American crafts are among the finest in the world. In 2004, the trustees of the Fuller Craft Museum recognized this fact and wisely decided to re-invent the museum to specialize in American crafts. Five current exhibitions at Fuller demonstrate how broadly the “crafts” concept can be stretched to include more than beautiful utilitarian objects. The exhibiting artists include both highly skilled and novice artisans. The craft materials are as diverse as aluminum sheets and a hydroponic garden. The topics of the exhibits vary widely from food distribution problems to elegant jewelry. Especially important are two exhibitions, one about the social problem of “Food Justice,” and the other, “Riotous Threads,” fiber works by people with disabilities. The exhibits demonstrate Fuller trustees’ and staff’s commitment to the human-need dimension of crafts, adventuring far beyond craft as … [Read more...] about A COMMITMENT TO CRAFTS

“Abstraction focuses on a private world,” muses Erica H. Adams in “Spirit in the Dark,” an exhibition of 23 small watercolors at the Moakley Federal Courthouse through March 30. For the first five months of the pandemic, following the March 2020 lockdown, Adams stayed at home in Mashpee, on Cape Cod. “Having no new experiences and thus reliving old experiences,” she endured the anxiety, disorientation, loneliness and frustration by painting an ongoing series of small abstract works on paper. A Tufts University/School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and Museum School Traveling Scholar, Adams had been a post-Modernist innovator who experimented with combinatory photographic technologies before the days of Photoshop, creating collaged, juxtaposed and superimposed imagery in the service of cultural critique. She exhibited widely in the 1970s, ‘80s and beyond. In addition to teaching at … [Read more...] about A GRAND RE-ENTRANCE

“There’s all kinds of life-experiences that come to one unasked-for,” said sculptor and painter Marjorie Minkin while showing me her light-filled Lexan relief sculptures one November evening on her Waltham studio wall. We are discussing her approaching exhibition at the John Joseph Moakley Federal Courthouse on Fan Pier in Boston Harbor. Skins of translucent polycarbonate dance on the white wall, their lines, shadows, reflections and rills of color overlapping. Migrating to the curved brick wall of the Courthouse’s Atrium Gallery, they will face a huge, impending tsunami — a four-story, curved glass curtain wall that opens onto a glorious northerly view of Boston’s Inner Harbor. Minkin expects her Lexans will behave quite differently when backed by the rusty textures of New England water-struck brick and illuminated by the vagaries of sun, sky and sea. But what she doesn’t know is … [Read more...] about CLEAR AND PRESENT

The camera is ubiquitous. Embedded in our phones, it sits in every pocket and purse; drilled into the walls of businesses and subway stations; fixed to traffic lights and the masonry of buildings. Its lens and spiraling aperture, recording and passive, document moments both absurdly pedestrian and of special importance, unquestionably more the former these days. The glut of photographs — now digital, ephemeral — renders our image of ourselves disposable, making for a curated life that belies reality. None of these missives are unique. Explications on the societal ramifications of the photographic image stretch from Benjamin to Barthes to Sontag and beyond. We pose for photographs as often as we take them, certainly more than we truly think about them. What is relatively unique, however, is encountering photographs wherein the subjects are at total ease, unbothered, quiescent, not … [Read more...] about CANDID AND UNHEEDING

This is a love story. A mesmerizing tale about two people who’ve shared their life more than 51 years, but, in actuality, the “love story” began long, long before that — over 1,100 years ago in English trees. That’s when certain trees began their life, and many centuries later entwined the lives and passion of a couple of artists named Lawrence and Victoria Elbroch. It’s complicated, you see. They are from different geographic areas. She, the United Kingdom. He, New York City. They met and found thattheir mutual love and respect of trees was a key factor in ultimately melding their lives and art together. A love story indeed. With many deep roots. Victoria works in mixed media. Ink, watercolor wash and on a grand scale. The detail, patterns and textures she captures in unforgiving mediums leaves one in awe. Her husband, an accomplished photographer in his own right, often collaborates … [Read more...] about SOLITARY SURVIVORS

“Designing the Dream State” is a solo exhibition by Hartford Art School’s inaugural Whitney Artist-in-Residence Chiraag Bhakta. The show will be held in the Joseloff Gallery from February 23 to March 25. Bhakta, a Hartford Art School  graphic design alumnus, is an artist and designer who works in “archival research, storytelling and collaboration in a variety of media” to unveil “the history, legacies and ongoing impact of western imperialism in our everyday lives.” “Designing the Dream State” addresses empire building and the evolution of South Asian-American identity. Bhakta takes on modern U.S. immigration policies, which brought highly educated South Asians to America in pursuit of the “American Dream.” Very much a multidisciplinary artist, Bhakta includes new works of video, sculpture, screen-printing and assemblage in the show. He also expands upon his ongoing photo-documentary … [Read more...] about FLIPPING TRADITION ON ITS HEAD