
Article Excerpts
WELCOME: FROM BRIAN GOSLOW
“Art may yet save the world.” Thus writes Nancy Nesvet in her wrap-up of this year’s Art Basel international art fair in Basel, Switzerland, in this issue. She’s addressing what she sees as a need for the world’s citizens — and especially its artists — to “band together to work to solve environmental and political problems if we are to survive as a people.” Much of the artwork she reports on takes on these concerns as does some of the ...NEWBURY STREET RE\VISION: A SENSE OF PLACE AT COPLEY SOCIETY
There are times that our lives demand new experiences and nowhere else is this more the case than when it comes to viewing art — that is, unless the experience of not knowing what comes next in your everyday life has worn you down. Which is, of course, where many of us find ourselves in the summer of 2019, grasping for something that feels familiar and comfortable. Thankfully, “Re\Vision,” the Summer Members Show at the Copley Society of Art, brings ...COLLECTIVE IDENTITY: MUSA CONNECTS OUR COMMON NARRATIVE
This July, “Collective Punishment,” works by 10 international artists curated by Roya Amigh, an Iranian artist now living in Boston, will be on view at the Musa Collective Gallery in Allston, Massachusetts. Perhaps only an Iranian artist poised between these two cultures and educated in both could maintain as powerful an emphasis on positive themes of global interconnectedness and collective identity. Having only experienced life in Iran under economic sanctions, Amigh seeks to counteract the depersonalization and biases so prominent ...STEPHEN PACE AT PAAM: POSTHUMOUS SHOW LAVISH WITH PAINT AND ENERGY
Stephen Pace will have his first solo exhibition, “Stephen Pace in Provincetown,” posthumously at the Provincetown Art Association and Museum from July 5 through September 1. During his lifetime, Pace journeyed through styles from representational through pure abstraction to Abstract Expressionism to a merger of figural with expressionism — finally creating his own minimalist, Post-Impressionist, representational mode. Provincetown was a huge influence on him; he was in group shows at PAAM throughout his years. Recuperating from hospitalization during World War ...HUDSON RIVER REVISITED: FRUITLAND’S PASTORAL PRESENT
Step out of your car at Fruitlands, look across the Nashua River Valley covered with the lush mixed forest so typical of New England, then gaze west to Wachusett Mountain, and there will be no question why the transcendentalists sought to make this corner of Harvard, Massachusetts, their utopia. Now under the aegis of the Trustees of Reservations, the Fruitlands Museum preserves the buildings and landscape of the short-lived Transcendentalist colony while providing year-round art and cultural offerings. The exhibits ...BACK TO THE GARDEN: FIELDS OF CHANGE AT BENNINGTON
Think of Vermont, and it may conjure images of bucolic hills dotted with fabled hamlets inhabited by eccentric intellectuals, passionate liberals, earth mothers and artists. This predominantly liberal-leaningtoward-radical state was not long ago staunchly republican, with a social fabric vastly different than that of today. Yet, many elements of Vermont’s traditional agrarian roots remain. Tolerance of opposing opinions, neighbor helping neighbor, a disdain for idle gossip and a love of the land are all hallmarks of the Vermont way of ...A TEACHABLE MOMENT: 10 YEAR MAINE CRAFTS RETROSPECTIVE AT FULLER
Is it “craft” or “fine art?” This old distinction is blurred in “Ten Years of Master Craft Artists” at the Fuller Craft Museum. Five craftspersons from the Maine Crafts Association exhibit works that are traditionally utilitarian, while 12 others look more like fine art. Tom Ferrero deserves the “Master Craft Artist, 2019” award he received for his “Collar of the Chancellor,” a silver and steel necklace. This circular, sculptural piece may be worn as a necklace, or the collar could ...SOME ASSEMBLY REQUIRED: DYNAMIC AND INVENTIVE RECYCLING AT ART COMPLEX
“Some Assembly Required,” a brilliantly curated exhibition by contemporary curator Craig Bloodgood, asks the question, “What do we do with our trash?” Eleven artists answer the question with sarcasm, humor, whimsy and innovative techniques. In a bold and visually-lively exhibit, the artists use almost every physical discard in our trash barrels and recycling bins in imaginative ways to create rockets, motorcycles, mannequins, tapestries and jewelry. All of the recycled and assemblage artworks require time-consuming techniques and hand-craft skills. Red, white ...CELEBRATING DORIS EPSTEIN: SOLO SHOW HIGHLIGHTS FALMOUTH SEASON
The Falmouth Art Center, which opened in its new digs in 2009 as an outgrowth of the original Falmouth Artists Guild founded in 1966, is a happening place of spirit and vitality for members and the public alike. Presenting 36 shows of every media imaginable in three galleries throughout the year, FAC offers classes, workshops, summer art camp, hands-on participatory demos, movies and more for all ages and all abilities in 11,000 debt-free square feet that also holds two classrooms, ...MAKING NEW CONNECTIONS: AN ART BROKER CAN FILL WALLS, EMPTY PORTFOLIOS
