ArtSake

November, upon us like a helping of heavily syrupped sweet potatoes, brings with it this bounty of news from our past Fellows/Finalists…

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Robbie Heidinger and the Hilltown 6.

It sounds like a bluegrass band. Or a gang of outlaws. And in fact, the Hilltown 6 is not without a similar, hill-based mystique.

The Hilltown 6 is a collection of nationally recognized clay artists who live and work in the hilltowns of Western Massachusetts. Among them is Robbie Heidinger, a ceramic artist who won an MCC Crafts Fellowship in 2009, and was a panelist in this year’s Artist Fellowships Program. She and a group of other hilltown artists and guests will open up their studios, kilns, and settings for an annual pottery tour and sale on Saturday, July 30 and Sunday, July 31, 2011, 10 AM to 5 PM.

The members of Hilltown 6 are Robbie Heidinger, Christy Knox, Michael McCarthy, Hiroshi Nakayama, Mark Shapiro, Eric Smith, Constance Talbot, and Sam Taylor.

You can see the artists’ work and work spaces, as well as demonstrations at several venues. Also, three of the studios will feature guest artists: Robbie Heidinger will host photographer David Leith; Mark Shapiro will host potter Jeffrey Lipton; and Christy Knox will host clay artist Karin Noyes.

For a map and more info, check out the Hilltown 6 site.

Images: plate by Robbie Heidinger; dancing vases by Christy Knox; vase by Constance Talbot; stoneware ceramics by Hiroshi Nakayama; Robbie Heidinger firing the soda kiln.

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The Massachusetts Cultural Council is honored to announce the 2011 MCC Artist Fellowship awards in Crafts, Film & Video, and Photography. Twenty artists will receive fellowships of $7500 and another 19 will receive $500 finalist awards. See a complete list of this year’s fellows and finalists.

The awards are anonymously judged, based solely on the artistic quality and creative ability of the work submitted. Applications were open to all eligible Massachusetts artists. A total number of 619 eligible applications were received; 152 in Crafts, 128 in Film & Video, and 339 in Photography.

The Crafts panelists were Michael Giaquinto (Cape Cod Museum of Art Exhibitions Curator), Robbie Heidinger (Crafts Fellow ’09), and Perry Price (Fuller Crafts Museum Assistant Curator of Exhibitions and Collections).

The Film & Video panelists were Claire Andrade-Watkins (Film & Video Fellow ’09), Carter Long (Museum of Fine Arts Boston Katharine Stone White Curator of Film & Video), and Jake Mahaffy (filmmaker), with David Dinnell (Ann Arbor Film Festival Program Director), Rebecca Meyers (ArtsEmerson Director of Film Programs), Marlo Poras (filmmaker), and Jonathan Schwartz (filmmaker) serving as first-round readers.

The Photography panelists were Vaughn Sills (Photography Fellow ’09), George Slade (Photographic Resource Center Program Manager/Curator), and Paula Tognarelli (Griffin Museum of Photography Executive Director).

Earlier this year, we announced awards in Music Composition, Playwriting, and Sculpture/Installation.

Read profiles of the fellows/finalists on Gallery@MCC.

Images: Stephen DiRado, CARA, AQUINNAH, MA (2009), from the series BEACH PEOPLE, Silver gelatin contact photograph, 9.5×7.5 in; Carrie Gustafson, PALE PRIMROSE (2008), hand blown glass – sandblasted and wheel cut, 7.5×8 in; Still from FWD: UPDATE ON MY LIFE by Nicky Tavares (28 minutes, Video, 2010); Toni Pepe, THE GESTURE OF TRADITION, INSTALLMENT 2 (2010), Archival Inkjet, 30×40 in; Still from TWIST OF FATE by Karen Aqua (8:40 minutes, 35mm, 2009); Mariko Kusumoto, RYOUNKAKU (2007), board game, metalworks, 27x9x1-1/2 in, photo by Dean Powell.

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It’s the Spring season for artists’ open studios. You feel it in your creative bones. Perhaps you even smell it: the whiff of acrylic paint and turpentine, the melting of glass and firing of kilns. In April and May, all over the state, artists are opening up their studios to the public, a unique opportunity to experience newly made art in the place it’s made. It’s also a chance, should you be interested in purchasing art, to support a working artist directly.

To kick things off, we thought we’d share images from artists taking part in one of the largest organized open studio events in Massachusetts – the Somerville Open Studios (April 30-May 1, 2011).

