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Recent History of
Curatorial Opportunity
Program Exhibitions
& NAC Organized Exhibits
at the New Art Center in Newton
2007-2008
Fall:
Belief in Paint
September 14 - October 28, 2007
Curated by Timothy Harney.
Artists include: Thorpe Feidt, John Grillo,
Richard B. Lethem.
 
Belief in Paint is an exhibition of the work of three major painters: Thorpe Feidt (b.1940), John Grillo (b.1917) and Richard B. Lethem (b.1932) all who have accomplished bodies of work measurable in decades. John Grillo, a pioneer action painter and master colorist, was a major influence on the painters of San Francisco’s School of Abstract Expressionism in the 1940’s. Grillo’s work was featured along with that of Pollock, Kline, Guston, de Kooning, etc. in the Guggenheim Museum’s benchmark retrospective of Abstract Expressionism in 1961. In turn, Richard B. Lethem has been making rich expressionist work for over forty years. His commitment to the figureis coupled with an exploration of social, political and moral themes. Lethem explains: “I try to look hard (often with humor) at what we fear and desire most: intimacy, alienation and our ‘violent streak’, the real stuff of our lives.” Lastly, Thorpe Feidt focuses on making grand scale abstractions often worked on for years at a time. Feidt is a poet with color, and in his paintings mysterious, almost hallucinogenic figures emerge along with abstract forms. These artists continue to make paintings that are as profound in their energy as in their pictorial invention.
Winter:
Office Space
January 14 - February 24, 2008
Curated by Elizabeth Duffy & Brian Miller
Artists include: Molly Blieden, Danielle Dimston, Marietta Hoferer,
Tamiko Kawata, Sandra Eula Lee and G. Jesse Sadia.
  
From left to right, works by: Molly Bleiden, Tamiko Kawata, Sandra Eula Lee
  
From left to right, works by: G. Jesse Sadia, Marietta Hoferer, Danielle Dimston
Office Space features six artists who find inspiration in everyday office materials. The work in this unique exhibition transforms ordinary functional objects we touch every day into engaging works of art. Cups made of paperclips, drawings made with tape, Xerox paper burned with incense, a blanket of rubberbands and many more innovative works of art will be on display. Office Space, curated by Elizabeth Duffy and Brian Miller, features extraordinary images, assemblages, and installations. Danielle Dimston’s mushroom pieces (constructed of cardboard and mounted to columns) and Tamiko Kawata’s glue pieces (suggesting a biologists’ preoccupation with morphology and preserved specimens) allow for up-close examinations. Jesse Sadia and Marietta Hoferer’s work reveal subtle variances of the hand. The refinement and precision of their processes result in startling images that also reward close inspection. Sadia’s cut up left over Xeroxes are recycled into complex woven drawings and then ritualistically burned. Hoferer’s works made from strapping tape offers limitless variations. Sandra Lee remakes the corporate outfit of the business shirt using business envelopes and papers, poignantly humanizing the robotic sameness of that uniform. And Molly Bleiden makes ethereal objects out of recycled office products, infusing new life into the humdrum in the form of a shimmering curtain of silver paper clips. Common to all of these artists’ work is the celebration of the hand- of its ability to make transcendence out of dumb repetition by making us re-see what is so extraordinarily ordinary that we are blinded to its possibilities.
Please scroll down for more images of Office Space
and the Opening Reception.
 
 
 
  
Left Image: Mindy Sieber, Julie Weiman, Roberta Paul and
Artist Tamiko Kawata watch a young visitor shread a secret in The Secret Ederer
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Newton North High School
Art & Photography Exhibit
March 14-23, 2008
 
Left: Eye, by Natali Tene
Right: A visitor takes a closer look at a student piece
The New Art Center and the Art Department at Newton North High School are pleased to present this exhibition of Newton North student artwork. This exhibit represents a special collaboration that brings together the resources and talent of two outstanding Newton organizations, both dedicated to education and artistic expression.
Special thanks to all the volunteers who helped hang the exhibit and to
Tom Leonard, Fine Arts Department Head at Newton North.
Images from the Opening Reception, Friday, March 14:
 
Left: Executive Director Mindy Gregory Sieber welcomes visitors to the New Art Center
Right: Executive Director Mindy Gregory Sieber speaks with John Michael Gray, Coordinator of Fine Arts for Newton Public Schools, & Tim O'Connor, staff member for the Boston Scholastic Art Awards.
 
