partial visibility x public trust x let them eat cake

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Public Trust

When/Where: We’re excited to kick off Public Trust in Dudley Square, the heart of Roxbury culture with our friends at The Dudley Branch of the Boston Public Library (Sat Aug 27–Fri Sept 2).

We’ll then cross the river to Kendall Square, the nexus of innovation and technology with host Boston Properties and our friends at Cambridge Arts and Kendall Square Association (Sat Sept 3–Sat Sept 10).

We’ll close back in Boston in Copley Square, site of the nation’s first publicly funded library with our host, Boston Parks Department and our friends through it all, the Boston Art Commission (Sun Sept 11–Sat Sept 17).

How: Official Website 

What/Why: “Now + There is pleased to present Public Trust, a free interactive artwork by Brooklyn artist Paul Ramirez Jonas coming to three Greater Boston locations August 27 through September 17, 2016. Public Trust asks us to consider the meaning of a promise during these uncertain times when a pledge can mean everything, and nothing, all at the same time.

Ramirez Jonas, working with Boston artists, will present a billboard of constantly changing pledges – yours, mine, scientists’, and those of our presidential candidates. Together we’ll be making a piece of art about promises, those contracts we with make with each other and with ourselves, and the potent speech acts that keep a society together through words.“

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Julia Csekö: Straight from the Heart – the Rant Series

When: On view August 6 – 27, 2016

Reception: Saturday, August 6, 6-9pm

Where: 793 Tremont Street, Boston, MA 02118

How: Official Website 

What/Why: “Julia Csekö’s solo exhibition Straight from the Heart – the Rant Series, on view at the Piano Craft Gallery August 6 – 27, features a new series of interactive text-based paintings. Directly confronting the viewer, Csekö invites us to witness her own interior dialogue, delving into the dilemmas and difficult questions a practicing artist must face on a daily basis. The exhibition is made possible with the generous support of the Walter Feldman Fellowship for Emerging Artists, administered by the Arts and Business Council of Greater Boston. Three large-scale triptychs anchor the exhibition, each comprised of three 50 by 50 inch canvases, while smaller studies provide insight into the artist’s process. Working in a reduced palette, each triptych provokes a dynamic relationship with the viewer. Csekö’s first triptych, in black and white, questions the necessity of art making. The second, in silver and white, shares the story of how Csekö became an artist. Rendered in gold and white, the third offers an honest, heart-felt answer to the insecurities and faltering faith posed by the previous canvasses.

According to the artist, the written word allows her to share ideas she finds “extremely beautiful, and of the utmost social, philosophical and emotional importance,” but that would otherwise reside solely in the privacy of her own thoughts. Born in Colorado and raised in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Csekö received her MFA in 2013 from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, and is included in many public and private collections. She is a recipient of the 2015/16 Walter Feldman Fellowship for Emerging Artists, juried by Liz Munsell, Assistant Curator of

Contemporary Art at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston. Administered annually by the Arts and Business Council of Greater Boston, the Fellowship fosters artists’ career development through mentorship and the production of a solo exhibition. The Fellowship is endowed by celebrated abstract expressionist artist Walter Feldman, with the goal of supporting through opportunities for professional recognition and growth.”

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The Intimate Collection

When: On view August 13 through September 24, 2016

Reception: Saturday, August 13, 6-9PM

Closing Reception: Saturday September 24, 2016 6-9PM

Where: 60 Valley Rd, Providence, RI 02909

How: Official Website

What/Why: “Yellow Peril Gallery is pleased to present The Intimate Collection by Kathryn Parker Almanas, featuring sewn works and photographs that consider “sex, death, skin, bones, undergarments, intimacy, loneliness, destruction, healing and humor” and explore “the pleasures and confusion of intimacy and the body.”  The opening reception and artist talk is Saturday, August 13, from 6PM – 9PM.

Kathryn Parker Almanas earned a BFA in Photography from MassArt in 2003 and a MFA in Photography from Yale University in 2007. While at Yale, she was awarded the Schickle-Collingwood Prize, and upon receiving her MFA, was the recipient of the Alice Kimball English Traveling Fellowship to conduct research on the history of anatomical dissection in Italy. Her work has been published in25 Under 25 Up-and-Coming American Photographers, Photo District News,Metropolis, to name a few. She has created art on commission basis for New York Magazine, Time Magazine, Details magazine, Culture+Travel magazine, among others. Almanas’s work has been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions in New York, Providence, Boston, Chicago, Miami, and Philadelphia. Her photographs and collage work investigate destruction and healing within the body and the terrors and pleasures of embodiment, often drawing ideas from the medical world.

“I play with how we recognize ourselves in textures and materials,” Almanas notes in the artist statement about The Intimate Collection.  “I make use of pleather, satin, lace, panties, and bras to evoke thoughts of their intentional usage.  Sewing, pinning, fastening act as means of healing and holding together what seems to be falling apart.”

The opening reception and artist talk for The Intimate Collection is Saturday, August 13, from 6PM – 9PM. The exhibition will conclude Saturday, September 24, with a closing reception and artist talk.  This is Almanas’ second solo exhibition at Yellow Peril.  Previously, she presented Pre-Existing Condition in 2013.

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YOU THINK IT’S ______, BUT IT’S REALLY ______.