Along with Somerville Open Studios, here are the other open studios events in April and May (and let us know if your’s isn’t on the list):
Potters Place Spring Show and Sale in Walpole (April 29-May 1, 2011)
Brookline Artists’ Open Studios (April 30-May 1, 2011)
Fort Point Arts Community (May 6-8, 2011)
Cambridge Open Studios (COS East, May 7 & 8; Central, May 14 & 15; North/West, May 21 & 22)
Needham Open Studios (May 7-8, 2011)
Newton Open Studios (May 14-15, 2011)
Dedham Open Studios (May 15, 2011)
SoWa Art Walk (May 15, 2011)
Lexington Open Studios (May 21-22, 2011)
The Distillery and King Terminal in South Boston (June 5, 2011)

Go to Somerville Open Studios for a full list of participating studios, venues, and artists.

Images: Bekka Teerlink, THE BIRDS WILL BE THE FIRST TO DIE (2010), oil on canvas, 36×48 in; Resa Blatman, WOVEN (2010), oil, glitter and beads on cut-edge panel, 32h x 59w in; Ariel Freiberg, KEY TO YOUR HEART (2009), oil on canvas, 60×84 in; Keith Maddy, CRISS CROSS DANCE, mixed media on vintage textile, 8×8 in; Christina Tedesco, MOVING (2011), mixed media (gesso, sharpie, and wood); Suzanne Lubeck, SOMERVILLE: ON THE BANKS OF THE MYSTIC RIVER LIES THE CITY OF SEVEN HILLS, ILLUMINATION AND INNOVATION, mixed media, oil, encaustic, 18×18 in.

All artists featured above are participating in Somerville Open Studios. Resa Blatman, Ariel Freiberg, Suzanne Lubeck, and Keith Maddy will all exhibit work at Vernon Street Studios. Christina Tedesco and Bekka Teerlink are exhibiting work at Mad Oyster Studios and as part of the Artists’ Choice Exhibit at the Somerville Museum.

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Here’s the latest installment of Fellows Notes, the current news of past fellows/finalists from our Artist Fellowships Program.

March comes in like a lion with readings, exhibitions, awards, books, world premieres, and more. (I have a feeling that when it comes to artists, March will defy proverb and go out leonine, too.)

MCC is honored to have two opportunities to present awardees from our Artist Fellowships Program this month: the Commonwealth Reading Series, a schedule of literary events featuring awardees in prose and poetry, and State of Art: Massachusetts Cultural Council Fellows and Finalists, a showcase of MCC’s 2008 Painting and 2009 Crafts Fellows/Finalists at the Concord Art Association.

Salamander, a magazine for poetry, fiction, and memoirs hosts Peter Brown (Fiction/Creative Nonfiction Fellow ’06) author of A Bright Soothing Noise, Daniel Tobin (Poetry Finalist ’10), author of Belated Heavens, and Valerie Duff, author of To the New World, for a reading on Wednesday, March 9, 7 PM at The Suffolk University Poetry Center.

On February 9, 2011, the 2010 New England Art Awards were celebrated at the Burren in Somerville. The event, organized by the New England Journal for Aesthetic Research, honors the best art made locally and the best exhibitions organized in New England. On the NEJAR blog, Greg Cook solicited nominations for New England Art Awards in 19 categories. Numerous past fellows were among the awarded artists: Alicia Casilio, Sara Casilio, Kelly Casilio, and Cary Wolinsky, aka TRIIIBE Sculpture/Installation Fellows ’09) won the People’s Choice award in “Performance or spectacle” for their event Crime Night in conjunction with a show at Gallery Kayafas. Rania Matar (Photography Fellow ’07) received the People’s Choice award in Photography for A Girl in Her Room, a show at Gallery Kayafas. Caleb Neelon (Sculpture/Installation Fellow ’07) is the Critics’ pick for “Essay by a local writer about locally-made art” for Ten Short Memos to Young Boston Artists on the New England Journal of Aesthetic Research blog. Cristi Rinklin (Painting Fellow ’10) won both the People’s and Critics’ choice award for Painting for her show at Zevitas Gallery. Evelyn Rydz (Drawing Fellow ’10) won the People’s choice award for “Standout work by a local artist in a group show” for her work in ICA Foster Prize exhibit. Deb Todd Wheeler (Sculpture/Installation Fellow ’03) won the People’s and Critics’ choice in New Media for Blew at the Miller Block Gallery and the People’s Choice for “Solo show by a local artist (or collaborative)” for the same show.

Chris Abouzeid (Fiction/Creative Nonfiction Fellow ’04) recently wrote a guest post for Grub Street Daily, the new blog from the Boston-based writers’ service organization Grub Street, sharing his hilarious definitions of social media terms. His definition, for example, of a “post”: A blog article featuring useful information cribbed from other blogs and capped with an image used without permission.

