I first saw the photography of Chelsea Bradway at the Franklin Square Salon at the Hanover Theatre in Worcester, Massachusetts. The September 2021 reception for her “Be a Lady They Said” exhibition, presented by ArtsWorcester, had the double benefit of being an opening and the first time many people felt safe coming together again in a public gathering. My notes from that afternoon said that Bradway was a self- proclaimed whimsical photographer who aims to construct a collective voice through her photographic subjects, aiming to dismantle preconceptions of femininity and power with her own words stating, “When silence is broken around the modern struggle between women’s personal and professional identities, both subject and observer can reclaim some of themselves from fear, and stand up for what they believe in.” Some of her female subjects in the show were professionals – including … [Read more...] about ALL THINGS SPARKLEY: CHELSEA BRADWAY’S PHOTOGRAPHS SPEAK LOUDLY
Issue Articles
“AS SMALL AS A WORLD AND AS LARGE AS ALONE”: PENELOPE JONES’ STRIPPED-DOWN ABSTRACT VISIONS
These words from E.E. Cummings’s “Maggie and Milly and Molly and May” could be used to describe Penelope Jones’ oil paintings on panel and precision-cut paper collages which are anti-heroic in scale, and yet her stripped-down abstract visions, often no taller than her outstretched hand, could easily fell a Goliath. If Jones’ recent paintings in oil and gouache come from the heart, the compressed collages of her “Border Series” spring from the head. Jones’ decades of teaching painting and drawing at Bates College lend authority and grace to her intimate compositions and carefully orchestrated color relationships. Warm and cool tones vibrate in arresting tension, while pure hues sing out against more muted shades. Subtle patterns of variation in value and texture repeatedly delight the eye. Paper (often affixed to a wood panel), is Jones’ silent partner. Fibrous and resilient, it … [Read more...] about “AS SMALL AS A WORLD AND AS LARGE AS ALONE”: PENELOPE JONES’ STRIPPED-DOWN ABSTRACT VISIONS
A DESCENT INTO THE UNSEEN: BRATTLEBORO’S MYLES DANAHER’S “UNFOLDING” LANDSCAPES
Myles Danaher’s studio in Brattleboro, Vermont has the aura of authenticity from an artist dedicated to his craft and willing to work hard. Tubes of partially used oils oozing slightly around their caps are stacked haphazardly across a paint-stained table in front of a cluster of brushes standing upright in glass jars as if petitioning to be used. Multiple vintage stereo speakers – KLH, Advent – are stacked to the ceiling, pouring out pastoral orchestral music into the sunlit room. “This is how I get through,” the artist shared as we entered the studio. “I keep it at about this volume, and I can stand here, and just...” Turning to a collection of monoprints, Danaher motioned to a compact press, acquired from fellow artist William Hays. Working the press is “another way I loosen up,” Danaher explained. A longtime protégé of Wolf Kahn, Danaher began his formal studies at the Portland … [Read more...] about A DESCENT INTO THE UNSEEN: BRATTLEBORO’S MYLES DANAHER’S “UNFOLDING” LANDSCAPES
A SCULPTURAL WINTER WONDERLAND: NESA CHANNELS MILL HISTORY AT VALLEYCAST GALLERY
For the third consecutive year, New England Sculptors Association (NESA) members have juried works placed throughout the outside area surrounding the Alternatives’ Whitin Mill Complex in Whitinsville, Massachusetts (where they’ve been since late fall) and, starting January 12, they’ll be joined by sculptures by NESA members inside the Spaulding R. Aldrich Heritage Gallery. ValleyCAST, the arts and culture arm of Open Sky Community Services, runs the exhibit. Formerly Alternatives Unlimited, Inc., Open Sky provides services for individuals with behavioral health challenges and intellectual or developmental disabilities. ValleyCAST and Open Sky provide outreach and events that enrich and empower an inclusive community. In 2015, Dennis H. Rice, who co-founded Alternatives Unlimited, Inc., launched the idea of having sculpture on its Community Plaza, which was named in his honor upon his … [Read more...] about A SCULPTURAL WINTER WONDERLAND: NESA CHANNELS MILL HISTORY AT VALLEYCAST GALLERY
WE ARE STILL HERE: NEW ART CENTER’S INTERCESSION CHRONICLES BLACK COMMUNITIES
“INTERCESSION,” a meditation on personal and community agency, started as a response to the current war in Gaza. The exhibition asks, “How do we navigate when we begin to question who and what we understand? Is there a way to speak, when both speaking and being silent are equally volatile positions?” The photographic work of Alonso Nichols, Philip C. Keith, Sam Williams and Lauren Miller at the New Art Center’s Corridor at Trio Gallery in Newton, Massachusetts, explores these questions through three types of artistic practice: chronicling, projecting personhood and memory of space. As a genre of art, documentation, or the act of chronicling life within Black communities is overdetermined by the erasure and indignity caused by the history of enslavement. The inspirational oratory of abolitionists such as Sojourner Truth and Frederick Douglass, documented in revolutionary newspapers, … [Read more...] about WE ARE STILL HERE: NEW ART CENTER’S INTERCESSION CHRONICLES BLACK COMMUNITIES
BREAKING SILENCE AT SVAC: LAFOND AND DEL BUONO CONFRONT VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN
For Nayana LaFond the issue of violence against women is personal. Not only is she a survivor of domestic violence, she’s also a citizen of the Métis Nation of Ontario with roots in the Red River Settlement and a descendant of the Anishinaabe and other Indigenous groups. As a cancer survivor as well, art is vital to her healing process, she said. “Art is medicine for me. In indigenous cultures, it’s medicine. I see the work I do as sacred.” LaFond’s art life began in childhood when she began using crayons creatively, a talent her kindergarten teacher encouraged. Later she skipped seventh grade to take art classes at a community college in Massachusetts where she refined her skills at drawing, painting and working with stained glass and clay. After finishing high school, she returned to Greenfield Community College where studying art became deeply meaningful to her. She transferred to … [Read more...] about BREAKING SILENCE AT SVAC: LAFOND AND DEL BUONO CONFRONT VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN