By James Foritano Cambridge, MA - Lest you think, dear readers, that with all the hoopla over the opening of the new Renzo Piano-designed Harvard Art Museums, that Harvard University is only looking forward into a glorious future, never back … No! Harvard remembers a bright spot of shame smack on its reputation for art conservation. Most specifically, a quintet of Rothkos installed in a dining room at the top of the Holyoke Center in 1964 and slowly fading during a nearly two-decades long bath in the light from floor to ceiling windows. OOPS! The last of these paintings was taken down in 1979 and squirreled away into the darker recesses of storage. Meanwhile Rothko’s ascension into the pantheon of modern art continued a steady progress towards stratospheric heights, both aesthetically and monetarily. Double OOPS! Enter the newly redesigned Harvard Art Museums, filled with … [Read more...] about Grand reopening: Harvard Art Museums and the return of its Rothko paintings
News
Art Night Bristol-Warren to celebrate life of Tom McAleer
By Brian Goslow Bristol, RI - The life of Tom McAleer, a much beloved member of the coastal Rhode Island art community, who recently passed away, will be celebrated on October 23 from 5-8 p.m. at Art Night Bristol-Warren’s Summer Season End Celebration at Linden Place, 500 Hope Street, Bristol, Rhode Island. The event will feature a "Plein Air Painter, Tom "Mac" McAleer” solo exhibition, Ten31 Living Renaissance Painter Sculpture, music by Red Eye Flight and works from Amaral Fabrications. McAleer served on the board of Art Night Bristol-Warren, taught painting classes and made a name for himself as an outsider and plein air artist. "Most fittingly, Art Night is celebrating the life and art of one of its dedicated members, Tom McAleer,” said Bristol Warren Art Night co-chair Stephan Brigidi. “Tom was a highly prolific and committed member of the Art Night Board. His presence … [Read more...] about Art Night Bristol-Warren to celebrate life of Tom McAleer
The Arts Factor study reports a $1 billion economic arts engine in Boston
By Jim Dyment Lowell, MA - Catherine Peterson from ArtsBoston, a collaborating partner for public, private, and nonprofit leaders, was the keynote speaker at Celebrate Giving, an annual event held by the Greater Lowell Community Foundation in Westford on September 18 at the Westford Regency. In her speech, she shared data about the impact the arts has on the Creative Economy in the region from ArtsBoston’s recent The Arts Factor study. “The Arts Factor shows that nonprofit arts and cultural organizations are an economic engine for Greater Boston, with $1 billion direct spending and an additional $450 million spent by audiences above and beyond the cost of admission. Our sector supports over 26,000 jobs and makes the region attractive for employers looking to attract and retain a smart workforce.” Peterson reported. ArtsBoston promotes the Greater Boston’s arts and cultural sector … [Read more...] about The Arts Factor study reports a $1 billion economic arts engine in Boston
You. Are. Beautiful. A Tribute to Warriors at the McGladrey Art Gallery
By Puloma Ghosh Waltham, MA — After following a winding path, Thi Linh Wernau found herself wanting to pursue photography professionally, years after she had discovered a love for it during her college years. She returns to her passion with the series, “You. Are. Beautiful. A Tribute to Warriors,” an inspiring look at unique individuals in our society. Her inspiration for the project began with the passing of her grandmother, who left Wernau a pillow with an excerpt from a poem stitched onto it that read, “I woke and found that life was duty.” Around the same time, Wernau was walking through at her sister’s house and found, among a wall full of prints and paintings, one work that stood out to her: a simple text that said “You are beautiful.” Those words summed up the feelings she wanted to convey with her photography. One day she picked up a medium format plastic toy camera, … [Read more...] about You. Are. Beautiful. A Tribute to Warriors at the McGladrey Art Gallery
Cornered! Cecil Touchon’s Typography Art
Cecil Touchon fits into a lot of categories, but would you expect anything else from the founder of the International Museum of Collage, Assemblage and Construction. Three works from his “Post Dogmatist Painting” series will be on view through October 4 at Lanoue Fine Art, 450 Harrison Ave. #31, Boston. Artscope managing editor Brian Goslow “Cornered” Touchon by phone at his new studio in Santa Fe, New Mexico. TELL ME ABOUT THE WORK THAT’LL BE ON DISPLAY AT LANOUE FINE ART. These three particular paintings that I’m sending up right now, which the gallery selected out of about 10 that were available, happened to all have an underlayment of paper from antique 1880s Webster Dictionary pages. That’s not particularly important, because it could be any paper, but since my work, at the moment, is based completely on typography using pre-existing type faces, then chopping those up and … [Read more...] about Cornered! Cecil Touchon’s Typography Art
Bernard Langlais at the Colby College Museum of Art & the Bernard Langlais Art Trail
By James Foritano Waterville, Maine - Fresh, honest, engaging — even ‘crafty’ — have been some of the adjectives lavished on the Bernard Langlais solo exhibit now at the Colby College Museum of Art. And yes, they’re all true, in all senses; yet, I didn’t drive the three hours plus up to Waterville, Maine just to repeat them. So, here are, I hope, some new or half-new insights, or maybe just self-addressed explanations, glimpsed from standing on the shoulders or peering between the legs of those previous insights. Langlais went out of his way to come back to his family farm from near apotheosis in the bubbling ferment of the 1960’s N.Y.C. art scene. Was he afraid of the loneliness of pre-eminence, too sensitive to the heat and venom of competition — just a backwoods boy, in other words, yearning for the barnyard A.S.A.P.? Maybe, but my take is that, like Br’er Fox in the … [Read more...] about Bernard Langlais at the Colby College Museum of Art & the Bernard Langlais Art Trail