All the senses will trigger memory, but for many people, a visual image opens a locked door to personal history, often forgotten or detached from the routines and obligations of daily living. Gail Winbury’s extensive body of work currently at the Southern Vermont Arts Center is a powerhouse exhibit that explores the joys and struggles that we all experience as we add layer upon layer of history to the being that transitions from childhood to adulthood to old age. The show, “The Girl Who Drew Memories,” invites the viewers to probe their own personal histories by interacting with the paintings, poetry and objects on display. Winbury was inspired by a close, immersive look into the details — the small fragments of memory — that have guided the events and choices of a narrative that is unique to her own life and yet capable of unlocking the repositories of the mind in her viewers. The … [Read more...] about SMALL FRAGMENTS OF MEMORY
Reviews
HIPPOS AND ICEBERGS
To get to Lawrence Academy from Cambridge, you must fly over the super-highways of Route 2 (West) and 495 (North), then bear, with some patience, the horse and carriage — and sometimes tractor from a local farm — pace of Route 119 (North, again) to cover around 50 miles in just under an hour — with a few glances at our colorful New England foliage, before arriving in truly picturesque Groton, Massachusetts. Curator Laurie McGovern hailed us from the top of the Richardson-Meese Performing Arts Center steps and graciously guided us into the Conant Gallery, showing us around the exhibition of two, in my opinion, super-star artists. The first work to draw my attention was photographer Peter Roos’ “Mirror Water #3.” I looked at it for several minutes until I felt somewhat like I saw, or even was seeing at that very moment, what Peter saw in the diminishing grandeur of an iceberg in … [Read more...] about HIPPOS AND ICEBERGS
AN INTENSITY OF COLOR
If, as an adult, you have read Lewis Carroll’s “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland,” you will remember that Alice is confronted with paradoxes, contradictions in logic, disorientation of time and generally puzzlement at her place in that bewildering environment. The book you may have read in middle school as a fantastical tale takes on deeper, more introspective layers of meaning in the seasoned reading and may have prepared you for the current exhibits at Burlington’s BCA Gallery. The central figure in Valerie Hird’s show “The Garden of Absolute Truths” is Alice, in the form of an avatar. This avatar appears as a hand drawn paper cutout in a video, in works on paper and in a series of book sculptures — three-dimensional collaged boxes. This more contemporary Alice explores and examines her knowledge, assumptions and orientation toward such global issues as migration, social … [Read more...] about AN INTENSITY OF COLOR
ROMANTIC ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM
Everyone lives their lives with vivid memories of “how I spent the Covid years!” Sarah Meyers Brent ground out the Covid chaos by combing her home and the town dumps for debris to create romantic, entangling wall sculptures. Brent is an artist with an unerring sense for compositional line, texture and color, evidenced by her solo exhibition, “Out Growth,” at The Art Complex Museum in Duxbury, Massachusetts. Brent’s “masterpiece” is one of her smaller works, “Portrait of a WomanandMotherDuringaPandemic.”Clearlyasculpturalself- portrait, the work invokes the swirling, “topsy-turvy” conflicted life of an artist and mother. To make this work she collected materials including a toy dinosaur, jewelry, plastic floral leaves and breast- like globules. But the star of the chaotic swirl is a dismembered Barbie doll, who twirls, crotch-up, above the fray. The diverse objects are united by an … [Read more...] about ROMANTIC ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM
A SKEPTICAL CELEBRATION
Currently in its seventh exhibition at the Atlantic Wharf Gallery in downtown Boston, the group show Shared Habitat Earth is a vibrant and eclectic collection of works all connected to the central theme of combating climate change. The words “Shared Habitat Earth” came to local artist Barbara Eskin while walking through the woods, and the meaning behind them was revealed through conversations with her creative community. The intent of the show is to interweave art and activism, using the works as a way to inspire viewers into action, all the while keeping them grounded in their empathy and humanity. In the show’s description: Shared Habitat Earth (SHE) suggests cross species respect, intercultural solidarity and a shared sense of responsibility, and, in the face of enormous threats to our habitat, it calls for action. The 40 artists in the exhibition use their creativity to fight against … [Read more...] about A SKEPTICAL CELEBRATION
RENDERING DISORDER
Diana Zipeto, the Lowell-based artist who has built her career on the practice of rendering images, was shocked to discover that an MRI is more of a map than a photo. This fact is one that she gleaned through a combination of life experience and creative inquiry: after looking at MRIs capturing the progression of her father’s recently diagnosed Alzheimer’s, she found herself compelled to understand and render the images herself. Zipeto’s solo show, “Resonance,” on view at Galatea Fine Arts from December 2 through January 8, takes inspiration from these MRI images to present a portrait of one person’s struggle with disease and a loved one’s struggle to make sense of what it means. Though the upcoming exhibit will also feature mixed media pieces, including a LEGO model of an MRI procedure and small plastic model brains, Zipeto’s acrylic paintings comprise the main body of the show. … [Read more...] about RENDERING DISORDER