Alison Aune: Dekorglädje

New Swedish Paintings

November 4th – November 26th

Artists Statement:
“My years of traveling in Nordic and Baltic countries, and living in Minnesota, has inspired the creation of my current body of work. I have been researching and documenting historic textile patterns and folk art designs as source material that I reinterpret and re-contextualize through mixed media and folk painting approaches. Through this creative process, I explore and celebrate, the intersection of art, craft, and heritage.”

From the Artist:

Born in 1961 in Oberlin, Ohio, Alison Aune grew up in Amherst, Massachusetts where her father was a Professor of Philosophy at the University of Massachusetts (UMASS). She and her two sisters grew up on Blackberry Lane playing in the woods and meadows and her New England roots remain steady and deep to this day. Her parents, both from Minnesota, actively supported her love of art, music, and theater.

Alison received her BFA in painting and art education at UMASS, studying with Professors Wang Hui-Ming and John Grillo, and with Professor Robert Sweeney at Amherst College. After living in Sweden and Berkeley, California, Alison finished her MA in painting at the University of Minnesota Duluth with Professor Deborah Howard. Later she worked on an MFA in painting and art history at Ohio University in Athens, before working on her dissertation in Norway to complete her PhD in Comparative Arts.

In 1991, Alison returned to Minnesota with her husband Jon Hinkel, proprietor at the Tight Squeek Press, where she raised three wonderful children, taught art with children at Summit School and the Duluth Art Institute, and worked at the University of Minnesota as the education coordinator at the Tweed Museum of Art. Since 1999, Alison has been the area chair and Professor of art education in the UMD Art & Design Department.

 

PLEASE NOTE: walk-ins are welcome. Masks are required indoors. 

11th Annual Small Works Show

December 1, 2022 – January 12, 2023

Come celebrate the 11th annual Small Works Show at the Opening Reception & Pie Party Thursday, December 1st from 5-8pm.
This year small works got a little bigger! All works are 5×7″, 6×6″ or 8×10″ and all in fabulous frames! From paintings to photographs, illustrations to assemblages and more, the show features works in a wide variety of mediums. All cash-and-carry for easy holiday shopping.

All are welcome and please invite your friends and family.

*Keep in mind: Please note there may be limited parking in our parking lot. On-street parking available. Masks may be required depending on the current COVID-19 situation.

Information for Artists

 

Keep an eye on our facebook page and instagram for show updates and featured small work photos.

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Ruth Rinard: Solace

October 4th – October 29th

Artists Statement:
“At first unexpected storms threaten to overwhelm. Deep isolation slowly yielded to bonding walks. We explored local environments more deeply, learned to see with new eyes, and found unexpected solace – All residences of a pandemic year.

About Ruth Rinard:
After careers in academe and health sciences, Ruth became intrigued with the freshness of pure pigment and the tactile possibilities of pastel. When she realized she could use her drawing skills within the painterly framework of pastel, she never looked back. Ruth has studied painting with Christine Labich and exhibited work with the Connecticut and New Hampshire pastel societies. 

 

PLEASE NOTE: walk-ins are welcome for the gallery. Masks are required indoors. 

10th Annual Small Works Show – Info for Artists

December 1, 2021 – January 11, 2022

This year we’re doing it again: we provide a 6×6″ or 5×7″ birch panel to create your masterpiece on! The $30 entry fee includes one panel, a frame, and glass. A variety of custom frames will be available for you to choose from when you drop off your entry (frames are first-come, first-serve).

Submission requirements:

  • Limit 4 entries per person.
  • Frame and/or glass not required (but please stay within 6×6 or 5×7 panel size).
  • Work must be for sale. There is no price limit. Gallery commission is 30% of sale price.
  • 3D/assemblage work is allowed – it must be attached to the panel and able to hang on the wall (and stay within 6×6 or 5×7 panel).
  • Plastic and clip frames will not be accepted.
  • Wet pieces not accepted – please make sure painted pieces are dry.
  • A limited quantity of shadowbox frames will be available (first come, first serve) but there will be a $5 fee for fitting.
  • Please make sure work on paper is cropped to 6×6″ or 5×7″ – or we are happy to crop for you for a $5 fee.
  • Panels & submission forms are available at the shop.

The show will be hung salon-style and is cash-and-carry which means that as art sells, it leaves the gallery and new work is hung in its place. While this allows us to accept many pieces, the show is still curated based on uniqueness and presentation. Due to limited wall space, even if work is accepted it may not make it into the first hanging of the show.

