The levity and feeling of being wrapped in the cocoon of the art world was gone at this year’s Art Basel in Switzerland. With visitors and exhibitors aware of ecological and political threats to the world’s future, many exhibits presented ways we might forestall impending worldwide disasters. Several signs indicated the democratization of Art Basel. In Hall 1’s lobby, 16 differently colored bracelets available for sale, each dedicated to a different cause ranging from affordable and clean energy and gender equality to reduced inequalities were displayed by The Turn Club, an Amsterdam, Netherlands-based organization as part of its What Art Can Do outreach program. When political message and awareness become fashion, available to most people at minimal cause, more people are involved. As tastemakers buy and recognize messages and meanings that artists labored to exhibit, and bring that … [Read more...] about ART BASEL AGAIN: CARING FOR THE WORLD THIS TIME
July/August 2019
A WOMAN-MADE FOREST: VON RYDINSVARD’S CONTOUR OF FEELING
I felt like I was walking through an enchanted forest, with the trees spreading out to make a trail for me. That was my answer when Ursula von Rydingsvard asked me how “The Contour of Feeling,” her current installation at the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C., made me feel. This forest of treelike forms was handcrafted from four-by-four and two-byfour lengths of cedar wood, layered upon each other like shingles intricately formed into massive constructions. They are temporarily screwed together in layers, then glued together with resorcinol — a World War II glue used for ship mending. They towered over me or lay on the floor, formed into slithering antediluvian monsters of shingled wood. This artist, veteran of shows and residencies at Storm King Art Center, Yorkshire Sculpture Park and the Venice Biennale, grew up in Plainville, Connecticut, after … [Read more...] about A WOMAN-MADE FOREST: VON RYDINSVARD’S CONTOUR OF FEELING
SOLITARY MAN: FINDING MILTON BRIGHTMAN’S RELIGION
Painter Milton Brightman is a very traditional artist — traditional in every sense as defined in the dictionary as that which is handed down from age to age as in traditional history, songs or stories or, that which follows or conforms to tradition by adhering to past practices or established conventions. Brightman was born a few years after World War Two in Acushnet, Massachusetts. And, since his town didn’t have a high school, he attended school in the city next door and graduated from New Bedford High School in 1967. As with many young men of his generation, he did a tour of duty during the Vietnam War. After his hitch in the U.S. Navy, he attended New Bedford’s fabled Swain School of Design to study painting. Soon after graduating, he found employment as an artist-in-residence from 1976 to 1978 with the New Bedford School Department. A year or so later, he went to work for the … [Read more...] about SOLITARY MAN: FINDING MILTON BRIGHTMAN’S RELIGION
CREATIVE COMMUNICATION: CONNECTICUT’S EMPOWERING ART OF HEALING
As a devotee of art, you grasp its power to inspire, inform and instigate. But what about its power to rehabilitate? A new program in Connecticut is getting encouraging feedback from the at-risk and health-challenged participants of a project that involves them in arts-themed activities as an alternative form of treatment. Their artwork and testimony is now on display in a fresh exhibit — “The Art of Healing” — that will travel to a variety of southeastern Connecticut venues throughout the summer. The project is the outcome of brainstorming sessions of seven health and social service agencies that decided to try art therapy for the individuals they treat who struggle with a wide range of conditions — from mental or physical disabilities to substance abuse, depression, psychiatric disorders, social fears and more. Coordinated under the guidance of the Southeastern Connecticut Cultural … [Read more...] about CREATIVE COMMUNICATION: CONNECTICUT’S EMPOWERING ART OF HEALING
TANTALIZING & EXCEPTIONAL: LEAGUE OF NH CRAFTSMEN AT DISCOVER PORTSMOUTH
Oh dear, do I have to choose? Indeed, I must. Such are the restraints and parameters of writing for a magazine that demands excellence. Well, my assignment to cover the “Contemporary NH Folk Art” exhibition, featuring the work of the League of NH Craftsmen, is a gem! Located in the Discover Center in downtown Portsmouth, New Hampshire, this is a sliver of the annual, August, Mount Sunapee fair by the League without the crowds, tents and blistering heat. This show consists of approximately 50 works by 27 artisans and artists. It’s as tantalizing as being let loose in Calef’s Country Store, in Barrington, and discovering the penny (or so) candy. And, the exhibition is free. Another bonus — if a piece on display speaks to you, and you must have it, it’s for sale. Just a bit of background about the League of NH Craftsmen: The League has been around for 85 years. It’s the oldest and most … [Read more...] about TANTALIZING & EXCEPTIONAL: LEAGUE OF NH CRAFTSMEN AT DISCOVER PORTSMOUTH
SUMMER IN WILLIAMSTOWN: RENOIR AND CONTEMPORARIES ON VIEW AT THE CLARK
“Renoir: The Body, The Senses,” which is being shown at the Clark Institute in Williamstown, Massachusetts, this summer, is a special exhibition that, as a starting point, draws from its permanent collection. A beautifully illustrated catalogue accompanies this survey of Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s work and career influences. I suggest the book as later reading because you don’t want to lessen the impact of seeing the actual paintings on view through September 22. Renoir’s artworks are paired throughout the multi-gallery show with paintings by close friends Paul Cézanne and Edgar Degas and other masterworks that were of inspiration to the artist. There are also related paintings by early modernists including the work of Pablo Picasso and Fernand Léger whose work brings a dimension to the show that explores Renoir’s legacy of influence, an important aspect of the exhibit because it is a … [Read more...] about SUMMER IN WILLIAMSTOWN: RENOIR AND CONTEMPORARIES ON VIEW AT THE CLARK