Left: Student artists, faculty and friends enjoy refreshments
Right: A student admires a collection of teapots and vessels
 
Left: NNHS Art Teacher Sandra A. Truant speaks with Newton Superintendent of Schools Jeff Young
Right: Executive Director Mindy Gregory Sieber introduces Sandra A. Truant
 
Left: NNHS Art Teacher Ron Morris and a photographer from the Newton TAB speak with an artist
Right: Two students admire a collection of ceramic works
  
Left: A visitor admires a table of ceramic works
Center: Visitors in the Main Gallery
Left: Visitors discuss the myriad works presented in the Main Gallery
 
Left: Visitors view the work of NNHS Art Teacher Ron Morris in the Holzwasser Gallery
Right: Two students discuss the NNHS Art Teacher Shannon Slattery's work in the Holzwasser Gallery
The drawings, paintings, prints, ceramics, and photography on view are made by beginning and advanced art students in grades 9-12 at Newton North High School. This work collectively represents the wide array of media explored in the Studio Art offerings at North, an integral part of its strong and diverse curriculum. The dedicated Newton North Art faculty value the importance of observation, imagination, and personal expression while teaching art concepts and the fundamentals of technique. Art making is also contextualized within the study of the broad history of art through lectures and discussions; and critiques are part of the art curriculum that supports these tremendously talented artists. At any given time during the academic year, up to 400 students are taking classes in the Art Department at Newton North.
Please be sure to visit the Holzwasser Gallery, where Newton North Faculty members Ron Morris, Shannon Slattery, and Sandra A. Truant are exhibiting their work.
Spring:
On Drawing:
Surface, Line, Mark
April 7 - May 18, 2008
Curated by Jessica Burko & Deborah Putnoi
Artists include Aparna Agrawal, Thaddeus Beal, Basil El Halwagy,
Randy Garber, Rebecca Kinkead, Angela Mark, Deborah Putnoi,
Maxine Yalovitz-Blankenship
 
Left: Basil El Halwagy, Right: Maxine Yalovitz-Blankenship
 
Left: Aparna Agrawal, Right: Thaddeus Beal
 
Left: Angela Mark, Right: Deborah Putnoi
 
Left: Rebecca Kinkead, Right: Randy Garber
On Drawing: Surface, Line, Mark features the work of eight New England artists who explore drawing in a wide range of styles and forms, executed in a diverse array of media. According to curators Jessica Burko and Deborah Putnoi, "drawing is a way in, a process of discovery, a way to experiment and uncover." The On Drawing artists draw as exercise and regular practice, utilizing drawing in both traditional and non-traditional ways. All of the works in the exhibit are displayed unframed so that the texture of the drawing can be closely seen, and the hand of the artists can be directly experienced. A focal point of the exhibition is the Drawing Lab where viewers are encouraged to take part in the act of drawing by exploring their own personal mark-making.
Images from the Opening Reception:
  
Left: Visitors discuss a piece by Artist Angela Mark
Center:
Artist Thaddeus Beal (left) speaks with visitors
Right: Artist Randy Garber (center) talks about her piece One Last Question
  
Left: Visitors fill the Main Gallery and Drawing Lab
Center: A visitor enjoys the Drawing Lab's Listening Chair
Right: Children and adults alike participate in the Drawing Lab's many activities
  
Left: Co-Curator Jessica Burko (right) discusses Thaddeus Beal's Ballinglen series
Center: NAC Exhibitions Director Ceci Mendez poses with On Drawing Artists & Curators
for Lauren Cross of Art New England
Right: Artist Basil El Halwagy (right) tests out the Drawing Lab's Touch Boxes
Images from the Panel Discussion:
 