When: August 1st–September 2nd, 2016

Reception: August 5th, 2016 • 6:00-8:00pm

Performance and Artist Talk: August 20th, 2016 • 4:00-6:00pm

How: Official Website

What/Why: “BLAA’s tenth show, “You Think It’s _____ , But It’s Really _____”, is an exhibition of work by artists living and creating at the intersection of LGBTQIA issues and culturally defined notions of “disability”. Working through forms of invisibility produced at this intersection, these artists have developed different understandings of the labels most often meant to correct such an invisibility: “Disabled,” “Queer,” “Artist.” From YoAhn Han’s amorphous abstractions to Chris Maliga’s images of a body deeply connected to its environment, the works showcased here visualize togetherness and multiplicity: how do two things fit together, within a body, between a body and its environment, between our bodies? What kind of balance, between “disabled” and “queer,” between “myself” and “disability,” or between “physical” and “mental,” is or could be possible? Representing a wide variety of experiences, practices, and media, “You Think It’s _____ , But It’s Really _____”, is a timely consideration of a main issue and question within disability studies, queer theory and socially engaged practices today: how do we find ourselves in the intersection of these identities together? Featuring: Xray Aims, Lauren Alindogan, Joe Balestraci, Darren Black, Carl Bowlby, Steven Cabral, Ken Diaz, Ariel Freiberg, Catherine Graffam, YoAhn Han, Madge of Honor, Heather Kapplow, LB Lee, Kyri Lorenz, Terrell Lowry, Chris Maliga, Daniel Lloyd-Miller, Ty Muto, Rose Ranauro, Sopheak Sam, Sasha Seaman, Cai Steele and Courtney White.”

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Ignite

When: Saturday, August 13 6:00 PM – 10:00 PM

Rain date: Sunday, August 14 from 6-10pm.

Where: Union Square, Somerville, MA

How: Official Website 

Suggested donation: $1

What/Why: “Join us for international food, dance, interactive activities and fire!

To celebrate Union Square’s sizzling food landscape we bring you our latest ArtsUnion event: Ignite, an evening of international eats, fire throwers, roving entertainment and a raucous celebration of global culture. We’ll have double the food vendors this year, including Pikliz (Haitian), Casa B (Latin American Tapas), India Palace, Union Square donuts, Gracie’s Ice Cream and the Arts Council’s Nibble Culinary Entrepreneurs (Venezuelan arepas, among other edible delights!). You’ll also be able to graze on Brazilian BBQ while sipping freshly squeezed sugar cane juice, or perhaps a vegetarian Indian dosa is more up your alley? We’ve got you covered.

There will also be food demos, a Global Chip guessing game, food-related crafts for kids, the “Nose Olympics!” and many more foodie activities. Beyond the global grazing opportunities, the Boston Circus Guild will dance with fire, there will be craft vendors and numerous performers, including Xuchipilli Folkloric Ballet, belly dancers, Taiko drummers and ukelele minstrels in the food court. The festival will be illuminated in high style by Todd Sargent. From the global menu and fire to an 8-foot tiger head created by Pecan Nut, this festival guarantees thrills, international flavor — and a full stomach!”

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¡Capicú! Let Them Eat Cake

When: Friday August 5, 2016

7-10PM / RECEPTION

Saturday August 6, 2016
4-7PM / GALLERY HOURS

Where: RISD Exposé, 204 Westminster St, Providence, Rhode Island 02903

How: Official Website

What/Why: “2 day multimedia exhibition by Shey Rivera Ríos + Anabel Vázquez Rodríguez”

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Lindsey Fyfe | Painting – Onsite Gallery Studio Project

On view: July 18th – August 31st, 2016

Art reception: Saturday August 27th 6:00 pm – 8:30 pm

How: Official Website

What/Why: “During the month of July and August, Artist Lindsey Fyfe will be creating paintings on three canvases in the gallery. We welcome you too stop by and check in on progress at 218 Pearl Street as these pieces are created. I’ll be sending out occasional emails of gallery pics of this project. These paintings will be available to purchase when they are completed. “

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Figure It Out

When: On view through August 20, 2016

Where: Steven Zevitas Gallery,450 Harrison Avenue #47 | Boston, MA 02118

How: Official Website 

What/Why: “Bradley Biancardi, Stephen D’Onofrio, Clotilde Jimenez, Annie Hemond Hotte, Sean-McGee Phetsarath, Celeste Rapone, Russell Shoemaker”

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Clint Baclawski – Luminus

When: On view through August 14th, 2016

Where: Adelson Gallery, 520 Harrison Ave, Boston, MA 02118

How: Official Website 

What/Why: Read Cate McQuaid’s write-up of the exhibit here.

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Montserrat Sculpture: Alumni & Students

When: On view through August 14, 2016

Opening Reception: Friday, August 5, 5:00 – 8:00 PM

Where: Boston Sculptors Gallery, 486 Harrison Avenue, Boston, MA 02118

How: Official Website 

What/Why: “Boston Sculptors Gallery is pleased to showcase three-dimensional works created by students and alumni of the Montserrat College of Art. Spanning diverse media, the work featured in the exhibition makes use of traditional and alternative materials, ranging from granite to egg cartons,wood to found letters, and also includes performance elements.
Whatever the the medium, each artist’s personal voice shapes the form, creating a diverse
and delightfully unpredictable selection of sculpture.
Located in Beverly, MA, Montserrat draws students from the greater New England area
and beyond. Providing a vital learning community for students deeply engaged in the
study of art and design, Montserrat encourages and nurtures each student’s unique
talents, visions, aspirations and commitment.Connor White,  Alyssa Coffin,  Dan DeRosato,  Robert Donlan,  Kevin Duffy,  Omer Gagnon,  Roisin Gilligan,  Sarah Graziano,  Andrew Kish, Lillian P.H.Kology,  Linda Kenfack,  Tom Maio,  Binney Meigs,  Aubrey Mueller,  Kalimah Muhammad,  Andrew Podziewski,  Valerie Rafferty, Max Reinhard,  Kristine Roan,  Katrina Saragosa,  Maegan Shilkey,  Jaime Smith,  Chris Stepler,  Dan Stone,  Haiden Terrill”

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Heat

When: On view August 3rd through August 21, 2016

Opening Reception: August 5, 6-8:30PM

Where: Bromfield Gallery, 450 Harrison Ave, Boston, MA, 02118

How: Official Website 

What/Why:“Selected by a jury of Bromfield Gallery artists, this competition was open to New England artists in all media, all interpretations: heat as it relates to climate, politics, and sex, as well as slang for a gun or police.

