Emotion In Motion by Marguerite Serkin A winding, grooved sidewalk leads down a short hill to the Edgewater Gallery in Middlebury, Vermont. Reminiscent of the historical charm of Old Montreal, the Gallery is just steps from Otter Creek and adjacent to the center of this bustling college town. Illuminated through large paned windows complemented by ample indoor lighting, the Edgewater Gallery exudes warmth and vibrancy. With varied offerings of handcrafted jewelry and delicate watercolors, the gallery is at once spacious and welcoming. And in the main room toward the far end of the gallery hang the inimitable metallic works of Homer Wells. Utilizing automotive paint on a “canvas” of precut aluminum, Homer Wells’ paintings express motion in multiple ways. Rolling seascapes that echo images of mountain ranges meeting the sky draw the viewer in and simultaneously push … [Read more...] about Homer Wells

A Colorful Social Conscience by Kelly Kasulis The evidence of Wen-Ti Tsen’s colorful life congests his at-home Cambridge art studio. Shelves are heavy with rolled papers and sketchbooks, slumping downward with the threat of collapse. In the next room, a paint-splattered drop cloth lines the floor. Using a 2” x 4” wooden stick to reach over piles of artwork and flip on the light switches, Tsen has just enough aisle space to view his pieces from afar. His life’s work is in this room, everything from a prototype sculpture for a public art project to a diorama-like sculpture that dates back to the Vietnam War. Sitting down and catching his breath after hauling a 4’ x 8’ painting onto the easel, Tsen digs up a folder with plans for his next piece, set to show next summer. “It’s [going] to show that Chinatown is made of people – to mark Chinatown as a territory,” he said, … [Read more...] about Wen-Ti Tsen

Don't Judge A Book... by Marcia Santore With paper and fabric, stitches, ribbon, lace, embroidery and reclaimed antique objects, Gail Smuda uses the contemporary art form of the artist’s book to reach into the past, creating intriguing objects that convey stories of another time. Artist’s books can be a challenging medium to understand. Most people expect to view art at a distance, eyes only, perhaps from behind a rope or a painted line on the floor that reminds them not to get too close. Smuda’s books require a more intimate engagement. They are small, with multiple pages that must be turned or unfurled to find the treasures within. Some stand alone, like “The Burning of the Convent,” hand-stitched fabric pages with “Love” on one cover and “Hate” on the other. Others have containers: “Cats of Nine Tales” has nine tiny paper books, each tucked within its own box, … [Read more...] about Gail Smuda

Layered In Intensity by Brian Goslow Beverly Rippel’s work has many layers, both in materials and subject matter. Whether it’s her not-so-traditional still-lifes, abstract bodyscapes, dramatic renderings of seemingly unworthy cigarette lighters, matchbooks and eight-balls, ghostly white and monochromatic works and en plein air paintings from the Gloucester shore or her “big sky studio” in the woods of Easton — or her thought-provoking “Water Pistols and Cap Guns Series” — you always feel the intensity of her paintings in oil. Projects Gallery of Miami showed her “Blue and Orange Cap Gun” from the series this past December at Aqua Art Miami, and an entire wall of the work will be displayed in Violence Transformed Exhibitions’ “Guns and Gun Violence in America” show this April at Cambridge College’s Mass. Ave. Gallery. Her first gun painting was made in response to a … [Read more...] about Beverly Rippel

It's About Time by Suzanne Volmer During a visit to Nathan Miner’s Somerville studio located near the intellectual epicenter of Harvard and MIT, the artist described his paintings as being about time. He is interested in the aesthetics of inversion, and his painterly content has a geometric push and pull against equilibrium that addresses the space-time continuum. Miner’s premise is particularly apropos considering the announcement in the news of folds recently discovered in the spatial fabric. While discussing his artwork, Miner brought out some books that have influenced his creative development: Fritjof Capra’s “The Tao of Physics,” Stephen Hawking’s “Brief History of Time” and “The Book” by Alan Watts. He cited these texts as furthering a larger discussion about layers of information in his artwork. Miner’s paintings and related artifacts can be seen in “Decade,” a … [Read more...] about Nathan Miner