Left: Panelist Thaddeus Beal (left) speaks with Panelist/Co-Curator Jessica Burko (right)
Right: Co-Curator Jessica Burko responds to a question (left to right, panelists: Jessica Burko, Thaddeus Beal, Randy Garber, Barbara O'Brien)
 
Left & Right: Visitors fill the Main Gallery for the Panel Discussion
 
Left: the Panel Discussion as viewed from the Holzwasser Gallery
Right: Barbara O'Brien (Director of the Trustman Gallery, Simmons College)
prompts Burko, Beal and Garber with a question
2006-2007
Fall:
Reveal
September 11 - October 29, 2006
Curated by Kathy Halamka
Artists include: Erica Daborn, Samantha Fields, Kathy Halamka,
C.J. Lori, and Judith Stone.
  
Above: Installation Views
Reveal brings together five artists whose mixed media works build and uncover layers of material and meaning in both physical and symbolic ways. Erica Daborn creates mysterious narrative drawings made over carefully selected photographic book pages, using layers of paint, ink and graphite to create rich and densely detailed surfaces. Samantha Fields transforms familiar materials that reference ‘home’ into large scale mixed media installations. Fields reveals objects and spaces connected with domesticity as uncanny, uneasy and extraordinary. Kathy A. Halamka’s mixed media works employ real and imaginary pictures of her descendants, revealed through layers of photocopy transfers and charcoal on birch plywood. The composed surfaces unveil the nature of impermanence and probe aspects of Halamka’s personal history. C.J. Lori’s paintings reveal hidden physical realms and the related psychological spaces they imply. Lori juxtaposes images of strength and beauty with those of vulnerability and decay faced by all living things. Her images celebrate splendor while acknowledging its inevitable ruin. Straddling borders between two and three-dimensional media, Judith Stone’s work integrates graphite and conte drawing, photographic images and metallic found objects contrived to reveal the Tokyo cityscape as she experienced it during a year spent in Japan in the mid 1980’s. Photographic imagery perceived through tinted Plexiglas panes or embedded in Plexi boxes locates examples of surging urban expansion in a Tokyo of startling commercial energy. The work by artists in Reveal entice us with lyricism, humor and tactile allure, inviting viewers to search for the hidden stories within.
Winter:
TRANS AM
January 18 - March 4, 2007
Curated by Scott Listfield.
Artists include: Jason Chase, Will DiBello, and Scott Listfield.
  
From left to right, works by: Jason Chase, Scott Listfield, Will DiBello
Spring:
30th Anniversary Exhibition organized by the New Art Center
The Visions & Voices of
Children's Book Illustrators
March 19 - May 20, 2007
Co-curated by Julie Bernson & Ceci Mendez
Artists include: Cece Bell, Ashley Bryan, Rebecca Doughty , Timothy Basil Ering, Douglas Florian, Maya Christina Gonzalez, Yumi Heo, Jarrett J. Krosoczka, Grace Lin, Christopher Myers, Giselle Potter, Donald Saaf, and Malcah Zeldis.
 