17 artists were chosen from 78 entries:

Jo-Ann Boback  
Nancy Crasco 
Mia Cross  
Duken Delpe 
Phyllis Ewen  
Diane Fader  
Tracy Hayes 
Mirela Kulovic  
dirt lux 
Marilyn Ranker  
Joseph Ritchie
Karen Rothman 
Cory Munro Shea 
Patty Stone 
Jamal Thorne  
Stephanie Todhunter  
Meg Turner “

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Cobi Moules | New Kid: Back to the Beginning

When: On view August 3 – 20, 2016

Opening: August 5, 5:30 – 7:30

Where: Carroll and Sons Gallery, 450 Harrison Ave, Boston, MA 02118

How: Official Website 

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Ten Kingston Associates: Our Voices

When: On view August 3 through 28, 2016

Opening Reception: Friday, August 5, 2016, 5:30-8:00 pm

Where: Kingston Gallery, 450 Harrison Ave, No. 43, Boston, MA 02118

How: Official Website 

What/Why: “Our Voices, a group exhibition by Associate Members Jamie Bowman, Jane Lincoln, Nat Martin, Laurel McMechan, Rachel Mello, Laurie Miles,Wendy Seller, Rachel Sevanich, Rachel Thern, and Anne Sargent Walker. This eloquent arrangement of recently completed work demonstrates each artist’s interest in surpassing established boundaries associated with their chosen medium. Works test the potential of light, line, and texture, and select pieces incorporate photography in unexpected ways. While delving into the limits of form, the exhibition also probes emotional terrain, prompting epiphanies regarding dreams, memory, nostalgia, how we occupy our bodies, and how we relate to the built and natural world.”

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Art and Territory

When: On view through July 2016

Opening Reception: Friday July 8, 5:30-8PM

Where: Gallery Kayafas, 460 Harrison Ave, Boston, MA

How: Official Website

What/Why: “We are extremely pleased to present the works of Gastón Ugalde, Bolivia’s best-known contemporary artist. Born in the city of La Paz in 1944, Ugalde celebrates 50 years of his artistic career in 2016 with Boston being one of the many places where activities have been planned. An “enfant terrible” of his local art world for the subversive nature, both conceptually and materially, his artwork is grounded by an extensive and eclectic education, which includes a degree in Architecture from the Universidad Mayor de San Andrés in La Paz as well as a degree in Economics and Political Science from Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, Canada. Ugalde works within a diversity of media including painting, photography, sculpture, architecture, video installations, and performances. The gallery exhibit will include paintings, photographs, mixed media pieces and a video installation. Critics refer to him as the Andean Warhol. His work is deeply rooted in Bolivian traditions and is filled with socio-political references. He explains, “It is impossible to ignore the every day strong dynamic of socio-anthropological, political Bolivian way of life over the last six decades and this is reflected in the work I have produced. It is important for me to cover geographic territories…transforming the landscape with minimal use of materials.” Inspired by the unique geography and visuals of the Bolivian plateaus, as well as their socio-political associations, Ugalde’s photographic series of the Salar de Uyuni salt pan is weighted in social and political context. Bolivia is home to part of the Andes mountain range, that has at its crest the world’s largest salt pan. This salt pan is one of many prehistoric lakes that, over thousands of years, has been crusted over with salt now spanning over 10,000 square kilometers. As a result, the pan is exceptionally flat and is an ideal transport route across the Bolivian plateau. This salt pan is the backdrop into which Ugalde inserts people and objects to intervene with the activities of travel and excavation. In addition to the Bolivian landscape, Ugalde uses the plants and fabrics inherent to traditions within Andean culture, and transforms them into contemporary collages, photographs and installations that speak of commerce, politics and spiritual (dis)connectedness. By combining the history and geography of his country with creative intervention and juxtaposition, he is able to pose universal questions to his audience about their connection to humanity. Internationally renown, Ugalde has exhibited at the most important biennales such as Venice in 2009, 2001; Sao Paulo 1978, 1981, 1985; La Havana 1986, 1999. Since 1972, he has had 81 solo shows and has had his work in over 160 group exhibitions. A new monograph, Art and Territory is currently in production.”

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Frederick Lynch: Divided Man

When: On view through Aug 12, 2016

Where: Miller Yezerski Gallery, 460 Harrison Ave, Boston, MA, 02118

How: Official Website 

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New England Collective

When: On view August 3-28, 2016

Opening Reception: August 5, 6-8pm

Where: Galatea Fine Art, 460 Harrison Ave, Boston, MA 02118

How: Official Website 

What/Why: “This year, Galatea Fine Art invited Julie Burros, the Chief of Art and Culture for the City of Boston, to select 60 works from over 450 to include in the annual New England Collective exhibition.  She writes: “How to choose? I was so honored to be asked to jury the 7th annual New England Collective show which opens on August 5th at the Galatea Fine Art Gallery. I was told that the response was unusually large this year, a real testament to the depth of talent here in New England. And yet, that means I faced the daunting task of selecting only 60 works from a field of over 450. I looked and looked, and pondered and pondered and made my agonizing selections. The resulting show is a glimpse at what my taste in art looks like beyond my own very modest art collection. I know how hard artists work, and I know how hard it is to get your work shown, so I hope to be able to support the work of all of our artists and creative people in Boston through the work of the Mayor’s Office of Arts and Culture and through the leadership of Mayor Walsh. Stay tuned for our ongoing calls for artists from us and for new grant opportunities for artists coming out of the Boston Cultural Council later this summer.”

