News and Notes from MCC Artist Fellows
Congratulations to Michael J. Banner (Crafts Fellow ’03), whose teapot “Mother & Child” has been purchased by Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts for its permanent collection.
Claire Beckett’s (Photography Fellow ’07) solo show “Claire Beckett: Simulating Iraq” is on exhibit through November 10 at Boston’s Bernard Toale Gallery. Images from this series explore soldiers’ basic training and simulations of conditions in Iraq.
David J. Bookbinder (Photography Fellow ’07) exhibits his flower mandala images with fellow photographer David Tucker in a two-person, one-night exhibit called “Mandalas & Mudras.” It’s at the Pond Circle Gallery in Jamaica Plain, 53 Pond Circle, Jamaica Plain, MA, Nov 4, 7-10 PM.
Kudos to Alissa Cardone (Choreography Finalist ’02, ’06), who, along with Kinodance Company co-founder Alla Kovgan, received a grant from the Open Society Institute (Soros Foundation) to launch a dance cinema and artist resource initiative in the South Caucasus region, in collaboration with ArtFilm & the National Gallery of Armenia.
K.E. Duffin (Photography Fellow ’05) recently received a 2007 Berkshire Taconic A.R.T. grant. Bravo!
Jane Gillooly’s (Film & Video Fellow ’07) work-in-progress film “Today the Hawk Takes One Chick” has a test screening at the Virginia Film Festival, Nov 1-4, in Charlottesville, VA. The film garnered Jane a 2007 Artist Fellowship. Watch for the Boston premiere at the ICA in February!
Michal Goldman (Film & Video Fellow ’07) has a sneak preview of the fine cut of her film At Home in Utopia. The documentary, shown as part of the Boston Jewish Film Festival and co-presented by Filmmakers Collaborative, explores a cooperative colony of Jewish garment workers in 1920s Bronx. It’s at 3:30 PM, Nov 11, 3:30 PM, at Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts.
Chris Gustin (Crafts Fellow ’05) celebrates the opening of his new Gustin Gallery with the inaugural exhibition “Jet Stream Anagama: East Travels West,” an exhibition of wood fired ceramics featuring Chris along with numerous artists from the American East and West. The exhibition runs at the Gustin Gallery in South Dartmouth, Nov 10-Dec 24. Opening reception Nov 10, 5-8 PM.
Traditional fiddler Donna Hebert (Traditional Arts Finalist ’06) presents several new publications in her Fiddling Demystified series: “Fiddling Demystified for Strings,” a groundbreaking curriculum for violin, viola, and cello, “Fiddlejam,” a CD of Fiddling Demystified tunes played in jam context, and “Fiddling with a French Accent,” a French-Canandian Fiddling Instruction DVD.
Timothy Horn’s (Sculpture/Installation Fellow ’05) work is on exhibit at the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, part of a show called Andy and Oz: Parallel Visions. The exhibit, which features the work of 7 Australian artists, runs until December 30. Tim wrote us to let us know that the grant funds from the Mass. Cultural Council helped him finish two of the pieces featured in the show: large, rubber sculptures, based on 19th-century engravings of jellyfish.
Altered books from Sherrill Hunnibell’s (Drawing/Printmaking/Artist Books ’04) “Book of Hours” series will be on exhibit at the The Fleet Library at Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI. The exhibit, which represents an overview of Sherrill’s “Book of Hours” work from 1990 to 2007, runs Nov 19-Jan 25.
Several of Mary Kenny’s (Sculpture/Installation Finalist ’05) mounted, sculpted animal heads (plus one man-head) were part of the recent Wild Things: A Halloween Costume Ball and Art Auction, at NYC’s Carrozzini von Buhler Gallery. All proceeds for the fascinating charity auction, which took place Oct 27, were donated to City Critters, a New York City animal rescue agency.
Kristen Kieffer (Crafts Finalist ’07) will participate in a high quality craft show with a unique mix of both fine and functional art, called The Paradise City Arts Festival. It’s at the Royal Plaza Trade Center in Marlborough Nov 16-18. Kristen is also among the ceramicists featured in “Consider the Cup,” an invitational exhibition of ceramic cups by regional studio potters. The exhibition is at The Artisan Gallery in Northampton, Nov 20-Dec 31, opening reception Nov 20, 5-8 PM.
Colleen Kiely (Painting Fellow ’98) has a solo exhibition of drawings titled “Vanishing Point” at RISD/Works Gallery, Providence, RI. The drawings are presented in a site-specific installation, through Nov 15.