Congratulations to Steven Barkhimer (Playwriting Fellow ’11), who received a 2011 IRNE (The Independent Reviewers of New England) Award nomination for Best Drama Actor for a small theatre company, for his performance in Table Manners at Gloucester Stage.

Photography by Claire Beckett (Photography Fellow ’07) is included in two recent publications: The Collector’s Guide to New Art Photography Vol. 2 from the Humble Arts Foundation and 5 Cities / 41 Artists / Artadia 08/09 from Artadia. What’s more, Claire’s solo show You Are… exhibits at Carroll and Sons through March 26, opening reception Friday March 4, 5:30 – 7:30 PM. Claire is also among the artists currently exhibiting in The Truth Is Not in the Mirror: Photography and a Constructed Identity at the Haggerty Museum of Art at Marquette University in Milwaukee, WI, through May 22, 2011. Finally, her work is featured in Reality Check at FOTODOK in Utrecht, The Netherlands. The show explores the use of fiction in documentary photography, and Claire will give a lecture in conjunction with the show, along with Dr. Martijn Stevens of Radboud Universiteit, Nijmegen, on Friday, March 25 at 8:00 PM at Domplein 5, Utrecht.

Ben Berman (Poetry Fellow ’08), a finalist for the Philbrick Poetry Award this year, has a new poem in Unsplendid and a new poem forthcoming in Solstice.

Congratulations to Martha Jane Bradford (Drawing Fellow ’85): juror Jim Dine selected two of her digital prints for inclusion in The Boston Printmakers 2011 North American Print Biennial. The show is taking place at The Danforth Museum in Framingham, February 27 – May 1, 2011.

We’re excited to share that Shawn Cody‘s (Playwriting Fellow ’07) new music theater work The Water Dream is playing in concert, featuring Anthony Rapp (Original Broadway Cast and Feature Film of Rent) Karmine Alers (also from Rent) at the Bushwick Starr in Brooklyn, NY. It plays in a double-bill with Clear by Paul Oakley Stovall on Friday, March 11, 2011, 8 PM. The Water Dream (read an excerpt) is a multi-media musical with whale puppets and an on-stage aquarium.

Patrick Donnelly (Poetry Fellow ’08) is new director of the Advanced Seminar at The Frost Place, one of three summer programs at the poetry conference center at Robert Frost’s old homestead in Franconia, NH.

Joshua Fineberg (Music Composition Fellow ’11) will premiere Speaking in Tongues, a new concerto for 6 percussionists and orchestra, performed by the world’s pre-eminent percussion ensemble, Les Percussions de Strasbourg, at Tsai Performance Center at Boston University, March 10, 2011, 8 PM. The concerto, conducted by John Page, was commissioned in honor of the 50th Anniversary of Les Percussions de Strasbourg. Also this month, Jeff Means and his new group Sound Icon will perform Joshua Fineberg’s piece Receuil de pierre et de sable, for two harp soloists and sextet, for their inaugural concert on March 26, 2011, 8 PM, at the Boston University Concert Hall. In April, watch for the composer’s work to be featured at Brandeis University as part of the 2011 BEAMS Electronic Music Marathon and the Boston Cyber Arts Festival.

Christy Georg (Sculpture/Installation Finalist ’11), currently artist-in-residence at the Boston Center for the Arts, will have an open studio on Saturday, March 5, 1 – 4 PM at the Boston Center for the Arts, Artist Studios Building (above the Mills Gallery). Later this month, Christy will have an artists’ residency at Jentel in Banner, WY.

Winner of the 2009 Clauder Competition, Gregory Hischak‘s (Playwriting Finalist ’11) The Center of Gravity has it’s world premiere at Portland Stage Company (Portland ME) in March 2011. His short play Hygiene is included in this year’s Humana Festival of New American Works in April (Louisville KY); his new play Clueless & Lark (& Other Geologic Variations) will be staged as part of the 2011 Source Festival (Washington DC) in June, 2011.

Liza Johnson (Film & Video Finalist ’07), winner of the 2010 Rappaport Pize from the deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, will give a Rappaport Prize Lecture on Thursday, March 10, 7 PM, at the Coolidge Corner Theatre in Brookline. The lecture is free on a first-come, first-served basis, with tickets available at the box office day-of show only. Lisa will screen two of her recent video pieces and discuss how she worked with participants in the Mississippi Gulf Coast and an Appalachian circus school for the respective works. She’ll also discuss new projects, including the feature film Return, featuring Michael Shannon, Linda Cardellini, and John Slattery. To learn more about Return, check out Liza’s guest post on the post-production process for the independent film-in-progress on the Sundance blog.

