By Brian Goslow Hartford, CT - (In the November/December 2012 issue of artscope magazine, managing editor Brian Goslow “cornered” Christopher “Kip” Bergstrom, Deputy Commissioner of the State of Connecticut’s Department of Economic and Community Development. Due to space restrictions, we could only print part of their hour-long discussion. Their talk continues here.) BG: What brings the various facets under your job title together? KP: The connection between all the things that I do — art, history, branding, tourism and stimulating the innovation side of the Connecticut economy — it sounds like a mish mash, but it’s not, because the common denominator among all those things is place — placemaking. Art and history are basically the two primary threads from which you weave the cloth of place. Tourism is selling what you’ve woven to outsiders so you leverage your … [Read more...] about Cornered Extra: Christopher “Kip” Bergstrom
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Artist Dennis Coelho Donates Piece to “Bidding for Good” Auction
by Brian Goslow Providence, RI - Providence-based abstract impressionist artist, Dennis Coelho, has donated his “Ice Castles” oil painting to be auctioned off at the “Bidding for Good” auction, which benefits the Rhode Island's AIDS Care Ocean State, an HIV/AIDS service agency. “Ice Castles was part of a series depicting the complexities of human emotions and feelings,” Coelho said. “You may note the pointed Icicles that point upward and downward as the painting was designed to face either/or. The mind can be a serene cold and beautiful escape all at once, it can be filled with complex hurdles that can block passage to a place you may want to be going or it can be an inviting journey. “Either way the human mind is a beautiful place where one can create his or her own world a world that can actually come to life just by imagining it to be, If one can believe it, visualize it then one … [Read more...] about Artist Dennis Coelho Donates Piece to “Bidding for Good” Auction
A Night on the Neck at Rocky Neck Art Colony
By Rosemary Chandler GLOUCESTER, MA- On August 2, I had the good fortune to find myself at the Rocky Neck Art Colony for their monthly “Nights on the Neck,” during which galleries keep their doors open late into the evening and local musicians take to the streets, where they play for throngs of art enthusiasts in their move from one gallery reception to the next. Although rain showers had been forecasted, it turned out to be one of those amazing New England summer nights, where the temperature miraculously drops and the humidity vanishes at the end of a long, hot day. It was exactly the right kind of evening to visit the Neck. Especially notable were Judith Goetemann, owner of Goetemann Gallery, who is moving in a new direction in her artwork through the introduction of bolder and brighter colors in her batik and silk dye painting; and E.J. Lefavour, who is adding stunning … [Read more...] about A Night on the Neck at Rocky Neck Art Colony
Free, Creative, Interactive. The FIGMENT Festival is coming to Boston.
By Barbara Bausch artscope’s Barbara Bausch, who is also a dancer, will be a participant at this year’s FIGMENT Festival, which will be held this weekend in Boston, where she’s been living since April. Here she describes her expectations for her first FIGMENT Festival. Three weeks ago, I had never heard of the FIGMENT Festival. Then, while dancing on the street in front of Cambridge City Hall, I met a woman in a pink tutu who told me that, under the name Denise Awesome, she aerobicizes people all over the city. “Call me and we’ll do it together,” she said. One week ago, I finally got in touch with her. She immediately asked me if I would like to join her in an aerobic and dance performance at the FIGMENT Festival. I said yes, and started to read about what FIGMENT is. “Everything is meant to be played with,” writes Brad Cohen in Arts & Architecture. “If FIGMENT were a … [Read more...] about Free, Creative, Interactive. The FIGMENT Festival is coming to Boston.
The International Encaustic Conference Hits Provincetown
PROVINCETOWN- The motto of this year's Sixth International Encaustic Conference is "All Waxing, No Waning" and from the sound of things, there will be no waning at this year's conference. Encaustic, for those of you who are not in the know, is the use of making art with a paint that has been mixed with beeswax and fixed with heat after its application. Some may see this as a fad or a novelty, but encaustic has been used as early as ancient Egypt. Artists like Jasper Johns used to make his own beeswax paints, but as of 20 years ago companies have been manufacturing beeswax paints to accommodate artists' needs. It's safe to say that encaustic is no passing fad and the International Encaustic Conference is a testament to that. The conference journey began with artist Joanne Mattera and her book The Art of Encaustic Painting: Contemporary Expression in the Ancient Medium of Pigmented Wax … [Read more...] about The International Encaustic Conference Hits Provincetown
Back to Basics at North Bennet Street School
by Sara Farizan BOSTON, MA- I have to admit something. Kindles/Reading tablets and their ilk frighten me. I know, one day I will probably have to use one, since bookstores are closing left and right, but there is something precious about holding a book in your hands. The feel, the smell, wondering who has read the book before you, or, if you're so lucky to have a first edition, to think about the history of that particular book and where it comes from. That is why I find the non-profit North Bennet Street School so fascinating. It is a school, founded on 125 years of tradition, that teaches age old basics to potential craftsmen/craftswomen in things like book binding, jewelry, violin making and repair, carpentry, jewelry making and repair, preservation carpentry and locksmithing and security technology. NBSS began as an industrial school for immigrants in 1885 teaching trades and … [Read more...] about Back to Basics at North Bennet Street School