As its artist prospectus had called for artwork to “celebrate the unexpected beauty of winter and the promise of spring,” taking a train trip whose tracks traveled alongside woods, streams and hills was the perfect preparation to review the Copley Society of Art’s 2020 winter members’ show, “Full Spectrum.” One of the first works I was pulled towards was “Waiting for Spring,” a sharp watercolor painting by Kara Bigda. I had to move right up to it to confirm it wasn’t a photograph due to its finelydetailed, well-weathered boards of the barn portrayed in it. The same attention was given to its leafless branches. Right above it, Wray Clifford’s “First Signs” oil painting of an apple tree’s first buds of the year on a snow-covered hillside benefited from a fine mastery of the artist tools used to make it. It was painted from images Clifford took while visiting friends in Sunday River, … [Read more...] about OUR EVER-CHANGING MOODS: SPRING’S TIMELY ARRIVAL AT COPLEY SOCIETY
brian goslow
WELCOME STATEMENT MAR/APR 2020
Welcome to our 14th Anniversary issue! Since 2006 it’s been our goal to promote the artists, galleries and museums of New England with the hope that our coverage leads to increased attendance at exhibitions and sales with the long-term outlook that we’re all in this together and those we assist will reciprocate in supporting our mission. Looking back at our premier issue (March/April 2006), the cover of which highlighted “Jamaican Art in Boston” and featured stories on “Random Acts of Art: Community Murals in Boston”; “Cross-Currents in Recent Video Installation: Water as Metaphor for Identity” and Arthur Freedman’s photographs documenting the homeless of Greater Boston, it shows how our dedication to spotlighting the many cultural aspects of New England’s arts community and its devotion to environmental and political issues has been a priority from our inception. In this issue, … [Read more...] about WELCOME STATEMENT MAR/APR 2020
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 us back to places, feelings and sensations that are only a short walk or drive away — the beach, an artist’s studio, a fresh painting, abandoned buildings still holding the smallest suggestion of a rebirth being possible. Erin R. Corrales-Diaz, assistant curator of American art at the Worcester Art Museum, was the show’s judge and curator. “Having had the honor to jury other art exhibitions in the past, I knew I wanted to start by … [Read more...] about NEWBURY STREET RE\VISION: A SENSE OF PLACE AT COPLEY SOCIETY
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 exhibitions covered in this issue of Artscope. How those messages will be conveyed remains to be seen. We work hard in giving a voice to artists, addressing their societal concerns through their artwork and share them to create public participation. That also means constantly opening the ways we get those messages out to you. The loss of traditional media publications and journalism outlets available for artists and art organizations and … [Read more...] about WELCOME: FROM BRIAN GOSLOW
WELCOME: FROM BRIAN GOSLOW
As we were putting the final touches on this issue, our 80th, our publisher, Kaveh Mojtabai, told me, “The fashion work on our cover harkens back to an era of family, honor and Sufi creed (compassion, love, patience and peace with all religions and people) to keep unity within tribes and clans for the betterment of future generations. It reminds me of one the most popular shows in the world on Netflix, Diriliş — or ‘Resurrection’ in Turkish, taking place in the 13th century during the founding of the Ottoman Empire.” The storyline follows a nomadic Kayı tribe caught “in the designs of a violent world that has lost its way,” with different tribes pitted against one another and innocent villagers being plundered in the process. “Eventually, the tribe can settle and create a new era based on its cultural humanitarian values.” It doesn’t sound too different from how today’s arts … [Read more...] about WELCOME: FROM BRIAN GOSLOW
Welcome from Brian Goslow
The early months of the year are unpredictable, with the usual cold temperatures and nasty weather typically making it tougher to travel from place to place. On the other hand, it encourages picking a single place or district to settle into for the day and playing closer attention to the exhibitions they visit. It’s also a good time for artists and artisans to settle in to address those projects they’ve put up during the warm weather season. Over the past few months, during the holiday fair season, I’ve contemplated the lasting value of a work created by furniture and jewelry makers, potters, sculptors and fiber artists, especially at a time where communities herald their roles in the maker culture. How does one truly judge which work being created today will find itself part of a museum display centuries from now? Or will that be up to the curators of 2219 to decide? With these … [Read more...] about Welcome from Brian Goslow