Wellesley Family Showcases Art Together in Unique Exhibit

…minutes and motions and decisions and time and people

materialize
Artist talk with 
Lisa Barthelson
+
Denise Driscoll
May 11, 2013

Lisa Barthelson and Denise Driscoll talked about their fascination with consumables and found materials and the notion of  piecework- defined by Lisa as 

repetitive motion, small pieces, traditionally woman’s work.

Much of the work by both artists in this show; Lisa’s Family Debris series, Denise’s paintings and installation pieces, are incredibly labor-intensive.

Repository, Denise Driscoll

Repository, detail, Denise Driscoll

Denise takes (wo)man-hours into account. How long does it take to do something? … She estimates that for her installation piece “Repository” each 6 in. took her 8 hours to produce. For the series of paintings which take DNA sequencing as their, basis, she paints about 1000 dots/hour. She finds that ‘piecework’ can be meditative and focused, or the hands can work and the mind can go elsewhere. Anne West’s book Mapping the intelligence of Artistic Work, http://annewest.net/ has been a profound influence for her.

Lisa pays particular attention to the sorting that takes place-a meditative way to connect things to other things, and make creative choices as to what the parameters are.

Take Over-Over Take, Lisa Barthelson

Take Over-Over Take, detail.,
 Lisa Barthelson

For her piece, Take Over-Over Take, from her family debris series, she used 77 armature wires, each 17 in. long, attached by a cork to the back, and made decisions as she went along. When a visitor referred to the piece as ‘Seussian’, Lisa found that it was an apt description- a whimsical re-use of the pieces; she found the result to be very satisfying.

Denise also spoke about her piece ‘Mandala for Marriage Equality.’

Mandala for Marriage Equality, 1-49, Denise Driscoll

Mandala for Marriage Equality, no.1,
Denise Driscoll.

Created as she and her husband Tom celebrated their 25th anniversary, she thought of “the years, months, weeks, days, minutes and moments together, both past and future. With the blessings and goodwill of our family, friends and community, we’ve accomplished together what neither would have been able to do alone. Together, we wish the right to marry for all couples who are willing to embark on this challenging journey of discovery, collaboration, and love.” Denise estimates the mandala contains as many dots as there are minutes in 25 years. The Mandala, made up of 49 separate paintings cut from one piece, which will only be seen together during this exhibit; it is specifically designed with lots of pieces so that it comes apart and goes out into the world, and its pieces disperse.

Moving forward, Lisa sees her work in this show as two distinct bodies of work- the

Family debris series, the organization of chaos, and site-specific work, the

Slinkies, and deer fence installations.Lisa sees this newer body of work as a response to permanence and consumption; she likes the way these Site-specific pieces are composed of  units that can be re-configured in response to site, and are more minimalist in their construction and use of materials.

As is the case in of the individual pieces in materialize, and in the exhibit itself, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Last chance to see the show, and the Mandala before it disperses, is this weekend- the show ends May 19^th.

Missed Open Studios? No worries, 8x8 runs through May 19!

8x8 pieces by Eugenie Lewalski Berg and Sarah Alexander

 Closing Reception May 19 from 3-5pm

Just a few examples of the incredible variety of pieces in this show.

This exhibit features over 70 pieces by our member artists as well as artists who work at Fountain Street Studios. Each work of art, 8" x 8" in size and $150 in price, has been created especially for this exhibit - a great way to discover a new favorite artist, and to acquire an original kind work of art at a very reasonable price.

Here's a sample of what's in store. If you would like to find out more about a specific piece/artist, or make a purchase, please email us at fountainstfineart@gmail.com.

Or visit in person- the gallery is open every Thursday-Sunday from 11-5 (directions)

Sarah Alexander

Eugenie Lewalski Berg

Eugenie Lewalski Berg

Lisa Barthelson

Julia Berkley

Suzanne Booth SOLD

Pamela DeJong

Pamela DeJong (detail)

Pamela DeJong

Jim Eng

Jim Eng

Sara Fine-Wilson

Amy Furman

Amy Furman

Felicia Tuttle

Bob Grignaffini SOLD

Karen Jacobs

Karen Jacobs

Richard Kattman SOLD

Dottie Laughlin

Dottie Laughlin (detail)

Mimi Macksoud

Mimi Macksoud

Ginger McEachern

Ginger McEachern

Roy Perkinson SOLD

Felicia Tuttle

Anne Sargent Walker SOLD

Amy Weader

Jeanne Williamson

Kate Heyd

Kate Heyd

Sarah Alexander

Scout Austin and The Rubber Raft

Scout Austin talks about a painting that particularly resonated with her during a recent visit to the Worcester Art Museum- The Rubber Raft

Fellow encaustic artist Kellie Weeks and I recently wandered around the Worcester Museum of Art and viewed paintings until we could no longer input any more information. During our supervised meandering - guards followed us into every gallery - my attention was captivated by Philip Evergood's painting The Rubber Raft. Philip Evergood was an American painter (1901-1973), who apparently was as well known for his politics as for his painting style. A great supporter of workers' rights, he was not adverse to getting arrested numerous times. I was not familiar with his work or his life.

Philip Evergood's painting The Rubber Raft, collection of the Worcester Art Museum.

