ArtSake

Part of the thrill of making art is discovering how your audience interacts with your work. In our conversations with artists in numerous disciplines, we’ve asked: What’s the most surprising response to your work you’ve ever received?

Kathleen Volp, visual artist
I have been under the impression that the subject of many of my pieces was a deeply textured cantaloupe. I was surprised to find many viewers didn’t even remotely see a cantaloupe! Not even a kumquat. People saw protoplasm or coral or some kind of micro-organism or a CAT scan of the brain. It’s all good, even exciting, but really, really shocking to me. How could I not have seen this in my own work?

Mary Kocol, photographer
When I first started exhibiting at Gallery NAGA in 1993, some people thought the photographs were paintings – perhaps because I presented the work without mats or glazing, the traditional way to exhibit photos back then.

Ilie Ruby, writer
I once had a short story ravaged by wolves in a writing workshop. A friend suggested that the best revenge was revision. I looked over the story, dotted some i’s, crossed some t’s, and decided I was happy with it as it was. Then I haphazardly tossed the story into a box marked “contest,” (not knowing what contest it actually was). A few weeks later I received a phone call: “Congratulations, your story has just won the Edwin L. Moses Award for Fiction chosen by T.C. Boyle!” I received a huge prize, a small amount of satisfaction, and learned never again to listen to wolves.

Joshua Meyer, painter
I once stood in front of my paintings with the poet Robert Hass as he described my art to me. I felt like I was in the midst of one of his poems, a participant.

Scott Tulay, visual artist
My daughters, who are eight and five, consistently complain that my drawings are “too scary.” They will ask me, “Why can’t you draw something nice, with color, like with a rainbow?” Once in a while, however, I’ll do a drawing, and they’ll tilt their heads to the side and say, “Not bad, Dad.” This scares me.

Christopher Faust, painter
I had someone point out to me that there was something wrong with my composition – that the figures were too in the middle. When I told him I knew that and I did it on purpose, he kind of got angry and confused, then he stopped talking to me. I also had a piece stolen recently from a show.

Tara Masih, writer
“I love that story about your father.” When I told the woman it was fiction, that the character was not my father, she burst out, “Don’t tell me that! It was better when I thought it was real.” People seem to have a pathological need to have writing be autobiographical.

Rick Berry, painter
Tears.

Paul Goodnight, painter
Silence.

Jeff and Jane Hudson, musicians
YouTube and iTunes.

Shelly Reed, visual artist
Well, the most common response is that people very carefully and diplomatically suggest that I add at least a bit of color. The most surprising response was when someone contacted me from my Web site and asked me to design their tattoo.

Merrill Comeau, mixed media collage artist
I was working at the National Park of the Old North Bridge, on the edge of the Concord River. As I walked down, I fell into a sink hole of mud up to my knee. When I got to a good spot to work, I removed my boots and socks, washed them out in the river and hung them on branches to dry. I set out my tarp, stacks of fabric, lunch, etc. and worked all day. When I climbed back up to the bridge, the Park Ranger told me a group of women, seeing me on the edge of the river, asked where to leave money for the homeless person (me).

Salvatore Scibona, writer
My local Provincetown bookseller tells me that on the day my book (The End) came out, he sold a copy to a woman from New Hampshire, a tourist, the wife of a retired minister. It sounded interesting, she said; she liked the cover. What could be more commonplace than a person on a walk in a small town stopping to buy a book and taking it home? But also, what could be more unlikely, more uncanny from a writer’s point of view, than that a stranger he will never know should walk down a street with years of the writer’s thoughts in her bag?

Image: Kathleen Volp, BOUND MELON #2 (2011), photographic transfer, oil, metal and graphite on fabric and wood panel, 12x12x1 in.

Powered by Bookmarkify™

Well now this is cool.

Gobs of Lines Some Wet Some Dry, a “pop-up” exhibition, will take place at the studio of artist Conley Harris (Painting Fellow ’86) on November 17-19 in Boston’s South End. The show features several past MCC Fellows, Brian Corey (Painting Fellow ’08), Christopher Faust (Painting Fellow ’10), and Mary O’Malley (Drawing Fellow ’06), with Jeffrey Gibson, James Kennedy, John Guthrie, and Kim Pashko.

