Artscope Magazine

New England's Culture Magazine

Artscope Magazine | March/April 2021

Subscribe to the Magazine

A vibrant, dynamic magazine with arts news, reviews and info you can use, delivered right to your door!

Subscribe now

Sign up for our Email Blasts!

Special Artscope updates in your inbox every two weeks!

Sign up

Artscope Online

A LASTING IMPRESSION: STUART KNEW THE PROPAGANDIST VALUE OF SYMBOLS

// Community, Current Issue, March/April 2021

by Nancy Nesvet

Forty-four Presidential portraits hang in the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., each unique, reflecting stylistic and political preferences and concerns as visual art codes and signals points of view of society at the time it is produced. Recent events in our nation’s capital have drawn attention to recognizing the artist’s role as documentarian and interpreters of society’s views and preferences. Where a camera is aimed and what a videocam records is dependent on the stance of an artist and their courage to be in a place and time. That has been proven in the videos of the Capitol riots that numerous people have seen on TV and computer screens. Painters and sculptors observe the same requirements and parameters in creating their work. The stance and mind of a sculptor or painter, and the artist’s view of the President, was responsible for the artist’s unique vision and … [Read more...] about A LASTING IMPRESSION: STUART KNEW THE PROPAGANDIST VALUE OF SYMBOLS

A NEW APPROACH TO PROGRAMMING: LEXART’S BROADER OUTREACH, RENOVATED GALLERY

// Community, Current Issue, March/April 2021

by Isabel Barbi

Founded in 1935, Lexington Arts and Crafts (LexArt) continues to service the community and expand in resources and innovation throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Over the last 86 years, the educational non-profit collaborative has undergone many intentional and inevitable changes, but the ones enacted in the past year are completely reshaping LexArt to even further “encourage and inspire artisans at all stages of their journeys” and “enrich lives through the power of art and craft,” quoted from their vision and mission statements. In November 2020, Matthew Siegal, former Chair of the Department of Conservatism and Collections Management at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, was officially appointed as Executive Director and President of LexArt. Prior to Siegal, the organization was entirely volunteer run until March 2019 when the organization overhauled its internal structure and … [Read more...] about A NEW APPROACH TO PROGRAMMING: LEXART’S BROADER OUTREACH, RENOVATED GALLERY

CURRENT | UNDERCURRENT: PRESSING ISSUES SPOTLIGHTED AT UMASS AMHERST SHOW

// Current Issue, Featured, March/April 2021

by Hannah Carrigan

In “CURRENT|UNDERCURRENT,” an online show at UMass Amherst’s Hampden Gallery on view through May 14, both the acute and the latent pains of an unequal and unhealed America are exposed, dissected and felt. The exhibition, curated by Linda Griggs and M. Charlene Stevens, is overtly personal and political; consequently, it lends itself to vastly different viewing experiences. The show begins with works curated by Griggs which are organized into four themes: the COVID-19 pandemic, racial justice, climate change and the economy. These themes reflect “the four key points that then President-elect Biden vowed to address on his first day in office,” and many intersect across and within individual works. The first piece in the exhibition, Christina Marsh’s “One Drop,” features 100 cups containing various shades of chocolate milk. The cups sit in rows on a white painted floor, each … [Read more...] about CURRENT | UNDERCURRENT: PRESSING ISSUES SPOTLIGHTED AT UMASS AMHERST SHOW

CORNERED: JANUARY/FEBRUARY ARTSCOPE COVER ARTIST DANIELLE KLEBES

// Artscope Online, Cornered, Interview, Visual Arts

by Brian Goslow

“Stray,” the painting by Danielle Klebes featured on the cover of our January/February 2021 issue, can now be seen at Springfield Museums as part of its “This Is Us: Regional Portraiture Now: Phase Two” exhibition. While she lives, and works in North Adams, Massachusetts, since earning her Master of Fine Arts degree in Visual Arts from Lesley University College of Art and Design in 2017 and after serving as MASS MoCA Artist in Residence, Klebes has spent a great deal of her time out-of-town participating in artist residencies at the Vermont Studio Center and Monson Arts in Vermont, various national programs in Ohio, Nebraska, Georgia and Michigan and international residencies in Quebec and Norway. She’s had a series of solo exhibitions in Massachusetts, Vermont, Pennsylvania and Quebec and participated in group exhibitions in New York and Colorado. Klebes, who mainly works in … [Read more...] about CORNERED: JANUARY/FEBRUARY ARTSCOPE COVER ARTIST DANIELLE KLEBES

RETURNING TO “BREATH”: ZARAH HUSSAIN PRESENTS MEDITATIVE ART FOR A WORLD IN CRISIS AT THE PEABODY ESSEX MUSEUM

// Artscope Online, Exhibits, Visual Arts

by Hannah Carrigan

A healing show made for a troubled time, Zarah Hussain’s “Breath” offers an age-old request: to slow down, to breathe deeply, and to get in touch with who and where we are. The multi-media exhibition at Salem’s Peabody Essex Museum, and accompanying online content, could not be timelier. Global and local communities alike are mourning the insurmountable loss of life from COVID-19; the climate crisis is systemically and sporadically resulting in air pollution and wildfires which threaten our airways; and the last words of George Floyd (and so many others across generations and countries), “I can’t breathe,” have sounded an alarm in our collective minds. In the midst of it all, Hussain’s vibrant, concentric patterns resonate deeply with our most fundamental needs for health, healing and peace. Through subject matter, mediums and methods which match the moment and the movement with equal … [Read more...] about RETURNING TO “BREATH”: ZARAH HUSSAIN PRESENTS MEDITATIVE ART FOR A WORLD IN CRISIS AT THE PEABODY ESSEX MUSEUM

CORNERED: MEREDITH FLUKE & B. LYNCH TALK ABOUT NEW GILDED AGE: A THEATRICAL INSTALLATION AT THE CANTOR ART GALLERY AT THE COLLEGE OF THE HOLY CROSS

// Artscope Online, Cornered, Exhibits

by Brian Goslow

After visiting the “New Gilded Age: A Theatrical Installation by B. Lynch” exhibition that’s on view through February 5 at the Iris and B. Cantor Art Gallery at the College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, Massachusetts (and which is reviewed in our January/February 2021 issue), Artscope managing editor Brian Goslow exchanged email questions with gallery director Meredith Fluke and multi-media artist and puppeteer Bridget “B.” Lynch about how the exhibition came together, how they adapted to the challenges of a semester where the Holy Cross campus opened, and then soon shut down, turning the show into a by appointment only exhibition, and how in the process, explored numerous new ways to present an exhibition that normally would serve as a backdrop to the college’s art programs. MEREDITH FLUKE, DIRECTOR, CANTOR GALLERY AT THE COLLEGE OF THE HOLY CROSS EXHIBITIONS AT THE CANTOR ALWAYS … [Read more...] about CORNERED: MEREDITH FLUKE & B. LYNCH TALK ABOUT NEW GILDED AGE: A THEATRICAL INSTALLATION AT THE CANTOR ART GALLERY AT THE COLLEGE OF THE HOLY CROSS