A pair of ravaged pewter sculptures resembling hieroglyphs flank the window in the Groton School’s Brodigan Gallery on the site map for its upcoming “In a State of Becoming” exhibition of work by Boston-based metalsmith and sculptor Venetia Dale. Both are the height of a fireplug — one rotund, the other a spiky “X.” They reach upwards like toddlers asking to be picked up. “Between: Kitchen-Aid Mixer,” together with wall-mounted pewter castings of other Styrofoam packing inserts, comprise Dale’s “Between” series. Their label points to the mother’s essential functions: holding, supporting and aiding the child, both in a physical and an emotional environment. Dale, a visiting lecturer at the Mass College of Art and Design, began hoarding packaging materials in the new house where she would raise her young family. They came from accessories and comforts acquired for the home — faucets, … [Read more...] about DALE’S STATE OF BECOMING: BALANCING SCULPTURE & EMBROIDERIES IN GROTON
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CHALLENGING STEREOTYPES: RAQUEL PAIEWONSKY IN NEW BEDFORD
Viera Levitt, director and contemporary art curator at the UMass Dartmouth University Art Gallery, has launched an exciting fall exhibit agenda with lots of interesting backstories and behind-the-scenes collaboration. The gallery is located in the Star Store Campus building in downtown New Bedford. It follows the momentum started with “(The Air) As It Moves,” a site-specific installation created in response to the airflow of the gallery by Rhode Island artist, Elizabeth Keithline, that opened on May 24 and ends on September 12. Keithline’s installation was inspired by Summer Winds 2019, the first festival presented by New Bedford-based Design Art Technology Massachusetts’ (DATMA) that is presenting event-related exhibitions through the end of the year. As summer nears its completion, so are other University Art Gallery shows by Spencer Finch, a well-known New York City artist, whose … [Read more...] about CHALLENGING STEREOTYPES: RAQUEL PAIEWONSKY IN NEW BEDFORD
SAMANTHA FIELDS: KEEPING US IN STITCHES
12 FOR OUR 12TH SAMANTHA FIELDS, WORK ON VIEW IN: STITCH: SYNTAX/ ACTION/REACTION NEW ART CENTER, 61 WASHINGTON PARK, NEWTON,MASSACHUSETTS THROUGH MARCH 24 HARD: SUBVERSIVE REPRESENTATION UNIVERSITY HALLGALLERY UNIVERSITY HALL, UMASS BOSTON, UNIVERSITY DRIVE NORTH, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS THROUGH MARCH 9 LINEPLAY: TAUT/SLACK CHILDREN’S MUSEUM BOSTON, 308 CONGRESS STREET, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS THROUGH MARCH 31 by Elizabeth Michelman In her quest to understand the politics of fabric and fiber in the lives of women, sculptor Samantha Fields has already mastered (and teaches, along with color theory) traditions of weaving, stitchery, knitting, crocheting, beading and embroidery. Last summer, supported in industrial glazing and ceramic technique at the Kohler Art Center residency, she reproduced scores of table legs, chair backs, and oddly shaped finials in glossy bathroom … [Read more...] about SAMANTHA FIELDS: KEEPING US IN STITCHES