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Mirror Stage: New works by Molly McIntyre

When: On view August 4th through October 12, 2016

Opening Reception: Thursday, August 4th from 6-8pm

Where: Aviary Gallery, 48 South St, Jamaica Plain, MA 02130

How: Official Website 

What/Why: “These new cut-outs reflect on the nature of friendships, in particular those friendships from which we seek affirmation of our own identities. The mirror stage, as defined by Jacques Lacan, is literally the stage when a baby first recognizes themself in the mirror, but it also extends throughout our lives. Lacan says that the mirror stage creates a duality because the whole-ness of the image in the mirror is in opposition to the fragmentary nature of the self. This creates the ego and alienates the subject from the self.  Many of us became noticeably alienated from ourselves as teenagers when our bodies betrayed us by changing without our permission and we were suddenly asked to identify as a new self. I am interested in the ways that friends become our mirrors, inviting us back to a reality where we feel comfortable in our skins. As friends, we repeatedly affirm each other’s presentation choices, either verbally or by echoing them in our own choices. Of course, this has the danger to become oppressive conformity. But with a close friend, who you know in all their messy fragmented selfhood, it’s like you’re both in on the joke of “wholeness” and it is a delight to present that face to each other and to the world, together.

In these pieces, the cut paper images are static and whole, while the shadows behind them form more fragmented and changeable images. As the light changes, they may be temporarily aligned, as in what Lacan called a “moment of jubilation” when self and subject are of a piece, but they can never truly be united. The cut-out is always in a fixed state of wholeness that the shadow can never achieve, and together they form something more interesting than either one on its own.“

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*****************JUROR’S CHOICE.*******************

When: On view August 5 through 28, 2016

Opening Reception: Friday August 5th, 6-9PM

Where: Uforge Gallery, 767 Centre Street, Jamaica Plain, MA

How: Official Website

What/Why: “Join us for the opening of “Juror’s Choice,” with juror Elizabeth Devlin in attendance!

Uforge Gallery is pleased to announce its third annual juried exhibition, “Juror’s Choice,” with FLUX. Boston founder Elizabeth Devlin acting as our special guest juror. Her experiences as an artist, curator, and critic give her a balanced, thoughtful, and enthusiastic perspective on the local contemporary art scene. Pulling from over 230 artwork submissions, she has assembled a diverse group of works in painting, sculpture, photography, and mixed media, ranging from minimalist abstraction to satirical digital illustration.

About the Juror:
Elizabeth Devlin is an independent curator, art consultant, and founder of FLUX. Boston, an online resource for artists and art enthusiasts in the Boston area and beyond. Her writing has been featured in Art New England, New American Paintings, and Art21 Magazine among others. In 2015 she was the organizer and curator behind the Isles Arts Initiative, a summer-long public arts program on the Boston Harbor Islands, the Rose Kennedy Greenway, and in venues across the city. As a trusted resource and friend to the arts community, a certified Boston Redevelopment Authority artist, and curator of several critically acclaimed exhibitions to-date, Elizabeth strives to make the art world more accessible and to champion the endeavors of Boston’s creative community.

Exhibiting Artists:
Jamie Andrade, Rose Bennett, David Buckley Borden, Jenny Brown, Quenby Bucklaew, Jessica Burko, Jenna DeLuca, Kate Drewniak, TD Heavican, Amy Hitchcock, Dylan Hurwitz, Karen Hurvitz, Lydia Kinney, Sean Kinsky, Jennifer Layzer, Sean Mick, Heather Morris, Lior Neiger, Cristina Rosa Nelson, Remi Pico, Keith Plummer, Eric Pow, Bryan Ramey, Mallory Rice, Judith Robichaud, Jeff Stauder, Vanessa Thompson, Maureen Ton, Sophy Tuttle, Harry Yu”

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First Light: A Decade of Collecting at the ICA

When: On view August 17 through January 16, 2017

Where: ICA Boston, 25 Harbor Shore Drive, Boston, MA 02210

How: Official Website 

What/Why: “Coinciding with the ten-year anniversary of ICA’s move to its iconic waterfront building, this exhibition will celebrate the museum’s first decade of collecting. Drawn entirely from ICA’s collection and featuring multiple thematic, artist-specific, and historical sections, the exhibition will bring together both new acquisitions and favorites from the permanent collection. Conceived as a series of interrelated and rotating stand-alone exhibitions, this presentation will highlight major singular works from the collection, such as a newly acquired monumental cut-paper silhouette tableau by Kara Walker, as well as the Barbara Lee Collection of Art by Women, groupings of work by artists held in depth such as Louise Bourgeois and Nan Goldin, and thematic and art-historical groupings. A new multimedia web platform will be created to mark the occasion.”

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Chroma

When: On view through September 25, 2016

Where: Montserrat College of Art, 23 Essex Street, Beverly, MA, 01915

How: Official Website 

What/Why: “From the pages of Chroma, an art annual created by 3 Montserrat alum, a commitment was formed to showcase emerging and established artists in a vibrant and varied publication. With each volume filling a need to define the creative community in New England and giving a voice to the artists residing here.

While the co-founders (Andrew Houle ’00, John Cardinal ’99 & Michael Crockett ’97) shared overlapping years attending Montserrat, a passion for illustration, comic book culture and painting formed a bond that would later bring them to form Tryptic Press and later publish Chroma vl1.

