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March/April 2018

MAKING CONNECTIONS WITH DONNA DODSON

// Current Issue, March/April 2018

by Donna Dodson Not everyone can make their dreams come true. It takes hard work, careful planning and perseverance. Rose Bryant not only has what it takes — she has infected others with her vision for a vibrant art community in Exeter, New Hampshire. Bryant taught private art classes in her home studio in Exeter for 10 years. She created a community of artists by hosting outdoor shows, pop-up art exhibits and open houses. Wanting to find a permanent home for her transient community of artists, she began to look for a building in town. When the former teen center became vacant, she and her husband purchased the building at 120 Front Street in Exeter in September 2016. Art Up Front Street opened as a for-profit venture in December 2016. Here are some of the people that make up the Art Up Front Street community: ROSE BRYANT is a painter and founder of Art Up Front Street. … [Read more...] about MAKING CONNECTIONS WITH DONNA DODSON

SAMUEL LEVI JONES: ENCOURAGING INCLUSION THROUGH ART

// Current Issue, Issue Articles, March/April 2018

NATIONAL ARTIST SPOTLIGHT SAMUEL LEVI JONES by Nancy Nesvet In today’s world, the art of the cover-up is being torn apart and exposed. An artist with strong New England ties, Samuel Levi Jones — with his upcoming early-2019 show at Northeastern University, part of “Personal to Political” — is causing waves in the art world as he reveals, tears up, paints over and deconstructs history. In February 2017, Jones told me his work addresses “Systems of power and how we navigate the structure of those controlling. Who can and cannot participate, the way we think about history: who writes it and controls that information, the way we deal with history or not deal with it, processing it and thinking about where we are going.” His artistic practice began when Jones, working at a recycling plant, wanted to find a way to recycle books. “I didn’t limit my process to being in the … [Read more...] about SAMUEL LEVI JONES: ENCOURAGING INCLUSION THROUGH ART

CAPSULE PREVIEWS

// Current Issue, Issue Articles, March/April 2018

by Brian Goslow Exploring the experiential, psychological and metaphorical implications of the nonvisual in American art from the 1960s to today,” Second Sight: The Paradox of Vision in Contemporary Art,” which opens on March 1 and continues through June 3 at the Bowdoin College Museum of Art, 9400 College Station, Bowdoin, Maine, “asks why and how numerous visual artists, such as William Anastasi, Robert Morris, Joseph Grigely and Lorna Simpson, challenge the primacy of vision as a bearer of perceptual authority.” The exhibition features “a diverse group of sighted and unsighted creators, a range of sculptural, sound-based and language-based artworks that investigate the significance of embodied knowledge by exploring what resides on the other side of the visual field,” its creators ask its audiences “to reflect upon the significance of what we cannot see, whether by choice, … [Read more...] about CAPSULE PREVIEWS

HEIDI GEIST: BREWING UP OPPORTUNITY

// Current Issue, Issue Articles, March/April 2018

12 FOR OUR 12TH HEIDI GEIST FOR MORE INFORMATION: DIEGEISTART.COM by Eric Taubert Her name is Heidi Geist and she’s a self-confessed “Art Punk in the Craft Beer Sphere.” To her legions of adoring fans, she’s more familiarly known as ‘The Geist.’ Her paintings are colorful and loose, like a psychedelic liquid light show from a 1960s-era rock concert. They hint at the fluidity of consciousness, especially as it drifts towards the state of sleep, often with a glimmer of hope or wonder, and sometimes with a bold feminine edge. Alternately, her pen-and-ink drawings dazzle with their dizzying level of intricate detail. Sometimes the two styles merge into a tattoo geometry that evokes dark wonder and tickles the mind with the complexity and depth of its illusory patterns. Perhaps you’ve seen her distinctive work gracing the sides of your favorite 16-ounce can of Bissell … [Read more...] about HEIDI GEIST: BREWING UP OPPORTUNITY

MARK BRADFORD: PAINTING A NEW VIEW OF HISTORY

// Issue Articles, March/April 2018

NATIONAL ARTIST SPOTLIGHT MARK BRADFORD by Nancy Nesvet Mark Bradford makes a deliberate effort to personalize and reimagine history, leaving them in the same place artistically: redefining American history; contemporizing, personalizing and illustrating Americans’ history. His 10-year survey of past work at the ICA Boston (March 2010 to March 2011); his 2014 “Sea Monsters” show at Brandeis University’s Rose Art Museum that was highlighted by his site-specific mural entitled “King’s Mirror”; and his successful nomination by former Rose Museum director Christopher Bedford to represent the United States at the Venice Biennale 2017 are causing waves in the art world as they reveal, tear up, paint over and deconstruct history. Bradford’s “Pickett’s Charge” site-specific commission of eight billboard-sized paintings commands the third-floor circular rotunda of the … [Read more...] about MARK BRADFORD: PAINTING A NEW VIEW OF HISTORY

VICTOR PACHECO: REFLECTING THE TIMES

// Current Issue, Issue Articles, March/April 2018

ARTIST SPOTLIGHT VICTOR PACHECO: A BEAUTIFUL CONNECTION KRIKORIAN GALLERY WORCESTER CENTER FOR CRAFTS 25 SAGAMORE ROAD WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS MARCH 15 THROUGH APRIL 28 by Brian Goslow While the initial response to seeing one of Victor Pacheco’s frog sculptures is to smile or laugh, there’s a deeper meaning behind the amphibious forms — they’re intended to turn a mirror on society and provide an observation of what’s happening when we interact with technology. “A lot of the scenarios I set up are things that are commonly happening, things like using an iPad or a phone while you’re sitting on a toilet,” Pacheco said. The first of his web-footed creatures “jumped” out at visitors to the Worcester Center for Crafts during its “Ambient Folklore” exhibition in 2014 and caught the attention of Krikorian Gallery director Candace Casey, who offered him a solo show. “I … [Read more...] about VICTOR PACHECO: REFLECTING THE TIMES