Above: Installation Views
  
Above, left and right: Installation Views, Above, Center: Activities at the Opening Reception
The New Art Center in Newton is proud to present an exhibition of children’s book illustrations as part of our 30th anniversary year of special programs. Focusing on the work of thirteen contemporary artists, Visions & Voices will delight visitors of ALL ages with its abundance of inventive, humorous and thought provoking work.
Over 100 pieces including illustrations, books, drawings, computer generated images, sketchbooks and videos illuminate a wide range of artistic perspectives on themes such as adventure, fantasy, folktales, historical figures, friendship and the celebration of the everyday.
A wide range of artistic styles and techniques will be on exhibit, and interactive components will be central to this exhibit, with areas in the gallery to work on hands-on projects, where people of all ages will be welcome to respond to works in the show.
2005-2006
Fall:
1939 The Missing Year
September 16 - October 30, 2005
Co-curated by Christiane Corcelle-Lippeveld and Barbara Cone.
Artists include: Laurinda Bedingfield, Bettyjo Bolivar, Barbara
Cone, Claudia Constanzo, Christiane Corcelle-Lippeveld, Gisela
Griffith, Elizabeth Passela, Dan Robertson, Anna Schuleit, and
Amy Thibault.
This project began when co-curator Christiane Corcelle-Lippeveld
found ten discarded volumes of Britannica Encyclopedia Yearbooks
spanning the years 1938-1948, with the exception of the 1939
volume, missing from the group. Collectively, the Yearbooks
document some of the most eventful and harrowing years of the
20th century. Ten project artists have created a narrative of
personal responses to the Yearbooks (one artist/yearbook), concerning
themselves with the volumes as physical objects and also as
repositories of information: their form (paper, ink, thread)
and their content (words, ideas, illustrations, knowledge, history.)
An interactive installation was set up so that gallery visitors
could record through text and/or image their memories, experiences,
and/or knowledge of 1939, the missing year. The artists involved
include painters, sculptors, printmakers, installation and video
artists, and represent a wide range of ages, nationalities,
and backgrounds.
Winter:
Networks and Intersections:
Finding
Meaning Through Complexity
January 9 - February 19, 2006
Curated by Esmé Thompson.
Artists include Elizabeth Duffy,
Louise Hamlin,
Duncan Johnson, and EsméThompson.
   
From left to right works by: E. Duffy, Louise Hamlin, Duncan Johnson, Esmé Thompson
This exhibition presents the work of four artists who create
patterned visual systems-- webs of line, repetition of marks,
and woven grids in various media. Materials employed include
wood, metal panels, acrylic and oils, and found materials such
as paint chips, gum wrappers, wire mesh, scotch tape, and pencil
shavings. Each artist’s work makes use of iteration to
reveal an over-arching form or space. Meaning is found in these
works at the point in which convoluted networks are resolved
by the orchestration of design elements into a unifying whole.
The difficulty of organizing perceptual coherence from a multitude
of complex stimuli becomes a metaphor for the contemporary experience.
Spring:
SPOTHUNTERS
March 6 - April 7, 2006
Curated by Caleb “SONIK” Neelon.
Artists include Shepard Fairey, Greg “SP.ONE” LaMarche,
Monster Project, and Caleb “SONIK” Neelon.
  
From left to right, images by: Greg Lamarche, Monster Project, Shepard Fairey
Spothunters brings together Shepard Fairey,
Greg “SP.ONE” Lamarche, Monster Project, and
Caleb “SONIK” Neelon, artists who each work
in street art, studio art, and publishing as integral parts
of their practices. The show title refers to each artist’s
relentless drive to find new means of presenting their work-
places and venues that are the “spots” to be
“hunted.” The Spothunters artists have used
the streets of Boston and beyond as host to their street
art and graffiti. They have compiled and published their
works in magazine or book form, and they have worked extensively
in studio and gallery artwork. Via the example of these
four artists- drawn from four successive generations of
graffiti and street art culture, the aim of Spothunters
is to show the interplay and the timely cultural relationship
between street art, publishing, and studio art.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Mixing Speak
April 17 - May 21, 2006
Organized by the New Art Center. Curated by Ceci Mendez.
Artists include: Chandra Dieppa Ortiz, Ife Franklin, Pablo Gonzalez, Kasha, Annu Palakunnathu Matthew, Joyce McDaniel, Monte,
Janine Quarles, Patricia Tinajero-Baker
  
