Summery elite
Painting by South Dartmouth, Mass., artist Sarah Benham in the group show “Coming Full Circle,’’ at Dedee Shattuck Gallery, Westport, Mass., through Sept. 16.
We're all losers in the end; 'right to farm' in Westport
Painting by Irish artist Molly Judd in her show “Losing Stories,’’ at Dedee Shattuck Gallery, Westport, Mass., June 11-23.
All 50 states have “right-to-farm’’ laws to try to protect qualifying farmers and ranchers from nuisance lawsuits by individuals who move into rural and exurban areas where normal farming operations exist, and who later use nuisance actions to try to stop those ongoing operations.
— Photo by Kenneth C. Zirkel
Dune delirium
“White Kite’’ (oil on canvas), by Kitt Shaffer, M.D., in the South Coast Artists’ Spring Invitational, at Dedee Shattuck Gallery, in Westport, Mass., through May 29.
The 75 SCA member artists will present 165 works, including works in oil, acrylic, pastel, encaustic, watercolor, metal, clay, mixed media, photography, collage, and more. For more information please visit dedeeshattuckgallery.com and southcoastartists.org.
Dr. Shaffer is vice-chair for education in radiology at Boston Medical Center. She says:
“My interest in art began in junior high school, when I took painting and jewelry making, winning a trip to Chicago for a portrait I did for a local art fair. But I never considered art as a career, since I already knew I wanted to go to medical school. In college at Kansas State, I was a pre-med, but managed to take all of the art classes I could fit in, mostly drawing (especially figure drawing), painting and sculpture. After I entered residency, I signed up for a pottery class with a friend at the Cambridge Adult Ed center, and fell in love with that, although I continued to paint and for many years, had a studio at Joy Street in Somerville, as well as a painting studio in the tiny town of Monterosso, Calabria, where we would go for a month every spring. I cannot do pottery at the moment due to the need for social distancing, we are no longer able to travel to Italy, and I had to let my Somerville studio space go, but I am hoping to be able to set up a new studio in Westport, Massachusetts, where I am spending more time now. Most of the paintings I have shared are recent work done in Westport or Italy, the drawings are from my annual teaching trips to St George’s University in Grenada, and the figurative sculpture is from several years ago done at the Harvard ceramics studio.’’
Gathering around light
“Right Whale Lantern”, by Vermont-based artist and scientist Kristian Brevik in the group exhibition “Light Show.’’ at Dedee Shattuck Gallery, Westport, Mass. through Dec. 21. (North Atlantic Right Whales are in danger of extinction.)
The gallery (which is also a diversified arts center), explains:
“Light Show” is a multimedia group show with work by Adam Frelin, Kristian Brevik, Linda Schmidt, Megan Mosholder and Steven Pestana. Each of these artists utilizes light—either artificial or natural light—as a key component of their work. This exhibition, beginning after Daylight Savings Time and leading up to the winter solstice, celebrates how we create light in darkness, how we gather together and around light sources as the ever-fascinating visual medium of people across time.’’
In a rural, or at least exurban, part of Westport, which has become increasingly attractive to affluent people from Greater New York City and Greater Boston for weekend and summer places. They’re drawn by its countryside, which includes farms and vineyards, its relatively mild climate and Buzzards Bay, which is among the warmest bodies of water in New England in the summer.
It's a complicated love affair
“Lovers,’’ by Daniel Ludwig, in his show at Dedee Shattuck Gallery, Westport, Mass., though Aug. 1.
The gallery says: “Daniel Ludwig is an artist who works in oil paint, charcoal and, more recently, acrylic paint on printed digital backgrounds. In his work, dreamlike figurative elements are embedded in a complex web of biomorphic shapes, patterns, and colors. Classically rendered figurative elements interact with echoed silhouettes and textures in a way that portray the ambiguity of a world both deeply tangible and alluringly ephemeral.’’
The Westport River in the winter.
Westport still has a substantial farming sector, including vineyards.
Lost in the fungi
“Centennial,’’ by Riitta Ikonen, in the group photographic show “Foragers,’’ at Dedee Shattuck Gallery, Westport, Mass., through June 7.
The gallery explains:
”The work of these artists considers how we glean from the landscape— for food, inspiration, contemplation, and sources of beauty. Foraging is an act of engaging with wilderness to bring something home, an indistinct border crossed by the curious and observant.’’
Art from a priory
White ceramic vase made by a monk at Weston Priory. On view through Nov. 25. at Dedee Shattuck Gallery, Westport, Mass.
Weston Priory is a community of Benedictine monks in Weston, Vt., founded in 1952. They are particularly known for the songs they have contributed to Roman Catholic worship over the decades, missionary work in South America and the pottery produced at the monastery.
