Buddhas Over Worcester

April 30th – June 24th

Boundless Way Temple, 1030 Pleasant Street, Worcester, MA, www.worcesterzen.org, www.facebook.com/BuddhoverWorc

 

My Cut Piece / BOW is a tribute—a “bow”—to Yoko Ono’s 1964 Cut Piece – a performance piece in which she asked the audience to cut pieces of her clothing off. My artwork asks visitors to cut a shape into or a piece off of the tree.

 

Photocopied texts are mainly from The Next Revolution by Murray Bookchin, in which he introduces his notion of “communalism.” This social theory takes elements of a politically left ideology and lessons from ecology to promote ideas of community. By cutting or shaping the “leaves” of this tree, our position as humans in nature is mimicked: we are dependent on materials and use resources from nature, we can choose to “use wisely.” The take-away is literally a piece of Bookchin’s revolution.

 

Cut Piece / BOW, repurposed wooden umbrella, photocopied text, plastic contact sheets, approximately 8 feet in diameter, 7 feet high

[simple_tooltip content=’‘]Cut Piece / BOW[/simple_tooltip]

Student Show at Worcester Art Museum

May 7 – June 4, 2017

 

7th Annual Broadmoor Student Art Show

May 2-31, 2017

280 Eliot Street, Natick, MA 01760, http://www.massaudubon.org/get-outdoors/wildlife-sanctuaries/broadmoor/exhibits/7th-annual-broadmoor-student-art-show

 

In Winter of 2017 I began to take a watercolor class taught by Sarah Alexander at Broadmoor Wildlife Sanctuary / Audubon, Natick and I put [simple_tooltip content=’‘]three self-framed pictures[/simple_tooltip] in the show.

 

Watercolor studies: [simple_tooltip content=’‘]Using Ink[/simple_tooltip], 8 x 8 wood panel and Plexiglass, watercolor on paper and [simple_tooltip content=’‘]Using Black Paint[/simple_tooltip], 8 x 8 wood panel and Plexiglas, watercolor on paper

(Right) Watercolor ground: Despite All Odds / [simple_tooltip content=’‘]Despite All Odds / Refugees Welcome[/simple_tooltip]
Watercolor on collaged papers from Barcelona, Spain, on a trip there last November. Images refer to various artists from Barcelona’s past and to past refugee rescue missions including current efforts to aid those escaping conflict in Syria.

 

Open Spaces: An Unusual Kaleidoscope of Images. You’re Invited.

January 29 to March 15, 2017.
Reception: February 12^th from 1-4.
Unity Hall Chapel, First Unitarian Church, 90 Main Street, Worcester, MA.
Open Sundays from 10-12 and by scheduled appointment during regular business hours by calling: (508) 757-2708.

Open Spaces is a show of art that opens visual spaces to the outside and invites viewers to hold an inner space in which to “read into” the work. Four artists share artwork based on this spirit of dialogue and exchange. Through a diversity of expressions and genres, we hope to inspire an atmosphere of inclusion and openness to the possibility of visual, emotional, and conceptual connection.

In her photography, Tasha Halpert captures openings in everyday situations, which give pause and encourage reflection. Her “harmonious combinations of shapes, interesting lighting effects” and “a long history of capturing a poetic moment” leave the viewer with a feeling of pleasant surprise to have shared a such a moment. Much of her long history in art has been spent with her companion Stephen Halpert, whose collages have been arranged complementary to Tasha’s photos.

Stephen’s collages (“early works”) tend to spring forth from the frame to grab the viewer’s attention and pull them back into it. It is an adventure worth taking. In his meticulous arrangement of images, one discovers quotes of art movements and iconic paintings, cut up and put into new contexts. He sees his work as following in the tradition of anthology, quoting from cubism and abstraction, making social commentary and sometimes satire. “His unique images challenge traditional perspective” to be sure, and they are even enhanced when seen with one eye.