From left to right, work by: Patricia Tinajero-Baker, Joyce McDaniel, Ife Franklin
Above: Installation View
The assembled works in Mixing Speak take
as their point of departure the crossings and mixings
of cultures and reference the social constructions of
race, ethnicity and/or gender. “Mixing” refers
to the mixing of cultures, colors, histories, borders
and environments in the works. “Speak” refers
to the ways that text and voice are prominent in the narrative
nature of the works- made visible and audible in the form
of words, symbols, titles, gestures and sound. Some artists
make reference to elements of identity in very personal
ways, while others do so from broader social, cultural,
historical contexts. Works that represent a wide range
of conceptual and aesthetic practice by a diverse group
of artists will be on exhibit.
2004-2005
Fall:
OFF THE WALL
<rethinking the
print>
September 10 - October 31, 2004
Curated by Donna Ruff.
Artists include: April Flanders, Kaz McCue, Jane Miller, Jill
Parisi, Donna Ruff, and Claudia Sbrissa.
This exhibition highlights the work of six artists who utilize
traditional methods of printmaking- a hybrid of the handmade
and reproduced- to redefine the notion of the print. These contemporary
printmakers, foregrounding the multiplying nature of the craft
itself, have been venturing beyond the wall to create work that
combines printmaking with sculpture, photography, book arts,
installation, and interactivity.
Winter:
Seven in Collage
January 14 - March 6, 2005
Curated by Timothy Harney.
Artists include Karen Clarke, Carol Lynne Gove, John Grillo, Timothy
Harney, Robert LaBranche, Dawn Southworth, Suzanne Ulrich.
These diverse and varied works in collage employ materials including
paper, paint, wood, salvaged fabrics, and found objects redolent
of history, reflective of the passage of time. While the works
range in scale from intimately small to large in scale, they exemplify
rich processes of layering, with an emphasis on the formal and
abstract. Whether through subtle palettes or explosive plays of
color, rich tactile layers are created through the juxtaposition
of material fragments that evoke shapes and forms full of invention.
Spring:
Icograms
April 1 - May 21, 2005
Curated by Clay Hensley and Anthony Smith.
Artists include Carlos Ancalmo, Clay Hensley, Anthony Smith, and
Rie Oishi
The work by these four artists deals with the totalities and patterns
discerned from shifting urban environments. The exhibition will
investigate, index, and challenge themes associated with the metropolis
as a metaphor for modern civilization. Through installation, sculpture,
and painting, this exhibition seeks to celebrate the decay, sprawl,
and accoutrements of contemporary urban and suburban life as the
artists position the transformation of the modern industrial city
in relation to the ever-changing ideas associated with the creation
of a
contemporary utopia.
.
2003-2004
Fall:
Plant Matter
Curated by Jessica Straus, Abbie Read, and Antoinette Winters.
Artists include: the three curators and Anne Alexander, Jan Arabas,
Amy Cain, Sara Crisp, Rebecca Doughty, Phyllis Ewen, Beth Galston,
Margery Hamlen, Linda Huey, Cynthia Katz, Daniel Ladd, Adam Sherman,
Cheryl Warrick, Ellen Wineberg.
Seventeen New England area artists explore botanical imagery outside
the context of traditional still life or landscape. Through the
use of painting, ceramics, sculpture, printmaking, photography,
and mixed media, these artists touch, interpret, excavate, cradle,
and carve the details of their subject matter. Plants and plant
parts are isolated and honored for their individuality and their
expressive qualities.
Winter:
Spiritual Geometry
January 30 - March 12, 2004
Curated by Susan Goldwitz.
Artists include: Thaddeus Beal, Maggi Brown, Morgan Cohen, James
Florschutz, Lawrence Hayden, Maryellen Latas, Anne Lilly,
Nancy
Wagner, and Sheryl White.
Nine New England area artists in this exhibition use line and
geometric expression in their compositional grammar to create
artwork in sculpture, photography, painting, and mixed media.
Through a variety of individual styles and materials, the artists
of Spiritual Geometry seek linear structure with designed forms,
patterns, and shapes which inspire, comprise, and frame their
artwork.
Spring:
Collected Evidence: Regeneration and Containment
April 2 - May 16, 2004
Curated by Therese Zemlin.
Artists include Phyllis McGibbon, Tanja Softic, and Therese Zemlin.
This exhibition showcases three artists who are interested in
