When the first Art in the Park took place in 2008 in Elm Park in Worcester, Massachusetts, founder Gloria Hall said, “there [weren’t] any sculpture shows like this in a public park.” Now, in 2023, there are several taking place in New England. It’s a bonanza for visitors to the sites hosting them and the sculptors. “The artists get to meet other artists from elsewhere and learn how to display their works in other locations,” Hall said. “Love in Action: Joy, Community, Creativity, Art in The Park, Worcester's 10th Exhibition” features 28 installations by artists from throughout the region and continues through October 6. Connecticut sculptor David Skora is showing “Bent” and “Whirlwind,” both made of welded steel; he’s also got work on view in Bennington, Vermont and The Mount in Lenox, Massachusetts. For him, the growth in outside shows has resulted in almost his entire inventory being … [Read more...] about CAPSULE PREVIEWS: July/August 2023
July/August 2023
THE ART OF ADVOCACY: WHAT IT IS, WHO’S DOING IT, ROADBLOCKS & RESOLUTIONS
WHAT IS ARTS ADVOCACY? According to Miriam-Webster, the definition of advocacy is “the act or process of supporting a cause or proposal.” So, if we’re talking about supporting the arts — and in Massachusetts — then there’s a handful of folks pursuing various kinds of arts advocacy. Sometimes the cause is more funding for the arts, other times it’s about fair pay for artists. Now it’s for protecting cultural spaces. WHO’S DOING WHAT: NATIONALLY, REGIONALLY, LOCALLY Nationally, Americans for the Arts holds the top arts advocacy position. In Massachusetts, we have MassCreative, whose primary job is to advocate for increased funding for the Massachusetts Cultural Council. The MCC offers grants, services and professional development resources. It also advocates for the arts, along with other organizations including Mass Humanities, the Arts & Business Council of Greater … [Read more...] about THE ART OF ADVOCACY: WHAT IT IS, WHO’S DOING IT, ROADBLOCKS & RESOLUTIONS
THE RAPID ADVANCES OF DIGITAL ART: MASARY STUDIOS BRING THEIR WAVEFORMS TO NEW AUDIENCES
In a city where technology thrives, digital art is advancing fast, and would make the Lumière Brothers very proud. It is not an optical illusion, magic or mind trick. It is digital art. Grab your Google or Apple glasses and download apps to see augmented reality (AR) or simply not; look around. Digital art is everywhere and has been rapidly breaking ground, expanding into our everyday lives and naked eyes. It is that simple, if you have a cell phone, you experience digital art daily. So, let’s embrace, dive into and enjoy it. The inception of digital art can be traced back to the mid-1900s, with experiments done by computer scientists, engineers and mathematicians, naturally the only ones with access to the necessary machines. The medium evolved during the following decades through visual compositionmainly generated by mathematical calculations until the 1980s, when the … [Read more...] about THE RAPID ADVANCES OF DIGITAL ART: MASARY STUDIOS BRING THEIR WAVEFORMS TO NEW AUDIENCES
A SLIGHTLY ANTIC CAPE COD JAUNT: SUMMER ARTISTS & EATS OFF THE BEATEN PATH
Talking about her husband, Michael Baksa’s jewelry, painter Teresa Baksa said, “You really have to hold it in your hand to get the full impact of these works of art.” Baksa, who was born and grew up on Cape Cod, lives in a circa 1750 home owned by one of the many historic Quaker Kelleys. He created the new woodwork and cabinets as well as remodeled the upstairs and built the garage which houses the sleek wooden wherry he made by hand and rows on the Bass River. His mum was a well- known baker and in the 1970s, the Cape was a “hothouse of crafters” Teresa said, and the congenial gestalt fed into Michael’s handiness. Baksa works in a yellow and white spiffy cabin cruiser that he transported to his home, where he put in a dock with a stairway fitted with aluminum stairs to access its galley studio. It’s shipshape and fitted with hand and power tools with which he cuts gems, polishes them … [Read more...] about A SLIGHTLY ANTIC CAPE COD JAUNT: SUMMER ARTISTS & EATS OFF THE BEATEN PATH
SOCIAL JUSTICE THROUGH ART: PAUL S. BRIGGS NOT-SO-HIDDEN MESSAGES AT LACOSTE
Paul Briggs’s ceramic work is a conversation between medium and artist resulting in contemplative objects with healing qualities. Briggs purposefully infuses his clay works with metaphors and meanings. Throughout his life journey as a young athlete, undergraduate student, and ultimately, an artist, clay has always accompanied him. Since his early days attending summer camps, Briggs’s talent and passion for this type of craftsmanship have never left his side. Eventually, he wholeheartedly embraced his artistic career, becoming a mentor, lecturer, speaker, role model, successful artist and a scholar, as well as a beloved teacher. As a ceramic artist, Briggs goes beyond manipulating clay; he engages in dialogue and interactions with the material, contemplating its qualities and focusing on its manifestation. By approaching clay as a meditative exercise, Briggs merges his ideals and … [Read more...] about SOCIAL JUSTICE THROUGH ART: PAUL S. BRIGGS NOT-SO-HIDDEN MESSAGES AT LACOSTE
INTENTIONALLY PROVOCATIVE: ‘USED’ SPARKS A DIALOGUE AT ATTLEBORO ARTS MUSEUM
“Used” is the intentionally provocative title for the 2023 National Juried Exhibition that’s on view at the Attleboro Arts Museum through July 14. The name for the show was conceived of internally at the museum a year ago, as a starting point to spark a dialogue of visual possibilities and pertinent aesthetic connections that charge the air currently. The word “Used” implies material process and emotional connection and like a lot of four-letter words is exceptionally rife with connotations. It is a verb and a feeling. It is a concept rooted in some of the same unresolved conditions that caused Jack Kerouac, in a different historic moment but not dissimilar era, to suddenly label himself and friends as “beat” — meaning forgotten misfits — which was about identity, lack of identity, and later coined into the term “Beat Generation,” indicating scale of the discontent. The selected … [Read more...] about INTENTIONALLY PROVOCATIVE: ‘USED’ SPARKS A DIALOGUE AT ATTLEBORO ARTS MUSEUM