Along with the art (which = awesome), this show is just nifty in its conception. According to a Boston Globe review of a past pop-up show, Harris organized the series as a monthly exhibition of local artists, in response to a decrease in opportunities for artists due to the economic downturn. Participating artists contribute $25 for exhibition costs, but all sales directly benefit the artists.

Each Pop-Up centers around a theme. From Harris’s announcement:

It is my pleasure to exhibit painters and drawers who pursue line as the main language and expressive mode in their works. That first line serves as the generator, the machine that propels ideas through a range of complex impulses and responses. Here we see either painterly lines, delicate lace-like lines, poured and flowing lines or layered patterns of line as the artist’s means to express their passions. These extraordinary works, some fantastically large and others quite small and intimate, show an impressive group of Boston artists.

I really like how this series devises an all-rise solution to dry economic times. Add one part generosity, one part ingenuity, and one part inventive art. You never know what might pop up.

LISTED and Conley Harris present Pop-Up No. 4, November 17-19
Studio No.1 at 1140 Washington Street near East Berkeley Street in Boston
Opening Reception: 6-8 PM, Thursday November 17
Additional viewing: Fri / Sat Nov. 18 and 19, 1-6 PM

Images: Brian Corey, NE BOUNDARY (2011), acrylic, ink, graphite on panel, 24×24 in; Mary O’Malley, HAECKELS GARDEN (2008), Metallic ink on paper, 32×40 in.

Powered by Bookmarkify™

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

(more…)

Powered by Bookmarkify™

ArtSake confesses to a fondness of the materials used in drawing, particularly Pink Pearl erasers. Yes, we adore all things drawing, except when a pencil lead breaks when you don’t want it to. So when we found out that the artist Deborah Davidson has curated Cannot Be Described in Words: Drawing Expanded, an upcoming exhibition at the Concord Art Association,  we jumped at the opportunity to talk with her. And by the way, Deborah and the artists will also be giving a free talk Materiality and Intimacy – A Conversation, on October 27th in conjunction with the exhibition.

How did you select these artists? I was asked to make a proposal for a drawing exhibit and this group presented itself, my criteria was – what artists would I like to see in the same room together – all of whom push the definition of drawing.

Being a curator is like a) flying a plane, b) being a gardener or c) waiting for the subway to come? A gardener – after coming up with a great idea for an exhibit, it takes a lot of nurturing and supporting of the artists to make that idea become manifest.

What excites you these days? I have noticed many drawing-related exhibits both here and in New York. With the Maine Drawing Project, the state of Maine is devoting a year’s worth of exhibits to drawing. I just saw the Dance/Draw exhibit at the ICA – it is exciting when that kind of synchronicity happens.

The show’s title is Cannot Be Described In Words: Drawing Expanded. Explain? I was thinking about the relationship between drawing and writing – thoughts or images coming from the hand, and then it occurred to me that when words are incapable of expressing something, that drawing is.

What do you hope to achieve with your curation of this show? I am hoping that there is a visual dialog with the actual works in the gallery, and that will engender further dialog among the artists and with the viewers.

The unauthorized biography of your life is titled? A Circuitous Route From There To Here.

What is the most misunderstood aspect of being a curator? Perhaps how much administration it takes to present an exhibition, all the things that are not visible.

What advice would you give an artist that has been rejected from a call to exhibit? Oh, that is clear – look for the next opportunity and try again.

Cannot Be Described In Words: Drawing Expanded
Curated by Deborah Davidson. Exhibiting artists include Jill Slosberg Ackerman, Ilona Anderson, Sheila Gallagher, Audrey Goldstein, Raul Gonzalez, Chuck Holtzman, Fred Liang, Cynthia Maurice, Randal Thurston and Debra Weisberg
October 20 – November 20, 2011.  Opening Reception: October 20, 6:00-8:00pm
Concord Art Association, 37 Lexington Road Concord, MA

Image credit (top to bottom): Raul Gonzalez, Chuck Holtzman, Randal Thurston, Fred Liang, Audrey Goldstein, Sheila Gallagher, Jill Slosberg Ackerman, Debra Weisberg and Cynthia Maurice.

