Artworks A Cut Above At Fuller Craft by Don Wilkinson Paper may be the most ubiquitous man-made material on the planet. Even in an increasingly digital world in which cash, books and handwritten letters are slowly being supplanted by debit cards, Kindle and Facebook, it endures. There is something about the tactility, about the crispness of a page turning or the sound of an envelope being crumpled, about its faint wood pulp aroma, that deeply engages us. As an art material, it is generally considered the substrate, the tabula rasa, the open possibility on which the art occurs by the deployment of pencil, crayon or other tool. But the artists in a new exhibition at the Fuller Craft Museum prove that the paper itself, when elevated by thoughtful and careful effort and craft, is worthy of consideration and contemplation. “Paper and Blade: Modern Paper Cutting” is a … [Read more...] about Looking Good On Paper
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A Woman’s Perspective
Current Visions At South Shore Art by Don Wilkinson For 127 years, the National Association of Women Artists has worked relentlessly to foster public awareness and interest in the work of female visual artists. Sponsored by the organization’s Massachusetts chapter and curated by painter Jennifer Jean Costello, “Current Visions: Tradition Meets Innovation,” on display at the South Shore Art Center until April 3, does much to draw in viewers with an exhibition that lives up to the title. Tradition, in the form of art history, mentorship and influence, informs the innovation that the 10 artists clearly command. Costello herself exhibits three works (as does each of the participants) and the common theme is nature. Her “Yellow Trees” feature thin brown branches and yet thinner twigs reaching upward, dissecting a field of yellows that range from acidic lemon to an earthy … [Read more...] about A Woman’s Perspective
Question Bridge At UMass Amherst
Black Males Get The Conversation Going by John P. Stapleton Over the past few years, there has been an ongoing conversation about race in the United States. The #BlackLivesMatter movement is rallying against the shooting deaths of black Americans by police officers and is constantly met with controversy from those who don’t find the problem to be about race. Despite where one stands on the issue, a lot of the backlash against the aforementioned movement touts negative stereotypes about black men in America, but also ignores the realities that marginalize them. The travelling video exhibit, “Question Bridge: Black Males,” explores this and simply examines what it’s like growing up as a black man in America. Directed by Hank Willis Thomas, Bayeté Ross Smith, Kamal Sinclair and Chris Johnson, the video was released in 2012 after piecing together testimonies from over 150 men … [Read more...] about Question Bridge At UMass Amherst
The Occuprint Portfolio
The Beginning Is Near At Bates by Jamie Thompson The highly publicized Occupy Wall Street protest in New York City’s Zuccotti Park in 2011 inspired the international Occupy Movement, which advocated for social and economic equality. Although much of the media attention to various Occupy protests focused on the sensational aspects of the movement — its tent communities and virulent social media campaigns, for example — participants utilized decidedly fewer melodramatic tactics to spread their messages. Posters, signs and banners, modest forms of communication though they are, carried striking imagery and thoughtprovoking slogans. “The Art of Occupy: The Occuprint Portfolio,” on view through March 26 at The Bates College Museum of Art in Lewiston, Maine, features some of the posters created and used during the protests. The Occupied Wall Street Journal, an affiliate of … [Read more...] about The Occuprint Portfolio
Jason Smith’s Cultural Assessment
Mythic Imagery At Newport Art by Suzanne Volmer “Outer Myths,” Jason Smith’s solo exhibition, on view at the Newport Art Museum’s Wright Gallery through May 1, explores Smith’s fascination with creation myths. It is a kind of global study he has mined methodically, continent by continent, and then translated into a pointillist, mixed-media drawing style. Included are 16 artworks shown as introductory vignette that showcase the young artist’s talent. All drawings are sized uniformly, giving order to the presentation. Color opacity is a characteristic of Smith’s signature style that builds form through a moray of oscillating lines, causing shapes to emerge and recede. Smith uses white, black and soft pastel dots and bursts of Day-Glo color as the basis of his mark-making. Rather than the standard neutrals of archival framing, the artist’s mat choices are dusky pastels, … [Read more...] about Jason Smith’s Cultural Assessment
Wamala At Whistler
Still Waters Run Deep by James Dyment A studio artist at the Brush Art Gallery and Studios (aka “The Brush”) for more than a decade, Pamela Wamala is an artist who has mastered the art of self-promotion, a skill with which many artists struggle. At one point, she vowed to support herself solely on her desire to create. From the age of five, she painted with her maternal grandfather and later, during her time at Wilmington High School, was one of three students selected to complete an independent study with artist-inresidence Scott Prior, from whom she gained valuable insight. Prior’s art has been collected by museums such as the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. At age 16, Wamala’s desire to become an artist was also influenced by the art she saw while visiting a friend who had moved to Europe. She recently shared the names of some artists who have inspired her: Hopper, … [Read more...] about Wamala At Whistler