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Tue/Wed/Sat 11-7 Thu/Fri 11-8 Sun by appt or chance |
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Tue/Wed/Sat 11-7 Thu/Fri 11-8 Sun by appt or chance |
April 19 to May 31, 2007
This spring 13FOREST Gallery is presenting Home, an exhibition of photography, paintings and works in mixed media by six artists. Through depictions of local architecture, family artifacts, private gardens and personal loss, the show reminds us that a house is a building, but a home is the place in which an individual can find refuge and happiness. The show will have its opening reception on Thursday, April 19 from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m., and runs through May 31.
Among the six artists represented in Home are Deb Hickey and Karla Quattrocchi, who render architectural exteriors in ways that seem to capture the inner life of local and fictional buildings. Hickey has a primary interest in the architecture of cities across the Northeast. Here she focuses on Medford landmarks that people see every day and therefore most likely take for granted. Using photo transfer and painting techniques, Hickey changes the landmarks' context and character to the point where even the most jaded traveler might begin to ask, what is this building really? Quattrocchi directly poses a similar question through oils on paper into which bits of construction materials have been embedded. Her subjects are geometrically rendered houses that lean forward as though weathering a storm, rocking with domestic energy or recuperating from unknown events. It could be all three or none of the above.
Also featured in Home are large and small works by Adele Travisano, who was recently honored at the Doc Kountze Arts Festival for fostering the arts in Medford since moving to the city some twenty years ago. Her large work is an oil painting titled Evening Lilies, a study of her garden from which she derives solace and inspiration, sometimes with a new or established artist painting by her side. Travisano's smaller oil paintings are part of Charms, an ongoing series of still lifes that are intended to serve as personal meditation pieces for their owners. Whatever the size, Travisano's paintings brim with spirit and vigor.
Amy McGregor-Radin and collaborators Marc Gurton and Lisa Tang Liu go inside the home to depict signs of rowdiness and solemnity. Among McGregor-Radin's works is The Boys Are Home, a woodcut print of backpacks, sneakers, jackets and books that have been tossed into a corner by energetic children. The composition and its colors evoke the sounds of youthful exuberance and perhaps memories of one's own childhood. Gurton and Tang Liu's contribution to Home is a photographic essay titled Still Life with Jean. The woman to whom the piece is dedicated is Gurton's grandmother who died last winter at the age of 99. Here her lifelong disinterest in cooking is captured in a repeated photograph in which she stands over a stove, laughingly trying to decipher directions on the back of a soup can. Surrounding the image are others that Gurton took in his own kitchen shortly after Jean's death and that Tang Liu has arranged into the final composition. Fruit ripens in a bowl, papers pile up, a child looks at the viewer through the dowels of her chair. All is quiet.
With a nod to Jean's legacy, the opening reception on Thursday April 19 from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. will feature culinary offerings from the artists. Additionally, Grapevine Travelers (18 High Street) will be pouring wines from their own High Street label. The event is free and open to the public.
Home is made possible in part by a grant from the Medford Arts Council, and has been scheduled to coincide with the 8th Annual West Medford Open Studios being held on April 28 and 29. Maps of studio sites are available at the gallery.