Powered by Bookmarkify™

Karen Aqua (Film & Video Fellow ’11) was an innovator in animation and a beloved figure in the Massachusetts arts community. The Massachusetts Cultural Council was honored to award her an Artist Fellowship shortly before her untimely passing in May, 2011.

On Sunday, September 25, 2011, at 3 PM, the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston will present a special tribute to this exceptional artist.

In an August 2009 interview on ArtSake, Karen revealed that she always hand drew her vibrant animations. That exceptional attention to detail will be on display in a screening program of works ranging from her early career to her most recent work, Taxonomy. Twist of Fate, Sensorium, Andaluz, and her animated segments for Sesame Street will be among the other films in the program, which will be hosted by filmmaker Frank Mouris, filmmaker/teacher Amy Kravitz, and Karen’s husband and frequent collaborator Ken Field, a musician and composer.

Learn more about the ICA retrospective. Read a tribute to Karen by fellow animator Joanna Priestley.

Images: stills from films by Karen Aqua; TWIST OF FATE (2009); TAXONOMY (2011); SENSORIUM (2007); and ANDALUZ (2004), a collaboration with Joanna Priestley.

Powered by Bookmarkify™

In September, past MCC fellows/finalists venture into imagined flora, faraway lands, outer space, the impermanent, the temporary, and the nearly not. (For starters.)

And now, we venture into our monthly round-up of the news of past awardees of our Artist Fellowships Program.

Karen Aqua (Film & Video Fellow ’11) will be honored by the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston in a tribute program, on Sunday, September 25, 2011, 3 PM. Read more about the program on ArtSake.

Sally Bellerose (Fiction/Creative Nonfiction Finalist ’04) will read from her novel The Girls Club at Forbes Library in Northampton on Saturday, September 24, 2011, at 3 PM. The novel tells of the complicated, interconnected lives of three working class sisters in small town Massachusetts.

Congratulations to Alice Bouvrie (Film & Video Fellow ’11), whose documentary Thy Will Be Done now has a distribution partnership with New Day Films. The film will be appearing at Heart of England International Film Festival in the UK, September 7-18, 2011. The film, an excerpt of which won the artist an 2011 Artist Fellowship, will also be screening at the North Louisiana Gay & Lesbian Film Festival in Shreveport, LA on September 17 (12:30 PM) and September 20, 2011 (5:30 PM, followed by a panel discussion). Next month, along with a screening at the International Film Festival Australasia in Australia, the film will be shown at Lesley University‘s Marran Theater in Cambridge on October 12, 2011, at 7 PM.

Sarah Braunstein‘s (Fiction/Creative Nonfiction Fellow ’04) novel The Sweet Relief of Missing Children was shortlisted for the Center for Fiction’s Flaherty-Dunnan First Novel Prize.

John Cameron‘s (Crafts Fellow ’11) work is included in New Hampshire Furniture Masters 2011. The annual auction is on September 10, 2011, at the Currier Museum of Art in NH.

Cheryl Clark (Poetry Finalist ’10) will read her poetry on Saturday, September 24, 3 PM, at Outpost 186 in Inman Square, Cambridge, as part of the Unaffiliated Reading Series.

Shawn Cody‘s (Playwriting Fellow ’07) new music theater work The Water Dream will have a staged reading as part of Shakespeare & Company’s Studio Festival of New Plays. The performance features Broadway veteran Anthony Rapp and takes place Monday, September 5, 2011 at Shakespeare & Company in Lenox, MA. Read about the event in Playbill.

Rebecca Doughty (Painting Finalist ’10) has a solo show of new paintings, called Nearly Nots, at The Schoolhouse Gallery in Provincetown. The show runs September 2-21, 2011, with a reception on Friday, September 2, 7-10 PM.

Vico Fabbris (Painting Fellow ’06, Drawing Fellow ’00) will have an exhibition titled Floragenis at the Rice Polak Gallery in Provincetown from September 1 to September 15, 2011. Opening reception, with the artist, Friday, September 2, 2011 at 7 PM. An interview with Vico Fabbris on his Floragenis exhibition at the Rice Polak Gallery will appear in the Provincetown Banner on Thursday, September 1, 2011, written by art historian and art critic Susan Rand Brown.