Now together releasing Chroma vl3 & vl4 a thriving and supportive collective of artists has formed.  Creating an uncommon home within the “Chroma Family”, bridging abstract painters, fashion photography, comic book illustrators, community based art programs, printmakers, sound-makers and even robot-makers.

With this 30+ person group exhibition all points come together in some cases meeting for the very first time in person and on the walls, combining all four current volumes of artists. Creating new collaborations, new relationships, new directions for what has always been right in our own backyard; a New England Art Awakening.”

Also on view..

SEVEN

What/Why: “SEVEN began in 2012 as an experimental idea to activate our main exhibition space over the sleepy summer. We ended up loving the initial exhibition’s process and the resulting works so much that we repeated the concept in 2013 and 2015 with different artists. Montserrat is collaborating with Triptych Press to create a commemorative book project in honor of the artists who participated not only to document the works they created, but to continue to share the experience with our audiences.

This exhibition will feature a small work by each of the 21 artists who have participated over the years. They are: Autumn Ahn, Andy Bablo ‘07, Allison Cole, Jim Falck, Sam Fields, Percy Fortini-Wright, John C. Gonzalez, Raul Gonzalez III, Alexa Guariglia, Mark Hoffmann, Eben Kling, Norman Laliberté, Adam Miller ‘00, Christopher Mir, Barbara Moody, Kenji Nakiyama, Zsuzsanna Szegedi, David Teng-Olsen, August Ventimiglia, Nadia Wescott, and Dana Woulfe.”

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Placemaking Objects: BCA Artist Studios Building Exhibition

When: On view through September 25, 2016

Where: Mills Gallery, Boston Center for the Arts, 539 Tremont St, Boston, MA 02116

How: Official Website 

What/Why: “Boston Center for the Arts (BCA) presents Placemaking Objects: Artist Studios Building Summer 2016. It presents 16 small-scale works, by 16 artists with studios on the BCA campus; artists who work in proximity to each other, yet whose art evidences a divergent range of experiences and outlooks. As exhibition curator Jennifer Hall writes:

The objects in this exhibit hold on to the places from which they came—rubbage from a city street, a mishap from the artist’s studio, a pile of dirt reformed. Some are a site of visual abstraction. Others, the space of a narrative. Certain objects describe a psychological location. Perhaps an emotional situation—trauma, pleasure, or a laughable moment. Each object creates its own enclosure. Each is an isolated shelter of significance.

When objects are brought together for exhibition, their divergent places of origin align in a spatial collage, persistent in their sovereignty, yet capable of expansion. Each object, with its own history of place, now hangs next to another. We expect them to be good neighbors within this new residence. And yet, a rupture is evident between the individual place of each object and the exterior relationships with the other objects. Placement exposes both the potential and the pressure of cohabitation. The objects’ interiority and exteriority simultaneously bind them to and repel them from each other.

Each object has the ability to show to us its autonomy, negotiate its mutual connectivity, and to build a new place of being among its community.

Exhibiting artists: Leika Akiyama, Aileen O. Erickson, Kate Gilbert, Ruth Ginsberg-Place, Gisela Griffith, Alex Khomski, Georgina Lewis, Silvia López Chavez, Rebecca Greene, Marilyn Mase, Selina Narovlansky, Robert Rovenolt, Miriam Shenitzer, Konstantin Simun, Beverly Sky and David Addison Small.

Curator Jennifer Hall is an artist philosopher who makes work about embodied, distributed, situated, and enactive cognition. She is currently a Professor of Art Education at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design, and is Coordinator of the department’s graduate programs.”

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Stephen Wilkes: Day to Night

When: On view through August 20, 2016

Where: Robert Klein Gallery, 38 Newbury Street, Boston

How: Official Website

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Fragment of Sister Head work by Nicole & Caitlin Duennebier

When: On view through August 2016

Opening Reception: Friday August 5, 2016  6-8:30PM

Where: Lens Gallery, 524 Harrison Ave, Boston, MA

How: Official Website 

What/Why:“A selection of collaborative works by sisters Nicole and Caitlin Duennebier.”

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Flora Fauna

When: On view through September 3, 2016

Where: Cambridge Art Association, 25 Lowell St, Cambridge, MA 02138

How: Official Website 

What/Why: “Flora and fauna refer to plant and wildlife, respectively. The term is often used to refer to the indigenous plant and wildlife of a geographical region. Both are collective terms, referring to groups of plant or wildlife specific to a region or a time period. For example, the flora and fauna of a warm region may consist of tropical to warm-temperate vegetation and exotic species of birds.”

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Heatwaves 2016

When: On view through September 17, 2016

Where: New Art Center, 61 Washington Park, Newtonville, MA 02460

How: Official Website 

What/Why: “Heatwaves is our annual showcase of artwork created by teens in our Summer Art Program. This year, we’ve invited the teens to submit one piece at the end of each week to be incorporated into a room-sized installation that will grow throughout the summer! The completed installation, featuring the work of over 100 young artists, will be on view this fall in our Holzwasser Gallery.”

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Nothing Ritually – Derek G. Larson + Marc Mitchell

When: On view August 13 through September 10, 2016

Opening Reception: August 13, 6-9PM

Where: GRIN Gallery, 60 Valley St #3, Providence, RI 02909

How: Official Website 

What/Why: “Nothing Ritually is a collaborative effort by Derek G. Larson & Marc Mitchell for which they have created seven objects to blend into four, then two, and back to seven. This process follows a script they have titled Dazzle Ships, a seven act play without actors; which groupings of paintings, video and objects embody characters from 20th Century American plays. Visitors receive a playbill with the order of appearance for each act and background information on playwrights and plot.