Panels Available: September 19th – until they run out!
Submissions Accepted & Frames Available: October 11 – November 26
Finalists Notified: by November 30
Unsold works pick-up dates: January 15 – 31

Exhibit Dates: December 2, 2021- January 11, 2022
Holiday Pie Party: Thursday, December 2nd, 5-8pm

Panels & submission forms are available at the shop.

Can’t get to the shop during business hours?

Questions? Contact us!

 

Dates & Deadlines

Panels Available:
September 19 – until we run out.

Submissions Drop Off
& Frames Available:
October 11th – November 26th

Finalists Notified:
On or before November 30th

Exhibit Dates:
December 1 – January 11, 2022

Opening & Pie Party:
December 2, 5-8pm

Unsold Work Pick Up Dates:
January 15 – 31

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Aaron Becker: Survivor Tree

September 2nd – October 2nd

We are excited to host Aaron Becker’s original drawings, watercolors, and prints from his new book Survivor Tree. Aaron will be here signing copies of his book on Friday, September 10th from 5-8 pm. Stop by and see this beautiful work and meet the artist!

About the Book:“This hopeful story of a resilient tree that grew (and still grows) at the base of the twin towers is a simple introduction for young readers to gain an understanding of September 11th and the impact it had on America.

One September day, the perfect blue sky exploded. Dust billowed. Buildings crumbled. And underneath it all, a tree sprouted green leaves in its distress. Pulled from the wreckage, the tree saw many seasons pass as it slowly recovered far away from home. Until one day, forever scarred and forever stronger, it was replanted at the 9/11 Memorial.

This story of the real Survivor Tree uses nature’s cycle of colors to reflect on the hope and healing that come after a tragedy—and assures readers of their own remarkable resilience.”

Listen to Aaron Becker’s interview on NEPR 

Learn more about Aaron Becker

See originals, prints, and books online 

PLEASE NOTE: walk-ins are welcome for the gallery. Masks are required indoors. 

Isabel Margolin: All This and More

July 8th – August 30th

Artists’ statement:

In the spring of 2009, I began to make mosaics choosing to work in the indirect method, a technique that I have employed ever since. For the indirect method, I place my materials face-side-down on sticky paper, not knowing the final results of my design until I turn the piece over into a bed of cement. It is through a certain controlled randomness, a willingness to cede one’s expectations to gravitational forces and the power of sticky tape that I apply the indirect technique to expand the boundaries of this art form.

This is a process of chance, choice, and discovery.

 

Learn more about Isabel Margolin

 

Come see a live demonstration Saturday, July 24th at 1:30 PM at Hope and Feathers! Learn about the indirect method and help Isabel create a sparkling mosaic. To RSVP click here.

 

PLEASE NOTE: walk-ins are welcome for the gallery. Masks optional. 

Corrin Halford : Out of This World

June 3nd – July 2nd

Artists’ statement:
97% of the human body consists of stardust. This must be why I feel such a deep connection to the beyond.  Everything in history has happened on this spinning ball in our galaxy. When time seems to fly and everything seems chaotic I look up, even just for a second, and feel a sense of wonder. I sought to bring the infinite space of the universe into each piece. Creating a dreamy, starry, and ever-expanding feel through my art. Hours began to fly by as I channeled myself into these pieces. This series is a direct reflection of that experience.

 

PLEASE NOTE: walk-ins are welcome for the gallery. 

Randi Stein : Stories in Paint and Paper

April 30th – May 29th

Artists’ statement:
I began to draw at the age of forty-two, after a life-altering encounter with a book entitled “The Zen of Seeing”, by Dutch-American artist Fredrick Franck. My first drawing in 1990 was of a #2 pencil. It took me an exhausting two hours to draw. But what that first drawing taught me was that I already had most of the tools I needed to investigate the visual world and— perhaps– even the stories that lay behind the forms and colors I was observing. And indeed, it was the stories of people’s lives that most interested me at that time. So I began with portraiture. People came into the studio that I had rented in a small town in southern New Hampshire, and we talked while I drew;  the charcoal and pastels that I held in my hand gradually became friends, and helped me to invite and tell the story I was seeing. Some of these first paintings were exhibited and sold; two are in this show.
During this pandemic year, when social distancing made studio visits and portraiture sittings impossible, I found myself going back to some old drawings, tearing and cutting and re-arranging the pieces into new stories— often including words and images from my religious tradition, which has been such a help in keeping me spiritually in balance. This year has turned many people’s worlds upside down. It seems appropriate to be telling new stories, and discovering what was perhaps absent from my sight thirty years ago.

 

PLEASE NOTE: walk-ins are welcome for the gallery. 

