Jon Crispin: American Demographics

October 4th to 27th

This is the first time these hand-colored silver gelatin prints by acclaimed Pelham photographer Jon Crispin have been exhibited. The photographs date from the mid-1970s to the early-90s, and were published in the 1980-90s in the now-defunct American Demographics Magazine (a monthly magazine about marketing and consumer trends). Most of the images were shot in the US, some in Europe — rather than working on assignment, photographs from Jon’s extensive personal archive were selected to illustrate stories in the magazine. The 11″x14″ prints were meticulously hand-colored by artist Robby Aceto, making them one-of-a-kind works of art, and unique modern examples of the almost-disappeared craft of hand coloring.

Opening Reception: Thursday, October 4th, 5-8pm, during Amherst Arts Night Plus.
Gallery talk with Jon: Saturday, October 20th, 4:30-7pm.

A selection of pieces from the show can be purchased in our online shop.

About Jon Crispin:
Jon has been working as a photographer since 1974, dividing his time between freelance assignments and documentary projects. Freelance work includes national publications, higher education, and non-profits. His documentary projects include exhibitions and publications concerning social and rural topics in New York State: 19th-century state insane asylums, state prisons, rural living conditions, county fairground architecture, agriculture, and food and nutrition programs for the needy. In the past few years, he has photographed over 300 plywood panels that had lined the Fulton Street area overlooking Ground Zero at the site of the World Trade Center (and over 100 panels from Liberty Island). Jon is perhaps best known for the “Willard Suitcases” project – a poignant documentation of suitcases left behind by patients at the Willard Asylum in upstate NY. His photographs have been exhibited extensively in museums and galleries in the US and abroad. joncrispinposts.com

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Natalie & Sue Kassirer: The Heart & The Harrows

September 6th to 28th

Mother and daughter Sue and Natalie Kassirer are showing their work together for the first time. They work in disparate mediums: Sue a sculptor in clay and Natalie a pen and ink artist with a background in illustration, but they share a common thread in the representation of emotion through earth-based imagery. The Heart and The Harrows speaks to both the passion and the pain involved in the creation of their art — these emotions either drive the message a piece seeks to convey, or feature as the subject of the work itself.

Of her work, Natalie says: “Representational imagery to illuminates my own personal stories, in combination with a labor-intensive and meditative stippling technique as a way to steep myself in whatever it is I aim to convey.”

For Sue, motherhood is a strong influence on how she views the current state of politics and the enviroment. “While I retreat to nature for solace and take great inspiration from the expansiveness of it, I fear for it. My fear can be seen in my subject matter, and in sharp bristling hardware contrasted with the soft colorings of smoked clay.”

Opening Reception: Thursday, September 6th, 5-8pm, during Amherst Arts Night Plus.

About Natalie Kassirer:
Natalie is an illustrator and fine artist specializing in intricate pen-and-ink stippled drawings. The wild landscape of Western Massachusetts inspires her work, which deals with a deep reverence for the natural world and its ability to turn death into new life, often influenced by a love of pop culture and music. Natalie received her BFA in Illustration from the Rhode Island School Of Design in 2015. She is an avid nester and collector of everything from bones to stones to house plants, and spends her free time exploring the hills of Western Mass or loitering in coffee shops. 

About Sue Kassirer:
Sue has been creating sculpture and installation art for over 30 years. She most often works with clay but likes to mix things up and make time for theater projects and site works. Lately her work has become edgier due to environmental threats and fractious politics. She loves the inspiration she gets from the streams and rocks tucked away in the hills and fields of the Pioneer Valley. She earned a BFA in Sculpture from UMass in 1981 and has exhibited her work in the Boston area since the early ’90s. She has owned and run a teaching studio for 18 years and is a member of the New England Sculptor’s Association and a co-founder of the outdoor art show “Art Grows Here,” which runs annually each summer in Hamilton and Wenham, MA. 

Abba Cudney: A Spectrum of Memory

August 2nd – September 1st

Paintings by Providence artist Abba Cudney.

Abba Cudney documents specific nostalgic moments in time within interior spaces. Not only the moments themselves, but also the essence. She decides what details are important, and what can be left abstract for the viewer to interpret. Certain objects are represented and have solidity, others are made with quick gestures and loose strokes to give a feeling of intangibility and impermanence. Remnants of underpainting and drawing are visible alongside the representational, as if past and present are meeting.