A classical approach to open space, and a virtual celebration of her natural environment, is presented in the serene painting and prints by Karen Sanford. Her preferred technique of drawing and painting on site and from life lends directness to her work and conveys an openness to her world that is enhanced by her technique. She also effectively translates her drawing and painting in printmaking techniques.

Like open-ended book-ends to the show, the assembled structures by Charlotte Eckler combine fiber arts (sewing, knitting, collaging) with various printmaking techniques (screenprinting, wood block, monoprint and linocuts), and were each created in the last two years in response to social art themes. On a formal level, these are walk-in structures that each contains “open spaces” for the viewer to enter and even to leave a message behind. On an aesthetic level, they recall movements in art (such as arte povera), that made socially inclusive statements and broke out of the traditional spaces reserved for art.

[simple_tooltip content=’‘]Open Spaces Flyer[/simple_tooltip]

HCA Member Show

Hopkinton Center for the Arts, 98 Hayden Rowe St., Hopkinton, MA
Reception: Friday, January 13, 2017, 6:30 – 8pm
December 16, 2016 – January 19, 2017
Gallery Hours: Monday – Friday, 9am – 5pm, Saturday, 9am – 3pm.

From December 16 – January 19, a work (# 3) from my series [simple_tooltip content=’‘]Surreal Assumptions #1-3[/simple_tooltip] is on display at Hopkinton Center for the Arts. The work is based on the random forms that emerge from abstract painting, much like we look up at clouds on fortunate days and name things they resemble. Acrylic paint blended by various washes was used; no forms were intended going into the painting. I consider the assumption that something will emerge to be essential to surrealism.

Healing Fibers: Invisible Children

Sept 10 – Sept 30, 2016
Sprinkler Factory, 38 Harlow St., Worcester, MA
Artists’ Reception September 10th, 6-9 pm
Raffle fundraising for The CASA Project / Court Appointed Special Advocates for Children www.casaworcestercounty.org
Gallery Hours: Saturday and Sunday 1-4 pm, Free Events Through September

[simple_tooltip content=’‘]Aura of Protection[/simple_tooltip]

Aura of Protection represents a full life, one that has been preserved and allowed to leave behind its mark and stamps. The images were produced using silkscreens: two frames were made of slides documenting a long, well-lived life; another image shows three birds intersecting (like parents and a child); finally, there is an image of a bird flying, showing the cumulative motions of a bird flapping its wings. Each of the eight panels has color fields suggestive of the solid and primary building blocks of childhood. The openings between the panels of the soft, round, tent-like structure invite the observer to enter. Inside is the “aura,” where, looking upwards, are hand drawn images of children who have died at the hands of their adult “guardians.” These children were all living in Massachusetts and were known to a social worker; the policy of keeping families together conflicted with the children’s protection. The DCF has since been restructured to address the problem.

[simple_tooltip content=’‘]Goddess of Protection[/simple_tooltip]

Goddess of Protection attracts observers who walk through the “aura” in order to observe her. The figure is based on the Ancient Egyptian Isis was a protector and healer, celebrated for finding broken and scattered body parts and piecing her slain partner back together. The figure of Isis influenced the later figure of the Madonna. The lessons from mythology are NOT meant as religious messages here: this is not a statement about an afterlife and the piece does not claim a metaphysical reality. The fragility of the plywood cutout combined with the visual draw of the soft wings communicates the message: “handle with care,” while the mythological elements convey the ideas of nurturing as an antidote to violence, of a soft and gentle touch as medicine. The mythological story of Isis also has nothing to do with the terrorist group; the acronym of the English translation for this group is an unfortunate homophone and the group itself is the antithesis of what the goddess represents. In this sense, my artwork proposes to regain a primary association of the name with Egyptian mythology and a secular perspective.

Art Fair

Art & Frame Emporium, Westborough Shopping Center, Westboro, MA 

Come to the Art Fair on June 4th from 10 AM – 4 PM at the Art and Frame Emporium in Westborough MA (18 Lyman Street) – Off of route 9, in the corner between Stop and Shop and Home Goods. This year the original artwork of Good Press Printmakers (goodpressprintmakers.com) will be for sale. Please come out, enjoy the fair, and look for our table. Maybe you’ll see just the thing you’re looking for.

