The “TAPPED IN: Bridging Hearts and Minds Through Art and Science” exhibition, held at the Umbrella Arts Center and curated by Stephanie Marlin-Curiel and Dr. Linda Booth Sweeney, offers a profound exploration of the marriage between art and science during its two-month run. This groundbreaking showcase, which continues through June 8, seamlessly integrates large outdoor public art installations with an informative indoor gallery experience with a central focus on addressing pressing environmental issues. In recent years, the art world has amplified its voice on climate change and environmental concerns, becoming increasingly outspoken about these urgent issues. Grants and funding are now readily available to support artists and organizations addressing these pressing topics. Over the decades, artists have responded to these challenges by creating a diverse array of works, spanning … [Read more...] about HARMONIZING ART AND SCIENCE: ‘TAPPED IN’ UNITES FOR CLIMATE ACTION AT UMBRELLA ARTS
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A HUMOROUS RESPONSE TO INSTABILITY: FIETTA & LEMAITRE SEARCH FOR ANSWERS AT FUTURE LAB(S)
In “Pondering Environmental Anxieties,” Patricia Fietta and George LeMaitre have put together an extravagant call and response phenomenon to be displayed this May at Future Lab(s) Gallery in North Adams, Massachusetts. Utilizing the rather large, elongated space of the gallery, the pair has gathered a variety of installations in several different mediums, all heartfelt, yet many a humorous response to the ever-growing problem of environmental instability. Ranging from graphics to sculptures and everything in between, Fietta and LeMaitre explore the conceptual aesthetics of the very act of the Earth’s ultimate survival in the face of climate change denial and offer inescapable knowledge and information. The artists are master storytellers, their knowledge taking the forefront of this exhibition in the form of both image and words. Almost every individual work in the show is informative. … [Read more...] about A HUMOROUS RESPONSE TO INSTABILITY: FIETTA & LEMAITRE SEARCH FOR ANSWERS AT FUTURE LAB(S)
THE LITTLE MUSEUM WHICH COULD: CUNNINGHAM’S QUILTS HELP THE CAHOON CELEBRATE
The 40th anniversary of the Cahoon Museum of American Art in Cotuit will be commemorated with a host of activities and uniquely exciting exhibitions throughout the year. The piece-de-resistance is the Christo-like wrapping of the museum in a massive quilt created by renowned quilt maker Joe Cunningham. Annie Dean, Cahoon’s consulting curator, said that after fiddling with the idea of using recycled vinyl banners for the job, she came up with the idea of using colorful spinnaker sails. “My husband’s family has owned the boat, ‘Freedom,’ for over 60 years. It is a 100-year-old Herreshoff 12 1/2 and it is a very special wooden boat that is no longer made. My husband grew up racing in it and used the spinnaker often. Last summer we put the spinnaker up just for fun and that is when I got the idea,” Dean explained. In an edition of “The Quilt Report,” that he regularly produces for YouTube … [Read more...] about THE LITTLE MUSEUM WHICH COULD: CUNNINGHAM’S QUILTS HELP THE CAHOON CELEBRATE
PAINTING WITH PAPER: SHELDON BUILDS ‘PIECE BY PIECE’ AT BROMFIELD GALLERY
Alexandra Sheldon’s upcoming solo exhibition, “Piece by Piece,” invites the onlooker to experience the push and pull of shifting emotions, rampant ideas and fleeting moments. Opening at Bromfield Gallery on May 1, the show is comprised of a selection of collages that illustrate life’s complexities and harmonies — and celebrate their coexistence. Sheldon’s Cambridge studio is just outside Central Square, at the end of a long driveway bordered by inviting greenery and trellises. Inside, a large plywood table is littered with paper of different shapes, colors and textures, intricate calligraphy-inspired drawings in black ink and collages in various stages of completion. Against another wall are shelves upon shelves of art books and a lifetime of completed sketchbooks and canvases. The room evokes a sense of controlled chaos reminiscent of an elementary school art room, and it soon became … [Read more...] about PAINTING WITH PAPER: SHELDON BUILDS ‘PIECE BY PIECE’ AT BROMFIELD GALLERY
FESTIVE OFFERINGS, BORROWED LIGHT: FAVELA, PREY & THE SHAKERS IN NEW BRITAIN
Two beautifully conceived and masterfully curated exhibits on view through the summer and beyond at the New Britain Museum of American Art (NBMAA) are built on deeply felt artist to artist homage. Justin Favela uncovered works in the museum collection that he could respond to with new ones that expressed a Latinx spirit. Barbara Prey’s six large paintings from her series “Borrowed Light,” commissioned by the Hancock Shaker Village in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, are placed thoughtfully in the gallery to accompany Shaker work objects. The title of Justin Favela’s distributed exhibit, “Do You See What I See?” is derived from his collaborative work “Circus Circus Mirror Maze,” created with Las Vegas friend Mikayla Whitmore. Their sculpture with a pink and white maze patterned floor, mirrored walls and doorways, hosts a vast collection of plastic animals. The colors and title refer to the … [Read more...] about FESTIVE OFFERINGS, BORROWED LIGHT: FAVELA, PREY & THE SHAKERS IN NEW BRITAIN
LEAVING LOCKDOWN BEHIND: FRAN BULL’S MILLION LINE ODYSSEY AT MITCHELL • GIDDINGS
As an older generation of trendsetters thins out, artists who have defied conventional classifications come to the forefront. One such person is Vermont artist Fran Bull, a participant in the Photorealist movement through the early 1980s who exhibited at the Louis Meisel Gallery in New York City. Her painstaking acrylics and watercolors embellished found images of zebras, storks and monarch butterflies in watery reflections. But Bull wasn’t content with mastery of a single style. In her late 40s, she left the New York fast track for a more personal, multidisciplinary journey. From then on, Bull’s painting style expanded into exuberant fluid abstraction on paper and canvas, painted plaster reliefs, sculpture and multi-room installations, all enriched with poetry and philosophy. Later in life, her large-scale etchings, paintings and dimensional work started traveling widely to galleries … [Read more...] about LEAVING LOCKDOWN BEHIND: FRAN BULL’S MILLION LINE ODYSSEY AT MITCHELL • GIDDINGS