We’ve added seven more pieces to the installation I curated with Mr. Webster for his showroom, Webster & Company, at the Boston Design Center. All abstracts in shades of black, white, and grey, by artists with distinct styles.
The first four are by Betty Carroll Fuller, whose work I first saw on the Outer Cape. An art professor at Cape Cod Community College, Fuller’s work presents abstract forms, lines, and layers of color that are simple and spare, but not spartan. The next abstract painting is by Jen Kelly, a Hingham-based artist who studied art at Boston College and has a master’s in social work. Kelly paints abstracts and landscapes while combining the arts with social causes. The third is Jen Bradley, who my friend Stephanie Walker of Waitsfield, Vermont gallery Walker Contemporary brought to the mix. Bradley is a Boston-born artist who earned a B.F.A at MassArt and teaches at South Shore Art Center, paint, screen-printing, glazes, and drawing in her abstract works.
Webster & Company is hosting an opening this Tuesday, Nov. 10, 6pm-8pm at the showroom at the Boston Design Center. Please let me know if you’d like to attend.
Betty Carroll Fuller, Family Reunion, 2012
Betty Carroll Fuller, Mean Girls, 2013
Betty Carroll Fuller, Summer, 2011
Betty Carroll Fuller, When Grey Clouds Turn Black, 2014
Jen Kelly, Music to My Ears
Jen Bradley, Paradise V
Jen Bradley, Paradise III
Works by all 21 artists now installed
at Webster & Company, Boston Design Center
This fall I’ve had the opportunity to work on a wonderful new project: curating artwork for the Webster & Company showroom at the Boston Design Center.
I love art. I buy art like other women buy shoes. I have master’s in art history that I did for fun and I started collecting art around the same time. Friends have asked me for help choosing artwork, and over the years I’ve often thought of art consulting for interior designers.
This summer I was at the bar at Blackfish in Truro with my friend Dee Elms,who encouraged me. (If you don’t know her, she is a very talented, supremely generous Boston-based interior designer). A week later I got an email from Mr. Webster at Webster & Company, asking me if I’d be interested in helping find local Boston artists whose work he could hang in his showroom. (A little birdie suggested me.) He was looking to do a complete swap of everything he had hanging. Within a month.
In a frenzy, I scoured my files and sources for Boston artists (and some further afield in Maine and on the Cape) whose work I loved that aligned with Mr. Webster’s tastes. We met in early September, narrowed down my finds, and over the last few weeks the very gracious Mr. Webster and his meticulous visual design director Jonathan Giacoletto have hung the work. There are about 75 pieces from almost 20 artists, all either local or with ties to the area.
It’s been a thrilling experience, both working with Mr. Webster and his team and all the artists. I haven’t seen everything hung yet, but I plan to go this week. If you happen to be over there, stop by. (Obviously they’re all for sale. If you you’re interested, you can let me know.) Here is one piece from each artist represented. If you read ARTmonday regularly you will recognize some names. More photos to come of the installations in the coming weeks.
John Ross
John Ross, who has a degree from UCLA and is co-founder of design label PATCH NYC, composes photos inspired by Dutch still life paintings in his South End studio using only natural light.
Tess Atkinson
Tess Atkinson, who graduated from Skidmore College and studied photography at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, likens her images to being lost in a trance.
Linda Pagani
Linda Pagani, who studied at the Art Institute of Chicago and School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, photographs vast spaces to compose abstract new environments.
Anna Kasabian
In her studio in Manchester-by-the-Sea, Anna Kasabian crafts wafer thin porcelain pieces that recall the forms and motions of flowers, sea plants, and ocean waves.
Jenny Brillhart
Abstracting beauty from the ordinary, Jenny Brillhart, who holds an M.F.A. from New York Academy of Art and a B.A. from Smith College, lives and works in Miami and Stonington, Maine.
Judyth Katz
Having begun her career as a fiber artist, today Judyth Katz works in paints and pastels to create abstracted landscapes en plain air and from her studio on the Outer Cape.
MP Landis
MP Landis, who traveled the world with his Mennonite missionary parents, opened a bookstore, and painted in Provincetown, recently relocated from Brooklyn to Portland, Maine.
Jenny Prinn
Rain, laughter, footsteps, and foghorns are examples of the fleeting inspirational moments that inform Maine-based artist Jenny Prinn’s colorful abstract paintings.
Grace Hopkins
Grace Hopkins, who holds a B.F.A. from Tufts University and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, creates photographs with he look and feel of abstract paintings.
Hilary Tait Norod
Neuroscience and psychology are strong influences on Boston-based painter Hilary Tait Norod, who holds a B.A. in studio art from Skidmore College.
Steve Barylick
Former creative director and muralist Steve Barylick, who holds a B.F.A. from Massachusetts College of Art, paints abstracts at Joy Street Artist Studios in Somerville.
Linda Cordner
Linda Cordner layers pigmented translucent wax to depict subtle, atmospheric landscapes, all created in her SoWa studio.
Alicia Savage
Boston-based photographer Alicia Savage, who holds a B.A. from Northeastern University, documents her life and mind in self-portraits that hide her face but uncover her journey.
Budd Hopkins
Abstract Expressionist Budd Hopkins (1931—2011), who worked in New York and Wellfleet, combined geometrics with a gestural style. The Whitney Museum and The Guggenheim, among others, own his work.
Sarah Lutz
Sarah Lutz, whose abstract work refers to the natural world, holds a B.S. from Skidmore College, an M.F.A. from The American University, and lives and works in New York City and Truro, Mass.
Stephen Sheffield
Using film and nontraditional techniques, South Shore-based photographer Stephen Sheffield, an alumnus of Cornell University and California College of the Arts, creates narrative images with a cinematic feel.
