'Encaustic shrouds' in Cambridge

Encaustic painting by Stephanie Roberts-Camello, in her show “Many Miles,’’ Sept. 30-Oct. 8 at Maud Morgan Arts Chandler Gallery, Cambridge, Mass.

She says: “Discovering a box of old family letters in my family's basement would change the way I painted and how I thought about my work. There were stacks of letters bound in twine according to who sent them. They dated back as far as 1919 through 1946. Many of these letters reference the dust bowl days of Texas and the Great Depression.

”Encaustic is a medium that can be worked flat or sculpturally. One of its many attributes is it can retain any stress mark or scrape once it cools. It has an innate feature for documentation. These letters; represent a period of suffering, loss and endurance in our country, and for me, the intricately worked encaustic shrouds became metaphors for struggle and change.’’

'Text as object'

Painting by Lola Baltzell, in the show “Writing in the Margins: Lola Baltzell, Carol Blackwell, Amy Solomon and Valerie Spain,’’ at Maud Morgan Arts Chandler Gallery, Cambridge, Mass., through May 17. The gallery says: “We all share a passion for books and text, and the idea of text as object. We are all readers and book lovers, but also relish in altering books, searching for meaning in random words, foreign languages we don't understand. The title evokes many associations for us, as artists, but also for viewers as well. ‘‘