“Flora & Fauna,” an exhibition featuring encaustic artists Debra Claffey, Patricia Gerkin, Kellie Weeks and Charyl Weissbach, will be held from January 7 through February 18 at The Brush Art Gallery & Studios, 256 Market St., Lowell, Massachusetts. Claffey focuses on the plant world, celebrating its beauty of form, shape, and infinite color. Gerkin challenges viewers “to note that space where two worlds meet—outer and inner” with her intuitive process allowing her materials (paint sticks, encaustic, metal leaf and disparate materials), to organically lead the way. While using encaustics “for their insurmountable quality, depth and brilliancy,” Weeks also incorporates dry pigments, metal leaf, shellac and other mixed media as vehicles to develop a whole lexicon of imagery. Weissbach, painting with pigment sticks and encaustic, explores nature’s vastness and the details found … [Read more...] about CAPSULE PREVIEWS: January/February 2023
Capsule Previews
CAPSULE PREVIEWS: November/December 2022
“Artists for Ukraine: Transforming Ammo Boxes into Icons,” a powerful installation of three Ukrainian icons painted on the boards of ammunition boxes by Oleksandr Klymenko and Sofia Atlantova, a husband-wife artistic team from Kyiv, Ukraine, will be on view from November 3 through February 13, 2023, at the Museum of Russian Icons, 203 Union St., Clinton, Massachusetts. They’re part of the ongoing “Buy an Icon — Save a Life” project originally created in response to Russia’s 2014 invasion of Ukraine after Klymenko found empty wooden ammunition boxes from combat zones and noted their resemblance to icon boards (doski). By repurposing the panels, the project strives, in the artist’s words, to “transform death (symbolized by ammo boxes) into life (traditionally symbolized by icons in Ukrainian culture). The goal, this victory of life over death, happens not only on the figurative and … [Read more...] about CAPSULE PREVIEWS: November/December 2022
CAPSULE PREVIEWS: JULY/AUGUST 2022
“Who We Are: Celebrating Diversity” remains on view through July 31 at the Loading Dock Gallery at Western Avenue Studios, 122 Western Ave., Lowell, Massachusetts. The exhibition “is a showcase of art from those who are traditionally overlooked in New England and Greater Lowell including BIPOC, LGBT+ and non-binary communities” as selected by juror Gwendolyn Lanier, an artist at Lowell’s Brush Art Gallery and Studios and a teaching artist at the Essex Art Center in Lawrence, Massachusetts, whose artwork has been exhibited at Woman Made Gallery in Chicago, the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts and the Painted Bride in Philadelphia. Gallery hours are Wednesday through Saturday from noon-5:30 p.m. and on Sunday from noon-4 p.m. The show’s opening reception takes place on July 2 from 3-5 p.m. Joe Caruso’s “Movers and Shakers” will be on view from July 9 through August 20 at HallSpace, 950 … [Read more...] about CAPSULE PREVIEWS: JULY/AUGUST 2022
CAPSULE PREVIEWS: May/June 2022
“A fun silver lining of the pandemic has been the opportunity to witness the shift of wardrobes from traditional business casual to a more casual style filled to the brim with unique, personal expression,” which has led to a two-month exhibition of masculine works, including couture leather jackets, uniquely printed t-shirts, jewelry and belts, made by over 20 Maine craft artists. “Hey Handsome! A Show of Rugged Attire & Accessories” runs from May 6 through June 26 at Maine Craft Portland, 521 Congress Street, Portland, Maine. “The ability to work from home allowed many people of all genders to find and experience the freedom to experiment in the creation of their own personal style with a new flare, often through more sustainable means.” For over 39 years, Phyllis Kornfeld has been working with incarcerated men and women across the country in prisons and jails that offer art … [Read more...] about CAPSULE PREVIEWS: May/June 2022
CAPSULE PREVIEWS FOR ARTSCOPE 97
“FeministFuturist: Liminal Lab,” the final show at the Hess Gallery at Pine Manor College, 400 Heath St., Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, is scheduled from March 1 through May 25; it follows the FeministFurist collective’s debut show in 2020. “We felt a need to continue the spirit of the Boston Center for the Arts. exhibit in a collective endeavor,” said Hess Gallery director — and collective member — Carolyn Wirth. “One of the first things we did was write a manifesto to state our purposes as artists, feminists and futurists. We choose “FeministFuturist” to describe a point of view which embraces a future of equality intersecting across gender, race, sexual orientation, class, creed and species.” Participating artists include Freedom Baird (who’ll be overseeing a “Journey Quilt” made of fabric and momentos from the Pine Manor College community), digital andVR artist AK Liesenfeld, … [Read more...] about CAPSULE PREVIEWS FOR ARTSCOPE 97
CAPSULE PREVIEWS FOR ARTSCOPE 96
“Straits of Magellan,” an exhibition featuring paintings of the southern tip of South America by Lola Chaisson, takes place from January 5 through February 12 at 6 Bridges Gallery, 77 Main Street, Maynard, Massachusetts. The show will feature sketches, photos and memories in which Chaisson captures the spirit of a voyage taken shortly before the pandemic. "Rather than focus on being 'stuck at home,' I picked up my brushes and looked back to the open vistas where mountains stretched up to the clouds and down to the sea, in my mind, switching the view of my living room back to the views along the passage from Punta Arenas to Ushuaia via Cape Horn." An opening reception is scheduled for January 8 from 1-3 p.m.; the exhibition will also be viewable online at 6bridges.gallery. In curating “Passing the Edge,” Leonie Bradbury has put together a show that “celebrates artists’ mark making as a … [Read more...] about CAPSULE PREVIEWS FOR ARTSCOPE 96