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).
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
We are thrilled to partner with the Concord Art Association (CAA) to present State of Art: Massachusetts Cultural Council Fellows and Finalists. The exhibition features the work of MCC awardees in Painting (from 2008) and Crafts (2009). The show runs March 17-May 1, 2011, with an opening reception March 17, 6-8 PM.
State of Art: Massachusetts Cultural Council Fellows and Finalists
A Showcase of MCC’s 2008 and 2009 Painting and Crafts Fellows and Finalists
March 17-May 1, 2011, opening reception March 17, 6-8 PM Concord Art Association, 37 Lexington Road, Concord, MA
Kelly Bennett and Dan Blask, MCC’s Artist Department, will speak at the Concord Art Association about MCC’s programs and services for artists, on Thursday, March 24, 7:00-9:00 PM. Email Concord Art Association to RSVP for this free event.
Images: Sandra Cohen, THE DISSERTATION; Elizabeth Schulze, BUNNY EARS; Jack O’Hearn, YANKEE SUPREME; Corinne Ulmann, TREE; Tricia Harding, DROPS; Candice Smith Corby, READY OR NOT.
The deadline for applications to the 2011 Massachusetts Cultural Council Artist Fellowships Program in Crafts, Film & Video, and Photography is almost here: Monday, January 24, 2011.
If you are a Massachusetts crafts, film & video, or photography artist who meets the eligibility requirements, apply! If you know of anyone who fits said description, vigorously urge them to do the same.
The fellowships are anonymously-judged competitive grants for Massachusetts artists. Fellowships of $7,500 and finalist awards of $500 are awarded based solely on the artistic excellence of the work submitted. Check out our tips on applying.
Images: Tricia Lachowiec Harding (Crafts Fellow ’09), PUNCTUS (2007), 1 1/2×1 1/8×3/8 in; Rebecca Meyers (Film & Video Fellow ’09), still from LIONS AND TIGERS AND BEARS (2006); Eirik Johnson (Photography Fellow ’09), THE ROAD TO FORKS, WASHINGTON (2006), archival pigment print, 24×30 in.
Applications are now available for 2011 Artist Fellowships in Crafts, Film & Video, and Photography from the Massachusetts Cultural Council. Deadline: Monday, January 24, 2011.
The fellowships are anonymously-judged competitive grants for Massachusetts artists. Fellowships of $7,500 and finalist awards of $500 are awarded based solely on the artistic excellence of the work submitted. Check out our tips on applying.
Images and media: excerpt from NORA, a film by Alla Kovgan (Film & Video Fellow ’09); Heather White (Crafts Fellow ’05), MURMURING BROOCH (2006), cast sterling lips, gold, rubies, seed and cultured pearls, 4.75 x 4.75 x .75 in; Camilo Ramirez (Photography Fellow ’09), FLIGHT SUIT (2008), Archival Inkjet Print, 16 in x 20 in.
This Tuesday, November 16, 6-8 PM, attend an interactive workshop at the Boston Center for the Arts Mills Gallery on Legal Issues and Starting a Business as an Artist. The workshop is hosted by ARTmorpheus and features attorneys Jenny Milana and Mitchell Bragg of DangerMilana Law Firm. There’s a limit of 15 participants and a $10 fee, payable to Boston Center for the Arts. RSVP here.
If you’ve been following this blog, you may recognize Jenny Milana from our Ask an Arts Attorney feature, where she’s fielded questions about copyright, contracts, e-book rights, and other arts law matters. Jenny is back for another installment, and she’s joined by Mitchell Bragg, who specializes in intellectual property law for DangerMilana. (Also, credit is due to DangerMilana intern Michael McCubbin for researching the topics.)
Incidentally, if you have any arts law questions, send them our way for a future “Ask an Arts Attorney” post.
Please note: this post is for informational benefit only and should not be used in place of actual legal services. Also, as a state agency, the Massachusetts Cultural Council does not endorse any individual business or service.
Today’s question: If I commission someone to create something custom for me that I design, can they then replicate that design for someone else without my permission? I could draft some agreement to protect me from this or to share in future profits should there be any, but would that be accepted in the arts and crafts world? For instance, we designed a wrought iron railing that the iron company replicated for someone else in a very visible exterior location. Also my friend paid a lot of money for a custom stamped tin stove hood that the artist is now mass producing and selling for much less than she paid. Frustrating! Unfortunately neither of us had anything in writing to protect us. Is there anything we can do? I have another idea for something unique I would like to have made. How can I protect myself from this moving forward?