Ellen Levine Dodd
Ellen Levine Dodd, who grew up and studied art in New England, creates expressive compositions with colorful gestural brushwork in her Northern California studio.
Joe Diggs
Working from his home studio overlooking a pond on Cape Cod, Joe Diggs sometimes strategically plans his compositions while other times is guided by pure emotion.
My mother-in-law introduced me to the fanciful marine-inspired art of New York City artist Sarah Lutzwhen over Thanksgiving 2012 she brought me to the the Miranda Arts Project Space to see the installation Interplay, a collaborative work by Beth Dary and Sarah Lutz. This marine-inspired art installation mapped out the sea levels of Port Chester, New York waterways—past, present, and future—using sculpture, painting, drawing, and collage. I loved it; the overall concept and look, and the close-in details. (You can see my blog post about it here.)
I’ve since met Sarah Lutz on the Cape, where she spends summers, and have been tempted by her pieces at Truro Center for the Arts at Castle Hill. Her current exhibition Tales from the Garden . . . And Other Mythologies is currently on display the Mercy Gallery at the Loomis Chaffee School, where Lutz is an alum. The scale of the pieces is much larger, thanks to the freedom she found in her new, larger studio.
Here is a mix of work Sarah Lutz’s show at Loomis Chaffee, as well as the marine-inspired art of hers displayed in my living room.
Earlier this summer I caught up with San Francisco Bay Area-based artis Ellen Levine Dodd, whose work I discovered at Serena & Lily. Last year, after I had featured some of Dodd’s colorful paintings, she emailed me to say she was headed to Provincetown. I wasn’t in town then, but she came back this year, and we met (in real life) at Chequessett Chocolate, a new funky coffee and chocolate cafe in Truro.
We chatted about art and the web, the growing opportunities for artists to sell work online (Serena & Lily’s gallery model has been fabulous for her), and life in general. She showed me images of her newest works on her iPad, and a delicious smoothie later, we parted,promising to catch up again next year. Of course, if I’m ever in the Bay area I’ll be sure to drop by her studio too.
Dodd’s a local Massachusetts gal. She grew up in Newton, went to Clark University on an art scholarship, studied painting at the Worcester Museum School, and photography at the Worcester Craft Center. Following a year abroad, she studied photography and printmaking at Massachusetts College of Art.
Dodd has a rich work history in the arts. She worked as a studio assistant in the paper mill at Sonoma State University, creating paper pulp for many artists including Sam Francis, has curated exhibitions, and consulted on business matters with artists.Currently she works full time as an artist, photographer, and digital fine art printer .
I’m drawn to the bold colors, textures, and shapes in Dodd’s layered pieces, on which she paints, scratches, sands, carves, and draws. Here are abstract and landscape multi media paintings by Ellen Levine Dodd.
Dodd’s iPad with images of her new work.
Postcard and plant at Chequessett Chocolate.
A Loaf Of Bread A Jug Of Wine Acrylic and mixed media on wood panel, in handmade basswood frame
12.75″ x 12.75” • $750
Island In The Sky 2 Acrylic, mixed media on wood panel
12.75″ x 12.75” • $750
Keep Your Chin Up Acrylic, mixed media on wood panel
12.75″ x 12.75” • $750
Music In The Garden Acrylic, mixed media on wood panel, framed by the artist
16.75″ x 16.75” • $995
Pebbles In A Pond Acrylic, mixed media on wood panel, framed by the artist
2.75″ x 12.75″ • $750
Striations I Acrylic, mixed media on wood panel
8.75″ x 8.75” • $495
Wanderings 3 Oil, oil sticks, mixed media on wood panel, framed by the artist
12.75″ x 12.75” • $750
Which Way Is Up Acrylic, mixed media on wood panel
16.75″ x 16.75” • $975
Marina Acrylic, mixed media on board
16.75″ x 16.75” • $975
Headlands 1 Acrylic, mixed media on cradled wood panel
6″ x 6” • $275
Breaking Ground Casein, and mixed media on cradled wood panel
29.5″ x 22.5″ • $1,900
Carmel Beach Sand Casein, acrylic, beach sand, mixed media on cradled wood panel, framed by the artist
11″ x 7″ • $385
Friday night we went to the opening of a group show at the Berta Walker Gallery in Provincetown. My mother-in-law, Judyth Honeycutt Katz, had 11 pieces hanging in the show. Like last year, they hung alongside some of the best artists in Provincetown— Robert Henry, Salvatore Del Deo and Romolo Del Deo. Berta Walker represents some of the best known artists on the Outer Cape, including Paul Resika, Selina Trieff, and Elspeth Halvorsen, Penelope Jencks, Sky Power, and Varujan Boghosian. She always has a few treasures by Hans Hoffman too. The exhibition runs through August 11, so stop by if you’re in Provincetown. This is Judy’s second show; I blogged about the Berta Walker opening last year here.
Hill Magic, Truro
Little Sur
Morning Fog, Truro
West Beach, Prout’s Neck
Big Surr II
Clouds with Fog II
Cloud Dance, Pilgrim Lake
Racing Thunder Cloud
Berta Walker Gallery, Provincetown
* * *
Judy has masses of amazing work. I should dig through her studio. I spent the last week sleeping in the same building, but alas I was too busy being on vacation. Here are a few photos I took last year, of her pieces that hang in my apartment and her own house.
This large wild landscape hangs in my living room in Boston.
Judy just gave this one to my husband to hang at the office.
This is my in-law’s living room on the Cape. I think all three paintings are from a trip to the Southwest. Better shots of each below.
* * * The next two are hanging in their house in Connecticut. I think they were done during an excursion to Alaska.
