ArtSake

So, you want art this weekend. You’ve come to the right place. Here’s a handy dandy guide to your art-seeking travels.

Your starting point is Taunton, Massachusetts, on Sat., June 4, 2011, for the Dighton Cow Chip Festival. There, you’ll behold chainsaw sculptor “The Machine” Jesse Green as he lives out his slogan – “Carving Dreams into Reality” – by sculpting (live, in real-time, and using the previously mentioned chainsaw) a cow sculpture that’s to become Taunton’s newest fixture.

Then, make your way due north until you reach the cool waters of the Charles River, where the Cambridge River Festival (Sat, June 4) can offer you music, puppetry, dance, theatre, improv, a parade, children’s programming, and all manners of interactive and creative fun.

Cross the Charles River to Boston – specifically, to the Rose Kennedy Greenway. There, FIGMENT Boston (June 4-5) awaits you. FIGMENT Boston is a part of the national FIGMENT project, a “forum for the creation and display of participatory and interactive art by emerging artists across disciplines.” Over 80 artists are participating in FIGMENT Boston this year, including live video installation, interactive music performance, architectural dance installation, and many, many other interesting projects that are too hard to compact into a reasonable sentence. May we humbly suggest this event is likely to be far out.

Next, head north to Salem, MA. You’ll find the Salem Arts Festival, a weekend-long (June 3-5) celebration of visual, performing, and literary art. You can take a magic carpet ride, learn bellydance, do improv, and see tons of art.

Now, I understand that, with four festivals already under your belt, you’re weary, hungry, possibly a touch over-festive. But you must persevere. For a little over 30 miles from Salem is the formidable city of Lowell, where you’ll breathlessly rush through the doors of the Merrimack Repertory Theatre. There, the Lowell National Historical Park hosts an evening of Irish dance and fiddle music Saturday night, featuring master artists and their apprentices, from the MCC’s Traditional Apprenticeship Program. Read more at our sibling blog, Keepers of Tradition, on this fascinating evening of solo, duet, and group performances.

You may rest now.

It’s Sunday morning (almost noon – you slept late). Rise, and see art.

First, head to South Boston, where there’s a Spring Open Studio at the Distillery & King Terminal (Sun., June 5, 2011). See the current participating artists and check out some previous work by some of those same artists in an older post we did about their Fall open studios.

Finally, make your way, by roller skate, rickshaw, unicycle, or – if need be – an easier mode of transport, to the Tufts University Art Gallery in Medford. A show of MCC Fellows just opened (see pictures of the opening on our Facebook page). If you want a sense of the range and vision of work being produced by visual artists in Massachusetts, you have arrived at your destination. While you’re there, use your cell to call a special number for audio commentary by the artists.

There. You’ve reached the end of our guide. But feel free to expand the map.

Image: Gallery view of paintings by Monica Nydam, from a show of MCC Fellows at Tufts University Art Gallery.

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Through persistence and hard work, Joshua Meyer (Painting Fellow ’10) has found that ultra sweet spot where paintings hover between order and chaos. One of the delights of his work is the transformation of the physical material of paint into a seemingly living breathing figure inhabiting an interior life. Let’s take a look at his studio and paintings.

I try to keep a lot of paintings going at the same time. I like to see works in progress in my peripheral vision while I’m at work on other pieces. When everything is going on simultaneously, the paintings can keep each other company. They talk to each other, start a little dialogue. If I’m stuck on on piece I can leap into another. On a really good day I am working on three or four paintings at the same time. (And on a really bad day I am destroying three or four paintings in one fell swoop). The ideas and colors and energy leap from one to another—they solve each other’s problems and teach each other their tricks.

There is always noise in the studio. Silences are awful—I can’t concentrate when the room is too quiet. I am usually listening to music, sometimes podcasts of radio shows. Since I don’t have a clock in the studio, I often tell time by the length of the songs or podcasts that have come and gone. It has something to do with focus and rhythm.

Half of the time I have someone modeling for me in the room, and the rest of the time I am alone. It is an important balance to strike. When I have company I get very self-conscious and even compulsive, and when I am alone I can get lost in the paint. So the paintings hang in that balance between facts and memories, between details and exuberance, between paint and ideas. Too much in any direction and the paintings would be stale. Without the model I can paint ferociously, endlessly. Then the model comes back, and I realize all of the ridiculous exaggerations I’ve made, so I focus and fix, search and seek. Then when they leave again I can finally step back and see all of the myopic and overwrought things I’ve done in search of some unnecessary accuracy. I do this dance over and over until the paintings are full of interesting contradictions and ideas.

