With a gala air, the Gardner Museum prepares its sparkling Renzo Piano wing for “In the Company of Artists: 25 Years of Artists-in- Residence.” Laura Owens’s giant gold-and-magenta banner winks with a smiley face on the museum’s façade: “ShowTime.” In the Hostetter Gallery, photographers complete their shots of newly installed works by the seven returning resident artists. Lee Mingwei, creator of the museum’s Living Room, hovers near its door in a floor-length robe of charcoal silk, protecting the artists being interviewed within. In the distance, Lee’s “Sonic Blossom” singers are practicing Schubert’s Lieder with which to surprise gallery guests. In the garden, the mobile artist Charmaine Wheatley chats with a guard while sketching his portrait. Pieranna Cavalchini, the Gardner’s curator of contemporary art and director of the residency program, glides along the stairways and … [Read more...] about STAYING CONTEMPORARY: ARTIST PROGRAM MAINTAINS THE GARDNER’S HERITAGE
Exhibits
DISORIENTATED VIEWS: DANIELA RIVERA’S LABORED LANDSCAPES
Daniela Rivera explores labor, landscape and identity in her exhibition “Labored Landscapes (where hand meets ground)” at the Fitchburg Art Museum (FAM), and with this exploration, Rivera presents the interconnectedness apparent in labor, laborer and what she designates as the labored surface — either the physical ground that is toiled, or the ground or surface of a painting. Born in Santiago, Chile, Rivera moved to the Boston area in 2002, received her MFA from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University, Boston, in 2006, and has been associate professor of studio art at Wellesley College for the past 11 years. Her native Chile provides the context for works that are both highly conceptual, visually commanding and intellectually provocative. Organized by FAM curator Lisa Crossman with Terrana Curatorial Fellow Marjorie Rawle, the exhibition is comprised of three … [Read more...] about DISORIENTATED VIEWS: DANIELA RIVERA’S LABORED LANDSCAPES
Northwestern University in Qatar’s Media Majlis
Media Majlis, the first media museum in the Arab world, is named after the traditional majlis, the Arab gathering place where information was shared and spread. Located in Doha’s Education City, the museum, part of Northwestern University in Qatar, is one of the world’s most technologically advanced schools of media. The building designed by the renowned architect Antoine Predock highlights digital technology with state-of-the-art media. Its exterior features two curvilinear spaces. The large screen permanently affixed to the wall is in the form of a saif tic, the shape of a curved sword particular to the Arab world that is used in wayfinding. The museum, dedicated to media, journalism and communication, seeks to provide multiple views on given subjects, allowing the public to find their own ways of exploring the topics and providing a pulpit for polyphonic discussion in our … [Read more...] about Northwestern University in Qatar’s Media Majlis
THE BOSTON LYRIC OPERA PRESENTS PAGLIACCI
Once again, the Boston Lyric Opera (BLO) has made a brilliant virtue of its present homeless state by choosing an unorthodox and roomy site in which they can design a stage that is more an invitation than the old-style elevated barrier. This stage was the DCR Memorial Steriti Skating Rink located on Commercial Street, just a short walk from North Station. We took advantage of the Green Line’s public transportation then climbed upstairs to enjoy an illuminated urban experience on Commercial Street as it circles a North End dotted with restaurants. Since we longed for the full immersive experience, we ignored the restaurants and headed for the advertised food trucks. I grabbed a heap of Indian food, then followed the signs to the back of the skating rink where we positioned ourselves on a picnic bench overlooking the Charles River as it flows towards the locks that lead into Boston … [Read more...] about THE BOSTON LYRIC OPERA PRESENTS PAGLIACCI
SEASIDE ART: EAST BOSTON: PRESENT TENSE AT CLIPART
Looking out onto the water where sailboats glide towards the Boston skyline, lies ClipArt Gallery, tucked away in the new luxury Clippership apartments and condos of East Boston. Its debut exhibit, “East Boston: Present Tense,” curated by Marjorie Kaye, the founder of Galatea Fine Art in Boston, showcases juried work from East Boston artists in a small space, where “a variety of different mediums are represented.” Currently open exclusively to residents and viewable by the public on Saturdays, ClipArt Gallery invites guests to escape into the art, away from the bustling city in the distance. A patchwork of collaged earthy oranges, greens and blues coalesce in Dominick Takis’s “Picasso’s Byzantined Brains,” the first artwork to greet viewers. The 40” x 40” work is a maze for the eyes as they get lost in the rough textures, colored tiles and cut-outs of faces, inspired by Picasso’s Cubism … [Read more...] about SEASIDE ART: EAST BOSTON: PRESENT TENSE AT CLIPART
PAMELA TARBELL: PAINTINGS NOW AND THEN AND “CREATURES GREAT AND SMALL AT THE NESTO GALLERY AT MILTON ACADEMY
An art exhibit opening! What a fun way to cheer up a rainy fall afternoon. The Nesto Gallery at Milton Academy lures its student audience with generous cheese and crackers and the kids are thrilled to meet artists like Pamela R. Tarbell. A retired gallery owner, she is dressed in an exuberant jacket that matches her equally exuberant paintings. An outdoor sculpture exhibit, “All Creatures Great and Small,” adds to the fun and the sculptors are willing to go out in the rain to have their photos taken with some students. Tarbell’s brightly colored paintings fill the small gallery with floral imagery, and memories of pleasant times on beaches and in gardens. “Fernland #1” is a fine example. Closely observed ferns of different species are enlarged and dance across the canvas. Tchaikovsky’s “Dance of the Flowers” would be the ideal background music. On the left side of the large two-part … [Read more...] about PAMELA TARBELL: PAINTINGS NOW AND THEN AND “CREATURES GREAT AND SMALL AT THE NESTO GALLERY AT MILTON ACADEMY