I’ll be selling prints (Happy Birth-Jay cards / Berdie Sanders / Party Hats / and many more!) and handmade, Coptic stitched journals (size 5 in. x 8 in., 6 signatures of 8 pages each, or 72 pages of Canson drawing paper, covers cut from an original acrylic painting). There will also be a children’s station for writing with reeds of decorative grass. Ink and paper will be provided as well as ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs to copy.

 

Buddhas Over Worcester

April 24^th – June 25th

Boundless Way Temple, 1030 Pleasant Street, Worcester, MA, www.worcesterzen.org, www.facebook.com/BuddhoverWorc

[simple_tooltip content=’‘]Buddha Curiousity[/simple_tooltip]

Wood slats, metal hardware, paper, staples, markers and string

A main goal I have in art is an anarchist one: to create the condition for random expression. In Buddhism it’s also called bardo. Similar to a prayer flag, my wooden structure lets the leaves of the hexagon be worked on by the weather, reminding us of the six bardos, the present moment in between life and death. The paper is torn and warped in the rain and wind. At the same time, one is free to engage with it – write on it or stick the papers on in various ways to prop them up.  In the sense of modern art, this piece is completed by the observer and also plays on a zen idea of opening to interpretation.

The artists were asked to write haikus for the show. Mine reads:

YOU are invited to write on paper wrapped around

A hexagonal structure – OR – see what traces the wind,

Rain, sun and mud leave behind.

Signed, YOUR Buddha

 

8 x 8 Members’ Group Show

April 21 to June 12, 2016

The Women’s Art Forum 2016

March 3 – 24, 2016

Hopkinton Center for the Arts, 98 Hayden Rowe St., Hopkinton, Massachusetts

www.hopartscenter.org

 

[simple_tooltip content=’‘]Pain Sur Fraternité[/simple_tooltip]

Mixed media: oil on paper, gesso plate glued to wood plate, handmade paper, spices, Canadian banknote, 30″ x 24″

This work started out as a coincidence based on October 5^th events: the opening of a politically themed art show I participated in in 2014, and the Women’s March on Versailles, 1789. These kinds of “bread riots” were common – the peasantry, half starved, would take pitchforks, sickles, and any kind of weapon they could find, and riot until they got noticed. But when 6000 women stormed Versailles and demanded bread be made available to all ‘estates’, Louis the 16th suffered a moral defeat. He could no longer horde bread, his authority was undermined, and a short time later he and Marie-Antoinette were executed. My play on words suggests that it is a ‘pain’ful lesson to deny the population bread, but also jobs, a stake in modern life, etc., as France has seen with its Muslim population. As is clear from the exclusionist term “brotherhood,” inequalities seem inherent in the system, and women have a large incentive to correct this for their families and children. By another coincidence, I had just painted my “flag” on the day of the Paris attacks, November 14, 2015, during another politically themed art show on “war and peace”. Later, on social media, everyone put a flag transparency over their faces – I used my painted flag. Resentment and nationalism are a vicious cycle that could be broken if the grievances are addressed one way or the other.

 

[simple_tooltip content=’‘]Magic Mountain[/simple_tooltip]

Mixed media: oil on canvas, wood frame, clay, encaustics, paper, 20″ x 14″ x 1.5″

I was already working on the stance of a woman who would take up arms using a pen or pencil when I came across the passage in Thomas Mann’s Magic Mountain in which the protagonist falls in love with the drawing ability of a peer in the infirmary. The boy saves up the shavings of a pencil borrowed from the admired peer and places them in a little box in his desk. He is also in love with a woman in the infirmary, and treasuring the pencil shavings is therefore a projection, which mimics the experience of being involved in a story, storytelling, and an artwork that is influenced by many levels of allegory.