Of course when I paint from life, the studio itself becomes a character in the pictures. The chairs and the shelves, the nooks and the crannies have anchored so many of my paintings. There are gargoyles, power tools and piles of books, and they return again and again to the images. My paintings are collections of everything that is going on in my life, so of course the state of the studio usually reflects some of the same as well.

Joshua’s paintings will be exhibited in the exhibition New and Recent Work by 13 Massachusetts Cultural Council Award Recipients in Painting and Drawing at Tufts University Art Gallery,The Aidekman Arts Center, June 2-July 31, 2011, Wednesday-Sunday, 12-5 (closed July 2 and 3). Opening reception and artist talk Thursday, June 2, 5-8 pm.

Image credit: All images courtesy Joshua Meyer

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By sheer force of artistic will (and vice grips and wood glue) Michael Zelehoski (MCC 2010 Painting Fellow) finds three dimensional objects and forces them to behave and leave behind the land of 3D that they occupy and instead perform as sculptural paintings inhabiting a 2D space. Say what you will, but he’s found the perfect way around cleaning paint off of brushes. You can see some of his work at the upcoming June exhibition of fellows work at the Tufts University Art Gallery, but for now, let’s look at his magnificently cluttered/organized space.

This is my studio in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. My landlord calls this accumulation of detritus ‘art creep’ and I’ve probably been called worse myself. My process involves the selection and re-contextualization of found objects, meaning that I find stuff – usually in dumpsters or on the side of the road – and literally collapse it into the picture plane. This translation of three-dimensional volume into two-dimensional surface is integral to much of what we think of as representational art. I just do it in a very literal way.

This is more like it – my invisible girlfriend and I putting the finishing touches on Stack of Pallets, 2010. This modular, geometrical assemblage is very much in dialogue with Minimalism, (see Donald Judd’s modular, cantilevered boxes) in spite of being hand crafted from time worn materials and framed in pictorial space.

Lately I’ve been working with a lot of humble, utilitarian objects such as boxes and pallets. These objects, usually thought of as means for moving other things around, become ends in themselves when incorporated into the picture plane.

Suspended in two-dimensional space, the pallet finds itself inert and impotent, yet it remains perceptually active and productive.

This spatial transformation is often intense. The objects can resist mightily and every step in the process involves cutting and joining, using sometimes dozens of clamps at a time. I have often asked myself why I can’t just grab a pen or paint brush and call it a day.

The object’s concreteness is in direct contrast to the spatial illusionism of its composition.

This is my second and perhaps last stack of pallets. It’s composed of almost four hundred individual pieces and took about a month and a half to complete.

For now this piece adorns my kitchen (see fridge for an idea of scale). I look forward to exhibiting it in the MCC awardees show at Tufts University this summer.

Image credit: All photos courtesy of Michael Zelehoski

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Daniel Ranalli (Drawing Fellow ’10) is at heart an environmental artist working conceptually. His snail drawings are evidence of one who explores and values the fragile impermanence of life. Let’s tread lightly and take a look into his studio.

I have now, by far, the best studio I have ever had. I live in a converted elevator factory in Cambridge and my studio, a darkroom and a small wood shop are all on the first level. Our residence is on the 2nd level – bright open space with a big east-facing skylight.

My wife, the painter, Tabitha Vevers has her studio on a mezzanine that overlooks our living space and it is like her private nest high in the sky. We like to say that our living area is sandwiched between our studios.

My studio is simple – concrete floor and visible heating ducts, sprinklers and electrical conduits. There are large windows facing north, which interest me less than the fact that twenty feet past those windows are the railroad tracks for the MBTA commuter line. When I was a kid I had a model train set in the basement and spent many hours making mountains and buildings and little villages for it. I can hardly remember ever actually running the trains on the track, but I loved the whole business of creating things for it.

Out my window the trains lumber past – only four or five cars long, and a big diesel engine. In the winter when it is dark during the commuter hours I love seeing the passengers moving past me. They are reading or talking and bathed in the warm yellow light – a Hopper painting that he never made.

At this stage I rarely use my darkroom. At first I was glad to be out in the light, and working more with a computer screen and digital gear (photography is at the core of a lot of my work), but that has become less appealing over time. On the other hand, all those toxic chemicals are now in the past for me. In recent years I have started tomato plants in my darkroom sinks.