Melinda Lopez (Playwriting Fellow ’03) received a 2011 IRNE nomination for Best New Play for a small theatre company, for From Orchids to Octopi (read about this play in an ArtSake interview with Melinda).

Tara L. Masih (Fiction/Creative Nonfiction Finalist ’96) reads from her award-winning short story collection Where the Dog Star Never Glows and discusses the art of short story writing on March 27, 2 PM, at Duxbury Free Library. The event is part of the library’s “Short and Sweet” series about short stories.

Caitlin McCarthy (Playwriting Finalist ’11) was interviewed on WCVB-TV Boston’s Chronicle, on Friday, February 18, 2011, about her screenplay Wonder Drug, which explores the DES drug disaster. Learn more about Caitlin’s advocacy efforts on the DES issue on her blog.

Nathalie Miebach (Sculpture/Installation Fellow ’09) is among the artists in New Materiality: Digital Dialogues at the Boundaries of Contemporary Craft, a show organized by the Fuller Craft Museum in Brockton, now on exhibit at the Milwaukee Art Museum.

Koji Nakano‘s (Music Composition Finalist ’11, ’09) Time Song III was performed by Del Sol String Quartet at Smithsonian Museum in Washington, DC on February 19. Plus, a concert of his music was performed at the Kennedy Center on February 20.

Congratulations to Nancy K. Pearson (Poetry Finalist ’10), who won the 2010 Spoon River Poetry Review Editors’ Prize, selected by Jeanne Marie Beaumont.

Cynthia Morrison Phoel (Fiction/Creative Nonfiction Fellow ’04, ’10) will read from her story collection Cold Snap at McNally Jackson Books in New York City on Tuesday, March 8, 7:30 PM, and as part of the Southern Methodist University LitFest in Dallas, TX, March 24 -26, 2011.

Jendi Reiter (Poetry Fellow ’10) has fiction in the most recent issue of Newport Review.

Adam Schwartz (Fiction/Creative Nonfiction Fellow ’10) reads from his new novel A Stranger on the Planet at Wellesley Booksmith in Wellesley on Wednesday, March 2, 7 PM, and at Newtonville Books in Newton on Sunday, March 20, 2 PM (where he joins novelist William Lychack).

Vaughn Sills (Photography Fellow ’09) has a solo exhibition of photographs at the Trustman Gallery at Simmons College in Boston. The show, which runs March 21 – April 22, is in conjunction with Vaughn’s new book of photography Places For The Spirit: Traditional African American Gardens. There will be an opening reception, book signing, and artist talk on Thursday, March 24, 5-7 PM at the Trustman Gallery.

Rachel Perry Welty (Sculpture/Installation Fellow ’09, Drawing Fellow ’04) was featured on Greater Boston on WGBH in conjunction with Rachel Perry Welty 24/7, her solo show that runs through April 24, 2011 at deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum in Lincoln.

Deb Todd Wheeler (Sculpture/Installation Fellow ’03) exhibits a series of prints called Holoplanktonica: an illustrated book of impressions, at ningyo editions. Deb created multi-layered monoprints by running thin forms of polyethylene plastic that she had manipulated repeatedly through the press. The works are inspired by The Drawing Center‘s 2004 show Ocean Flowers: Impressions from Nature, an exhibition of 19th century prints, color plates, imprints, cyanotypes, and early photograms of oceanic vegetation by artists and botanists alike. Holoplanktonica runs March 10–May 7, 2011, with an opening reception Thursday, March 10, 6-9 PM: an evening of “monotypes, woodcuts, sea shanties (complete with a 10 piece ukulele band), libations, and oceanic bliss.”

Leslie Williams (Poetry Fellow ’10) takes part in the Dire Literary Series on Friday, March 4, 8 PM, joining Marc Jampole and Debrah Morkun for a reading at Out of the Blue Art Gallery in Cambridge.

Nina Wishnok (Drawing/Printmaking/Artist Books Fellow ’06) has work in a Boston Printmakers members show, thINK at Walnut Hill School for the Arts in Natick, through March 31, 2011.

Past Fellows Notes
Feb. 2011
Jan. 2011

Are you a past fellow or finalist with an event, honor, or other bit of news you’d like to share? Tell us about it.

Images: Brian Corey, NE BOUNDARY (2011), acrylic, ink, graphite on panel, 24×24 in; Martha Jane Bradford, HERMIONE (2010), digital drawing printed on canvas and assembled as wall hangings, 32×32 in; promotional image for CENTER OF GRAVITY, a play by Gregory Hischak, at Portland Stage Company; clip featuring Rachel Perry Welty on WGBH’s Greater Boston.

