PAPER: a Preview

The gallery was a pretty busy place last weekend, the first weekend First Anniversary: PAPER was on exhibit. One of  those visitors was Jim Welu, our juror, who stopped by to see 'what we'd done with the place', ie. to see how we'd curated the show. He selected roughly one quarter of the nearly 200 pieces that were submitted, and the challenge was to create one cohesive exhibit from a really disparate collection of work. He was delighted to see what had come from the chaos of what he had seen when he had come to jury the show.

 Exhibiting artist Roy Perkinson was manning the gallery on Saturday, when Jim dropped in. 

According to Roy,  Welu thought the show looked very good. "He really enjoyed himself, and made at least 3 attentive circuits looking quietly and with evident pleasure, looking leisurely at everything. He just was thrilled to see the way everything was displayed in such an interesting way. 

Lynne Damianos, Palm Leaf, photograph

Timothy Wilson, Portrait of Packing Paper, photograph

He very much liked the hanging of Lynne Damianos' "Palm Leaf" photograph beside the one of the end view of sheaves of paper, for example. Welu was also impressed with the range of inventiveness and skill in the works around the room, and especially amazed that sculptural objects of such substance could have been made from paper, among other materials."

J. Utting Schutter, Twining Flask, detail

"He also went to great lengths to remain unbiased", continued Roy."He enjoyed telling me of his anxiety over trying to make his judgments without identifying the artist; it was important to him NOT to see who had done what." Some of the names were familiar, like that of Worcester artist Susan Swinand, but he was surprised by other artists whose names and work he recognized only after the fact.

Susan Swinand, Falling Moon, watercolor

As Roy told us later,"He was a terrific guy! We had the nicest time talking about art, painting, museums (with all their characters and foibles), and so much more. I had heard so much about him from many of my friends, and it was all true."

The four pieces pictured here are just a taste of the eclectic yet cohesive, diverse yet complementary, collection of work on exhibit. 

We invite you to join us at the Reception, 

Saturday January 21st, from 5-7 pm, 

and see for yourself!