What I never seem to have enough of is table surface and storage. When I am really working, and making larger pieces, I seem to run out of surface areas in no time.

Daniel is one of thirteen artists participating in the upcoming MCC Fellows Exhibition at the Tufts University Art Gallery.

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We are excited to announce New and Recent Work by 13 Massachusetts Cultural Council Award Recipients in Painting and Drawing, an exhibition at Tufts University Art Gallery in Medford.

The exhibition will run June 2 – July 31, 2011, with an opening reception
Thursday, June 2, 5:30-8 PM.

The 13 exhibiting artists are all Fellows in Drawing and Painting from the 2010 grant cycle, including: Cree Bruins, Christopher Faust, Jan Johnson, Masako Kamiya, Yanick Lapuh, Joshua Meyer, Monica Nydam, Daniel Ranalli, Harold Reddicliffe, Matthew Rich, Cristi Rinklin, Evelyn Rydz, and Michael Zelehoski.

There will be an Artists’ Talk on Thursday, June 2, 5-6 PM, featuring Cree Bruins, Jan Johnson, Yanick Lapuh, Joshua Meyer, and Michael Zelehoski.

Find more images from the exhibition on ArtSake’s Facebook page.

Image: Yanick Lapuh, I LOVE YOU (2011), Wood construction/relief painted in alkyd oil, 52x46x2 1/2 in; Cree Bruins, TAGLINE (2011), 35mm slides on lightboxes, dimensions variable; Jan Johnson, FOR YOU I KEEP (2010), Silk thread on vintage handkerchief, 12×13 in (detail); Harold Reddicliffe, OBJECTS FROM OVERHEAD (2010), Oil on canvas, 15×12 in.

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Yanick Lapuh (Painting Fellow ’10) is another MCC fellow who will be exhibiting at the Tufts University Art Gallery in June. Lets find out what he’s up to in his studio.

I built a studio in the basement of my house. I love it; it’s very convenient and there’s no more commuting! Recently, I finally added a wall to separate the wood-working and painting areas so I can paint and build at the same time.

All my work starts with drawing so my desk has always been an important part of my studio. I even have a second desk upstairs in the house. Since the mid-90’s I’ve kept my drawings in books which I often refer to. I call them my ‘memory’ and I use them to cross-pollinate ideas that inform new designs.

Once I’ve chosen the designs I want to realize, I start the building process: make the base, cut and assemble the wood pieces into the design as I fix them on the base. I usually build a number of these reliefs at one time and later prime and paint them.

Movable panels give me a chance to rearrange the painting area so I can view multiple works in progress at one time. It’s not just the panels though, almost everything in my studio is on wheels!

Be sure to check out Yanick’s work in the upcoming show New and recent work by 13 Massachusetts Cultural Council Award Recipients in Painting and Drawing from June 2 – July 31, 2011. Opening reception Thursday, June 2, 5:30-8 PM. Artists’ Talk, 5-6 PM, featuring Cree Bruins, Jan Johnson, Yanick Lapuh, Joshua Meyer, and Michael Zelehoski. Tufts University Art Gallery, 40 Talbot Avenue, Medford, MA.

Image credit: All photographs are courtesy Yanick Lapuh.

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Masako Kamiya (Painting Fellow ’10) is an artist with tremendous patience, skill and vision. With a steady hand, she meticulously builds her paintings one stroke at a time until the clusters of pigment transform into a physical object that vibrates, pulsates and trips around the color wheel.

Working on an open space of an untreated white paper has intrigued me. Because there are not defined borders on a paper, mark-makings themselves defined a final shape of a painting. I build up dots of color into half-inch, stalactite-like columns with rich variations in color layers. From a distance the painting is a series of dots, which create larger patterns toward a uniformed center. When observed more closely the third dimension is revealed, a forest of multicolored columns. The surface is dense. Colors on the flat surface of the paper react with the colors on the surface of each stalk when perceived closely.

I also leave areas unpainted. I found leaving areas unpainted very challenging. It requires much more rigorous looking because I have to achieve a balance between painted areas and unpainted areas. Once I painted, unpainted area is not retrievable. It almost feels like plain air painting with watercolor or calligraphy. It requires more intense concentration.