Most artists dream of seeing a red dot next to their work on exhibit. The red dot is the almost-international symbol that an artwork has been sold. Selling art is difficult enough. In order for an artist to increase their chances of selling, they need to exhibit frequently and at high-traffic venues. Consistency is key when selling art one piece at a time. But — imagine selling multiple pieces of work at a time. Wonderful but, how? You need the ...ROCKLAND, MAINE: FINE ART, FINE DINING, FINE ACCOMMODATIONS
Maine is famous for its picturesque, artsy villages dotting the craggy coastline from Kittery to Cutler. Rockland was long included among the scores of such charming oceanside hamlets, but over the past few years, it has quietly evolved into a world-class destination for visual art. Anchored by the Farnsworth Art Museum — an international mecca for Wyeth fans — Rockland made a quantum leap forward with the 2016 opening of the architecturally exquisite Toshiko Mori-designed Center for Maine Contemporary Art. ...NEWPORT, RHODE ISLAND: OCEAN WALKS, SAILING AND GALLERIES ABOUND
On a sunny day, Newport, Rhode Island, has the atmospheric brightness of the French Riviera. Glints of silvery light play on the deep blue ocean and animate the waterfront. No matter the Fahrenheit, somewhere there is a breeze, and this contributes to making Newport a great yachting destination. If arriving by car, it is worthwhile to take the Newport Bridge with its $4 toll to enjoy the magnificent panorama of boats plying the harbor, many of which are beautiful under ...CONTEMPORARY CONNECTICUT: TIFFANY GLASS, RIVER WALKS, FRESH VIEWS BECKON
The summer months in Connecticut serve up a bounty of art, music and beautiful vistas that makes it easy to find a destination for all of these checkpoints within easy driving range. As a teaser for the summer, I set off in early June for the Mattatuck, Lyman Allyn and Florence Griswold museums, where I found each flourishing with imaginative exhibitions and plenty of enrichment activities. The MATT, as it’s known, has long dipped into the industrial history of the ...SUMMER IN WILLIAMSTOWN: RENOIR AND CONTEMPORARIES ON VIEW AT THE CLARK
“Renoir: The Body, The Senses,” which is being shown at the Clark Institute in Williamstown, Massachusetts, this summer, is a special exhibition that, as a starting point, draws from its permanent collection. A beautifully illustrated catalogue accompanies this survey of Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s work and career influences. I suggest the book as later reading because you don’t want to lessen the impact of seeing the actual paintings on view through September 22. Renoir’s artworks are paired throughout the multi-gallery show with ...TANTALIZING & EXCEPTIONAL: LEAGUE OF NH CRAFTSMEN AT DISCOVER PORTSMOUTH
Oh dear, do I have to choose? Indeed, I must. Such are the restraints and parameters of writing for a magazine that demands excellence. Well, my assignment to cover the “Contemporary NH Folk Art” exhibition, featuring the work of the League of NH Craftsmen, is a gem! Located in the Discover Center in downtown Portsmouth, New Hampshire, this is a sliver of the annual, August, Mount Sunapee fair by the League without the crowds, tents and blistering heat. This show ...CREATIVE COMMUNICATION: CONNECTICUT’S EMPOWERING ART OF HEALING
As a devotee of art, you grasp its power to inspire, inform and instigate. But what about its power to rehabilitate? A new program in Connecticut is getting encouraging feedback from the at-risk and health-challenged participants of a project that involves them in arts-themed activities as an alternative form of treatment. Their artwork and testimony is now on display in a fresh exhibit — “The Art of Healing” — that will travel to a variety of southeastern Connecticut venues throughout ...SOLITARY MAN: FINDING MILTON BRIGHTMAN’S RELIGION
Painter Milton Brightman is a very traditional artist — traditional in every sense as defined in the dictionary as that which is handed down from age to age as in traditional history, songs or stories or, that which follows or conforms to tradition by adhering to past practices or established conventions. Brightman was born a few years after World War Two in Acushnet, Massachusetts. And, since his town didn’t have a high school, he attended school in the city next ...A WOMAN-MADE FOREST: VON RYDINSVARD’S CONTOUR OF FEELING
I felt like I was walking through an enchanted forest, with the trees spreading out to make a trail for me. That was my answer when Ursula von Rydingsvard asked me how “The Contour of Feeling,” her current installation at the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C., made me feel. This forest of treelike forms was handcrafted from four-by-four and two-byfour lengths of cedar wood, layered upon each other like shingles intricately formed into massive constructions. ...ART BASEL AGAIN: CARING FOR THE WORLD THIS TIME
The levity and feeling of being wrapped in the cocoon of the art world was gone at this year’s Art Basel in Switzerland. With visitors and exhibitors aware of ecological and political threats to the world’s future, many exhibits presented ways we might forestall impending worldwide disasters. Several signs indicated the democratization of Art Basel. In Hall 1’s lobby, 16 differently colored bracelets available for sale, each dedicated to a different cause ranging from affordable and clean energy and gender ...