In 2006, the Danforth Art Museum was gifted work by sculptor Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller, known for work that expressed the African American identity. The importance of her work was a precursor to the Harlem Renaissance. This core collection provides an esprit de corps for the museum’s “Selfhood” exhibition that’s on view through June 8. It includes five artists dedicated to their visual narratives of identity within personal and cultural context. Danforth Museum Director and Curator Jessica Roscio’s texts posted throughout the exhibit and on the Danforth website included the following message: “Self is personal but is also connected to history. We all have something to say about our identity — and this exhibition offers space for five artists to share their histories and have their voices heard. Each artist dedicates their work to a quest, to an emergence, family or tribal history.” When … [Read more...] about THE SEARCH FOR IDENTITY

Lowell’s Whistler House Museum of Art is celebrating the 200thanniversary of its historic 1825 edifice with a comprehensive exhibition of its artists-in-residence and associated studio artists. The Artist-in-Residence program spans a period from the very early years of the 20th century to today: Artists have the use of a spacious third-floor studio in the historic home in exchange for participating in the museum’s public programming. Director Sara Bogosian stewards the birthplace of artist James McNeill Whistler in its many missions: as a beautifully furnished, historic home with permanent art collections; as a home base for a Youth Summer Arts Program; as a large exhibition space for local artists; and maintaining a graceful neighborhood park whose focal point is a life size bronze statue of the renegade artist himself. Whistler barely lived in the United States, preferring London … [Read more...] about REALISM THRIVES IN LOWELL