The Rubber Raft was first shown in the summer of 1945 and was seen as a footnote to World War II - a fact I did not know when I studied the painting, because, as usual, I did not read the entire blurb next to the painting due to my bias against having a painting explained to me before I make up my own mind about it.

I was first drawn to this painting because of its bright colors. The surrounding paintings were much lower key. In addition, I tend to be drawn to works that have at least some representational content because, for me, they contain stories. (And yes I had recently watched the movie "The Life of Pi" so I had the whole possibly being eaten at sea thing already going on in my brain.) I confess to paying little attention to the unfortunate men in the raft. Rather I was intrigued by the grinning sharks who seem to have gotten into the lipstick my mother wore when I was a child. To me they appear to be smiling and singing - possibly some shark show tune. I may actually have subconsciously ignored the men in the raft at first, because I did not see them until I looked closer at the painting. I am not entirely without sympathy for people who end up in a raft in the middle of the ocean, but the sharks are scene stealers.

The Rubber Raft portrays a human tragedy in bright happy colors. I like that type of contradiction and how it encourages a double take or second look at the image.The colors and dynamic brush strokes drew me in, and once there I was confronted with the darker reality of the situation. It is one technique that gets viewers to look at valuable subject matter they might otherwise choose to ignore. 

-Scout Austin     

And now a bit about Scout-

Scout has had many travelled many paths- photographer, graphic designer, practicing attorney- along her journey to becoming a full-time artist.She now resides in Massachusetts and produces encaustic paintings, artist's books, assemblage boxes, prints and other mixed media work.She is a Core Artist member of Fountain Street FIne Art, and shows her work locally and nationally. Find out more about her and her work at scoutaustinfinearts.com

It's all in the Details

The three artists whose work is featured in Sight Lines, our current exhibit

-Roy Perkinson, Andrew Haines, and Greg Heins-

have been characterized as “poets of the commonplace.” The artists, each in their own way, transform the mundane details of everyday life.

Roy Perkinson, Moon, Farm Pond, oil on canvas

Take Roy Perkinson's 'Moon, Farm Pond', for example. The painting captures that moment just after sunset, on an evening where low clouds blur the moon. But the quiet reverie is punctuated by street lights in the distance, a reminder of the bustle and noise not far away.

The juxtaposition of the graphic elements in of Greg Heins' Dior at Nanterre are central to this photograph. But the subtler details, the way the patterns in the angles of the streetlights and circles of the signs repeat are what make the photograph work on many levels. 

Greg Heins, Dior at Nanterre, photograph

The bird's eye vantage point of Andrew Hains' Old State House,  draws the eye into the heart of the drawing. But it's the tiny world he creates down there that holds your attention.

Andrew Haines,  Old State House, drawing.

By focusing on those seemingly unimportant details, the artists call our attention to things most people would pass by without a second glance – and celebrate the way the ordinary  can be evocative and beautiful.

Please join us for an artist talk for 
Sight Lines,
Sunday April 14 at 3 pm, 
and see for yourself-
up close, and personal.

In a series of occasional blog posts, we've asked a member artist to talk briefly about an artist who's profoundly influenced their work. Artist Bob Evans talks about the work of Karl Blossfeldt, and the effect it's had on him. 

Karl Blossfeldt, Plate 58 Art Forms In Nature, 1928

My dithered digital photographic prints have been influenced in an interesting way by the photogravure photographs of Karl Blossfeldt (German 1865-1932). In my career as an artist teacher I have taught Basic Visual Design classes and always showed examples of Blossfelt's photos to my students as examples of images having visual strength. Blossfeldt's work is known primarily from three books of high quality photogravure photographic reproductions published between 1928 and 1942. Very few of his actual photographic prints have ever been exhibited. But his work is widely known and his books are still in print in many lower quality halftone republications including several by Dover books. Because of my strong interest in his work I have been fortunate enough over the years to acquire first edition photogravure copies of all three of those books.

Bob Evans,  Dithered Fern Frond

When I was preparing to retire from active teaching in the past decade, I was looking for a project to keep me busy in addition to my normal art making activity. Having taught digital photography since the mid 1990s I was skilled in Adobe Photoshop and had always known the power of black and white images when dithered (random black dots of varied size). In looking at Blossfeldt's photogravures, which are made up of random dots created by the photogravure process from rosin dusted onto a metal plate, I thought you could create one bit (i.e. photographs using only black ink dots) images using digital dithering. Dithering is the process that all computer printers use and is a way to generate a range of tones and colors without the use of rigid halftone screens that look very mechanical. Color dithers by putting colored dots on top of each other produce continuous tone smooth looking images. One bit dithers when examined closely show the dots up clearly and give the resulting images a crispness and clarity very much like aquatint etchings. After many experiments with Photoshop and other dithering programs I developed a digital technique that allows me to create the look of photogravure using a standard office monochrome laser printer. The images can be soft or hard depending on the approach one takes and a wide range of tones are possible. Because the laser printer uses metallic oxide pigment the images are completely permanent unlike many colored digital photos that use dyes. Blossfeldt's technique has thus influenced me into wide experimentation of the expressive uses of the dithered random dot in digital photography.