After visiting several exhibitions this winter, two artists’ works especially stayed with me, provocatively, after viewing them each in two different exhibits: Milo, and Anastasia Semash. Milo’s work was shown as part of a recently concluded exhibition at the Belmont Art Gallery in Belmont, Massachusetts titled “Off the Clock,” a witty reference to a slew of invited artists who teach in the Belmont Public Schools, but who don’t drop their brushes or ignore their easels after hours when they are “Off the Clock.” Showing himself simply by his first name, in“Enough?” Milo (Milowsky) painted a 48” x 36” scene that struck me both by its subject and its interiority when I saw it on display. Made of a combination of paint, automotive candy-like spray paint and metallic flake, its background is haunted by what had once been the skyscrapers of a city, but now could be burnt, blackened hands … [Read more...] about DEMANDING YOUR ATTENTION

Multidisciplinary artists Ashley Page and Alejandra Cuadra both say they share a brain. The metaphor rings true in their work: many of the artists’ sculptures and installations look as if they belong in a shared space. Their pieces, vulnerable and bold, often appear to have sprouted from similar lines of inquiry or emerged out of a common desire to reclaim (a place; a concept; a body). And in one show, at least, they have. On view through April 2 at Fountain Street Gallery in Boston, Page and Cuadra’s “Earthly Bound” is a celebration of radical care, deep collaboration and stories yet to be told. Cuadra and Page first met in Portland, Maine, while completing Warren Public Engagement Fellowships at Maine College of Art and Design. The two immediately connected within and beyond the studio, co-curating two exhibitions, organizing several workshops and helping to found “Resilience Week” … [Read more...] about FREEDOM IN COLLABORATION

At the helm of exhibition programming at URI Feinstein Providence Campus Gallery, Steven Pennell presents art shows about various topics from everyday life. “Coordinator of Urban Arts and Culture,” Pannell delivers art programming brimming with ideas and social issues as gallery experience to  enjoy, consider and be challenged by. The floor plan of the gallery runs the full length of a city block in a landmarked Beaux Arts building. Formerly Shepherd’s Department Store, it has many large display windows. The space itself is a very long, wide corridor where lots of art is shown with a nookiness akin to the casbah layout of New York’s Bloomingdale’s on 59th Street. I spoke with Pennell about this spring’s exhibit schedule and when he told me of the number of artists showing in March and April, I jokingly responded, “a cast of thousands?” and he answered, “Exactly.” Pennell is a … [Read more...] about “A CAST OF THOUSANDS”

American crafts are among the finest in the world. In 2004, the trustees of the Fuller Craft Museum recognized this fact and wisely decided to re-invent the museum to specialize in American crafts. Five current exhibitions at Fuller demonstrate how broadly the “crafts” concept can be stretched to include more than beautiful utilitarian objects. The exhibiting artists include both highly skilled and novice artisans. The craft materials are as diverse as aluminum sheets and a hydroponic garden. The topics of the exhibits vary widely from food distribution problems to elegant jewelry. Especially important are two exhibitions, one about the social problem of “Food Justice,” and the other, “Riotous Threads,” fiber works by people with disabilities. The exhibits demonstrate Fuller trustees’ and staff’s commitment to the human-need dimension of crafts, adventuring far beyond craft as … [Read more...] about A COMMITMENT TO CRAFTS