Rania Matar (Photography Fellow ’07) presents the lecture “Portraits from Lebanon” as part of Brookline Adult and Community Education. The event is at Brookline High School on Nov 1, at 7 PM. Later in November, Rania’s stunning photographs, which were recently on exhibit at the Arsenal Center for the Arts as part of MCC’s In Sights exhibit, will be shown at Michigan State University for a special exhibit and guest lecture. Incidentally, if you’re curious about Rania and her work, check out this great profile by Boston Globe’s Denise Taylor. Or, pick up the October issue of B&W Magazine, which features Rania with a B&W Magazine Spotlight Award.
Jennifer McCurdy (Crafts Finalist ’07) bookends the month with two out-of-state exhibits. Her work is part of the Philadelphia Museum of Art Craft Show at the Pennsylvania Convention Center, Nov 8-11. As the month closes, she shows in the Washington Craft Show at the Washington Convention Center in D.C. Nov 20-Dec 2.
Ruth B. McDowell (Crafts Finalist ’05) is among the artists and artisans featured in the Colrain Artisans Studio Tour. Visitors tour the studios of candle-makers, angora goat-herders, metalsmiths, and more in idyllic Colrain, Mass. You can find Ruth’s enchanting quilts among the wares when the tour runs Nov 10-11, 10 AM-5 PM.
Bravo to Mary O’Donoghue (Fiction/Creative Nonfiction Fellow ’06), whose second poetry collection, Among These Winters, recently had its US release.
Mary O’Malley (Drawing Fellow ’06), who creates intricately detailed drawings suggesting luminous – and strangely beautiful – lifeforms, opens her studio to you and the entire world as part of Joy Street Open Studios in Somerville, Nov 17-18.
Marilyn Pappas (Crafts Fellow ’07) was one of six Americans invited to exhibit in the 12th Polish International Exhibition of Tapestry, through October 2007. Marilyn won a scholarship from the Women’s Travel Club of Greater Boston to travel to the opening. What’s more, Marilyn’s work is currently on exhibit in Shy Boy, She Devil, and Isis: The Art of Conceptual Craft, Selections from the Wornick Collection, at The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Her work is also included in the Saxe Collection, currently on exhibit at the De Young Museum in San Francisco. Both collections are promised gifts to the institutions.
Congratulations to Marjorie Durko Puryear (Crafts Finalist ’07) for being selected for the Juried Biennial Member’s Exhibition at the Fuller Craft Museum. Included works, on exhibit Nov 17-March 3, were selected by Pamela Clark Cochrane of Clark Gallery in Lincoln. Marjorie will also be featured in “SMALL WONDERS,” a juried exhibition of small scale work (under 11 inches) at the Maryland Federation of Art Circle Gallery in Annapolis, MD, Nov 30-Dec 22.
Christine Rathbun (Playwriting/New Theater Works Finalist, ’05, ’07) performs her one-woman show “Reconstruction, or How I Learned to Pay Attention: a memoir of illness, resilience, and big shoes” (read an excerpt). This play, which earned Christine an MCC Artist Fellowship finalist designation in 2005, is a chronicle of one woman’s personal journey as a breast cancer survivor. The performance is at Hamilton College in Clinton, NY, part of the college’s Diversity & Social Justice Project, on Nov 5, 7:30 PM.
Jane South (Sculpture/Installation Fellow ’03) is among the artists featured in Material Pursuits at University of Vermont’s Fleming Museum. The exhibit, which explores conceptual work made using materials and methods traditionally associated with craft, runs until Dec 14.
Sherry Steiner (Playwriting/New Theater Works Finalist ’03, ’07) recently founded the Artists & Writers Alliance Internationale, a project dedicated to encouraging collaborative creative projects. Artists of all mediums interested in finding creative collaborators can submit a free listing on the project’s website, which will also post info on past collaborations, a forum, and a listing of AWAI events, performances, and exhibits worldwide.
Gretchen Romey-Tanzer (Crafts Fellow ’05) is part of a fundraising crafts show put on by the Family Service of Greater Boston, called the Crafts at the Castle Show. It’s at Boston’s Hynes Convention Center, Nov 29-Dec 2.
Scott Wheeler’s (Music Composition Fellow ’05) composition “The Gold Standard” is performed on Sequitur’s CD “To Have and To Hold on Koch.” The track features soprano Dora Ohrenstein and mezzo soprano Kristin Nordeval, and is conducted by Paul Hostetter. Also, Scott’s “Campaign Dances” is included on Aethletics, a new CD by Avian Music. It’s a chamber version, conducted by Conrad Cummings.