Long time organizer of poetry and interdisciplinary programs in Massachusetts, Michael Hoerman (Poetry Fellow ’04) has created a brand new organization, The Temp Series Project, to advocate and promote writing and art in the Commonwealth. Based in culture-rich Lowell, MA, The Temp Series Project will create interdisciplinary events, develop commissions, and host special showcases that highlight Massachusetts artists and promote their appreciation. Projects in the works include a temporary reading series, pocket poetry festival, and temporary public art. For more information, join The Temp Series Project on Facebook. The Temp Series Project was recently approved for fiscal sponsorship by Fractured Atlas.

Brian Knep (Sculpture/Installation Fellow ’11) is showing Healing 2 as part of the group show Building Expectation: Past and Present Visions of the Architectural Future at Brown University in Providence, RI. The show runs at the David Winton Bell Gallery September 3-November 6, 2011, with an opening reception and curatorial talk on Friday, September 9, 5:30-7:30 PM.

Jesse Kreitzer (Film & Video Finalist ’11) has launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for his independent feature film, The Wake. The film, which was recently selected as a finalist for the 2012 Sundance Institute’s Screenwriter’s Lab, is the story of a grief-ridden social worker who cares for a dying woman in secrecy from his wife and two children.

Dawn Lane (Choreography Fellow ’10) will premiere a new work of dance, one potato, two potato, at the Doris Duke Theatre at Jacob’s Pillow on September 2, 2011 (8 PM) and September 3, 2 PM and 8 PM. The work draws on aspects of Irish culture & history (i.e. knitting, the famine and Irish dance) to explore perceptions of excess, wastefulness, having enough, or nothing. Dawn’s MCC Fellowship, as well as a Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival Creative Development Residency, helped pave the way for the new work. One potato, two potato is presented in cooperation with Jacob’s Pillow Community Dance Programs and Community Access to the Arts. Read Dawn’s post about the development of one potato, two potato, on ArtSake.

Scott Listfield (Painting Finalist ’10) is among the artists with work in Lift Off: Earthlings and the Great Beyond at the Paul Robeson Galleries at Rutgers University in NJ. The exhibition is in the Main Gallery September 1, 2011-January 5, 2012, with an opening reception and catalog launch Thursday, September 15, 5-7 PM. Follow Scott’s new blog for more info on his upcoming solo show at the University Gallery at UMass Lowell, Astronaut: Paintings by Scott Listfield. That show will run November 7–December 2, 2011, artist talk & reception November 8, 3-5 PM. Finally, Scott is featured in a recently released book documenting the great Crazy 4 Cult art shows at Gallery 1988 in Los Angeles.

Christian McEwen‘s (Playwriting Fellow ’11) new book World Enough and Time: On Creativity and Slowing Down will be published by Bauhan Publising this month. The book reflects on how slowing down the pace of one’s life can have profound benefits, including on creativity.

Nathalie Miebach (Sculpture/Installation Fellow ’09) has two solo shows in Massachusetts, this month: Musical Storms is on exhibit at the Cushing-Martin Gallery at Stonehill College in Easton from September 22-October 31, 2011, with an opening reception October 5, 6-7:30 PM. Another solo show, Changing Waters, is on exhibit at the Arsenal Center for the Arts in Watertown September 30-November 30, 2011.

Anne Neely (Painting Finalist ’10) has a solo exhibit, Mopang: Recent Paintings on view at Lohin Geduld Gallery in NYC, from September 7 through October 8, 2011, with an opening reception September 8, 5–7 PM. A catalog with essay by Jonathan Franzen (who, incidentally, won our Artist Fellowship in 1986!) accompanies the exhibit.

Congratulations to Marlo Poras (Film & Video Fellow ’05), whose film-in-progress The Mosuo Sisters received a Chicken & Egg Pictures Liberty Grant.

Eric Henry Sanders‘s (Playwriting Fellow ’09) play Reservoir is being remounted at Theater 89 in Berlin (translated title: Haseks Heimkehr), following a successful production there in May. There was one performance in August, and upcoming performances September 9, 10, 16, and 17, 2011.

Tara Sellios (Photography Fellow ’11) is preparing for a solo show called Lessons of Impermanence at The New England School of Art & Design, this November 2011.

