with her printmaking at the time, and later her dramatic use of light and overlapping swirls of color in layered concentric circles that use an unusual visual technique of varnished watercolor on archival clay board.” It’s a labor-intensive method that Wahlrab developed over time, requiring a good deal of patience, as layer upon layer dries before each subsequent layer is added. The result is engaging color and form on works that range in size … [Read more...] about LIGHT & LAYERS: SUSAN WAHLRAB’S “GARDEN IN THE FOREST” OFFERS RESPITE
“WE ARE STILL HERE”: VISIONARY, LIVING, IMPORTANT: INDIGENOUS AMERICAN ART
It is not just for the expression of an aesthetic and experience of lifeways, history and ceremony thousands of years old, nor because it connects us to, reminds us of the values of living in balance with each other and earth, but because it is a form of revolutionary resistance against the oppression of white supremacy, colonialism and fascism that Indigenous art is so important. As any native person from Wampanoag to Kwakiutl will tell you, “We are still here.” And they have been fighting the misapprehension that they are extinct, fighting to have their real history included in curricula, fighting to let it be known what genocides were done to them, culturally, linguistically and physically, by war, religion, forced education, economies, disease — and to let the rest of non-native America know that they have, in spite of all, persisted, and in some cases thrived, despite injustice, … [Read more...] about “WE ARE STILL HERE”: VISIONARY, LIVING, IMPORTANT: INDIGENOUS AMERICAN ART
INSTINCTIVE, PLAYFUL, METICULOUS: RODRIGUEZ USES HER ART TO OVERCOME PAST TRAUMA
To experience the dream of another is something that many regard as an impossible feat. The closest we may come is by being immersed in the extraordinary video installations of Cuban-American interdisciplinary artist Allison Maria Rodriguez at the Nesto Gallery at Milton Academy. “There is power in creativity, there is strength in imagining,” Rodriguez said, noting that imagination is a force encouraged in childhood and suppressed in adulthood. Her exhibition, “Worlds Within,” is comprised of several digital animations from Rodriguez’s ongoing series, “Legends Breathe.” The subjects of Rodriguez’s stunning installations are female-identified and nonbinary creatives in her community, invited by the artist to share visually detailed descriptions of their childhood fantasies. These fantasies are dreams and stories her subjects created during childhood in order to overcome traumatic … [Read more...] about INSTINCTIVE, PLAYFUL, METICULOUS: RODRIGUEZ USES HER ART TO OVERCOME PAST TRAUMA
MAKING A STATEMENT: TRIEDMAN’S WINDOW FRAMED COLLAGES ARRIVE IN CONCORD
I first discovered Kim Triedman’s multi-layered work in ArtSpace Maynard’s 2018 exhibition, “Waste Not,” in which most of the work engaged the feelings of discourse taking place in the United States at the time. Having loved old buildings and old things, I was immediately drawn to her use of old window frames as frames for her collages. It took several close looks – some of those not taking place till I had returned home to review photos I had taken as a reference for my notes — to realize how much else was going on in her pieces — and what their true intention was. “I think that every act of art-making is an act of throwing out a line for someone else in the universe to catch," Triedman said. “Anytime we as viewers approach a piece of art, we come at it with our own set of experiences and emotional history – but essentially blind as to the artist’s own intentions and processes. So, … [Read more...] about MAKING A STATEMENT: TRIEDMAN’S WINDOW FRAMED COLLAGES ARRIVE IN CONCORD