In “Pondering Environmental Anxieties,” Patricia Fietta and George LeMaitre have put together an extravagant call and response phenomenon to be displayed this May at Future Lab(s) Gallery in North Adams, Massachusetts. Utilizing the rather large, elongated space of the gallery, the pair has gathered a variety of installations in several different mediums, all heartfelt, yet many a humorous response to the ever-growing problem of environmental instability. Ranging from graphics to sculptures and everything in between, Fietta and LeMaitre explore the conceptual aesthetics of the very act of the Earth’s ultimate survival in the face of climate change denial and offer inescapable knowledge and information. The artists are master storytellers, their knowledge taking the forefront of this exhibition in the form of both image and words. Almost every individual work in the show is informative. … [Read more...] about A HUMOROUS RESPONSE TO INSTABILITY: FIETTA & LEMAITRE SEARCH FOR ANSWERS AT FUTURE LAB(S)

The 40th anniversary of the Cahoon Museum of American Art in Cotuit will be commemorated with a host of activities and uniquely exciting exhibitions throughout the year. The piece-de-resistance is the Christo-like wrapping of the museum in a massive quilt created by renowned quilt maker Joe Cunningham. Annie Dean, Cahoon’s consulting curator, said that after fiddling with the idea of using recycled vinyl banners for the job, she came up with the idea of using colorful spinnaker sails. “My husband’s family has owned the boat, ‘Freedom,’ for over 60 years. It is a 100-year-old Herreshoff 12 1/2 and it is a very special wooden boat that is no longer made. My husband grew up racing in it and used the spinnaker often. Last summer we put the spinnaker up just for fun and that is when I got the idea,” Dean explained. In an edition of “The Quilt Report,” that he regularly produces for YouTube … [Read more...] about THE LITTLE MUSEUM WHICH COULD: CUNNINGHAM’S QUILTS HELP THE CAHOON CELEBRATE

Alexandra Sheldon’s upcoming solo exhibition, “Piece by Piece,” invites the onlooker to experience the push and pull of shifting emotions, rampant ideas and fleeting moments. Opening at Bromfield Gallery on May 1, the show is comprised of a selection of collages that illustrate life’s complexities and harmonies — and celebrate their coexistence. Sheldon’s Cambridge studio is just outside Central Square, at the end of a long driveway bordered by inviting greenery and trellises. Inside, a large plywood table is littered with paper of different shapes, colors and textures, intricate calligraphy-inspired drawings in black ink and collages in various stages of completion. Against another wall are shelves upon shelves of art books and a lifetime of completed sketchbooks and canvases. The room evokes a sense of controlled chaos reminiscent of an elementary school art room, and it soon became … [Read more...] about PAINTING WITH PAPER: SHELDON BUILDS ‘PIECE BY PIECE’ AT BROMFIELD GALLERY