A COLORFUL ROAD TRIP THROUGH INDIA Molly Hamill Last year, photographers Maria Cusumano and Mark Towner traveled to India together and brought back the images that comprise their show now on view at Endicott College, “Om Tat Sat: Reflections from Mumbai to Kolkata.” The collection of images offers the viewer a smattering of India’s bold colors and a glance at scenes from a dynamic and complicated country. Both artists are on staff at Endicott, Cusumano a fine arts faculty member and Towner the dean of visual and performing arts. “There was a plethora of sensuous stimuli wherever I went in India. I found while there only one place where my eyes could focus during each day which deafened the constant noise, slowed the incessant bustle, cleared the mind and brought to it any semblance of calm, peace, and introspection,” Cusumano writes in her artist’s statement. “For me, … [Read more...] about OM TAT SAT
March/April 2017
11 for 11: Ron Fortier
FROM NEW BEDFORD TO PORTUGAL: TIPS FOR IMPLEMENTING PLAN B Ron Fortier My name is Ron Fortier and I’m an American abstract painter living and working on the Silver Coast of the Portuguese mainland. After 40 or so years in marketing and advertising, I finally had the chance to do what I’ve wanted to do since the day I received my MFA in painting from the University of Miami. In less than six months, I’ve been able to accomplish more here than in my previous five years in the States. I have booked three solo exhibitions here and two back in the U.S.. I’m represented in Portugal by Galeria O Rastro (www.galeriaorastro.com) and in Massachusetts by the Colo Colo Gallery in New Bedford. My first solo show in Europe was at the end of 2016 at the Galeria O Rastro in Figueira da Foz, where I have a second solo show scheduled at the Centro de Artes e Espectáculos from March 2 to … [Read more...] about 11 for 11: Ron Fortier
CAA MEMBERS PRIZE SHOW
AN ANTIDOTE TO WINTER James Foritano Once again, it’s time for the Cambridge Art Association’s annual Members Prize Show. This year’s juror, Randi Hopkins, director of visual arts at the Boston Center for the Arts, selected member artists who hail from Cambridge and beyond. The members’ inspiration comes, necessarily, from wherever they happen to be in the life of their art and in a moment of time. For visitors, likewise, our receptivity comes both from the sum of our lives and the moment we happen to visit. My mood hankered for the rough and homemade. Not the subtle “comehither,” but the, “Hey, Bub, don’t I know you from somewhere?” approach. Iris Osterman’s “Riverbank” caught my attention from both near and far, pulling me closer with its thick impasto of predominantly black, white and grey oil paints with evocative earth tones gleaming through. My canoe slid by … [Read more...] about CAA MEMBERS PRIZE SHOW
MAINE’S ART SHOWCASE
GENERATIONS OF WYETHS AND MORE Elayne Clift The rocky coastline and the lobsters that inhabit its waters are the two treasures most tourists want to experience when they visit Maine. But there is another reason to explore the state’s midsection - its art scene, centered in the Rockport/Rockland area. Many well-known artists have lived and worked in Maine and still do. Perhaps most notable among them is the three-generation Wyeth family, whose links to Rockland’s Farnsworth Museum, specializing in American art related to Maine, make it a special venue. The Farnsworth Museum was founded by Lucy Copeland Farnsworth, the last surviving member of her wealthy family, who wrote in her will that a building she owned on Main Street should “serve as an art gallery.” It opened in 1948 with works by George Bellows and Andrew Wyeth, among others, and soon was showing such artists as … [Read more...] about MAINE’S ART SHOWCASE
HILL-STEAD’S SECRET GARDEN
CURATING CLASSIC TO CONTEMPORARY Kristin Nord Theodate Pope Riddle could not have foreseen that the stipulations she made in her will would pose such a challenge for Hill-Stead. It’s an exquisite museum, and one of the remaining great country estates near Hartford, but until recently, many visitors have behaved as if one cursory tour was enough. It’s been up to new leadership to convince its audiences that Hill-Stead remains a living, breathing entity worth exploring many times, and from many angles. Hill-Stead began as a home for a wealthy industrialist family which moved to Farmington from Cleveland, Ohio, at the behest of their only daughter. Theodate had been drawing plans for a home on this property while she was still a student at Miss Porter’s School. When her father said he’d bankroll the project, she approached the great Stanford White, who liked Theodate’s … [Read more...] about HILL-STEAD’S SECRET GARDEN
ARTISTS CORNER & GALLERY
LOCALLY SOURCED CREATIVITY Flavia Cigliano When Margaret Burdine opened Artists Corner & Gallery in January 2016, she knew what the gallery’s mission would be. She wanted to build a community of artists, artisans and patrons. She wanted her gallery to be a source for local art, and a place for creative interactions offering classes, workshops, juried shows and special events. A year in, things are coming together nicely. Combining her aesthetic vision with a sound business decision, Burdine located the gallery on the edge of a historic district in the center of West Acton village, an up-and-coming area in the western suburbs of Boston. As with any successful real estate undertaking — from purchasing a house to situating a warehouse for Amazon — the mantra that rings true for establishing a gallery is location, location, location! “The building, located on a corner, is … [Read more...] about ARTISTS CORNER & GALLERY