 

[simple_tooltip content=’‘]Blood On Your Hands[/simple_tooltip]

Mixed media: acrylic, crayon, and encaustics on paper, 21″ x 18″ x 3/4″

In 2009 I travelled to Austria and watched a film documentary called “Let’s Make Money” which documented the ruthless practices of IMF businessmen and those using tax shelters around the world, who are involved in exploiting countries under the auspices of improving their economies. The false promises by the same to people in the US who lost their savings and livelihoods provoked the Occupy movement which, sadly, could never hope to challenge the power of Wall Street, yet could point out that the real anarchists are the unregulated capitalists who get away with ruining lives, even bleeding to death any protest.

 

Snap Shot: A Contemporary View of Still Life

February 12, 2016 through May 20, 2016

Davis Art Gallery, 44 Portland St., Worcester, Massachusetts

www.davisartgallery.com
Artists throughout the centuries have used still life as a way to study form, color, and light.”

Artist Statement

[simple_tooltip content=’‘]William Carlos Williams[/simple_tooltip] pays homage to the poet and his probably most famous poem, “The Red Wheelbarrow,” by arranging the poem’s objects into a still life image that also attempts to honor a suggested “law of threes” composition. Williams himself considered the poem to be “perfect”; I make no such claim for my interpretation. While the images are clearly taken from the poem, I emphasize the random and chaotic by combining unlikely materials such as: various handmade papers, a printed drypoint etching, and acrylic paint. Sprinkled into the paper pulp were pencil shavings and spices such as saffron and turmeric (chicken feed).

 

 

Healing Fibers: War and Peace

November 2015

“Healing Fibers War and Peace,” (November 2015) large installation piece: “Wound Around the Winds of Wars,” wood/hardware construction with prints, paintings, fiber art

A collection of images and writing inspired by the thematic show “Healing Fibers: War and Peace” accompanies my installation piece called “Wound Around the Winds of Wars” as an [simple_tooltip content=’‘]artist’s book[/simple_tooltip].

The form of the installation is a quotation of public poster columns used in Europe since the 19^th century, on which events are announced (German: Litfasssaeule; French colonne d’affiche). A hand-sewn cloth [simple_tooltip content=’‘]flag[/simple_tooltip] is draped around the outer sides of the hexagonal column. Its thirteen “stripes” are imprinted with bombs affixed to a base of cheesecloth. There are no “stars” on this version of the flag, no more representations of ideals.

Attached to the column are [simple_tooltip content=’‘]collages[/simple_tooltip] printed on reproduced newsprint pages of World War II headlines from the New York Times. By focusing on this war, I refer to its significance in shaping international politics as we know it today. The printed images are from my woodblock series, Red Vienna, a real and imagined site for anti-fascist resistance, despite historical failures. Another woodblock image series documents a personal mythology, the Colmar Saga. Calling on the muse Medusa, mother of Pegasus, a god of peace who explodes the bombs, the fantastical Colmar Éclair enters as a vulnerable figure, holding her fetish objects against her woundedness.

While ties to ideological stands and groups opposed to war can be helpful, it is usually only the ability to escape that protects one physically from wars (both political and social); psychological wounds leave their marks. Personal expression helps to heal the wounds of wars. I’ve made the “inside” of the column interactive: one can enter the artwork and write on a paper scroll. This gesture advocates freedom of speech: one is able to write uncensored on the inside of the work.

 

Transcendent Art Show: Visions of Mental Illness and Mental Health

September 2015

Petersham Town Hall, Petersham, Massachusetts; “Schizophrenia” and “Delusion”

[simple_tooltip content=’‘]Schizophrenia[/simple_tooltip]

Circular monoprint, charcoal, rubber inner tube

For the images, inspiration was taken from the book Anti-Oedipus, by French philosophers Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari, who advocate becoming more “schizophrenic” in light of the horrors of an oppressive society that has inherited a history of physical punishment. The images blend a medieval witch burning and a female Oedipus who tears her eyes out in mourning. Schizophrenics often express what society has disallowed, and a sensitivity for their different way of being can remedy some of the intolerable aspects of social oppression.