The term dazzle ship refers to geometric camouflage applied to British battleships. The method was never proven successful and its similarities to Cubism and Vorticism had many early 20th Century artists claiming responsibility for the idea. The geometric patterns did not work as camouflage since the ships were more visible, the designs attempted to disrupt locating a ship’s position.”

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Body Language

When: On view July 16-August 13, 2016

What/Why: “Our gestures, expressions and postures reveal what words cannot.  InBody Language, eight Boston-based artists explore the nature of somatic experience, and how it can transcend that of spoken language.  Whether fully engaging with the human form or by more indirect means, each artist in this exhibition finds meaning in what the body reveals about itself and in the ways we perceive and represent it.

Paintings by Paul Goodnight evoke the sensuous movement of dancers, while Julia von Metzsch Ramos invests form with the energetic fluidity of water.  Anya Smolnikova fuses person memory and collective symbols in mixed media.  Installations by Ben Foley and Daniel Smelansky allow the viewer to occupy infinite mirrored mindscapes, and embryonic shelters.  Stop motion animation by Hannah Rossi explores the convergence of digital and analog movement, and murals and printed illustrations by Adelaide Bruce and Leo Whelan bring fantasy and humor to observations of intimate moments and digital culture.

By assembling a highly varied group of artists, Body Language examines the many implications of the human form: how it shapes our interactions, the spaces we occupy, and our cultural messages.  

Co-Curated by Anya Smolnikova and Leo Whelan

Artists: Adelaide Bruce, Ben Foley, Paul Goodnight, Julia Von Metszch Ramos, Hannah Rossi, Daniel Smelansky, Anya Smolnikova, Leo Whelan

Opening Reception featuring performances by: Solei, Aram Atamian and Cassandre Charles”

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Lost and Found

When: On view through August 20, 2016

Where: Gold Gallery, 460C Harrison Ave, #18, Boston, MA 02118

How: Official Website 

What/Why: “In Gold Gallery‘s current show, Lost and Found, painters Jason Chase, Barney Levitt and Jeanne Vadeboncoeur present modern day takes on the long standing tradition of still life painting. Each artist cleverly injects humor and lightheartedness into their subject matter, calling attention to the symbolism of seemingly ordinary objects as they exist in today’s society. Our perception of value is questioned by the dualistic nature of these subjects; a commonly overlooked item serves as the focus of a detailed and skillful painting.”

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Meow

When: On view through September 4, 2016

Where: Worcester Art Museum, 55 Salisbury St, Worcester, MA 01609

How: Official Website 

What/Why: “WAM takes the theme of cats by the tail with this one-of-a-kind, multi-faceted project. Meow includes an exhibition exploring the feline as an iconic element of art, a self-guided “cat walk” through the Museum, an interactive installation featuring live cats, a community art show, a naughty kitty take-over of Helmutt’s House, a dog show curated by Helmutt, and special art classes. From serious art to mischievous fun, Meow promises to tickle the whiskers of museum and cat-lovers alike!”

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Sun & Salt

When: On view through September 10, 2016

Where: 13 Forest Gallery, 167A Massachusetts Ave, Arlington, MA 02474

How: Official Website 

What/Why: “13FOREST Gallery is pleased to present Sun & Salt, an exhibition featuring work by Marco Athié, Kathleen Buchanan and Susan Jaworski-Stranc. Timed to coincide with the height of the season, Sun & Salt celebrates the best of summer’s offerings.

Through an assemblage of works on canvas and paper, Sun & Salttransforms the gallery space into a visual oasis of meandering coastlines, hot sand and lush countryside.

Escape the mundane and allow yourself to be transported to memories of seaside holidays and long afternoons spent with a cool drink. Sun & Salt allows us all to indulge in the simple pleasures of summer months. Dive in!”

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Stephanie Todhunter: Latchkey Kids 

When: On view August 4th through 27th, 2016

Reception: Saturday August 6, 7-9PM

Artist Talk: Thursday August 25, 6PM

Where: Gallery 263, 263 Pearl Street, Cambridge, MA 02139

How: Official Website

What/Why:“Gallery 263 is pleased to present latchkey kids, a Curatorial Proposal Series exhibition featuring a new series of mixed media works by Stephanie Todhunter. Twenty plaster-encased, hand-colored, 70s-era Dawn dolls form the backbone of the show. Macro-photographic portraits capture these frozen girls, their faces then printed on canvas and glass and buried underneath layers of metal leaf, spray paint, paper and wax. Some of the girls are shiny and brittle, others are bleached and torn. With these girls in latchkey kids, Todhunter gives voice to “generation x”; described as one of the least parented, least nurtured generations in recent U.S. History.

Latchkey kids were identified by the house keys worn around their necks; a stigmatizing symbol for both their peers and teachers. Growing up in the late 70’s and early 80’s – in an atmosphere of escalating Cold War tension, high crime, environmental disasters resulting from corporate negligence, Satanic Panic, record divorce rates and increased child disappearances – these children were simultaneously self reliant and completely subject to the vagaries of the adults around them. This independence, combined with unstructured free time, resulted in invisibility; manifested in Todhunter’s portraits by blurred features and obscured identities. In an era before cell-phones and computers, and prior to after-school programs and extracurricular activities, network television served as the “electronic babysitter” and surrogate parent. Like the flickering TV sets they watched late into the night, Todhunter’s girls shimmer behind screens of smoke and glass — a radioactive landscape.

We invite you to join us for an artist talk on Thursday, August 25th at 6pm, where Todhunter will briefly discuss her work and how it relates to themes of isolation, parenting and next-generation feminism.

