November/December 2019
In This Issue
Welcome Statement Nov/Dec 2019
Welcome to our final issue of 2019! We compiled its contents knowing that what you’re holding will be sitting front and center at our official exhibitors’ booth at Art Basel Miami Beach from December […]
DISORIENTATED VIEWS: DANIELA RIVERA’S LABORED LANDSCAPES
Daniela Rivera explores labor, landscape and identity in her exhibition “Labored Landscapes (where hand meets ground)” at the Fitchburg Art Museum (FAM), and with this exploration, Rivera presents the interconnectedness apparent in labor, laborer and what she […]
STAYING CONTEMPORARY: ARTIST PROGRAM MAINTAINS THE GARDNER’S HERITAGE
With a gala air, the Gardner Museum prepares its sparkling Renzo Piano wing for “In the Company of Artists: 25 Years of Artists-in- Residence.” Laura Owens’s giant gold-and-magenta banner winks with a smiley face on the […]
PORTRAIT PERFECT: A FACE TO FACE REVIEW IN NEW BRITAIN
Artists. We know their work, but we don’t always know their faces. In “For America: Paintings from the National Academy of Design,” on view through January 20 at the New Britain Museum of […]
CELEBRATED AT BIRTH: WORCESTER EXHIBITION EXPLORES THE ART OF MOTHERHOOD
Anxiety, fear, joy and hope are all possible emotions women experience when anticipating the birth of a child. In the not too distant past, fear of dying was also mingled in mix and […]
PLANNED ADOLESCENCE: CONNECTING THE DOTS OF CHILDHOOD IN NEWPORT
Exhibition titles are crafted to encapsulate evocative meaning as descriptors of content. Newport Art Museum’s appropriation of Bob Dylan’s song title of “Forever Young” is intended to maximize the sensory impact of a show […]
COMIC RELIEF: THE ART OF THE SUPERHERO AT ADDISON
The notion of what is iconically American may change over time, but two seemingly timeless American icons, actual superheroes made popular by decades at the top of popular culture in comic books, on […]
HEROIC ARTIFACTS: SCULPTOR JOHN MAGNAN BRINGS MARVEL TO LIFE
Like many others, sculptor John Magnan’s initial foray into the world of Marvel Comics was through the series of movies collectively known as the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). When he went to see […]
A LEGACY WORTH PRESERVING: AN INVALUABLE SECOND LOOK AT JACK WOLFE
While visiting Bridgewater State University’s Wallace L. Anderson Gallery in mid-September, I discovered Jack Wolfe. His work was being featured in “The Promise of Lincoln” exhibition that ran from August 19 through October […]
TRANSCENDING BURLINGTON: EMBRACING SPIRITUALITY THROUGH CONTEMPORARY ART
In 1912, Wassily Kandinsky wrote a theoretical treatise devoted to spirituality in art, “Concerning the Spiritual in Art.” Early on in this small volume, he states: “When religion, science and morality are shaken […]
SHIPPING NEWS: PEM EXPANSION MODERNIZES MARITIME AGE
I was vacationing in Burlington, Vermont, when the Peabody Essex Museum formally opened their new wing. Always game for an opening, I flew across three states just as fall color was starting to ripen. I […]
A STUNNING HOMECOMING: N.C. WYETH’S MASTERFUL PORTLAND RETROSPECTIVE
Boats both rowed and sailed converge on a distinctly Maine island: a hump of rock, with some scrubs of trees but mostly barren, a simple residence located at its central, northernmost point. The sailboats anchor in […]
ENGAGING THE PLANET: FRIEL AND HIRST’S HANDS-ON ART AT CHAZAN
From November 21 through December 11, the Chazan Gallery in Providence presents “Of Rock and Air,” a two-person show of artwork by Mary Anne Friel and Leslie Hirst. These artists explore intense […]
AN EERIE FEELING OF FAMILIARITY: JONATHAN MONAGHAN’S FUTURISTIC VISION IN LOWELL
As 2020 approaches, many years since “we were supposed to have flying cars” have past. Popular stories in film and literature like “1984,” “2001: A Space Odyssey,” and “Back to the Future Part II” take […]
PEACE THROUGH UNDERSTANDING: CHINESE BRUSHWORK AT THE BRUCE MUSEUM
Honoring its mission as a community museum, the Bruce Museum continues to offer exhibitions and related programming while undergoing a major renovation in preparation for a celebratory reopening on February 1, 2020. Its Bantle […]
ENCAUSTIC CROSSROADS: ADDRESSING ECOLOGICAL CONCERNS THROUGH WAX AT WSU
One of the highlights of any group exhibition opening reception is the taking of a photograph of all the participants together. When “Crossroads: 4 Perspectives,” opened on October 10 at the Mary Cosgrove […]
COLOR FIELDS REVISITED: FLOOR VAN DE VELDE’S RHYTHMIC LIGHT BOXES AT SNHU
Floor van de Velde got inspiration for her light boxes — featured in her latest exhibition, “Variations on ColorFields,” which opens on November 8 at McIninch Art Gallery on the campus of Southern New Hampshire University, […]
ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS: SOURCE OF DONORS’ WEALTH ROCKS THE ART WORLD
Pittsburgh’s Carnegie family, Maine’s Farnsworths and Arkansas’ Waltons founded museums to enlighten and educate the workers on their railroads and in their steel mills that produced and sold the goods that made their families […]
JUDY CHICAGO’S ACT OF PRESERVATION: FEMINIST ART ARCHIVES ONLINE AND IN WASHINGTON
On October 17, 80-year-old artist Judy Chicago launched a research portal preserving her archive of feminist art at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University. The portal will serve to bridge collections […]
CAPSULE PREVIEWS: November/December 2019
With work ranging from paintings, mixed-media and graphics and sculpture, digital art and photography, the Rockport Art Association & Museum’s Experimental Group holds its 12th group exhibition, “Unexpected No. Twelve,” from November 2 through 17 at the Rockport […]