Abba says, “I want people to experience their own narratives when viewing my paintings. What the objects and spaces mean to me personally can convey an entirely different story or memory for someone else.”

Opening Reception: Thursday, August 2nd, 5-8pm, during Amherst Arts Night Plus.

About Abba Cudney:
Abba was born and raised outside of Chicago. She moved to New Hampshire in 2011 and earned her BFA in Painting and Printmaking at the New Hampshire Institute of Art. She currently resides in Providence, RI, and works and teaches printmaking at the Providence Art Club. She has exhibited in Chicago and Italy, and throughout New England. AbbaCudney.com

Q&A with Abba:

How old were you when you created your first artwork?
I don’t really know an exact age, I just know that I have always been creating. I remember one Christmas when I was probably 3 getting an “art table” and to this day has been my favorite gift.

How has your style changed over the years?
For a long time, I was focused on rendering things in a very realistic manner. I found it to be a great learning process and at the time, satisfying. But throughout college I gradually started to find my own voice and create in a way that felt more natural and freeing to me. Now my work has become a sort of hybrid between real and abstract with the intent of creating a dream-like experience.

When did you know you wanted to be an artist?
Art is something that has just always been a part of me. I suppose when I “officially” decided I wanted to pursue art as a career was the end of high school when applying to colleges. I had an interest in many different subjects but I couldn’t escape the idea of going to an art school and dedicating my time to evolving creatively.

Why did you choose your medium?
I have always loved working with paint-the fluidity, vibrancy, and textures that can be created with it. I use both acrylics and oils. The acrylic helps me achieve a drip-like base layer and go in without any restrictions. The oils allow me to bring the space to life with more vibrancy and texture. After my base layer of acrylics and before I go in with oils, I draw the scene and objects with charcoal. Almost 100% of the time I will leave much of the lines. I feel as though the charcoal helps enhance the feeling of impermanence, like one is looking at a fading memory.

What inspires you?
There are two quotes I always go back to. One by Antonio Lopez Garcia: “I want to paint everything that is my life, all of my experiences”. The other by David Hockney: “I paint what I like, when I like, and where I like, with occasional nostalgic journeys”.

When I began on this interior journey, all of the spaces were either of my first college apartment or friend’s apartments. I explored everything in front of me, everything that held a memory and story. My work then evolved to a series of recreating rooms of my childhood home both occupied and empty, acting as a form of therapy almost. My art changes and evolves with the passing of time, all dependent on where I am and how that space holds significance to me.

Where do you work?
I currently have a small studio in my apartment. There are ups and downs to having your studio where you live, but I enjoy being in the comfort of my home and having the option to work late at night.

Which artists do you admire?
Antonio Lopez Garcia, David Hockney, Édouard Vuillard. Many of the artists I am inspired by were a part of The Nabis movement and some considered intimists, painting the everyday contemporary life. Much of their philosophies revolved around the idea of drawing emotion out of these everyday scenes and objects. I think that what connects all of the artists I draw inspiration from is their ability to take what some see as the mundane and create a more intimate story, “a window into the soul”. As far as stylistically, I have always admired the Impressionists and their ability to use paint in such a bold and vivid way, truly bringing life to a painting.

What is your favorite piece that you’ve created?
It usually tends to be whatever I am working on at that time. Every piece is a learning process and holds a form of attachment for me as I am creating it. There is one piece I am quite attached to, though. It was the first interior scene I had ever painted of my first apartment. One day I woke up and looked around our living room and the mess that was created from the night before and just thought “I need to start documenting these moments in time”.

In the front window: Local Landscapes!

We live in such a beautiful area! For the month of August, we’re displaying some gorgeous local landscapes from four talented local photographers: Greg Brown, Sara Lyons, Tom Pitta, and Randi Shenkman. We printed them up large, and added some rustic style frames. All pieces are for sale. Come by and see these big beauties in person!

Cathe Janke: True Through

July 5th – 28th

A live art installation by Greenfield artist Cathe Janke.

This interactive exhibit will feature paintings, prints, and a growing installation based on the heart shape, and a continuous story series of paintings. The installation will feature many of the art and craft techniques Cathe learned in India, including silk painting, lost wax casting, stone carving, along with printmaking and painting. She combines her love of color and fabric with recents experiments with drawing, everyday materials, local plants, and found objects, to provoke feelings and experiences of our interdependence with other species and each other.

