Showing the blues in Worcester
“Blue” (handmade paper pulp drawing, specimen pins), by Michelle Samour, in the group show “Blue Profundity: Contemporary Artists Revisit a Color,’’ at the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Art Gallery, at the College of the Holy Cross, in Worcester.
The gallery says:
“The exhibition features contemporary artists who incorporate blue in their work to highlight the symbolic and historic meanings of the color.’’
‘Long as you don’t inhale’
“Finding Atmosphere” (ceramic, wood, glaze, gold leaf and wire), by Ethan McGrath, in the show “Essence: 2023 Senior Exhibition,’’ at the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Art Gallery at the College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, through May 26.
— Photo courtesy of Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Art Gallery
The show brings together the artwork of 13 senior visual-art students — Christian Bachez, Jianing Bai, Brooke Bailey, Aisena Cekrezi, Unique Grimes, Teaken Haggerty, Obiamaka Igwenagu, Ethan McGrath, Kate Nedorostek, Kendra Offermann, Emily Skilton, Noelle Ventura and Olivia Wiatrowsk. The work encompasses a wide range of mediums (and themes) from sculpture, to murals and mixed-media.
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“Pollution,’’ by Tom Lehrer (born 1928), American musician, singer-songwriter, satirist and math professor, including at Harvard, MIT and Wellesley College
If you visit American city,
You will find it very pretty.
Just two things of which you must beware:
Don't drink the water and don't breathe the air!
Pollution, pollution!
They got smog and sewage and mud.
Turn on your tap
And get hot and cold running crud!
See the halibuts and the sturgeons
Being wiped out by detergeons.
Fish gotta swim and birds gotta fly,
But they don't last long if they try.
Pollution, pollution!
You can use the latest toothpaste,
And then rinse your mouth
With industrial waste.
Just go out for a breath of air
And you'll be ready for Medicare.
The city streets are really quite a thrill -
If the hoods don't get you, the monoxide will.
Pollution, pollution!
Wear a gas mask and a veil.
Then you can breathe,
Long as you don't inhale!
Lots of things there that you can drink,
But stay away from the kitchen sink!
The breakfast garbage that you throw into the Bay
They drink at lunch in San Jose.*
So go to the city,
See the crazy people there.
Like lambs to the slaughter,
They're drinking the water
And breathing [cough] the air!
Walk into 'collective memory'
“Memory Gates,’’ by Syrian-born Kevork Mourad, at the Cantor Art Gallery of the College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, through April 11.
The gallery says:
“Using his signature style of spontaneous drawing and printmaking techniques, artist Kevork Mourad created the site-specific immersive installation ‘‘Memory Gates ‘‘ during a residency at the Cantor Art Gallery in February. The work, a series of doors and passageways that visitors can pass through, explores themes of cultural plurality and collective memory. Co-sponsored by the Cantor Art Gallery and Arts Transcending Borders.’’
Our Gilded Age's 'haves' and 'have nots'
‘‘Grey Workers’,’ from “New Gilded Age: A Theatrical Installation,’’ by B. Lynch, through Feb. 5, in the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Art Gallery of the College of the Holy Ghost, Worcester.
The gallery explains:
“The fictional world of the ‘Reds’ and the ‘Greys,’ as imagined and constructed by Boston-based artist B. Lynch, is where a cast of characters play out their roles on life's stage as the ‘haves’ and ‘have-nots. ‘New Gilded Age ‘ is an immersive installation including puppets, sets, props, paintings, prints and videos scripted, shot and scored by Lynch. Visit the dedicated exhibition website at newgildedage.holycross.edu’.’
Jungle in the Bronx
“New York Botanical Garden (in the Bronx)’ ‘ (gelatin silver print), by Peter Moriarty, in his show “Peter Moriarty: Warm Room,’’ at the Iris & B. Cantor Art Gallery, College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, through Feb. 29.
The gallery says:
”With his portfolio of gelatin silver prints, Peter Moriarty explores the architecture and collections of a series of historic European and American greenhouses. Taken over the course of more than 20 years, Moriarty's evocative works explore the interactions of familiar architectural forms with the lush, exotic, organic, and often disorienting collections housed within.’’
The gallery says:
”With his portfolio of gelatin silver prints, Peter Moriarty explores the architecture and collections of a series of historic European and American greenhouses. Taken over the course of more than 20 years, Moriarty's evocative works explore the interactions of familiar architectural forms with the lush, exotic, organic, and often disorienting collections housed within.’’
Heroic sculpture in Worcester
“Heroic Bust of Victor Hugo’’ (1802-85 and author of Les Miserables, etc.), by Auguste Rodin (1840-1917), in the show “Rodin: Truth, Form, Life,’’ through April 7 at the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Art Gallery at Holy Cross College, whose campus looms over the old industrial city of Worcester, which is enjoying a downtown revival. Meanwhile, the surprisingly extensive Worcester Art Museum merits multiple visits.
Dressing fancy is the best revenge
Photo by Hector Mediavilla, in his show "Society of Tastemakers and Elegant People,'' at the Cantor Art Gallery, at the College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, through Dec. 15.. Spanish photographer Mediavilla's images capture the art form of Congolese men known as ''Sapeurs,'' who have used dress and performance to counter the realities of political and economic hardship in postcolonial Africa.
Border greenery
"ENT-e, 2014'' (robotic installation, video and art intervention, by Gabriela Munguia, in the group show "Last Frontier,'' at the Cantor Art Gallery, at the College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, through April 14.
The show presents some work of contemporary Latin American artists from what the gallery calls "a diverse array of perspectives and geographies.'' The idea is to explore the border/frontier as a "dividing line'' between nations and ''the dissolution of borders through globalization, borders as an experience of 'us' vs. 'them' and the blurring lines between virtual and natural spaces.''
New England is lucky that its border with a foreign nation -- stable, prosperous Canada -- is so much less fraught that the United States's border with Mexico.
Rely on your mind's eye
"More Than Meets the Eye,'' by Caroline O'Day, at the Cantor Art Gallery, College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, in the "Senior Concentration Seminar Exhibition.''