Currently a Boston based artist, Stephanie grew up in the Midwest, the child of a single working mother who frequently moved from small town to small town throughout the 1970s. As a mixed media artist, immediacy and experimentation are essential to Stephanie’s work. She aims to reduce her subjects to their most basic idea without sentimentality. Recent exhibitions include Danforth Art Annual 2016 Juried Exhibition, Danforth Museum, Framingham MA; Heat Bromfield Gallery, Boston MA; Residual Form, Nave Annex Gallery, Somerville MA.”

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Wendy Shapiro: Sustainable

When: On view through August 28, 2016

Closing Reception: Thursday August 25, 6-8PM

Where: FP3 Gallery, 346 Congress Street, Boston, MA

How: Official Website

What/Why: “These eco-friendly works are layers of horizons, clouds and soft sea storms. Being environmentally conscious has always been incorporated in Wendy’s art. By using Greenguard gold certified (for low chemical emissions UL 2818) acrylic paint in this series she continues this practice. Wendy hopes the viewer takes a moment to imagine taking a step into each piece and visualize what the infinite horizon is today and will imminently be.

Worn driftwood found in the Boston harbor area is intended to enhance the vision with a sculptured piece from the natural world, which she feels is continually taken for granted.”

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The Photography of Nyx Breen

When: On view through October 14, 2016

Reception: Thursday August 25, 2016 5-7PM

Where: Onyx Hotel, 155 Portland Street , Boston, MA, 02114

How: Official Website

What/Why: “Located in Boston’s bustling West End, Kimpton’s Onyx Hotel is pleased to announce the installation of a new art exhibit featuring the work of local artist Nyx Breen. 

Starting today through mid-October, the hotel’s public spaces – lobby, Ruby Room and meeting areas – will serve as a canvas for Breen’s photographic and virtual art inspired by the city’s rich history and architecture. A native of Boston, Breen delights in, “providing others the ability to find shared emotions, memories and partnership in the experience of [my] art.” His imaginative eye captures the world around him with precision and finesse. 

Breen has specifically curated a collection of pieces for the Onyx Hotel exhibit that will enhance travelers’ experience of the city and allow locals to envision their surroundings through a new lens.”

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Summer 2016 Group Show

When: On view through August 2016

Reception: Friday August 5, 2016 6-8PM

Where: Matter & Light Fine Art, 63 Thayer Street, Boston, MA 02118

How: Official Website

What/Why: “Matter & Light represents contemporary artists from around the world whose work is united by the exploration of profound spiritual questions in the medium of raw, visceral materiality. These works aim to leave the viewer with clearer eyes and a deeper appreciation for the strange, beautiful tensions of the human condition.”

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Nalini Malani: In Search of Vanished Blood 

When: On view through October 16, 2016

Where: ICA Boston, 25 Harbor Shore Drive, Boston, MA

How: Official Website 

What/Why: “Nalini Malani (b. 1946, Karachi) is India’s foremost video and installation artist and a committed activist for women’s rights. Currently living and working in Mumbai, Malani came to India as a refugee during the 1947 partition of India and Pakistan, an experience that deeply informs her work. This exhibition centers on Malani’s signature multimedia installation, In Search of Vanished Blood (2012), the title of which comes from a poem by the revolutionary Pakistani poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz. The installation is inspired by East German writer and critic Christa Wolf’s 1984 novelCassandra, about a struggling female artist and visionary. Combining imagery from Eastern and Western cultures, with sound, projected image, and light, In Search of Vanished Blood is an enthralling, immersive experience. The work comprises six 11-minute video projections streamed around the room through five clear Mylar cylinders, hand-painted with a variety of cultural and historical iconography, which hang in the center of the room. As the Mylar cylinders rotate, the colorful and layered imagery is projected onto the walls, creating a magical environment reminiscent of lantern slide presentations and other proto-cinema experiments in the 18th and 19th centuries. The presentation of Malani’s immersive video installation will be accompanied by a selection of related works on paper.”

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Jeffrey Hull: Drawings

When: On view through August 13, 2016

Where: HallSpace, 950 Dorchester Ave, Boston, MA

How: Official Website

What/Why: Learn more about the exhibition here.

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Susan Carr: How to Do Art

When: On view through September 11, 2016

Opening Reception: Friday August 5, 5-9pm

Where: How’s Howard, 450 Harrison Ave, Suite 309c, Boston, MA 02118

How: Official Website

What/Why: “A solo exhibition by Susan Carr.

How’s Howard? is pleased to present a solo exhibition by Susan Carr. “How to do Art” consists of six small-scaled constructed paintings and five moderately scaled mixed media works on paper. Although there is not much more to the construction of these paintings than old scrapes of wood, rope, oil paint and remnants of fabric, there is an unspeakable richness of gesture and color. Carr’s contemplative process is revealed in her written instructions, titled “How to do Art”, which generated the title of the show. In this, we come to find out how each work embodies such a complicated and vibrant history. With a limited focus of materials, Carr finds a deeply personal and expansive response to life’s disarray.

Across Carr’s colorful abstractions and works on paper, thoughtful actions appear carefree and happenstance. From rusty nails, select pieces hang precariously on string or yarn, allowing gravity to play a role in their identity as each work teeters on the boundary between painting and sculpture.

Carr’s exceptional tolerance for chaos is evident in the powerful and evocative color relationships that become part of the subject of each piece. She scrutinizes the placement of every scrap of wood, living with each piece until they find a home in her paintings. These scraps and scrapes, take on new identities, as vivid badges of talismanic strength.

In “How to do Art”, Carr leaves the viewer with a poetic tutorial on cultivating an idea. In her written statement, she engages an almost playful yet grueling recipe for generating art. Within these concise formats, Carr busts out of established confines and dives deep within the space of her paintings.”