Cathe says: “It is very important for me to remain aware that artistic inspiration arises unexpectedly from very different sources. I try always to cultivate this awareness and travel continues to be an important part of my artistic experience. I am excited to be able to create an interactive environment here. The rich cultural history of Amherst is preserved in its remarkably diverse community and the potential for inspiration seems unlimited. I look forward to gathering community members at the opening and closing of this show.”

Cathe will be working in the gallery on Wednesdays and Fridays, 12-3pm; more dates will be announced.

Opening Reception: Thursday, July 5th 5-8pm, during Amherst Arts Night Plus. A closing reception follows on Wednesday, July 25th, 6:30-8:30pm.

About Cathe Janke:
Cathe received her MFA in 2D from Massachusetts College of Art. She has been awarded grants and fellowships to Vermont Studio Center, Elsewhere Studios in Colorado, RIACE Festival in Odisha, India, Can Serrat Int’l Art Center in Barcelona, Mustarinda in Finland, Zea Mays Printmaking in Florence, MA, DISC in Odisha, India, and Wingate Studios in New Hampshire. Her work has been exhibited at Brandeis University, San Alejandro Academy of Fine Arts in Havana, Lalit Kala Academie in Odisha, India, and A.I.R. Gallery in NYC. She is currently a member at Zea Mays Printmaking and has traveled to India numerous times for art and vipassana meditation practice. cathejanke.com

Image: detail from See Through”, by Cathe Janke

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PVPA Student Works 2018

May 3rd – June 2nd

An exhibition of artworks made by PVPA students during the 2017-2018 school year.

These works explore a diverse array of themes, subjects, materials, and methods; unified by the ambition and vision of these young creatives. Hope & Feathers and PVPA are proud to showcase this selection of emerging valley artists.

Exhibiting students include: Galia Pakman Arrojo, Josephine Boneceto, Brianna Clark, Alex Chase, Emma Demerath, Sarah Edler, Noa Miller, Vivian Mitchell, Analua Alencar Moreira, Leonardo Vance Udell, Alarice Wohlers, Eva Weigand Whittier.

Opening reception: Thursday, May 3rd, 5-8pm, during Amherst Arts Night Plus.

About PVPA:
Pioneer Valley Performing Arts Charter Public School (PVPA) is a regional public charter school serving 400 students in grades 7-12, from over 60 towns throughout western Massachusetts. Their mission is to offer students intensive exposure to the performing arts within the context of an excellent college preparatory curriculum. The goal of PVPA is to provide students with a supportive and challenging environment that is responsive to multiple learning styles, emphasizes learning through the arts, and integrates creative and critical thinking throughout the curriculum. www.pvpa.org

Image: details from Reading Palms by Emma Demerath, Untitled by Brianna Clark, Light by Noa Miller

Artist Statements

Galia Pakman Arrojo
Galia is an 8th grader at PVPA who hopes to further explore the visual arts department in high school. She loves experimenting with new mediums, but is ultimately most comfortable with pen, pencil, paints and doodling all over her math homework. She is very excited to be a part of this showing.

Josephine Boneceto
Josephine is a Sophomore at PVPA currently living in rural Leverett. She tends to work with many different mediums including watercolor, marker, ink, and the occasional magazine clipping or other form of material to spice things up. Josephine hopes to attend MassArt after graduating PVPA in order to continue learning the skills needed to write and illustrate her very own comic that she has been dreaming up and developing for years.

Brianna Clark
Brianna is a 8th grader at PVPA currently living in Holyoke she enjoys kpop and anything. She has had a passion for art since kindergarten. She has one cat and loves BTS she has been a fan since 2012 they are the inspiration for most of her art work.

Alex Chase
Alex is a Junior who resides in Greenfield. Alex has studied a wide range of media working in both 2D and 3 Dimensional mediums through her years at PVPA.

Emma Demerath
Emma is a junior at PVPA who enjoys stand-up comedy specials and painting (usually at the same time). She plans on attending the School of the Art Institute of Chicago’s art program this summer to further her passion for painting. She is very grateful to Hope & Feathers and to her teachers for this amazing experience.

