‘No propaganda value whatsover’

“Forget” (monotype and encaustic collage on panel), by Groton, Mass.-based artist Jeanne Borofsky

She writes in her Web site:

“Having grown up in the country I have always looked to nature to center myself – to restore balance to my mind and my world. I spend time in the woods or by the water letting the rhythms of the world become part of me. I create encaustic monotypes with patterns reminiscent of barks and leaves or water, and collage them onto panels, adding many bits of ephemera, both natural and not.

“My encaustic constructions (“castles”) usually start with encaustic monotypes. There is a monotype mounted to the panel, and I add origami boxes folded mostly from more encaustic monotypes. I spend a lot of my time folding, which is a kind of meditation, and then more time constructing and adding stamps, maps, bits of asemic writing and other ephemera to create my own world. I have often felt the way Alexander Calder felt when he said, ‘I want to make things that are fun to look at, that have no propaganda value whatsoever.’

“Stamps, maps and electronic bits are ever present in my work, nothing seems complete without one or the other. Creatures abound, and sometimes they are the main focus of my attention.

“I love the way beeswax creates both physical and visual depth and translucency to my work – adding to the mystery and magic I’m trying to understand and convey. Whatever I put into my art, it always includes the joy of creation, the love of art, and the happiness in my ability to create it.’’

Chapel at the Groton School, an elite Episcopalian boarding school.

Keeping up appearances at the Groton School

“The Tea Party’’ (oil on linen), from the series “Babes the Woods,’’ by Margaret Bowland, in her show “It Ain’t Necessarily So,’’ at the de Menil Gallery, at the Groton School, Groton, Mass., through Nov. 9. The gallery says that Ms. Bowland “creates realistic, detailed portraits of costumed or made-up women and girls. Bowland demonstrates how much women must change themselves in order to be conventionally attractive and appeal to others. At the same time, women try to express themselves through the makeup and costumes.’’

The Groton School (see picture below), founded in 1884 and in an affluent Boston exurb, was the alma matter of some famous people, most notably Franklin D. Roosevelt, and a symbol of New York-New England WASP “old money’’ families. Louis Auchincloss’s most famous novel, The Rector of Justin, is roughly based on Groton, which is affiliated with the Episcopal Church (natch!), and its formidable founding headmaster, The Rev. Endicott Peabody. Auchincloss graduated from Groton in 1935 and died in 2010.

Groton is also known for its beautiful old houses and its apple orchards.

The chapel at the Groton School.

Gibbet Hill, in the lovely Groton countryside.