the transformations that take place when imagery is collected,
taken apart, and recombined in new ways. Through the use of mixed
media and installation, the three artists share a fascination
with multiplicity and an obsessive attention to material and surface.
2002-2003
Fall:
Renewal: Transforming Found Materials into Art
September 13 - October 25, 2002
Curated by Martha Friend.
Artists include: Martha Friend, Paul Gray, Kathy Neustadt, and
Marcella Stasa.
Four Boston area artists create sculptural works of art using
the decaying and discarded objects they find on the street or
in nature. These artists consider themselves collectors, hunters,
and gatherers in search of unusual materials to transform. Their
work reveals a direct relationship between artist and environment.
Winter:
Borrowers:
Evidence of Influence
January 10 - February 14, 2003
Curated by Danielle Krcmar.
Artists include Melora Kunh, Danielle Krcmar, Charles Stigliano,
Lisa Osborn, and Joseph Wardwell.
This exhibition examines how artists are influenced by, and “borrow”
from, past artists and art movements. Five Boston area artists
use painting, drawing, sculpture, and wood carving to encourage
a dialogue across time and culture and also question gender roles
and sexuality.
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Points of View:
New England Artists in Ireland
February 28 - April 11, 2003
Curated by Mary Armstrong and Wendy Prellwitz.
Artists include Eric Aho, Mary Armstrong, Stoney Conley, Jane
Goldman, Nona Hershey, Catherine Kernan, Ann Neely, Wendy Prellwitz,
Clair Van Vliet.
This exhibition showcases nine New England based artists who have
received the Ballinglen Fellowship for artists in rural Ireland
based in County Mayo. Working with painting, drawing, or monotypes,
each artist has lived in this unspoiled landscape, which has become
the focus of their imagery. This exhibition is held in conjunction
with Eire/Land at Boston College’s McMullen Museum of Art.
Spring:
The Ballad of
Wires and Hands
(A Boston Cyber Arts Exhibition)
Curated by Dana Moser.
Artists include Christy George, Arthur Ganson, Michael Mittelman,
Jane Marsching, Daniel Roe, Gretchen Skogerson,
David Webber,
Deb Todd Wheeler.
This exhibition features interactive installations and kinetic
sculptures, reflecting changes the past century have brought to
the working methods of many contemporary artists. These artists
are “their own engineers”, in the sense that technology
is embedded technically and conceptually in their creative process.
2001-2002
Fall:
The Animal as Muse:
Divine to Demonic
September 14 - November 2, 2001
Curated by Paul Weiner.
Artists include: Kathleen Bitetti, Heather Bohm-Tallman, Head
Clausnitzer, Lori Field, Pam Golden, Elspeth Halvorsen, Henry
Horenstein, Nicole MacLennan, Robin Paine, Amy Podmore, Rosamond
Purcell, T.R. Robertson, Amy Ross, Anna Salmeron, Karin Sanborn,
Jeff Smith, Brenda Star, Lindy Sutton, Randal Thurston, Cynthia
Von Buhler, Paul Weiner, Joseph Wheelwright.
Don’t miss the compassionate, poignant and often hilarious
works of twenty five artists from MA, NJ, and NY who use animal
imagery in their sculpture, photography, mixed media and painting
to address social issues including gender, culture, sexuality,
class, alienation, extinction, and gender engineering, among
others.
Winter:
Suitable Means
January 11 - March 1, 2002
Curated by Susan Halter
Artists include Aparna Agrawal, Lorey Bonante,
Susan Halter,
and Pat Shannon.
This exhibition examines how artists use clothing as a stand-in
for the human experience. Curator Susan Halter explains “Clothing
represents a collection of experiences and in some ways a collective
experience. Few people enter the world without first considering
how they will dress, what picture they will present. Clothing
defines us, even as the memory of a naked emperor reminds us
of its lack of inherent value.” The four Boston artist
in this show use clothing as a material to address issues of
loss and regeneration, family, design, and displacement.
Spring:
Layered Forms/
Layered Images
Curated by Sharon McCartney and Karen McCarthy
Artists include Sherrill Hunnibell, Karen McCarthy, Sharon McCartney,
Linda Perry, Deborah Putnoi, Mary Jean Viano Crowe, and Nancy
Wagner.
Seven Boston artists use a variety of collected materials, found
and created images, repeated elements, and surface treatments
to create complex and intricate works on paper and in photographs,
textiles constructions, paintings, assemblages, and artist books.
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