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New England's Culture Magazine

Artscope Magazine | May/June 2021

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Visual Arts

URBANO PROJECT CELEBRATES THE WARMTH OF WE HEAL’S ART WORKSHOPS

// Artscope Online, Community, Visual Arts

by Montana Mendes

A click of a Zoom link and a question of whether the video would stay on and I was in to view the online closing celebration for the “We Heal” exhibition and book release coordinated by sculptor Nora Valdez in collaboration with patients from the Cancer and Sickle Cell Support Programs at the Boston Medical Center and Dana Farber Cancer Institute and youth from the Urbano Project. The project was an encouraging and inspiring workshop that allowed those going through hardships to experience the creativity they have. As everyone rolled in for the March 19 event, I sat and waited for the presentation of what would be beautiful art from people who do not consider them artists. It started with a warm welcome to show how much of a community had been built through this exhibition. The exhibition mimicked the feeling of healing and the work resembled places that feel good to those who … [Read more...] about URBANO PROJECT CELEBRATES THE WARMTH OF WE HEAL’S ART WORKSHOPS

THE BUSINESS OF ART: NFT’S ON THE MARK?

// Artscope Online, Featured, News, Visual Arts

by Nancy Nesvet

On March 11, 2021, a 10 second video clip by video artist Beeble, whose real name is Mike Winkelmann, was sold by Miami-based art collector Pablo Rodriquez-Fraile for $69,346,250 in Ethereum Digital currency. He had bought it in October 2020 for $67,000 making quite a nice profit less than a year later. No one to date has bought NFT’s (non-fungible tokens) for their aesthetic value, although Beeble’s work is quite beautiful. “Everydays: The First 5000 Days,” a collage of 5000 images produced over 33 years by Beeble, is a unique string of code called a non-fungible token (NFT). Unique to the buyer/owner, it cannot be reproduced or sent to anyone else. Consequently, the artwork can only be viewed by the purchaser, on their computer, or projected on their wall. It carries on the tradition of the Renaissance fresco, only viewable in the Medici or Sforza palace or church, and transferable for … [Read more...] about THE BUSINESS OF ART: NFT’S ON THE MARK?

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

SEEING PAST THE PANDEMIC: ROBERT DUGRENIER’S GLASS ART IN VERMONT

// Artscope Online, Featured, Visual Arts

by Marta Pauer-Tursi

If you traveled abroad before the pandemic, you may have stopped in at the Paris Ritz and been awed by the round frosted glass elevator shaft that depicts scenes from the Napoleonic Wars, or perhaps the glass chandeliers at the Divan Hotel in Istanbul, or the serpentine glass installation that runs the length of the bar at London’s Dorchester Hotel. All of those are Townshend, Vermont artist Robert DuGrenier’s work. And that’s only a small sampling of his oeuvre. For more than 30 years, DuGrenier has worked from his glassblowing studio in Vermont and a secondary space in New York City. To say that DuGrenier is a prolific artist, is like saying Tiffany’s sells jewelry — where, in fact, DuGrenier’s work is available. When the pandemic hit last March and shutdowns and stay-at-home orders became the norm, DuGrenier, like many artists, found that his scheduled exhibitions were … [Read more...] about SEEING PAST THE PANDEMIC: ROBERT DUGRENIER’S GLASS ART IN VERMONT

INTERVIEW: BARBARA ROSE TALKS WITH DON KIMES

// Artscope Online, Featured, Interview, News, Visual Arts

by Barbara Rose

I met Don Kimes in the Nineties and have watched his work develop and change over time in response to both personal and artistic challenges. We have had an ongoing dialogue ever since. Recently I saw the work he is including in his exhibition at Denise Bibro Gallery in New York City and we had a chance to talk about how he views his own work and the contemporary art scene in general. Barbara Rose: How Do you feel your work is related to current practice? Don Kimes: Current practice is wide open. Anything, anywhere, without fixed judgement and dependent only upon personal circumstance and acuity. I still tend to wince at the word “practice”, like it’s an out of place interlocutor in the lexicon, though it became commonly used overnight. But it sounds like a nod to the professions, like being a dentist or an attorney, like I should hang a brass shingle outside my studio door with the … [Read more...] about INTERVIEW: BARBARA ROSE TALKS WITH DON KIMES