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As snow drifts (image: Robert Lewis, TRUCK N PLOW, SALEM, 2008, digital capture, ink jet print 21×32 in),

and fortresses are built (image: Christopher Frost, RED CASTLE, 2008, concrete patio blocks, 7x11x12 feet),

as figgy pudding is brought (image: Robbie Heidinger, FIG BASKET, 2008, Stoneware Clay 9x6x8 in),

and milestones are reached (image: Masako Kamiya, EPIPHANY, 2007, gouache on watercolor paper, 31×23 in, photo by Will Howcroft)…

… we at ArtSake wish you happy and creative holidays.

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Here’s the latest installment of Fellows Notes, the current great news of past Fellows/Finalists from our Artist Fellowships Program.

November’s got some terrific stuff: Claire Beckett’s photos on DC buildings… TRIIIBE’s ongoing installation at Boston University… Eric Henry Sanders’s new play in New York. Read on.

On the Boston Area Small Press and Poetry Scene blog, Steve Almond is entertainingly interviewed by Cam Terwilliger, in advance of Steve’s participation in the Somerville News Writers’ Festival, November 13, 2010, at the Center for the Arts at the Armory in Somerville. (Both Steve and Cam are 2008 Fellows in Fiction/Creative Nonfiction.) Here’s a sample of Steve discussing his recent, DIY self-publishing projects: “Of course, there’s a lot of schlepping involved. And some low-level humiliation. But that’s the life of a writer anyway these days.”

Diane Arvanites-Noya and Tommy Neblett (Choreography Fellows ’08, ’04), aka Prometheus Dance, are part of Dance and back again! A 19th Birthday Faculty Concert in the Julie Ince Thompson Theatre at The Dance Complex. New and renewed pieces by Prometheus Dance, The Prometheus Elders, and numerous other groups will be performed on Saturday, November 13, 8 PM and Sunday, November 14, 7 PM.

Claire Beckett (Photography Fellow ’07) is one of the artists included in the 2010 Photolucida Critical Mass Top 50. Also, her work will be on display during FotoWeek DC in the show 100 Portraits – 100 Photographers: Selections from the FlakPhoto.com Archive, curated by Andy Adams of FlakPhoto.com. This exhibition is part of the NightGallery series of projections on display from November 6-13, 2010, with a launch party at the Corcoran Gallery of Art on Friday, November 5. The images will be projected on exteriors of significant buildings across Washington, DC, including: Corcoran Gallery of Art and College of Art + Design, Newseum, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, American Red Cross, National Museum of the American Indian, Satellite Central (M Street – Georgetown) and the Human Rights Campaign buildings.

Liza Bingham (Painting Finalist ’10) is one of the over 80 artists exhibiting work in the 34th Annual Waltham Mills Open Studios, on Saturday, November 6 (12-6 PM) and Sunday, November 7 (12-5 PM).

Martha Jane Bradford (Drawing Fellow ’85) collaborated with Chantal Harvey to produce Acquarella: The Fable, digital/virtual art on view in the Air Tree Exhibit in the Madrid Pavilion of the World Expo in Shanghai, curated by Spanish curator and virtual arts leader Cristina García-Lasuén. Martha (Alizarin Goldflake in Second Life) produced, directed, and designed most of the virtual environment, while Chantal Harvey helmed the 3-D computer animation. Watch the clip with narration in English or Chinese. Also, Martha recently constructed Second Life sets for a real life play, The Winter Bear, which premiered in Anchorage October 29, 2010. Martha’s virtual, immersive art is integrated into the show’s the stage design (watch a video trailer). Find more information about the play The Winter Bear, a story of a troubled Athabascan teenager whose video game skills come in handy against a marauding Winter Bear. The play runs at Cyrano’s Off-Center Playhouse, Anchorage AK, Oct 29 – Nov 13. Read more about the project.

Sarah Braunstein (Fiction/Creative Nonfiction Fellow ’04) was named as one of the National Book Foundation’s 5 Under 35 selections, recognizing five young fiction writers chosen by National Book Award Winners and Finalists. She’ll be formally honored at a celebration at powerHouse Arena in NYC on Monday, November 15, hosted by musician and author Rosanne Cash with music journalist Rob Sheffield as DJ. Sarah’s novel The Sweet Relief of Lost Children will be published by W.W. Norton in 2011.

Congratulations to Peter Brown (Fiction/Creative Nonfiction Fellow ’06), whose short story collection A Bright Soothing Noise is published by University of North Texas Press this month. The book won the press’s Katherine Anne Porter Prize in Short Fiction.

Alicia Casilio, Sara Casilio, Kelly Casilio, and Cary Wolinsky (Sculpture/Installation Fellows ’09), aka TRIIIBE, are turning Boston University’s massive 808 Gallery space into a site-specific installation. In Search of Eden will evolve as creators and observers participate in developing a present day version of the Garden of Eden. The installation will encompass photography, sculpture, painting and daily performances by the artists.