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Highland Street Free Fun Fridays for August

When: Fridays in August, 2016

Where: Several Locations across Massachusetts

How: Official Website

What/Why: “Our Free Fun Fridays offer visitors no-cost admission to many of the most treasured cultural venues in Massachusetts. This program was created to increase access and enrichment opportunities for children and families throughout Massachusetts during the summer months. Every Friday, from the end of June through the end of August, multiple sites are open for free. We reach out to schools, veterans groups, libraries, seniors centers, and many other community organizations to ensure that everyone knows that they are also welcome.”

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Partial Visibility

(On A Clear Day You Can See Forever. 2016)

When: On view August 5 through September 24, 2016

Opening Reception: August 5th, 6-9PM

Where: T+H Gallery, C19 + C20 460 Harrison Ave, Boston, MA

How: Official Website

What/Why: “Art, religion and science, which are often thought of as opposing, actually have something really important in common: wonder. Wonder is both cognitive and spiritual. It’s the curiosity that drives us to learn new things about ourselves and the world around us, but it’s also the feeling we get when we encounter things that are beyond our understanding. My art practice is founded on my own sense of wonder, and my goal is to create works of art that inspire a sense of wonder in others. Much of my work is a personal struggle to reconcile oppositional concepts of time – the linear and finite nature of my own life within the context of a cyclical and seemingly infinite universe. I consider time and language my primary sculptural materials. These immaterial concepts are given tangible forms that can be manipulated both physically and conceptually. Strategies and mediums associated with commercial signage and advertising have been coopted and employed to encourage thoughtful introspection and reflection. Signs serve as indicators or evidence of what is happening or going to happen, that something is not present when it should be. The exhibition’s title, Partial Visibility, suggests the presence of something that we cannot see, the possible occurrence of something we cannot predict.”

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List Projects: Ethan Hayes Chute

When: On view through October 16th, 2016

Where: MIT List, 20 Ames Street, Bldg. E15, Atrium level, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139

How: Official Website

What/Why: “In his sculptures, drawings, text pieces, and performative workshops, Ethan Hayes-Chute explores ideas of self-sufficiency and self-preservation, making reference to outsider architecture, alternative modes of living, ecology, and waste. He takes a DIY, vernacular approach to architecture and technology and constructs near-functional cabins and partial interiors from salvaged materials. His new installation for the List Center includes a number of nearly obsolete Epson computers programmed for a range of practical applications, lending retro-futuristic undertones to his rustic assemblages. To learn more, click here. 

On July 19, there will be an opening reception and exhibition tour with the artist for Members of the List Center at the Friends level and above. For information about Membership, please click here or contact Betsy Willett. “

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Flowers of Evil: Symbolist Drawings, 1870–1910

When: On view through August 14, 2016

Where: Harvard Art Museum, 32 Quincy Street, Cambridge, MA

How: Official Website 

What/Why: ”This exhibition explores the mysterious visual world of symbolism, an open-ended cultural phenomenon of the late 19th century that formed an important bridge between impressionism and modernism. Yet more than these two movements, symbolism sought to evoke ideas subjectively—through color, form, and composition—rather than objectively representing worldly appearances. The title of the show is inspired by Les Fleurs du Mal (1857), an influential collection of poems by Charles Baudelaire, thus alluding to the literary antecedents of the movement.

Symbolist drawings were not united by a single technique or style, but by the artists’ shared desire to make the invisible visible—whether they chose subject, form, or some combination of the two as their major aesthetic focus. Often enigmatic, these graphic works served as signs of a deeper or higher degree of consciousness, beyond the literal objects that they depicted. Symbolism enabled artists to confront an increasingly uncertain and complex world, one that they alternately viewed in terms of degeneration and decadence, idealism and reform.

Featuring 40 drawings, mainly from the permanent collections of the Harvard Art Museums, this exhibition covers some of the major themes of symbolism, such as dreams and visions, spirituality, nature, and the relationship between society and the self. It offers an expansive view, including not only artists who identified themselves as symbolists but also influential precursors, as well as artists active at the end of the movement. The exhibition acknowledges the international nature of symbolism, which was centered in France but extended to countries such as Austria, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, England, and the United States.

Curated by Edouard Kopp, the Maida and George Abrams Associate Curator of Drawings at the Harvard Art Museums.”

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OK, it’s somehow August and summer is in full swing. If I forgot anything in the wrap-up, do let me know. ^^^

This Friday, August 5th 6-9PM is the opening reception for Juror’s Choice, an exhibition I juried at Uforge Gallery in Jamaica Plain. You should go.

Why? Well, sometimes I feel like juried shows end up being wall-to-wall tempura rorschachs or rooms full of sculptures fashioned out of cat hair, but I promise that is not the case this time.

AND it is actually a good show for reasons that have nothing to do with me — it is thanks to all of your incredible submissions!

So, TY for giving me pretty things to look at. #bosarts #danderfree

On the news front..

1.) July 31st, our fair legislators were able to override Governor Charlie Baker’s lapse in judgment re: arts in Massachusetts, successfully restoring funding to the Mass Cultural Council. So, we are safe for another year.

2.) Also, a little birdy told me the City will be unleashing their small grants program for artists this month, I’ll be sure to make a formal post once I have all the details.

3.) Speaking of feathered friends– New Bedford is experiencing its time in the sun with a petition-laden drama over a buxom seagull sculpture by local artist, Donna Dodson. Basically, people are losing it, and I love it. Here is a summary.

4.) Later this month I’ll be announcing an exhibition I’m curating this fall. I’d do it now, but a.) I’m tired. b.) it would derail my choreography with the gallery’s press release. So just…save the date for Friday October 14th, 6-8PM, OK?

And that’s about it! See you at the Uforge opening on Friday and/or in my dreams. ♥