The art of the found

“Sailor's Delight” (found painted wood), by Mike Wright, in her show “WOOD Works,’’ at the Cotuit (on Cape Cod) Center for the Arts, through Oct. 29.

— Photo courtesy Cotuit Center for the Arts

The exhibit displays Mike Wright’s work as a salvager and artist.

The gallery says: “Her whimsical wooden sculptures are assembled from found materials and given new life through clever arrangements. Wright sees the potential that each piece of discarded wood has to become something new, while still retaining its original, unique qualities.’’

Her artist statement says:

“I think of myself as a salvager, in that fascinating Cape Cod ‘Mooncusser’ tradition. My process starts with searching Provincetown beaches and dumpsters for old previously painted wood. The point of using found material is that, as debris, it seems unpromising but that lack of promise is also its appeal. The peeling paint, the color scrubbed by salt waves, sand or human use allows us to recognize the influence of its past. I like the moment when I place the first pieces of old wood, seeing all that potential, seeing relationships of form begin to take shape. I have learned to listen to this found wood and allow for any chance opportunity to emerge, achieving the sculpture through modifying form with minimal carpentry—cutting, joining, sandwiching. The wood had an experience as boat, cabinet or floorboard and it remembers its past. I interfere with what it was made to be, to make it something else: a sculpture that suggests the endless process of transformation of the things of human industry.’’

It's nicer inside

“Summer Shack” (oil and gold leaf on linen), by Joe Diggs, in his show “A Tribute to Joe’s Twin Villa,’’ at the Cotuit Center for the Arts, Cotuit, Mass. (on Cape Cod), Aug. 3-Sept 2.

Layers of history from the '30s

"Eclipse'' (encaustic relief construction over wood and old letters), by Stephanie Roberts-Camello, in  her show "Encaustic Shrouds, Free Forms and Missing Pieces series,'' at the Cotuit Center for the Arts, Cotuit, Mass., through April 21.

She explains that her work is primarily of encaustic paint {which uses bee's wax} with which "many layers are built up and fused to each other over text or old family letters from the '30's and '40's during the Depression and the Dust Bowl days of Texas. These letters represent a very difficult time in our country's history -- a time that had to be endured. This work is about confronting and overcoming personal obstacles.'' The aim is "to look at the past in a new light and be free of anything holding one back.''

Ms. Roberts-Camello is a member of the New England Wax consortium.