[simple_tooltip content=’‘]Delusion[/simple_tooltip]

Two different etchings on Plexiglas plates have been printed one over the other on the same paper; one depicts the face of a doctor who treated Edvard Munch, the Norwegian painter whose early work is characterized by a sense of paranoia. Munch painted a portrait of his doctor, Dr. Jacobsen, and I’ve applied the image of my doctor, Dr. Johnson, who brought me great relief by removing a brain tumor. Silver threads suggest the web of delusion and paranoia, but the strings are given structure by following the contours of the doctors’ features. At the base of the image is a nest in which the brain is given a protective resting place. Honeycomb coats the two brain hemispheres: the pliability of the wax and its application onto the print in various shapes of the face suggest turning delusion into illusion through artistic expression.

 

InVision: 2D & 3D Landscape

Sept. 2015 – Jan. 2016

Davis Art Gallery, Worcester, MA

[simple_tooltip content=’‘]La Revolution Deroutee[/simple_tooltip] mixed media

I often explore historical topics in my work through visual references characterized by an anarchic aesthetic and suggestive of a social ideal. This work was created in anticipation of spending the month of August 2015 in Quebec City as a further artistic study. “La Revolution Deroutee” is the title of a book by Canadian historian Leon Dion who outlines the achievement of independence that went hand in hand with establishing social institutions and establishing Quebecoise as the official language. In my visual interpretation, I suggest architectural contours, various typical structures, the face of a national artist, a ship; memories on applied tape and paper photo transfers, and a reproduction of a page from Dion’s book. Oil paint was rolled on with brayers or applied with a palette knife; colors reflect the warm/cool progression of seasons and a circularity in the landscape. The word “souvenir” forms a lopsided circle that connects back to the ‘s’ to form the plural and a circuit: the revolution of a memory (the French word, ‘souvenir’) as well as an exploration of the vox populi.

 

Collected Impressions

Aug 2 – Aug 30, 2015

Good Press Printmakers, Quinebaug Valley Council for the Arts and Humanities, Southbridge, MA

Monoprint [simple_tooltip content=’‘]Hawk / Messenger[/simple_tooltip]; Linocut [simple_tooltip content=’‘]Pegasus Smashes the Bombs

 

Pursuing Justice Through Art

March – April 2015

Whistler House, Lowell, Massachusetts

Mixed media piece [simple_tooltip content=’‘]Srebrenica[/simple_tooltip] 

The mixed media work refers to the war crimes committed in former Yugoslavia, the genocide and gendercide at Srebrenica in 1995, when between 7000 and 8000 Bosnian men and boys were executed. The fate of the women and girls can be left for speculation. The existence of rape camps is well known; many died from the trauma and disease; many survivors commit suicide later. My print also refers to the helplessness of the international community in acting to prevent the crimes committed in the course of the war, during which I lived in the neighboring country of Austria. The detachment in western countries was evidenced by an apathetic attitude and the opinion that the war in Yugoslavia was based on a history of ethnic wars and was therefore inevitable. In fact, the breakup of the Soviet Union created a power vacuum and the beginning of black market economies allowed for weapons to amass. The United Nations sent peacekeeping troops to prevent the annexation of the newly declared independent countries of former Yugoslavia, but the troops were fired at indiscriminately, taken hostage, and otherwise manipulated. In Srebrenica, the Blue Helmets were even deceived and unwittingly assisted the gendercide by assuming zones were safe and they delivered the victims to the executioners. The long and slow process of uncovering mass graves becomes an important means of unearthing these historical crimes, the awareness of which can serve to prevent future genocides.

 

[simple_tooltip content=’‘]”The Women’s Show” (March 2015)[/simple_tooltip]

Hopkinton Center for the Arts, Hopkinton, Massachusetts 

[simple_tooltip content=’‘]Feminist Resistance,[/simple_tooltip] 16 in. x 26 in. lithograph print on Arches or similar quality paper, painted over with oil, gessoed back, hand-made frame

The symbolism of Venus with her mirror is a sign of the women’s movement internationally. Resistance refers historically to early feminism, when awareness of oppression was the first step toward organizing against it. The poster continues a lineage of social protest.