Sarah Edler
Sarah is an aspiring young artist that enjoys drawing various subjects. Regardless if it is a simple sketch or a fully developed painting, she pours her heart into everything she makes. She’s been drawing and painting since she was old enough to hold a pencil and brush and has been working with digital media for the last 3 years. Sarah is in 8th grade and is still exploring where her artwork will lead her in the future.

Noa Greer Miller
Noa is in love with western-mass, luckily, lives there too. She is inspired by the album Blue by Joni Mitchell (perhaps a little too much,) the process of making gumbo, and shampooing loved ones; surprisingly enough, her art tends to stay within the realms of wobbly college campuses, hands, and naked women. She would like to continue making art until she no longer needs to. She thanks her mothers, her teachers, and her friends for everything.

Analua Alencar Moreira
Lua is a 9th grader at PVPA who has been drawing since she first picked up a crayon. She is thrilled to have her work shown in a gallery for the first time! A Belchertown resident, she likes to write and learn about social justice when she isn’t creating works of visual art.

Vivian Mitchell
Vivian is a Junior at PVPA who resides in Amherst, after graduation Vivian hopes to Major in illustration at MassArt in boston. She’s currently most comfortable using graphite, ink, and watercolors, but would like to one day use thick buttery oil paint. Vivian is dedicated to the gay agenda, and according to the pamphlet she received in the mail after coming out to her parents, the first step to corrupting straight capitalism is by making as much queer art as her grubby little gay hands can muster.

Leonardo Vance Udell
Leo is a Sophomore at PVPA who resides in South Hadley, he hopes to attend MassArt after graduation. His favorite medium to work in is watercolor, pen, pencil and marker. Along with art he enjoys writing music and fantastically weird stories. One day Leo hopes to be a professional techie, artist or underpaid barista.

Alarice Wohlers
Ali is an 8th grade student who lives in Granby. Ali has taken numerous visual art and fashion clases in her first 2 years at PVPA and is currently enrolled in the Mixed Media course.

Eva Weigand-Whittier
Eva is a ninth grader at PVPA who lives in Northampton with her mothers, brother, and four cats. She loves drawing with pencil and pastels. She also loves rhubarb pie, and likes to experiment with new types of art.

Give a Sh*t: Printmakers Creating Work with a Social Message

January 29th – February 24th

Taking a stand, inspiring a conversation… showing that you give a shit. Printmakers create work with a social message.

Talented printmakers from western Massachusetts and beyond answered our call for politically-leaning art. With artist and printmaker B.Z. Reily, we curated the work of twenty-seven artists expressing themselves through their art on a variety of current social and political issues, in a range of printmaking techniques, including: intaglio, relief, screen prints, letterpress, monotype, collagraph, and mixed media.

The work in this powerful show addresses such topics as climate change, the environment, gun control, gender issues, immigration, reproductive health, political figures, feminism, and more.

Please join us for the opening reception on Thursday, February 1st, 5-8pm, during Amherst’s Arts Night Plus.

Joan Appel

Amanda Barrow

Anne Beresford

Annie Bissett

Peter Cangialosi

Bruce Chandler

Daniel Chiaccio

Madeline Conover

Erin Cunliffe

Madge Evers

Kelly Garabadian

Nancy Haver

Sara Inacio & Emma Wolfsohn

Eli Liebman

Haley McDevitt

Scott Minzy

Nolan O’Connell

Zack Pinson

B.Z. Reily

Julie Lapping Rivera

Terry Rooney

Hope Rovelto & Kate Katomski

Richard Turnbull

Clover Ulrich

Jaime Wing

Artist Bios:

Joan Appel, Marshfield, MA
Joan is a professional musician and under the name of Joan Nahigian, teaches piano, directs choruses, provides music for the Linden Ponds retirement community Sunday services and gives concerts. As Joan Appel, she creates art: monotypes, oil paintings, mixed media. She is a member of the National Association of Women Artists. 

Amanda Barrow, Easthampton, MA
Amanda was raised in the Midwest by a social worker and an Episcopalian priest, in an environment conducive to creativity and abstract thinking. In 1992, a Fulbright research grant provided an opportunity for her to live and work in India for 13 months. She has returned to India many times since then, funded by fellowships from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, Boston Cultural Council, and a host of other institutions. At present, she lives/works in Massachusetts, New York City and Maine. Her work is in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Boston and New York Public Libraries, and the Museum of the Book in the Netherlands, among numerous other places around the world.

