News and Notes from MCC Artist Fellows
We compile a monthly list of presentations, honors, publications, and events featuring past and present MCC Artist Fellows & Finalists. As you’ll see, the news is good – not just about these award-winning artists, but also about the breadth and vitality of contemporary arts throughout the Commonwealth and beyond.
Vico Fabbris (Painting Fellow ’06, Drawing Fellow ’00) exhibits in Flower Power at Clark Gallery in Lincoln. A perfect show to highlight the beautiful June flowers, Flower Power is a group exhibition where artists reference nature in its various interpretations. Vico shows watercolors and graphite works from his “Botanical Unknown,” a series that explores the world of invented/extinct plants that have never existed. These new works delve into the imaginary but with an eye on man’s negative impact on the environment. The exhibition also features Ilana Manolson (Painting Fellow ’08) and Dawn Southworth (Drawing Finalist ’04), among other artists, and runs June 3 through July 15. The opening reception is Saturday, June 6 3-6 PM. Speaking of Ilana (who recently did a nano-interview on this blog), she also has a solo show opening this month at Jason McCoy Gallery in New York City (June 1-July 24).
Kim Adrian (Fiction/Creative Nonfiction Fellow ’08) will read from her memoir Notes to Laika as part of the Dire Literary Series, at the Out of the Blue Art Gallery in Cambridge. The reading, which takes place on Friday, June 5, has an open mic at 8 PM followed by the three featured readers.
Steve Almond (Fiction/Creative Nonfiction Fellow ’08) has a handful of events this month, starting on Tuesday, June 9, 6 PM with the Harvard Bookstore event Pop Culture: Thoughts on Being a Dad; Steve, Ben George, Jennifer Finney Boylan, and Sven Birkerts discuss The Book of Dads at the Brattle Theatre in Cambridge. On Thursday, June 11, at 7 PM, Steve reads at Brookline Booksmith along with other contributor to the Rose Metal Press Field Guide to Writing Flash Fiction. And on Wednesday, June 17, at 7 PM, Steve reads from his essay collection Not that You Asked at Porter Square Books in Cambridge, sharing the bill with author Peter Selgin.
Paintings by Kurt Cole Eidsvig (Poetry Fellow ’04) and photographs by Jonathan Stark are exhibited in Stop Traffic, an exhibition to benefit MataHari/Eye of the Day: Solutions to Prevent and Stop Human Trafficking. The exhibition will run from June 17 through August 2 at Tantric Bistro in Boston, with an opening benefit with refreshments and a silent auction on Saturday, June 20, 9 PM-2 AM (admission $20, with proceeds going to MataHari/Eye of the Day). Last month, Kurt’s prose poem “Past Colors,” created collaboratively with Martin Cockroft, was performed by the Fort Point Theatre Channel. The performance, part of the Exclamation Point! 6 event, took place on May 8 at Bob’s Your Uncle/Front in Boston.
Michael Gandolfi (Music Composition Fellow ’03) recently premiered a new work, created in collaboration with visual artist April Clay, at the New Gallery Concert Series in Boston. Michael was featured, this Spring, in the WGBH series Classical Connections.
Michal Goldman’s (Film & Video Fellow ’07) film At Home in Utopia is part of the current season of Independent Lens read an article about the project in the NY Times.
Santiago Hernandez (Painting Fellow ’02) is among the artists in the multi-media exhibition Illuminati Nuovi at Gallery MC in New York City. The show runs June 6-30, with an opening reception Saturday, June 6, 6-9 PM.
Irish step dancer Kieran Jordan (Traditional Arts Fellow ’08) performs with Childsplay, a traditional and contemporary fiddle music troupe, at the Cambridge River Festival on the Charles River. The free festival runs from noon to 6 PM, Saturday, June 13.
Ariel Kotker (Sculpture/Installation Fellow ’07) was named a 2009 Traveling Scholar from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts. The award is for the development of individual artistic goals and study. Also, watch for Laura Holland’s article on Ariel’s “His Room as He Left It” project in the Valley Advocate’s June issue of Preview magazine.
Julie Mallozzi’s (Film & Video Finalist ’07) film Monkey Dance will play at the Refugee Film Festival in Cairo, Egypt on Friday, June 19.
Tara L. Masih (Fiction/Creative Nonfiction Finalist ’96) joins Steve Almond, Stace Budzko, Pam Painter, Jen Pieroni (Quick Fiction editor), and Rose Metal Press publisher Abby Beckel to present the Rose Metal Press Field Guide to Writing Flash Fiction at Brookline Booksmith on Thursday, June 11, 7 PM.
[white spring], a poem by Lisa Olstein (Poetry Fellow ’06), is featured on the Academy of American Poets Web site. Lisa’s second poetry collection, Lost Alphabet, is forthcoming from Copper Canyon Press.
Monica Raymond’s (Playwriting Finalist ’07, Poetry Finalist ’08) short play “Dancing Doll” was performed as part of Pillsbury House’s Chicago Avenue Project (Minneapolis) on April 27th and 28th. Her short play “The Biopsy” was presented as part of Bedlam Theater’s 10-Minute Play Festival (Minneapolis) in between May 15th and 22nd, 2009. A reading of her new full-length play “A TO Z” will be held Tuesday, June 16th at noon at the Playwrights Center in Minneapolis. A collaborative drawing she did with Cambridge, Massachusetts artist Dick Freeman appeared in the Collaborations issue of qarrtsiluni.com in April.
Poetry by Michael Teig (Poetry Fellow ’08) was recently featured on the Best American Poetry blog.
Deb Todd Wheeler (Sculpture/Installation Fellow ’03) is one of the artists selected to show in Salt of the Earth at Montserrat Gallery of Art in Beverly. The show, which includes work that plays off the expression “salt of the earth,” features seven artists, each selected by a different local curator. It shows June 5-July 24, with a reception Friday, June 5, 4-8 PM.
Joan Wickersham (Fiction/Creative Nonfiction Fellow ’08) has three readings to mark the paperback release of her memoir The Suicide Index, a Ken Book Award winner and National Book Award finalist. She first reads on Tuesday, June 23, 7:30 PM at Just Books in Greenwich CT. She joins Roxana Robinson for a reading as part of the Books and Brews series at Newtonville Books on Sunday, June 28 at 2 PM. Then on Tuesday, June 30, at 7 PM, she reads at Brookline Booksmith.
Tracy Winn (Fiction/Creative Nonfiction Fellow ’08) reads from her story collection Mrs. Somebody Somebody at Porter Square Books in Cambridge on Thursday, June 18, 7 PM. Read a great description of Tracy’s fiction in the Emerging Writers Network blog.
Past Fellows Notes
May 2009
Apr. 2009
Mar. 2009
Feb. 2009
Jan. 2009
Dec. 2008
Nov. 2008
Oct. 2008
Sep. 2008
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July 2008
June 2008
May 2008
April 2008
Mar. 2008
Feb. 2008
Jan. 2008
Dec. 2007
Nov. 2007
Oct. 2007
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: Vico Fabbris, PIUMARIA ORNATA (2005), watercolor, 30 in x 22 in; Traditional and Sean-ns Irish Step Dancer Kirean Jordan; Cover art for FIELD GUIDE TO WRITING FLASH FICTION (Rose Metal Press 2009).