I challenge the way a painting is conventionally perceived. The sculptural surface moves viewers across the field of the painting. This forces the viewer’s eyes to mix and optically process the various properties of color. Ultimately, the viewers experience the subtle metamorphosis of the color in the paintings as the painting shifts from two dimensions to three dimensions and back again, according to the viewer’s angle to and distance from the work.

Painting to me, is a speculative and negotiable activity. It has become even more critical to the way I make art and serve as a counterpoint to my experience of seeing in today’s world; visual stimulation is more fast-moving and superficial with the advent of the high speed Internet and digital technology. Our perception matters more than ever to my painting. Virtual world of the Internet is saturated with visual information. There is almost no image we cannot find on the digital screen. And this puts hand-made painting in a unique place and viewing painting becomes a particular perceptive experience. Therefore, my objective is to make painting that emphasizes active looking. I need to make a painting that encourages slow and timeless perception and demands viewers’ engagement and scrutiny.

To see more of Masako’s work, be sure to check out the group exhibition New and recent work by 13 Massachusetts Cultural Council Award Recipients in Painting and Drawing. It runs June 2 – July 31, 2011 at the Tufts University Art Gallery.

Image credit: All paintings by Masako Kamiya. From top to bottom: Blue Fairy, 2010, 30″ x 22″, Gouache on paper; Recollections, 2010, 30″ x 22″, Gouache on paper; Wisteria’s Window, 2010, diptych each on 20″ x 16″ paper, Gouache on paper. Photographs by Clements/Howcroft Photography.

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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.

2009 Crafts artists include: Michael and Maureen Banner, Angela Cunningham, Janet Echelman, Chris Gustin, Tricia Lachowiec Harding, Robbie Heidinger, Elizabeth Whyte Schulze, Heather White, and Joe Wood.

2008 Painting artists include: Sandra Cohen, Candice Smith Corby, Brian Corey, Joel Janowitz, Laurie Kaplowitz, Ilana Manolson, Todd McKie, Stephen Mishol, David Moore, Jack O’Hearn, Jim Peters, and Corinne Ulmann.

Watch for Studio Views on ArtSake featuring participants in this show – such as this one by painter Todd McKie!

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.

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In March, we are thrilled to partner with the Concord Art Association (CAA) to present State of Art, an exhibition featuring the work of MCC awardees in Painting (from 2008) and Crafts (2009). The show runs March 17-May 1, and all ArtSake readers are enthusiastically invited to attend the opening reception on Thursday, March 17 from 6-8 PM.

In conjunction with that show, we’ve invited participating artists to share a view of their studio. Here’s Todd McKie (Painting Finalist ’08), who blogs as wittily as he creates visual art:

I began my life as an artist working in a dark, dank basement. My studio consisted of a drawing board, an old chair, a small formica table and a lamp. I’d spend all night down there, smoking cigarettes and painting. When the morning sun leaked through the narrow basement window, I’d stagger upstairs, make a pot of coffee, and take a shower. Then I’d head off to whatever crappy job I had at the time.

Eventually I was able to afford a real studio. One that was larger than 80 square feet and wasn’t right next to the furnace and water heater. I rented six or seven of these above-ground studios over the years, some nicer than others, some bigger than others, some pricier than others. They all had one thing in common: problems with the heat; landlords heated these spaces only to the legal minimum. And on winter weekends there was just enough heat to keep the pipes from freezing. I vividly recall days of working in gloves and a coat and hat. And how about air conditioning for those humid, broiling August afternoons? Har! Har! Har!

When my wife and I bought a house a few years back I turned its basement into my new studio. It’s pretty nice down there: lots of storage space, file cabinets, a big industrial sink, long counters, great track lighting. It’s warm in the winter and cool in the summer.

I don’t spend my nights down there, but, yeah, I’m still near the water heater and furnace. Their rumble is a comforting reminder of the good old days.

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There’s more going on at the Hingham shipyard than commuters catching a ferry to Boston. In fact, five MCC Artist Fellowship Program awardees, Vico Fabbris, Chris Faust, Joel Janowitz, Laurie Kaplowitz, and Anne Neely will be in an exhibition at the Shipyard Gallery in Hingham, a satellite gallery of the South Shore Art Center. The reception is Saturday, January 8 from 4-6pm. The exhibition runs from January 5–February 20, 2011 at 18 Shipyard Drive, next to the Hingham Beer Works.

Image credit: From top to bottom: Vico Fabbris, Joel Janowitz, Anne Neely, Chris Faust, and Laurie Kaplowitz.

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