Anne Beresford, Leverett, MA
Anne holds a BA from Harvard University and an MA from New York University. She has taught printmaking and painting at The Art Institute of Boston, Zea Mays Printmaking in Florence and Harvard University. She was awarded a MacDowell Fellowship in 2015. Her most recent solo exhibition was Ten Thousand Wonderful Things: A Conversation with the Collections, at the University Museum of Contemporary Art, UMass Amherst. (2015).

Annie Bissett, Northampton, MA
Annie has been working primarily with Japanese-style woodblock prints since 2005, when she studied briefly with New England woodblock artist Matt Brown. Annie’s print work builds on her 25+ year career as a freelance digital illustrator, serving a clientele that has included Time-Life Publications, National Geographic Society, and the Wall Street Journal. Her prints have been exhibited throughout the US, in the UK, Canada, and Japan. She is a member of Oxbow Gallery in Northampton and is an instructor at Zea Mays Printmaking Studio in Florence.

Peter Cangialosi, Easthampton, MA
Peter is a printmaker and graphic designer. Several of his landscape monotypes are part of The Boston Athenaeum’s New England Prints and Photographs permanent collection. He’s a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design and his work has appeared in various locations around the Pioneer Valley. He is available for commissioned woodblock and monotype prints.

Bruce Chandler, Springfield, MA
Bruce is a printmaker/printer. He studied drawing and sculpture at Boston University (BFA:1970); printmaking with George Lockwood at Impressions Workshop, Boston; letterpress printing with Harold McGrath at The Gehenna Press in Northampton, and was a graphics assistant to Leonard Baskin at the press and in Devonshire, England. The Heron Press is a vehicle for his printed work, often in collaboration with other artists.

Daniel Chiaccio, Easthampton, MA
@danielchiaccio
Dan is a printmaker who focuses primarily on copper plate intaglio. He has a BFA in Illustration and Printmaking from New Hampshire Institute of Art.

Madeline Conover, Washington, DC
@madeleineconover
Madeleine is an emerging artist. Born in Changzhou, China and adopted to the United States as an infant, she currently works in Western Massachusetts where she attended the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and studied Studio Art and Sustainable Food & Farming. Her work seeks to explore the unique intersection of the arts and agriculture. Conover focuses primarily in relief and intaglio printmaking, painting, collage, 35mm photography, and writing.

Erin Cunliffe, Terryville, CT
@erincunliffe
Erin is a freelance illustrator and printmaker. She received a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in Illustration and a Bachelor of Arts in Art History from the University of Hartford’s Hartford Art School. She draws her inspiration from stories and characters she created during her childhood. Current politics and pop culture are also big inspirations to her. She is currently working on a series of relief style prints called “FIGHT LIKE a GIRL” highlighting inspirational women and their words of empowerment.

Madge Evers, Haydenville, MA
@sporeplay_
In her early years, Madge was a fine arts photographer with an interest portraiture and the human form. Her current work originates with her passion for the garden where she cultivates the mushroom variety Stropharia rugoso-annulata. When not making spore prints, Madge can be found teaching high school English, or somewhere in the garden.

Kelly Garabadian, Marlborough, MA
@kelly_green73
Kelly’s work spans a wide range of artistic mediums including photography, fiber arts, printmaking, and digital art. Her work is fueled by her curiosity and desire to always be learning. She is mostly self-taught, but currently taking classes toward her Master of Education with concentration in Visual Arts.

Nancy Haver, Amherst, MA
A member of the Boston Printmakers and Zea Mays Printmaking in Florence, Nancy has exhibited her work at a variety of venues in the Northeast. She taught drawing, illustration, and relief printmaking at the University of Massachusetts and Holyoke Community College for twelve years and has taught the same subjects privately. She tries to spend as much time as possible outdoors, and enjoy hiking, bicycling, jogging, ukulele and tap dancing.

Sara Inacio & Emma Wolfsohn, Portland, ME
@earsandhands
Ears and Hands Collective is a group of printmakers and socially engaged artists striving to forge connections and encourage conversation around current events through open dialogue and collaborative art making. Our goal is to foster empathy through listening and responding to one another and the world around us.