The Weston Priory’s chapel.
Looks like Maine
From Ole Brodersen's show "Trepassing: Photographs from Lyngor, Norway''. The Dedee Shattuck Gallery is in Westport, Mass.
The gallery says:
"Following 11 generations before him, Ole Brodersen (born 1981) grew up on the small island of Lyngør, Norway, with no cars and about 100 inhabitants. Ole's father is a sail maker, his grandfather a sailor. He has spent most of his life close to the ocean, in constant company of the elements.
"The series of photographs in 'Trespassing' explore of the landscape and the natural forces that animate it.''
'The power of the line'
"Mustard Dollops'' (handwoven textile), by Gabrielle Ferreira, in the group show "Seeking the Line,'' at Dedee Shattuck Gallery, Westport, Mass. The "Line" refers to the mixed media and textile renderings by four exhibiting artists who have created "rich compositions in the process of studying the power of the line,'' the gallery says. Ferrerira is a textile artist influenced by her Cape Verdean and Portuguese heritage.
Those lost cedars
From "The Last Gift She Gave,'' by Carrie Dickeson, in the group show "Solastalgia,'' at the Dedee Shattuck Gallery, Westport, Mass., April 4-29.
She asks: "Is it possible to balance the manufactured with the organic, the man-made with the earth-grown? In decades to come, how will 'Nature' respond to the synthetic materials that humans generate?''
"The title, 'The Last Gift She Gave' emerged from a series of text messages, as my mother stood witness to the extraction of our family’s cedar trees, felled in exchange for an updated power grid. We shared a history with those trees. They shaded our summer gatherings, and shielded our home from winter winds. As a child I used to climb the cedars’ scraggly trunks, seeking new perspectives, hanging upside down, inadvertently collecting the sap sticking to my hands and clothes. This visceral relationship included the intimacy of hugging the branches, and breathing the spicy oils. And long before my own childhood, the trees stood strong, through multiple generations.''
Summer cool-off
"Greenland, no. 63,'' by Zaria Forman, in her August show at the Dedee Shattuck Gallery, Westport, Mass.
'Young Russian Artists' at the Shattuck Gallery
''Marta'' (oil on canvas), by Valeriya Lakrisenko, in the show "Young Russian Artists,'' at the Dedee Shattuck Gallery, Westport, Mass., through June 25.
This exciting show presents the work of six brilliant young (all under 30) painters from St. Petersburg. All are graduates or current students at the Imperial Academy of Arts there. This institution maintains traditional Russian painting techniques and style.
The Shattuck Gallery notes that the show comes when relations between Russia and the United States are tense and complicated. "Viewers will see a side of Russia not usually depicted in the news.''
Ruefully considering his past
"Portrait of an Old Man'' (oil on linen), by Ruzanna Teterina, in the current show "Young Russian Artists'' at the Dedee Shattuck Gallery, Westport, Mass.
Not yet edible
"Black Anemones" (acrylic, silicone, epoxy & calcium carbonate, electronics, lithium batteries, neodymium magnets, copper, and magnetite), by Michael Barton-Sweeney, at Dedee Shattuck Gallery, Westport, Mass. He creates kinetic sculptures that explore electronics, neural networks and marine invertebrates.
Circular incarceration
"Circular Logic'' (steel and concrete), by Isabel Mattia, at Dedee Shattuck Gallery, Westport, Mass. She references the "circular logic embedded in the design of our prison systems. They rely, she says, paraphrasing left-wing activist Angela Davis, on "the perception that certain people are inherently criminalized, and are self-perpetuating due to financial incentives to keep these people incarcerated.''
Wet reverie
"Abalone'' (oil on canvas), by Reisha Perlmutter, at Dedee Shattuck Gallery, Westport, Mass.
Of time, place and health
This just in from the Dedee Shattuck Gallery, in Westport, Mass., about the show “where lines meet,’’ which runs to Feb. 19. The gallery describes the show, in part:
“’where lines meet’ is a photographic installation to create a space for contemplation, conversation, and community. This project addresses artist Heather Hobler's ongoing investigation into well being.
‘“where lines meet’ is an installation of medium format film photographs of the same vista facing south over Buzzards Bay, the view from Heather's home. The project began innocently as snapshots meant to record time, but quickly built into a reflective rhythmic ritual of getting back to life and art after the artist’s battle with cancer. Beyond the beauty of each photograph, the collection intrigues and soothes with the dynamic and subtle power of both its consistency and comparison. It was in the collecting of the images that it became obvious to Heather this was a continuation and distillation of her art and her life.’’
Which signal?
By Nancy Dyer Mitton, in the group show "Small Works 2016,'' at DeDee Shattuck Gallery, Westport, Mass, through Dec. 18.