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Artscope Magazine | January/February 2025

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September/October 2017

(Dis)Entanglement, 2001, oil stick and mixed media on paper, 44” x 56”

CORNERED: OLIVIA BERNARD

// Current Issue, Issue Articles, September/October 2017, Visual Arts

INTERVIEW WHAT LIES BETWEEN, RECENT WORKS BY OLIVIA BERNARD ORESMAN GALLERY BROWN FINE ARTS CENTER SMITH COLLEGE 22 ELM STREET NORTHAMPTON, MASSACHUSETTS by Elizabeth Michelman Olivia Bernard’s sculpture has always spoken through the fingertips to the whole body. No matter how flat a piece becomes, there’s always another side — and always a sense of inside and outside. It’s tempting to read her small glass panels and attenuated sheets of handmade paper as following within the traditions of abstract or color field painting. But Bernard is neither a painter nor a follower and has no interest in carrying forward the ideological, political or art-historical agenda of abstract painting today. Her 3-D sculpture and installation is grounded in minimalism, feminism and process art. Drawing has always been an extension of her 3-D exploration; she approaches the surface not as … [Read more...] about CORNERED: OLIVIA BERNARD

Wen-hao Tien earlier this summer in search of materials for her “Weed Out” exhibition at the New Art Center in Newtonville.

WEEDING OUT THE OBVIOUS: WEN-HAO TIEN IN NEWTON

// Current Issue, Featured, Issue Articles, September/October 2017, Visual Arts

FEATURED ARTIST WEN-HAO TIEN: WEED OUT NEW ART CENTER IN NEWTON 61 WASHINGTON PARK, NEWTONVILLE, MA SEPTEMBER 22 THROUGH OCTOBER 19 by James Foritano Soon after Labor Day, common weeds will be carted to the New Art Center in Newton to be sculpted into an island in the center of its spacious Holzwasser Gallery. When the full spectrum lights are thrown on for the month-long exhibit’s September 22 opening — the brain-child of installation artist Wen-hao Tien — the culmination of the artist’s vision will shine in all its various weedy hues, forms and heights. And then begin to shift and shake — but more of that later. Right now, I want to question my use of the word “brainchild” — easy but not felicitous. Although Tien has led a decades-long career as an academic in Asian and international studies, first at Harvard University and recently at Boston University, her guts, … [Read more...] about WEEDING OUT THE OBVIOUS: WEN-HAO TIEN IN NEWTON

Roberta Bloom, Drapes, Unglazed porcelain, 32” x 22” x 4”. Photograph by Steve Syverson.

INTO THE THIRD DIMENSION: FIBER ART MOVES US IN LOWELL

// Current Issue, Issue Articles, September/October 2017, Visual Arts

GALLERY SPOTLIGHT THE FABRICATION OF IMAGINATION 2017 ARTS LEAGUE OF LOWELL 307 MARKET STREET, LOWELL, MA THROUGH OCTOBER 1 by Flavia Cigliano Viewing “The Fabrication of Imagination 2017” at the Arts League of Lowell (ALL) Gallery on a mid-summer’s afternoon was very enjoyable indeed. Well-lit and attractive, the high-ceilinged space allowed the 3-D fiber works to be displayed to their best advantage. The exhibit is part of an on-going tradition in Lowell, Massachusetts during the summer months, with most of the city’s larger arts and cultural institutions participating in a collaborative celebration of quilts and fiber-related works. The works at the ALL Gallery present a microcosm of a variety of the possible expressions of fiber art that have developed in the United States over the past 60 years. Starting in the late 1950s and early ‘60s, experimentation in all … [Read more...] about INTO THE THIRD DIMENSION: FIBER ART MOVES US IN LOWELL

Kay Kurt, L’Icarus, 1990, oil on linen, 72” x 108”, Courtesy of the artist and Albertz Benda Gallery.

SWEETS FOR THE SWEET: NOT JUST DESSERTS IN SHELBURNE

// Current Issue, Exhibits, Featured, Issue Articles, September/October 2017, Visual Arts

FEATURED MUSEUM SWEET TOOTH: THE ART OF DESSERT SHELBURNE MUSEUM 6000 SHELBURNE ROAD, SHELBURNE, VT SEPTEMBER 23 - FEBRUARY 18 by Elayne Clift Don’t go hungry to the Pizzagalli Center for Art and Education’s Murphy Gallery at Vermont’s Shelburne Museum between September 23 and February 18. That’s when a whimsical and somewhat decadent ode to America’s appetite for tasty confections will be on display, with pieces ranging from wildly decorated shoes to chocolate sculptures and tongue-in-cheek food installations involving everything from licorice to sugar cubes. Paintings, sculptures and ceramics add to the potpourri of art that head curator Kory Rogers said offers deeper meaning about our history and culture. While the work of both international and local artists using dessert-themed mixed media will offer a feast for the eyes and often a good chuckle, it also will … [Read more...] about SWEETS FOR THE SWEET: NOT JUST DESSERTS IN SHELBURNE

Bob Shanahan, Wooly Mammoth, cranberry branches, stone, raspberry cane.

INSIDE OUT: CREATIVITY GROWS IN CONCORD

// Current Issue, Featured, Issue Articles, September/October 2017, Visual Arts

REVIEW 20TH ANNUAL OUTDOOR SCULPTURE EXHIBIT MILL BROOK GALLERY AND SCULPTURE GARDEN 236 HOPKINTON ROAD CONCORD, NEW HAMPSHIRE THROUGH OCTOBER 15 by Greg Morell When I headed out to the Mill Brook Gallery and Sculpture Garden, I had no idea what I was in for. I soon discovered an arts paradise featuring a fascinating expression of gardens and outdoor sculpture situated in an expansive bucolic landscape where horses run wild in Concord, New Hampshire. The 2017 incarnation of their annual showcase of monumental fabrications in polished steel, marble, bronze, lacquered glass, and a plethora of natural materials including stone, fiber and clay – now in its 20th year – continues through October 15. It’s a show with many highlights. Nancy Reilly’s “Wedding Dress” offers a glimpse of the studied integration of garden and sculpture that well illustrates the unique … [Read more...] about INSIDE OUT: CREATIVITY GROWS IN CONCORD

Fence 001, 2016, framed, archival pigment prints on fine art paper, 23” x 33”.

MENDING FENCES: REALITY VS. ILLUSION IN CHESTER

// Current Issue, Featured, Issue Articles, September/October 2017, Visual Arts

ARTIST SPOTLIGHT FENCES: A PHOTOGRAPHY EXHIBIT BY MICHAEL PRESSMAN THE MAIN STREET GALLERY OF THE CONGREGATION BETH SHALOM RODFE ZEDEK 55 EAST KINGS HIGHWAY, CHESTER,CT THROUGH OCTOBER 16 by Tom Soboleski Photography, as we all know, is not real at all. It is an illusion of reality with which we create our own private world. So said American photographer Arnold Newman. Illusory is one way to describe the images in “Fences,” an exhibit of new photography by Michael Pressman in Chester, Connecticut. Composed mostly of composite photos that blend fences with out-of-place natural elements, they might be the trompe-l’oeil of photography — are the scenes real or an illusion? They certainly fool the eye. On display at the Main Street Gallery of the Congregation Beth Shalom Rodfe Zedek synagogue through October 16, many superlatives could aptly apply to the photos — bold, … [Read more...] about MENDING FENCES: REALITY VS. ILLUSION IN CHESTER