Signed,
Ripped off!
Dear Ripped off!,
As a general rule, copyright protection does not extend to “ideas.” Instead, a creator can only protect the tangible expression of that idea when it is fixed in a physical medium. For example, were Michelangelo to think to himself: “I am going to chisel an image of Mary holding Jesus,” he could not receive copyright protection for that “idea;” however, he could receive protection for the actual sculpture of his famous Pieta. So, the answer depends on whether your “design” was ever fixed in any physical medium (i.e. a drawing, a sculpture, etc.), or whether it was merely an “idea” in your mind. If you have the “design” fixed in a tangible medium, you may receive some protection and stop further reproduction; however, if you merely thought of an idea, there is no copyright protection for the “idea” underlying the design. Also, if you do not have a copyright registration it will be difficult to bring a lawsuit, but the possibility remains.
The situation you presented will depend on your unique circumstances – for instance, did the iron company commission you to design a railing, or did you commission the iron company to make a railing for you, based on your design, and the company is now continuing to market that same design for sale to others?
If the company commissioned you to design a railing for their manufacture, then you likely have no rights to that design and the company can make any use of it. In this scenario, based on the information in your post, your “design” for the railing would be called a “work-for-hire.” Generally, this is what most commissioned works default to unless there is a written agreement otherwise. If so, because the company commissioned you to design the railing, they own all copyright protection in the design because they paid for your creative efforts.
Conversely, if you commissioned the company to make a railing, solely for your use, you may have some protection; however, any protection is contingent upon the factors discussed in the first paragraph above. Namely, do you have the design fixed in any medium and, more specifically, do you have a copyright for the design? While you may still be protected if you do not have a registration, provided that the design is fixed in a tangible medium (i.e. the drawing, sculpture, etc.), it will be difficult to claim ownership in court without a registration. To sue someone for copyright infringement, you must have a registration; however, you may be able to sue for “misappropriation” of your intellectual property (the design) if you can show proof of ownership for that design.
In the future, it is always best to have something in writing, signed by all the parties involved (e.g. you, the iron company, etc.) and the benefits of copyright registration cannot be overstated. Registration is relatively easy, inexpensive, and makes it easier to stop people from infringing your intellectual property. Similarly, a simple written document indicating that you own the design, the finished product, and which forbids the manufacturer from making additional reproductions of that product would seem to protect you. Essentially, you want the process of manufacturing your design to be a “work-for-hire” (you should call it that in the written document) so that you own all the copyrights. But remember, you would not want any work that you do for others to be called a “work-for-hire,” unless of course you don’t mind giving up ownership in the copyright. Again, copyright registration is only $35 – it pays to register!
Jenny Milana and Mitchell Bragg are attorneys at law at DangerMilana. Special thanks to DangerMilana intern Michael McCubbin who researched the above topics.
If you have any questions for a future Ask an Arts Attorney post, send them here.
Some people are just really good at making things by hand. And luckily for us, The Society of Arts and Crafts has gathered 90 venerable artists who make one-of-a-kind and limited-edition pieces in ceramics, decorative fiber, wearables, furniture, glass, jewelry, leather, metal, mixed media, paper and wood. Where can one see this assortment of goodies? Well at the Craftboston Holiday exhibition and sale a the Cyclorama at Boston Center for the Arts on December 10-12, 2010.
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Whats more, the good people of Craftboston have donated weekend passes to libraries (we LOVE our public libraries and librarians) throughout Massachusetts.
Yes, Craftboston Holiday has extended 10 free weekend passes each to over 80 public libraries throughout Massachusetts for their members (Celtics fans would call this a Tommy point)! Yeah Craftboston! Libraries are an essential part of our history and culture, educating and informing the public in many areas including craft. Craftboston would like to encourage the continuation of knowledge, interest and interaction with fine craft by inviting library members to their weekend-long exhibition.
Questions about the Craftboston library program contact Sarah at 617-266-1810.
Craftboston Holiday
Featuring 90 Contemporary Craft Artists
The Cyclorama at Boston Center for the Arts
December 10-12, 2010
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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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