Peter Snoad‘s (Playwriting Fellow ’09) short play My Name is Art was staged at Artists Exchange in Cranston, RI, August 19-28 as part of their Black Box Theatre’s annual one-act festival.

Julia Story‘s (Poetry Finalist ’10) poetry was recently featured in TriQuarterly literary journal.

Steve Tourlentes (Photography Fellow ’11, ’05) currently has a piece in Night Vision, an exhibition on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City through September 16, 2011.

Frank Ward (Photography Fellow ’11) gave two presentations in Central Asia, in August, first presenting his work in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, followed by a lecture in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan.

Jeff Warmouth (Sculpture/Installation Finalist ’05) has a solo exhibition at the SHOW Gallery and Performance Space in Staten Island, NY. The show, called SuperJeffuBurgerMarket, runs September 10-October, 29, 2011, with an opening reception Saturday, September 10, 5-8 PM.

Ellen Wineberg (Painting Finalist ’04) has work in two MA exhibitions this months: she has four pieces in 24 Solo Shows at Bromfield Gallery in Boston, August 31-October 1 (opening reception Sept. 9, 6-8:30 PM). She’s also part of a five-person show, Exquisite Corpse at Deerfield Academy. The show, with work ranging from minimal to real, runs September 22-November 17 (opening reception Sunday, Oct. 2, 2-5), at the school’s Russell Gallery.

Michael Zelehoski (Painting Fellow ’10) has a solo show at Sanford Smith Fine Art in Great Barrington, running through October 13, 2011.

Past Fellows Notes
Aug. 2011
July 2011
June 2011
May 2011
Apr. 2011
Mar. 2011
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: Painting by Vico Fabbris, from the FLORAGENIS series; paintings by Rebecca Doughty, from the NEARLY NOTS series; Michael Hoerman’s digital rendering of Storehouse No. 1, a video installation proposed by The Temp Series Project in Lowell; cover art for Christian McEwen’s WORLD ENOUGH & TIME (Bauhan Publishing, 2011); Frank Ward, #3 (2009), Giclee print, 22X33 in.

Powered by Bookmarkify™

We’re excited to announce that the Massachusetts Cultural Council 2012 Artist Fellowships guidelines are now available. The Artist Fellowships are unrestricted, anonymously judged, competitive grants in recognition of artistic excellence.

There are two deadlines per fiscal year, divided by discipline, and applications are now being accepted in Drawing, Painting, and Traditional Arts. Deadline: October 7, 2011.

Beginning December 15, 2011, MCC will accept applications in Choreography, Fiction/Creative Nonfiction, and Poetry. Deadline: January 30, 2012.

Who should apply? Generative Massachusetts artists who meet eligibility requirements (see guidelines) are encouraged to apply. Read our tips on applying for an MCC Artist Fellowship.

We know artists work in ways that are not always easily categorized. If you have any questions where your work might best fit in the program, don’t hesitate to ask us.

Read full program guidelines, eligibility requirements, and application instructions.

Image: Luke O’Sullivan, SUITCASE (100,000 DOLLARS) (2009), screenprint on wood, 18x13x11 in.

Powered by Bookmarkify™

Comics artists and graphic novelists: submit your stories to Harvard Bookstore’s Comics Contest, and you may just win inclusion in Minimum Paige, a comics/graphic storytelling anthology to be printed on the Cambridge bookstore’s in-house book machine, Paige M. Gutenborg.

Stories should be black and white, between 1-4 pages, and the original work of the artist. Deadline to submit using the bookstore’s online application is August 19, 5 PM EST. Learn more contest details.

By the way, we wrote about Harvard Bookstore’s print-on-demand service on ArtSake, focusing on what the service might offer for local writers. It’s exciting to see those publishing possibilities extend to graphic storytellers, as well.

Powered by Bookmarkify™

New American Paintings, a periodical that serves as a juried exhibition-in-print of some of the most exciting work in painting today, is accepting applications to its Northeast Competition. Massachusetts artists are encouraged to apply – deadline in August 31, 2011.

Publication in New American Paintings has served as a key step in the careers of many talented artists, including past MCC awardees Laura Chasman, Anne Neely, Evelyn Rydz, Naoe Suzuki, and Helena Wurzel.

