Tag Archives: SOWA

September 25, 2010 · 2:02 pm

Event Alert: South End Open Studios This Weekend

This weekend is South End Open Studios in Boston. All the major art buildings in the South End are open to the public – including the Boston Center for the Arts, Laconia Lofts, the SOWA buildings, the studios on Wareham and Albany Streets, the newly opened Art Block, and the Piano Factory.

A couple of my favorites:

Albertine Press

Shelley Barandes of Albertine Press, a small letterpress print studio, will be at Michelle Willey at 8 Union Park Street (between Shawmut and Washington) on Saturday, 11a.m. to 5p.m. and Sunday, noon to 5p.m.

Next door, Aunt Sadies and Gracie Finn will be featuring dog art. And the Greek Church on the corner is having their annual festival. And on the next block, there’s Patch NYC.

PatchNYC

Don and John of PATCH NYC will be in the courtyard at their studio building at 46 Waltham Street (at Washington) on Saturday and Sunday selling jewelry, scarves, candles, home accessories, and exclusive pieces, plus a random selection of their favorite things including beautiful books, Indian textiles, Bulgarian jars, ceramic sculptures, and bobble head squirrels (because seriously, every well-decorated home needs one).

Isabelle Abramson String Tied Vase

All the artists T 450 Harrison will be welcoming visitors into their studios, including one of my favorite local ceramists, Isabelle Abramson, who’s in Studio 411a. (I posted about her work here.)

And lots of other photographers, painters, printmakers, jewelry makers, and more

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Tagged as albertine press, Boston art scene, Isabelle Abramson, Michelle Willey, Patch NYC, Shelley Barandes, South End Open Studios, SOWA

April 5, 2010 · 10:38 pm

ARTmonday: The Art Bus

Now you’ve pretty much got no excuse for not checking out the art scene.

This past weekend, the Boston Art Dealers Association launched The Art Bus, a free shuttle between the Newbury Street and South End art districts.

The bus goes between the Back Bay and South End free of charge from noon to 4pm on the first Saturday of the month from through June, and will start up again in September.

The bus runs a continuous loop making stops at:
• Thayer Street at Harrison Avenue
• Newbury Street at Berkeley Street (in front of the Church of the Covenant)
• Newbury Street at Dartmouth Street (in front of Fitz Inn parking lot)

Each ride requires a pass. Passes are free and are available at all BADA member galleries.

All aboard!

ARTmonday: Gurari Collections

This winter when I was checking out the galleries and shops in the newly converted 1880 mill building now known as 460 Harrison Ave. in SoWa, I wandered into Gurari Collections, which bills itself as a gallery for antiquarian contemporary arts. An intriguing label and fitting.

Its focus is at the intersection of art and science, featuring etchings, engravings, drawings, watercolors, paintings, and interesting objects borne from architecture and design, urbanism, the human figure, fantasies and follies, and science and the allied arts. The gallery is basically a walk-in curio cabinet.

A few days ago, gallery owner Russ Gerard contacted me, inviting me back for a visit. I shall certainly go sometime soon, and take photos, but in the meantime, I thought I’d share images from his website.

Column Capital Frontal – Wendy Artin
watercolor

Cetaceous – Mollie Goldstrom
etching

Calderum Motorim – Vico Fabbris
charcoal

Perspective 39 – Jan Vredeman de Vries
engraving

Fountain 31 – Georg Andrea Bockler
copperplate etching-engraving

Plan De Paris, 1739 – M.E. Turgot, Louis Bretez, Claude Lucas and Aubin
20 copperplate engravings

English Victorian Adjustable Zograscope

Crookes Tubes and Radiomete

Deal Alert: Diseño Anniversary Sale

Diseño, the SoWa home furnishings boutique stocked with earthy, trendy treasures from South America, is celebrating their third anniversary with a great big sale. Yay, we love home accessory sales. All in stock merchandise is 20% to 50% off through April 10th. This includes furniture, lighting, throws, pillows, and all sorts of rugs – woven leather, suede shag, cowhide, and shearling. Look at all the excellent stuff.

ARTmonday: Elisa Johns Bouts of Excess

I love the paintings by Elisa Johns’ in Bout of Excess for their colors, flirtatiousness, and femininity. I am definitely drawn to works that portray two women, or women flaunting their sexuality in a playful, bashful or innocent manner. (I’ll have to scan my postcard collection of such paintings for you.)

Stephanie Walker, who owns Walker Contemporary and curated the show, points out that the two women in Johns’ “Rape of the Daughters of Leucippus” (the third one here) aren’t necessarily in a sexual relationship. I think that’s what I am responding to; they could be lovers, but maybe they are close friends, or sisters. There’s an intimacy with just a hint of sexuality; a promise, perhaps.

When I showed my husband the images, he asked of “English Rose” (the second one here), “Why is there a vagina in the sky?” I see that now. And I had just thought, “What a pretty, rosy sun.”

When I asked Stephanie what attracted her to the artist and these works in particular, she cited the way the artist handles the paint, that she uses oil paint in so many ways. And, although the images are obviously based on historical stories, she points out “they’re so L.A., contemporary and of-the-moment.”

One of my favorites is “Daphne and the Laurel Tree” (the last image), which, at 72 x 48 inches, is relatively large work. I’d love to hang it in the living room at our house on the Cape. I love the colors, and how the tree creates angel wings. She’s so Nadja Auermann at the apex of the ’80s, but warmer and more fun. More like Nadja Auermann meets Stephanie Seymour meets Kate Moss.

She said Cate McQuaid, a critic from the Boston Globe, found them to be sort of “Project Runway” gone awry. But Stephanie sees women that are “playing with fashion, while snubbing what they’re portraying, and pushing boundaries.”

Either way, let them eat cake!

On view at Walker Contemporary, 450 Harrison Avenue, Boston until the end of March.