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Exhibitions: Current | Upcoming | Past

Exhibitions: Past



How's Your Weather?


Artists Respond to Climate Change and Sustainability



Resa Blatman
Michèle Fandel Bonner
Tom Deininger
Phyllis Ewen
Laura Petrovich-Cheney
Cristi Rinklin
Marita Torbick

October 25 – December 7, 2018

How's Your Weather? How's Your Weather? How's Your Weather? How's Your Weather? How's Your Weather? How's Your Weather? How's Your Weather? How's Your Weather? How's Your Weather? How's Your Weather?

Artists often recycle or repurpose materials into works of art. We paint over old canvases, recycle fibers and paper to make new sheets of paper, reclaim wood, cast objects made of clay and then use the clay to make new sculptures that can be cast again. Regardless of the process, artists consistently extract all the usefulness out of the materials they use to make art objects. As a result, ideas about climate change and sustainability are a natural extension of the studio practice for some artists.

How's Your Weather? provides an opportunity for us to take a look at some of the ways that artists directly respond to these issues. Throughout the exhibition, you will see meditations on several recurring themes: how vulnerable all living creatures are, learning to pay attention, how we can repurpose ordinary materials in unexpected ways, and how to begin to take more responsibility for individual and collective choices.

We all live and breathe inside the same thin band of atmosphere, and actions that occur somewhere else, sometimes thousands of miles away, can have a direct and, at times, devastating impact in our local environments. I anticipate that many of you will have strong opinions about these ideas. I hope you view the exhibition as an opportunity to think about some of them and I hope, begin to renew, in some way, your relationship to our environment.

Kathleen Hancock
Director




Artists


Resa Blatman


"Everyone carries a shadow." – Carl Jung

Resa Blatman creates visual art projects inspired by nature and climate change. Her work is installation-based and she offers works that undulate between two and three-dimensional form, creating an opportunity for contemplation and a deeper look at the overwhelming changes to our environment. Blatman studied painting at Massachusetts College of Art and holds an MFA also in painting from Boston University. She recently exhibited work at Catamount Arts in St Johnsbury, Vermont and will participate in the upcoming INK Miami Art Fair / Art Basel Week in Miami, Florida.


Michèle Fandel Bonner


Michèle Fandel Bonner is a mixed media artist. Her work addresses issues of identity, time, waste, and consumerism. Her work has been shown in New England, North Carolina, Michigan, England, and Australia. Bonner recently exhibited work at the Belmont Gallery of Art and at the Chocolate Church Arts Center, Bath Maine. In 2018 she was awarded a residency stay at The Cabins Retreat in Norfolk, Connecticut. Bonner teaches various fiber technique workshops around New England. She holds a BA in Art Therapy from the University of Massachusetts. Michèle lives and works in Marblehead, Massachusetts.


Tom Deininger


Tom Deininger lives and works in Bristol, Rhode Island. He has spent much of his career making work that questions traditional notions of art and beauty. His work often contains bit of broken things, plastic toys, and other castoffs from our material culture repurposed into transformational works of art, that are at once familiar and skewed. He forces us to pay attention, both in delight and unease. His work is in numerous public and private collections around the world. He studied painting at Salve Regina University.


Phyllis Ewen


Phyllis Ewen's work has been exhibited extensively and is in many public collections, including the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, The Boston Public Library, Harvard, MIT, the DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park. Ewen's sculptural drawings explore the rising seas and drying rivers affected by global warming. Her recent series, LAND AND WATER, was recently featured in the Spotlight Gallery at Lesley University, College of Art and Design; and was shown at the Rekjanes Art Museum in Iceland in 2016–2017.


Laura Petrovich-Cheney


In Laura Petrovich-Cheney's explores the dynamic between environmental and individual concerns, in works made from found and repurposed materials. Much of her work is feminist in nature, and include references to traditional crafts such as needle work and quilting. Petrovich-Cheney's wooden quilts seek to restore balance in a world in which so much random chaos exists. Recent exhibitions include What Remains, Fuller Craft Museum; Block Party at the A.I.R. Gallery and exhibits such as Pattern Pieces at the James Michener Museum.


Cristi Rinklin


Cristi Rinklin received her MFA from the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, and her BFA in painting from Maryland Institute, College of Art. She has exhibited her work in galleries and museums throughout the United States, as well as venues in Rome, Florence, and Amsterdam. Rinklin is the recipient of grants from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, the Berkshire Taconic Artist's Resource Trust, and the Jerome Foundation Fellowship, and has been a Visiting Artist/Scholar at the American Academy in Rome. Her work is represented by Steven Zevitas Gallery in Boston.


Marita Torbick


Marita Torbick was born in Syracuse, New York and raised in Northern California. Her undergraduate degree in management and earlier graduate studies in counseling took place at Sonoma State University. After a successful career in counseling, she moved to New Bedford, Massachusetts and entered the Master of Fine Arts program at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth to pursue a lifelong interest in studio arts. She combines mixed media sculpture and drawing with a passionate interest in environmental preservation. Her studio is located in Marlborough, New Hampshire.




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