This year’s juror is Dina Deitsch, Assistant Curator of Contemporary Art for the deCordova Sculpture Park + Museum, Lincoln, MA. On the NAP blog, Editor-at-Large Evan Garza asked what Deitsch was most looking forward to in the Northeast Competition review process:

Deitsch: Seeing new work! It’s funny, I’ve always thought of myself as more of a time-based media type – video and all – but I have to say, there is nothing quite like looking at a painting. I think that it’s probably the least forgiving of mediums and therefore it either works or doesn’t – almost viscerally.

Read the full interview.

The program accepts four images of two-dimensional work, including a broad definition of “painting” (see the FAQs for the type of work that can be submitted). There is a $50 application fee.

Learn more about the Northeast Competition.

Images: Laura Chasman, NICHOLAS (2008), gouache on illustration board, 12×11 in; Helena Wurzel, TEA FOR ONE WITH LUCINDA WILLIAMS (2009), Acrylic Paint and Paper Collage, 22×30 in; Anne Neely, SURPRISE (2009) Oil on linen, 45×60 in (photo by Clements/Howcroft).

Powered by Bookmarkify™

Ariel Freiberg‘s paintings intrigue and implore, exaggerate and embellish, all the while eliciting “a bit of an adrenaline rush.” Here, she invites us into her studio – and as collaborators on her new project.

My Dream Harvester community arts project is an open forum for accounts of dreams from slumber or wished aspirations. Dream Harvester and I will be live and dreaming at ArtBeat, July 16th in Davis Square from 11 AM to 6 PM, part of the Somerville’s festival of music, performance art, craft vendors, dance, theater, food, and more.

Once I harvest the dreams of the visitors of ArtBeat (and I invite you to join in), I will create visual representations of the collective accounts. These works will be shared online and exhibited in the Boston area (location yet to be determined).

Art can draw on the unconscious collective ideas of our time. I would like to investigate this further by expanding my usual private process of working in the studio by harvesting a collection of my communities’ dreams. Through the visual translation of these accounts, I hope to highlight the connective tissues of thought through our global village.

My art practice is, in part, an invitation to the viewer into a visual and conceptual dialogue with the narrative of my personal experiences and observations.

I am working on a new series of paintings of gardening tools and shoes. The ideas for this work have been percolating in my head for the past year and have infiltrated my drawings and several small paintings on panel. I see the gardening tools paired with shoes as signals to the viewer of the tension between sexuality within the natural world and human narratives.

With all of my work, I crave to break the ground of tradition, revealing an unconscious second language. I work the soil, trying to find the meaning behind beauty’s seduction. The second language speaks to our bodies, in unfamiliar spaces, pushing expectations of what is seen and what is felt.

Here you can see a couple of the small panel works.

My process also involves the sorting and collecting of reference materials. Reference materials can involve objects like shoes and colored papers and photos from fashion magazines and drawings from models. I draw from all these forms, combining them into a two-dimensional image. I prefer to work all of the space and forms out by hand. This process helps me understand what I really feel about these forms and how color and touch can correspond with those emotions. I also draw great inspiration from many Rocco artists for their use of color and space. Watteau’s psychological landscapes inform the environments of my paintings. Sometimes I employ Italian artist Giovanni Battista Tiepolo’s use of space, so the viewer has the sensation of being in the painting.

Here are some images of my workspace and my latest large canvas. I usually build my own frames from poplar and I use canvas that I prime with both acrylic and oil grounds.

Photographed here are objects that are the subjects of the work in progress.

While creating this setup, I deliberately ripped the photos and papers. For some of the small paintings on panel, I ripped up some recent woodcut prints. I’ve also experimented with color and form in watercolors.

I see the trowels and cultivators breaking ground that expose the internal trauma. These paintings of gardening tools and shoes in various scales, earthing the ground, contrast subterranean fantastical groundless environments of my earlier works.

Ariel will attend ArtBeat at Davis Square in Somerville, July 16, 11 AM to 6 PM, to discuss and “harvest” dreams from ArtBeat attendees.

Images: all images courtesy of the artist. Photos by Ariel Freiberg, Ralph Pennel, and Chris Yeager.

Powered by Bookmarkify™