There’s concept in crazy. Order in chaos. Wisdom in the bizarre. You’ll get a glimpse of this when you experience “Party Fouls,” Moe Gram’s current exhibition at the Lamont Gallery on the Phillips Exeter Academy, Exeter, New Hampshire-campus. Gram, a multidisciplinary artist from Denver, has executed these disparate ideas by using a diverse toolbox. With a bold color palette, collage, photography, juxtaposition of embellishments and found objects, she encourages the viewer to reflect on, and enrich, their lives. My advice, as you wander through this joyful show, is to loosen up a bit. Decide to garner some insightful takeaway from this exhibition and just be present with the fun! For a short while, put aside overdue bills, doctor’s appointments, crazy-busy schedules and indulge in whimsy. Capturing the passage of time — and the lessons it teaches — is challenging in any medium: Film, … [Read more...] about MOE GRAM

Alex Kittle loves the 1980s. And if you don’t already, you will too after finding her table at a Boston area art market and talking to her for two seconds. “I’ve always been drawn to the visual aesthetic of ‘80s art, fashion, decor, films — It definitely relates to my love of maximalism,” she explained. “It’s also a time when a lot of women artists were starting to come more into the forefront of the culture more significantly. The ‘60s and ‘70s laid a path with some pioneering filmmakers and artists, and then in the ‘80s, they were able to break out in new ways. That’s something that's always excited me about the period, seeing more women being their wacky artistic selves in both popular and underground culture. Also, synthesizers. Synths make everything better." Kittle proves her passion for pop culture under the moniker Pan + Scan Illustration with vibrant portraits and movie … [Read more...] about ALEX KITTLE

Sculptural ceramicist Helen Duncan divides her time between her Haverhill, Massachusetts, home and her native Ireland. She has a basement studio in Haverhill and an artist in residence studio associated with the Luan Gallery in Athlone, Ireland. She teaches art at Gloucester High School, attended Boston University and earned a Ceramics BA in Limerick, Ireland. Her website menu selections are sculpture, installations, kinetic and functional, where stated, “I explore themes of displacement, resilience and the delicate equilibrium of the natural world … moments when stability is uncertain, systems shift, adapt or fracture.” She creates with porcelain, stoneware and wire and in our conversation summarized, “it is all about connections,” between the fragile and strong, between wind creating movement and the light of day creating translucence. She is inspired by floral plants, twisting … [Read more...] about HELEN DUNCAN

There is an overarching belief that winters in Provincetown are quiet. Au contraire. As I enter the campus of the Fine Arts Work Center (FAWC) at 24 Pearl Street, people are gathering in the courtyard or mingling and eating in the welcoming Stanley Kunitz Common Room and Hudson D. Walker Gallery. The February FAWC Friday Artist Talk and Reading, presenting painter Tschabalala Self and author Paul Harding, has been greatly anticipated, and the feeling in the room is electric when current Fellow Yacine Tilala Fall introduces Self with this observation: “In her work, I find an interrogation, an awe, and a seeking.” Self followed, stating, “I want to make something that feels real and truthful — the only thing that can liberate people is the truth.” These words resonate for Fall, the making of something that feels real and truthful in the creation of her own sculptures, paintings and … [Read more...] about YACINE TILALA FALL

“You’re American now; that’s all that matters.” This was the response a young John Willis received from his grandfather, Nathan, when he would ask questions about their family’s history. His grandparents’escape from Eastern Europe when they were young made for memories better left untouched. It wasn’t until Willis began photographing the Oglala Lakota people of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, North Dakota, in the early-1990s that he began to feel the emptiness his grandfather’s off-handed dismissal engendered. Introduced to the subject by his friend, Eugene Reddest Comes Out First of the same tribe, a selection of his now decades-long documentation of Indigenous American life and culture is currently on view through March 15 at the Griffin Museum of Photography, Winchester, Massachusetts. In conjunction with Willis’ photographs are two other exhibitions — Austin Bryant’s “Where They … [Read more...] about JOHN WILLIS