Lorraine Chapman (Choreography Fellow ’04) and her dance company join Contrapose Dance for an afternoon of dancing and dynamic work by Gianni Di Marco, Courtney Peix, and Lorraine Chapman. The event is on Sunday, November 14, 2:30 PM, Green Street Studios in Cambridge, MA. Among the works by Lorraine Chapman, The Company are “Pulp Tango,” the gold section from “Displaced Here Persons There,” and a new solo danced by Lorraine Chapman.

Regie Gibson (Poetry Fellow ’10) will emcee the literary feast A Taste of Grub, a November 5 fundraiser for Grub Street, a writers’ service organization based in Boston. Regie has plenty of experience behind a microphone; he’s a former Poetry Slam National Champion.

Jane Gillooly (Film & Video Fellow ’07) will be a guest at EventWorks SIM (Studio for Interrelated Media at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design) on Thursday, November 4, 2010, at 7:30 PM when her documentary Today the Hawk Takes One Chick has a free screening.

Cathy Jacobowitz‘s (Fiction/Creative Nonfiction Finalist ’10) short story “You Made Me Leave My Happy Home” (drawn from her novel Melly Mockingbird) will be published in the Santa Monica Review spring or fall of 2011.

Congratulations to Liza Johnson (Film & Video Finalist ’07), who won the prestigious Rappaport Prize from the DeCordova Sculpture Park and Museum. The prize is a $25,000 award to an individual artist, “an investment in both an individual and the broader community.”

Dawn Lane (Choreography Fellow ’10) was recently invited by Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival to a Creative Development Residency to develop a new work, one potato, two potato. The work uses aspects of Irish culture and history as a metaphor for exploring excess, loss & insufficiency. Joined by dancers Lorimer Burns, Jane Goodrich, Susannah Millonzi and Leslie Nelson, Dawn spent a productive week in October in the Doris Duke Theatre that culminated in an informal showing of the work in progress on October 15.

Scott Listfield (Painting Finalist ’10) was selected as the creator of this year’s First Night Boston button. The design will be unveiled this month.

Tara L. Masih‘s (Fiction/Creative Nonfiction Finalist ’96) story collection, Where the Dog Star Never Glows, was announced as a finalist in the USA Book News Best Books 2010 Awards, short story category. Read Tara discussing Three Stages in the book’s development on ArtSake.

Rania Matar (Photography Fellow ’07) was selected for inclusion in the 2010 Photolucida Critical Mass Top 50.

Rachel Mello (Painting Finalist ’10) has a solo exhibition on paintings, prints, and collages at Club Passim in Cambridge. The exhibition runs November 15, 2010-January 3, 2011. Additionally, she has two pieces in the Nave Gallery’s Our Town exhibit, featuring works of and about Somerville, MA. Opening November 18, Rachel’s work will be included in Plenty at 13FOREST in Arlington. It’s the annual small works holiday show (gift ideas, anyone?).

Eric Henry Sanders’s (Playwriting Fellow ’09) play Reservoir will have its world premiere at The Drilling CompaNY Theatre in New York, running November 4 -24th, 2010. An earlier draft of the play helped Eric win an MCC fellowship, and you can read about its development (as well as hear an excerpt performed by Company One) on ArtSake.

Leslie Sills (Crafts Fellow ’95) created a sculptural teapot, called High Tea, that is among the works included in The Teapot Redefined. The exhibition of sculptural teapots ran at Mobilia Gallery in Cambridge through Oct. 31. High Tea was inspired by Leslie’s artist residency this past summer at Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts, which borders a sheep farm in Newcastle, Maine.

Ron Spalletta (Poetry Finalist ’10) had a poem featured in Slate this summer, selected by poetry editor Robert Pinsky (hear Ron reading “Blank Villanelle”). Also, check out a great article about Ron in the Harvard Gazette, highlighting his dual careers as an award-winning poet and a Harvard Medical School manager.

Rachel Perry Welty (Sculpture/Installation Fellow ’09, Drawing Fellow ’04) has a solo photographic exhibition, Lost in My Life, at the Yancey Richardson Gallery in New York. The work is a series of photographs in which the artist herself is immersed in an environment of flattened cereal boxes, bread tags, twist ties, and other miscellaneous leftovers of modern consumption. Lost in My Life runs November 4-December 23, 2010, with an opening reception November 4, 6-8 PM.

Leslie Williams‘s (Poetry Fellow ’10) new poetry collection Success of the Seed Plants has been published by Bellday Books. The book won the 2010 Bellday Books Prize.