[simple_tooltip content=’‘]The Art Therapy,[/simple_tooltip] 26 in. x 32 in. framed, collagraph print on Arches or similar quality paper, handmade frame of Plexiglas and plywood

This work reference to many ideas in my personal history, mainly the primacy of art as a way to deal with violence. When I lived in Europe and rode a bike through the winter, I would wear a facemask to protect myself from the cold. This look has been also been used by people who are hiding behind masks. The colors also transport a pop meaning, lending to the ambiguity of the image as a whole.

[simple_tooltip content=’‘]Womyn Spaces,[/simple_tooltip] 26 in. x 32 in. framed, collagraph print on Arches or similar quality paper, painted over with oils, gessoed back, handmade frame of Plexiglas and plywood

Originally conceived for a show concerning ‘violence against women’ in October 2014 – the antidote seemed to me the creation of spaces reserved for women, and in women bonding together in a show of protest (the extended fist).

 

Good Press Printmakers

March 2015

The Goodnow Library, Sudbury, Massachusetts

Woodcut prints, two of a series [simple_tooltip content=’‘]Red Vienna[/simple_tooltip]

[simple_tooltip content=’‘]Ottakringer Settlement 1927[/simple_tooltip]

In the early 20^th century, a movement to found socialist inspired “settlements” in major European cities resulted in successful boarding and professional schools for disadvantaged or foster /orphaned children. The schools were founded with the ideals of class and gender equality, providing agricultural and industrial skills, and also served as teacher training sites.

 

[simple_tooltip content=’‘]Healing Fibers: Violence Against Women[/simple_tooltip]

October 2014

The Sprinkler Factory, Worcester, MA 

[simple_tooltip content=’‘]Hands Up / Don’t Shoot[/simple_tooltip] Large installation piece, wood/hardware construction with prints, paintings, silkscreen prints, drawing, fiber art, original guitar composition pieces

When I saw the call to artists for the show, Healing Fibers, I had been preparing for another political show, which didn’t take place, so I applied my images of “Feminist Resistance” to fabrics, a requirement for the show. Whenever I hear of misogyny and violence against women, I think of how important women’s autonomy is, of having physical and emotional spaces that women reserve for themselves. But fiber art assumes porosity, which led me to the question of that women (can) reveal in an atmosphere of trust and what is covered for their protection. I further related my concept of open/closed spaces to my own activist history. Since this show came on the heels of protests against police brutality in Ferguson, MO, I borrowed the slogan Hands Up / Don’t Shoot for my installation, both in protest of violence and in a historical reference to the empowering women’s movement.

 

Participation in Shows before 2014

Alternatives Gallery, Tapestry Show, Uxbridge MA (various years from 2009-13)

Mixed media, tissue paper and photographs, “Tender Buttons” ; Artist book, “Vandana Shiva”; tempura paintings, “Soil Not Oil” and “Water Wars”

 

Grafton Fine Arts and Music Festival, Grafton, Massachusetts

2007                Fiber Arts – winner of first prize with “I was…”

2008-14           Collage “Bloggage”; assemblage “Infinity”; mixed media / paper arts, etc. / artist demonstrations of traditional Indian “sand art” (Rangoli) / assemblage paper origami folded acrostic: “You can’t please anyone but yourself”

 

Art Actions as Dream Coordination Office (artist duo Charlotte Eckler and Lisa Rosenblatt)

Descriptions available on the website www.dreamcoordinationoffice.net/portfolio-2-2/

• Flowmarkt (April 1999)
• Dream in (May 1999)
• Realizable utopias (June 1999)
• Their eerie ways (July 1999)
• Dream station (May 2000)
• Vienna dreams into Ghent (August / September 2000)
• Urban / Rural Resistance (July-October 2000)
• Odessa Odysee (September 2004)