An Annual Toast to the Coast by Kristin Nord The “Visions of Land and Sea” exhibition at Susan Powell Fine Art Gallery, an annual affair now in its 13th incarnation, has become as eagerly awaited as that annual first swim or cookout on the beach. The Madison, Conn., business has become a must–go place for contemporary art for home owners and businesses, offering its “Whole House Art” for the new art collector, as well as working closely with individual and corporate clients to meet custom needs. Powell brings to the business a lifelong appreciation of art, kindled as a child and developed as an art history major at Connecticut College. In her early years, she honed her skills by working for the Smithsonian Institution, and later was a hugely successful seller at Doyle Auction House in New York City. Then, in 2003, she traveled to Madison on assignment, and fell in love … [Read more...] about Visions of Land and Sea
Visual Arts
Identity and Community at the Crossroads
CCMOA’s Summer of Storytelling by Brian Goslow If you grew up in New England in the 1950s and ‘60s, one of summer’s most memorable experiences was a journey to Storyland Cape Cod, a magical village that stirred many a child’s imagination. This summer, a modern version will arise at the Cape Cod Museum of Art, thanks to Susan Danton, owner and director of Miller White Fine Arts on Route 134 in South Dennis, Mass., who has playfully crafted “At the Crossroads: Six Narratives at the Intersection of Identity and Community,” an exhibition featuring a half-dozen unique artistic experiences. The show is part of CCMOA’s “A Summer of Storytelling,” also featuring “William Hemmerdinger: The Duxbury Merchant.” Danton has assembled a group of artists who through their work tell stories relevant to issues going on in our world today: the need for family and friends, community, … [Read more...] about Identity and Community at the Crossroads
Connecticut’s Native Son
Charting Weir's Artistic Evolution by Kristin Nord Julian Alden Weir’s art was shaped, according to collector Duncan Phillips, by a “reticent idealism,” while at the same time reflecting a wide-ranging, inquiring mind. “Home is the starting place,” said Weir, and for four decades he made this “quiet little house among the rocks,” now the Weir Farm National Historic Site, one of two main summer homes. After marriage into the Baker family in Windham, he split his summer months between the farm in Western Connecticut and the Baker farm in what is known as Connecticut’s “Quiet Corner.” Reared in a large, artistic household, he was the youngest son of Robert W. Weir, longtime drawing instructor at the United States Military Academy at West Point. Like his older brother John Ferguson Weir, a painter who was the director at the Yale School of Art for 40 years, J. Alden Weir … [Read more...] about Connecticut’s Native Son
Ogunquit Art Association
Members Shine in Summer by Greg Morell Sometimes the stars align for an arts group. Such was the case for the venerable Ogunquit Art Association, currently celebrating seven decades of painters and sculptors drawing inspiration from the dramatic coastline of southern Maine. In the founding years of the organization, the collective of artists was bequeathed the largesse of the Ogunquit Playhouse — a very desirable parcel of Perkins Cove real estate in which to build their home. They then secured plans for their smartly designed showplace, the Barn Gallery. Make no mistake, the gracefully appointed edifice that welcomes visitors to the vacation hamlet of the Cove bears very little resemblance to a barn. The complex is favored with 4,000 feet of indoor exhibition space divided into three separate galleries, an outdoor walled sculpture garden that ambles around the perimeter … [Read more...] about Ogunquit Art Association
Speaking a Different Language
The Walshes in Williamstown by Elizabeth Michelman In most advanced art museums, it’s almost unthinkable to present an exhibition without resorting to curatorial explanations. Language is deemed essential to orient the viewer to historical information and current critical jargon. Without it, Lisa Dorin, deputy director of curatorial affairs at the Williams College Museum of Art, could hardly impart knowledge about today’s art and artistic legacy to culture-hungry college students. But she gamely rolled with the punches when Dan and Lexa Walsh arrived to create a large-scale installation that challenged many robust conventions of the exhibiting institution. The installation/exhibition that resulted, “Both Sides Now,” is powerful, subversive and sometimes just plain funny. Every museum could learn from it. Many things are odd in this collaboration between the … [Read more...] about Speaking a Different Language
Of Water and Bone
Mother/Daughter Mandle in Newport by Suzanne Volmer “Of Water and Bone,” a mother and daughter exhibit created collaboratively by Gayle Wells Mandle and Julia Barnes Mandle, presents itself as a conceptual umbrella and makes a cohesive statement that communicates a composite view of the artists’ individual and shared perspectives based upon their experiences. The artists’ aesthetics have gravitational pull toward process charged with cultural awareness and investigatory layering of content worth contemplating, especially in an election year. Gayle explores global issues of water sustainability and Julia examines the topic of immigration. The exhibition is on view at the Newport Art Museum through August 9. Both artists are mindful of the discrimination that women face seeking opportunities, so in showing collaboratively they prefer using the gender neutrality of their … [Read more...] about Of Water and Bone