Kevin Young (Poetry Fellow ’10) has poetry featured in the Best American Poetry 2010 anthology.

Jeff Zimbalist’s (Film & Video Fellow ’05) documentary The Two Escobars is being released in San Francisco this month, is currently running in New York, and will have an LA release next week. The film recently received a glowing review by The Onion’s AV Club (and those discerning hipsters are tough to impress!). The highly lauded documentary will be released on DVD Blu Ray this month.

Past Fellows Notes
Oct. 2010
Sept. 2010
Aug. 2010
July 2010
June 2010
May 2010
Apr. 2010
Mar. 2010
Feb. 2010
Jan. 2010

Are you a past fellow or finalist with an event, honor, or other bit of news you’d like to share? Tell us about it.

Images: poster for RESERVOIR by Eric Henry Sanders, produced by The Drilling CompaNY; still from a trailer for THE WINTER BEAR, with virtual environments designed by Martha Jane Bradford; still from THE TRAVELERS CABARET by Lorraine Chapman; Scott Listfield, GRAND CANYON (2008), Oil on canvas, 24×48 in; Rachel Perry Welty, LOST IN MY LIFE (BOXES) (2010), Pigment Print, represented by Yancy Richardson Gallery.

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This post is a pictorial tour of some of the exceptional stuff past fellows/finalists from MCC’s Artist Fellowships Program are currently up to.

1. Reimagined tea pots. Leslie Sills (Crafts Fellow ’95) created the above work, called HIGH TEA. The sculptural teapot is among the works included in The Teapot Redefined, an exhibition of sculptural teapots at Mobilia Gallery in Cambridge (through Oct. 31). The work was inspired by Leslie’s artist residency this past summer at Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts, which borders a sheep farm in Newcastle, Maine.

2. National film releases. Jeff Zimbalist’s (Film & Video Fellow ’05) documentary The Two Escobars is being released in San Francisco this month, is currently running in New York, and will have an LA release next week. The film recently received a glowing review by The Onion’s AV Club (and those discerning hipsters are tough to impress!).

3. Chinese World Expos. Martha Jane Bradford (Drawing Fellow ’85) collaborated with Chantal Harvey to produce Acquarella: The Fable, digital/virtual art on view in the Air Tree Exhibit in the Madrid Pavilion of the World Expo in Shanghai, curated by Spanish curator and virtual arts leader Cristina García-Lasuén. Martha (Alizarin Goldflake in Second Life) produced, directed, and designed most of the virtual environment, while Chantal Harvey helmed the 3-D computer animation. Watch the clip with narration in English or Chinese.

4. Literary/culinary benefit events. Former Poetry Slam National Champion Regie Gibson (Poetry Fellow ’10) will emcee the literary feast A Taste of Grub, a November 5 fundraiser for Grub Street, a writers’ service organization based in Boston.

5. Edens-in-progress. TRIIIBE (Sculpture/Installation Fellows ’09), the artists collective of Alicia, Kelly, and Sara Casilio and photographer Cary Wolinsky, is turning Boston University’s massive 808 Gallery space into a site-specific installation. In Search of Eden will evolve as creators and observers participate in developing a present day version of the Garden of Eden. If you’re in search of art that’s visually arresting, socially engaged, and possessed of a truly unique vision, then traveler, I think I know where to find your paradise.

6. Collaborative, two-part installations. Liz Nofziger (Sculpture/Installation Fellow ’05) and Linda Price-Sneddon (Sculpture/Installation Fellow ’01) have created a multi-media installation showing at two different art venues. Part one of That Which Changes That Which Stays the Same shows at the Villa Victoria in Boston through November 3, 2010. Part two shows at the Essex Art Center in Lawrence through December 8, with an Artists’ Talk Wednesday, November 17, 7-8 PM. The artists’ collaboration is itself the result of a collaboration (woah, meta) between Villa Victoria and Essex Art Center, called Exchange.

For more exceptional stuff, check out Fellows Notes.

Images: Leslie Sills, HIGH TEA (front and side view), ceramic; still from THE TWO ESCOBARS by Jeff and Michael Zimbalist; still from ACQUARELLA by Martha Jane Bradford and Chantal Harvey; Regie Gibson; promotional image for A Taste of Grub; TRIIIBE, FINE; installation view of THAT WHICH CHANGES THAT WHICH STAYS THE SAME by Liz Nofziger and Linda Price-Sneddon.

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What discoveries await you in this fan blog about Williamstown writer Jim Shepard? A. the above video. B. news of a new collection coming out March 2011, and that The Millions thinks You Think That’s Bad‘ll be rad. And C. that a Project X movie may be on the way. (I guess I just spoiled all your discoveries. Sorry. But still go check out the blog.)

