Should you go to the Mary Heaton Vorse House for the exhibition of art from 12 galleries that are members of the Provincetown Art Gallery Association (PAGA), you will have the rare experience of seeing art in an impeccably restored 18th century home. Run by the Provincetown Arts Society (PAS), the house has been exhibiting art, hosting films and offering residencies to artists of any kind since 2020. The Society’s director, Gene Tartaglia, said that the Provincetown Arts Society supports the existing arts in Provincetown, and gives space for the community to gather, celebrate and talk about art in many forms. “The fiscal sponsor is the St. Joseph’s Art Society Foundation in San Francisco that was founded by Ken Fulk, who was approached by the granddaughters of Mary Heaton Vorse who wanted to sell him the home because they felt he’d be a good guardian,” by keeping it intact, restoring … [Read more...] about REINVENTING WINTER: PROVINCETOWN GALLERIES TEAM UP AT MARY HEATON VORSE HOUSE
Artscope Issues
A SHOW OF CONSISTENCY AT THE ART COMPLEX: REFRESHING TAKES AT DAA EXHIBITION
A juried art exhibition is always a time of great excitement for local artists. Who was accepted? Who won the prize money? The 51st “Annual Winter Juried Show” of the Duxbury Art Association (DAA) is no exception, and the DAA is fortunate to be able to display the chosen art in the handsome Art Complex Museum. Jurors Patricia Walsh, Laura Barletta and Carl Lopes chose art that ranges from abstraction to realism across a wide range of media including an “alternative materials” category. Marcia Ballou’s “Nest,” First Place winner in this category, uses painted fabrics and cotton threads to create a vibrant floral garden filled with daisies, asters and zinnias. The detail of cut clipped and stitched materials is amazing. By grouping flowers by color and keeping the stems vertical, she unites dozens of tiny florets in a unified vision. I recognize Ballou’s style from other juried shows; … [Read more...] about A SHOW OF CONSISTENCY AT THE ART COMPLEX: REFRESHING TAKES AT DAA EXHIBITION
A CREATIVE SEARCH FOR ANSWERS: FREEDOM BAIRD NURTURES AI & ECOLOGICAL CONSCIOUSNESS
Freedom Baird is the vortex of her ideas. They are a constant flow of conceptual strings of consciousness. The manifestation of these ideas take form in the manner of the Magician in the Tarot deck; those which start as brilliant sparks in the mind’s eye manifest in varying installations and art pieces, crystallizing and forming as an act of communication. At the Umbrella Center for the Arts in Concord, Massachusetts, curator Stephanie Marlin-Curiel is collaborating with educator Dr. Linda Booth Sweeney to present “Tapped In,” a pairing of eight scientists in the field of global warming, with eight artists. “The inspiration for this project,” Marlin-Curiel writes, “stems from a systemic understanding of climate change mitigation commonly expressed through the Bathtub metaphor. Originated by MIT Professor John Sterman and popularized by Al Gore through the Climate Reality Project and … [Read more...] about A CREATIVE SEARCH FOR ANSWERS: FREEDOM BAIRD NURTURES AI & ECOLOGICAL CONSCIOUSNESS
A BEAUTIFULLY CONCEIVED MESSAGE: ENVIRONMENTAL ARTIST CHRISTY RUPP ANCHORED AT FAIRFIELD
“Streaming: Sculpture by Christy Rupp” in the Fairfield University Art Museum’s Quick Center Marsh Gallery is a must see. Artists that work with recycled trash as their medium will witness a master’s hand with detritus and see work deeply endowed with the informed passion of a citizen scientist. As you enter, there is an all-consuming 30’ by 40’ stock photo on the largest gallery wall. It is like an IMAX image of mountains of plastic to the horizon without a hint of the earth beneath. Rupp uses this image to attach her “Petroplankton,” imaginative sculptural enlargements of micro-organisms at the bottom of the food chain, already compromised with micro-plastics. Composed of steel and single-use plastic, each of these 27 microbe objects is cleverly hidden in the wasteland. They have names like “Black Pipes,” “Drive Case,” “Floss Blue” and “Computer Board.” Wordplay is a tool Rupp uses … [Read more...] about A BEAUTIFULLY CONCEIVED MESSAGE: ENVIRONMENTAL ARTIST CHRISTY RUPP ANCHORED AT FAIRFIELD
INTERACTIVE “BUCKETS OF STUFF”: WELCOME TO THE WORLD OF BRAD CHAPMAN BLEAU
Taking its name from a 1976 song by Tom Waits, Brad Chapman Bleau’s first solo exhibition, “Step Right Up,” like the forementioned composition, is offering something for everyone in, “An exhibition of Junk Paintings and Assemblage Sculptures” at the Mary Cosgrove Dolphin Gallery at Worcester State University, where he is a gallery curator and adjunct professor of art. Entering his second-floor workspace at the Worcester Center for Crafts, in an area that also hosts Worcester State University Visual and Performing Arts classrooms as part of their partnership formed in 2009, atop a worktable, sits a large coil of barbed wire that he found 10 years ago. It’s joined by a work-in- progress featuring a backdrop of ghoulish looking cutout “holding” a wooden tray containing a toy gun, plastic skull, a box of Band-Aids, an animal bone and pack of Newport cigarettes. The borders of the room are … [Read more...] about INTERACTIVE “BUCKETS OF STUFF”: WELCOME TO THE WORLD OF BRAD CHAPMAN BLEAU
TURNING TRASH INTO ART: KIM BERNARD ENCOURAGES HANDS-ON LEARNING AT MILTON
An indication of an artist that excels in his or her field is their drive to grow, improve upon existing accomplishments and do it, “just that much better” next time. If you add on teaching and changing someone’s world view, all the better. Rockland, Maine artist Kim Bernard does all those things. Her creative expressions over the years are diverse — she said that they feed off each other and are ultimately connected. But how to capture a woman of unlimited passions and projects? Let me mention a few. Bernard is not one to be restricted. If she thinks it, she makes it happen. “One Woman’s Trash,” Bernard’s current exhibit at Nesto Gallery at Milton Academy in Milton, Massachusetts, was created by interacting with students at the academy — getting them excited about trash and turning it into art. She will return to the campus in early April as a visiting artist to create an … [Read more...] about TURNING TRASH INTO ART: KIM BERNARD ENCOURAGES HANDS-ON LEARNING AT MILTON