Callthemrenegades.Mavericks.Rebels. Coming from a literary perspective, perhaps I’d call them artists who chose the road less traveled... For our 15th anniversary issue, six long-term writers for Artscope Magazine were chosen to profile favorite artists we’ve written about previously. A veteran writer of 14 years for the magazine, I was honored, and yet overwhelmed. Because— how do you narrow it down to three from the multitude of talented artists? But I’ve selected the three below. After deciding, I asked myself what — beyond the obvious common denominator as artist — do they have in common. After some contemplation, it came to me: They are renegades. They color outside the lines. They march to the beat of a different drummer. They choose the road less traveled. One refused to be confined to the standard “full-sheet watercolor” restriction. Another rebuffed her instructor … [Read more...] about THREE REMARKABLE RENEGADES: COLORING OUTSIDE THE LINES IN NEW HAMPSHIRE
Current Issue
AN EVOLVING ROLE: VERMONT ARTISTS’ KEEN OPTIMISM AND DRIVE TO CREATE
When times are uncertain, it is easy to fall into reminiscence of rosier days gone by. Revisiting the work, and lives, of three artists previously featured by Artscope could have led to a nostalgic look-back. Instead, what I found among the artists featured here were a keen optimism and drive to create, in the face of all obstacles, heartbreaks and physical limitations currently shared by so many of our fellow humans. Patricia Johanson, whose work I featured here in Artscope in 2019 covering Bennington Museum’s “Color Fields: 1960s Bennington Modernism” exhibition, has followed a singular path from her early days at Bennington College, where Johanson experimented in the company of Paul Feeley and other progressive artists of the time. Johanson has spent the past several decades envisioning and implementing large-scale environmental installations, both in the United States and … [Read more...] about AN EVOLVING ROLE: VERMONT ARTISTS’ KEEN OPTIMISM AND DRIVE TO CREATE
JAMES FORITANO: MY EXPERIENCE AS AN ARTSCOPE WRITER
Hello, to all! Having been asked by my editor, Brian Goslow, to go over the summit experiences of my relatively long engagement on the staff of Artscopeas a writer, I’m more than willing. A decade is not a simple snap of the fingers. Writers love to write just as plumber’s love to plumb and, in fact, just as anyone who loves their job, picks up their tools, and begins to feel that lovely heft in their hands. And, as a writer who enjoys laboring over what I write about an arts exhibition, and, equally, enjoys seeing the exhibit I’m writing about multiple times, Artscope’s assignments were, for me, perfectly paced. The average of one or two assignments for a bimonthly publication gave me time to ponder, even sate myself on the art whose virtues I might have thought I plumbed with an extensive first-time viewing. But, no, a second viewing was usually the charm, and, if not, never … [Read more...] about JAMES FORITANO: MY EXPERIENCE AS AN ARTSCOPE WRITER
CAPSULE PREVIEWS: March/April 2021
Presented as part of the College of the Holy Cross’s Arts Transcending Borders program, the Cantor Art Gallery, One College St., Worcester, Massachusetts, is hosting an artist residency with Kevork Mourad, for which the Syrian-Armenian visual artist has created “Memory Gates” that will be on view from March 4 through April 11. Using his “signature style of spontaneous drawing and printmaking techniques,” the immersive installation is encouraged to be “imagined as a series of doors and passageways that visitors can pass through, will explore themes of cultural plurality and collective memory.” The gallery is open by appointment only Tuesday through Friday from noon-5 p.m. with limited Saturday availability. An exhibition of large-scale acrylic paintings on shaped canvas and watercolor on paper by Clare Asch, “Round Dances and Convergences,” will be on view from March 5 through … [Read more...] about CAPSULE PREVIEWS: March/April 2021
A LASTING IMPRESSION: STUART KNEW THE PROPAGANDIST VALUE OF SYMBOLS
Forty-four Presidential portraits hang in the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., each unique, reflecting stylistic and political preferences and concerns as visual art codes and signals points of view of society at the time it is produced. Recent events in our nation’s capital have drawn attention to recognizing the artist’s role as documentarian and interpreters of society’s views and preferences. Where a camera is aimed and what a videocam records is dependent on the stance of an artist and their courage to be in a place and time. That has been proven in the videos of the Capitol riots that numerous people have seen on TV and computer screens. Painters and sculptors observe the same requirements and parameters in creating their work. The stance and mind of a sculptor or painter, and the artist’s view of the President, was responsible for the artist’s unique vision and … [Read more...] about A LASTING IMPRESSION: STUART KNEW THE PROPAGANDIST VALUE OF SYMBOLS
A NEW APPROACH TO PROGRAMMING: LEXART’S BROADER OUTREACH, RENOVATED GALLERY
Founded in 1935, Lexington Arts and Crafts (LexArt) continues to service the community and expand in resources and innovation throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Over the last 86 years, the educational non-profit collaborative has undergone many intentional and inevitable changes, but the ones enacted in the past year are completely reshaping LexArt to even further “encourage and inspire artisans at all stages of their journeys” and “enrich lives through the power of art and craft,” quoted from their vision and mission statements. In November 2020, Matthew Siegal, former Chair of the Department of Conservatism and Collections Management at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, was officially appointed as Executive Director and President of LexArt. Prior to Siegal, the organization was entirely volunteer run until March 2019 when the organization overhauled its internal structure and … [Read more...] about A NEW APPROACH TO PROGRAMMING: LEXART’S BROADER OUTREACH, RENOVATED GALLERY