Boston novelist Michelle Hoover guest-writes in the highly entertaining 1st Books Blog (authors writing about publishing their first books). The takeaway: persist, writers! Some 15 years spanned between the author starting her novel to the final days of editing, when she read chapters aloud to Other Press publisher Judith Gurewich.

Local playwright, actor, and theatre artist John Kuntz has launched a blog, and he recently wrote about how the audience at Company One’s Grimm was engaged and interested in the new play process: “It was a packed house, out for the night, they wanted to be there, and they were having a great time.” Dig it. May many more new works find many more enthusiastic audiences.

Jen Mergel, Senior Curator of Contemporary Art for the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, was featured in the New American Paintings blog discussing the role of contemporary art in an institution with a strong art history tradition: “I see [emerging artists] as hugely important in terms of keeping the conversation going and the discourse alive.”

And while we’re in the hallowed halls of the MFA: the Boston Globe recently profiled Andrew Haines who, as the museum’s conservator of frames, matches frames with paintings from MFA’s collection (that is, when he’s not creating his own astutely observed paintings).

In promoting their books and advancing their work, writers should definitely do these three things and then also these five things. Then POW: instant fame! Or at least, eight things done.

Sign of the times: Porter Square Books in Cambridge has added an e-Books buying section to its website.

Neato idea: a theatre company in NY enlists donations to cover the cost of giving away seats to audiences who otherwise may not have the opportunity to go.

In the blog of ArtCorps, an organization that sends artists to strengthen and mobilize Central American communities, Massachusetts native Laura Smith talks about using art to foster empowerment with women in El Salvador.

Always wanted to weld/wire/sew/woodwork but don’t have the tools, space, and/or know-how? Artisan’s Asylum, a non-profit community workshop in Somerville, wants to make an array of tools and classes available to current or aspiring makers of things. In preparing their upcoming class schedule, they’re asking for artist/artisans to take an interest survey.

Attend the London Biennale – in Boston. No inter-dimensional wormhole required! TransCultural Exchange, a Mass. org specializing in connecting international cultural communities, is holding a local satellite event – a Curated Salon – as Boston’s contribution to the London Biennale’s three month calendar of cultural events. If you’re interested, bring yourself and a non-artist guest for an evening of brilliant conversation. All participants will be listed on TransCultural Exchange’s website as official participants in the London Biennale. The salon takes place on August 19, 6-8 PM, at the Hampshire House. Download the press release, which includes ticket information, here.

Finally, two “Notes” we missed in our recent Artist Fellows Notes: Wendy Jehlen’s (Choreography Finalist ’04) Anikai Dance Company is producing a free site-specific outdoor performance at Georges Island on the Boston Harbor Islands on Saturday, August 7, 1:30 PM. And Vico Fabbris (Painting Fellow ’06) is featured in the July/August 2010 Design New England. His art was selected as part of a model unit by interior designer Meichi Peng (see art overlooking pillow, below).

Media: clip of Jim Shepard reading the story “Boys Town” at Skidmore College; detail of model unit at the W Boston Hotel & Residences in Back Bay, Meichi Peng, designer and Michael J. Lee, photographer, from Design New England Magazine.

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When the ceramics artists and artisans of Potters Place in Walpole, MA open their doors to the public for a Spring Show and Sale on April 30-May 2, they’ll be paying tribute to a singularly influential figure: Mom.

The cooperative, non-profit pottery studio has an open studios twice a year, and the current theme is “Mom’s Favorite Dish” – a way to celebrate Mother’s Day as well as the 90th birthday of the mother of Potters Place co-chair Carol Bradley.

How are members interpreting the theme? Sue Brum of Walpole is making beautiful ceramic water cans (her mother is an avid gardener). Susan McFarland of Norwood is using her mother’s dishes for molds and also making little black purse vases for her daughters. Lisa Walker of Westwood has adorned her vase with some of her mother’s favorite flowers. Jane Wojick of Westwood makes chip and dip bowls because she’s a mom, and that’s her favorite dish.

There will be a free artists’ reception on Friday, April 30, 6-9 PM. The show continues on Saturday, May 1st from 9am – 5pm, and Sunday, May 2nd from 10am – 4pm. Both functional and non-functional pottery will be available for purchase directly from the 22 Potters Place artisans. See more images here.

Check out the Potters Place website for more info, as well as details about the organization’s upcoming workshops and class schedule.

Images: Ceramics featured in the Spring show and sale at Potters Place (top to bottom): group shot; Susan Leblanc Brum; Susan Shields McFarland; Lisa Walker. Photos by Dave Bradley Photography.

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