10% of all sales will be donated to the Amherst Survival Center

Chris Bordenca: 80’s Kid

March 4th – April 26th, 2021

The nostalgia and sense of fun is clear in Chris Bordenca’s vibrantly-colored paintings of toys, action figures, and other treasured memorabilia from the 70’s and 80’s. His subjects are iconic and familiar: Star Wars characters, Batman villains, Rubik’s Cubes, video games, sea monkeys, and more, that immediately evoke that pre-internet era, especially for 80’s kids. Chris says: Almost nothing gets forgotten anymore. The past exists in the collective memory of the internet, and we can reach in and physically bring those memories into our present. These paintings are tangible and joyful reminders of the most recent pre-internet past, even if you weren’t an 80’s kid.

10% of sales from this exhibit will be donated to the The Belchertown Education Foundation. BEF is an independent, volunteer, non-profit organization committed to enriching the educational opportunities of students in Belchertown public schools.

About Chris Bordenca:
Chris’ work focuses on personal connections to objects and places from his youth in the seventies and eighties, including paintings of action figures, toys, and video games from that era. After a ten-year hiatus he returned to painting in 2018. Since then, he has shown his work around the valley in group shows, and a show in Australia to benefit victims of the wildfires. His painting “Starless Sea With Keys” won first place for acrylic painting at the 2020 Northeast Fine Arts Exposition. Chris has a BFA from UMass Amherst and lives with his family in Belchertown. bordenca.com

PLEASE NOTE: walk-ins are welcome for the gallery. Masks required. Currently we are allowing four customers in the shop at one time.

Q&A with Chris

How has your style changed over the years?
I started painting album covers and comic book art on people’s leather jackets in and after high school. In my 20’s I began painting murals in homes and businesses of whatever was asked, but my personal work turned to abstract figurative paintings. I then moved to large non-representational paintings, while still painting murals commercially. Eventually painting other people’s ideas in the murals became tedious, and I became turned off from painting all together. Ten years later, I decided to approach painting the same way that I approached art when I was young. I would paint whatever I wanted. Anything that made me happy. That is what I do now.

When did you know you wanted to be an artist?
1982. When I was seven years old I had a coloring book based on E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. One of the images inside included a relatively realist drawing of the dog from the movie. I copied the drawing of the dog, and it was the very first time I felt what it was like to really see the thing I was looking at. I suddenly understood how to look at something and draw an accurate representation of it. It felt like real magic, and I was hooked.

What inspires you?
I love tapping into the toys and pop culture from the 70’s and 80’s. I also love old books, abandoned buildings, and beat up vehicles. I like the idea of things managing to survive through time to the present and capturing their magic before they disappear.

What is your creative process like? How do you work?
In the studio I basically play with toys for hours until I find the right feeling. I take a ton of photos with different lighting and arrangements.

What is your favorite piece that you’ve created?
My current favorites are Toy Chest, Space Invader, and Mission: Unknown

Any advice to young or emerging artists?
Make art for yourself, not what other people think you should make, or what you think other people will like.

Images above cropped from:
Space Invader, acrylic on canvas, 20×16″
Smile, acrylic on canvas, 20×16″
Hitchhiker, acrylic on canvas, 20×20″

Ruth Rinard: Awe & Intimacy

November 4th to December 1st, 2020 (date extended)

PLEASE NOTE: walk ins are welcome for the gallery, on your own or small groups of up to three people. Please wear a mask.

 

New Pastels by Amherst Artist Ruth Rinard

Her grandfather’s farm made her an artist. Golden wheat in the wind, expansive blue sky, billowing clouds, tall yellow tasseled dark green corn, shimmering heat lightning, searing dry heat, or small buildings on the distant horizon filled her with a sense of awe. A transcendent bright abyss opened before her.Later to get an education and to raise a family she moved east. Hills crowded in on each other, sky was hard to come by, and roads disappeared around curves. Ever changing light filtered through forests. Humidity hung everywhere. Everything came in quick glimpses. Everything demanded intimacy, interiority.

Awe and intimacy, two constant threads in her work, are held together by narrative. As she starts a painting, she has a title or phrase in mind. It becomes the narrative linking the deeply personal interior and the unfathomable outer world. Her art strives to make this connection visible.

About Ruth Rinard:
After careers in academe and health sciences, Ruth became intrigued with the freshness of pure pigment and the tactile possibilities of pastel. When she realized she could use her drawing skills within the painterly framework of pastel, she never looked back. Ruth has studied painting with Christine Labich and exhibited work with the Connecticut and New Hampshire pastel societies.