Eli Liebman, Northampton, MA
Eli is an apprentice at Stonepool Pottery in Worthington, and a part-time printmaker. He graduated from Macalester College in Saint Paul, MN in 2015, where he studied applied math and ecology. Other prints and pottery can be found on his website.

Haley McDevitt, Amherst, MA
@haleymcdevitt
Haley is an emerging artist. She is pursuing a Bachelor of the Fine Arts in Studio Arts at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Haley’s paintings and prints typically focus on themes including memories, feminism, and residences while utilizing found or recycled materials.

Scott Minzy, Gardiner, ME
@scottminzy
Scott makes artist’s books, relief prints and animations that deal with the universal themes of fear, regret and longing. His past life in public relations and corporate sales has led him to seek a less jaded but more authentic life in the state of his birth. As a result, he earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Southern Maine and teaches fine art and digital media at Erskine Academy as well as in his studio in Gardiner, Maine.

Nolan O’Connell, Hampstead, NH
@noconnellart
Nolan focuses on woodcut and linoleum relief printmaking. The content of his work reflects the culture upon which he was raised in as well as his love for science and space exploration. He has studied under professional printmakers in Portsmouth, NH as well as Florence, Italy and has graduated from the New Hampshire Institute of Art. He lives happily in Southern New Hampshire where he leads workshops in relief printmaking.

Zack Pinson, Northampton, MA
@arkansasgreasefire
Zack was born and raised in Arkansas and now lives in western MA. Lover of pizza.

B.Z. Reily, Cooleyville, MA
@bzreily
B.Z. is a mixed media artist working primarily in sculpture, assemblage, and collage. She is an art educator and a member of the Oxbow Gallery and Zea Mays Printmaking in Northampton. She has shown her work throughout the northeast in galleries and museums.

Julie Lapping Rivera, Leverett, MA
@julielappingart
Julie is a collage artist and printmaker. Her work has been exhibited both locally and nationally. She is a member and teacher at Zea Mays Printmaking Studio and an art teacher with the Amherst Public Schools. Previously she lived in New York, where she worked as a teaching artist with Studio in a School, the Museum of Modern Art and Lincoln Center Institute. She is the recipient of numerous grants and awards including an Artist’s Fellowship from the New York Foundation for the Arts and Arts in Education grants from New York Foundation for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Terry Rooney, Amherst, MA
Terry was born in NYC in the shadow of the Statue of Liberty. Educated at FIT, Art Students League and apprenticed with artist Elizabeth Murray and founder of The New Museum, Marcia Tucker, while receiving her Bachelor degree in Fine Arts from SUNY Empire State College.. Her artwork has been exhibited nationally and internationally, with her artwork in private and public collections.

Hope Rovelto & Kate Katomski, Portland, ME
@Hoperovelto_littlechair
@k_katomski
Hope earned her BFA in sculpture from Maine College of Art and her MFA in Ceramics from Rochester Institute of Technology. She is most currently the owner of Little Chair Printing, a custom screen-printing shop in Portland ME, works part-time as an Admission Counselor for Maine College of Art, and is an Artist Member at Pickwick Independence Studios in Portland.

Kate is a multimedia artist and educator whose interdisciplinary experience includes sculpture, printmaking, performance, video and installation. She received a MFA in Studio Art at Maine College of Art (2002). She received a BFA in Ceramics with a minor in Textiles from the University of Washington (1985). Richard Turnbull, Northampton, MA www.furiousdaypress.com Rich is an art historian who also makes prints, artists’ books and experimental photography. He lives and works in both New York and Northampton.

Clover Ulrich, Amherst, MA
Clover is currently a junior at Vanderbilt University At Vanderbilt her major is Medicine, Health, and Society and the themes and topics she has explored during her studies have impacted and inspired her printmaking work. She is also a Studio Art minor, and this past semester took her very first printmaking class and produced the work in this show.

Jaime Wing, Portland, ME
jaimewing.com
@wingedartwork
Jaime is an artist, designer, printmaker and UMass alumnus. A member of the Pickwick Independent Press in his hometown of Portland, Maine, he is passionate about community and social justice work. With a focus on texture and the tactile nature of relief printmaking, he is most interested in making work around themes of identity, sexuality and mental health, usually using text or abstract imagery alongside the human form.

On Shelves: Alice Briggs, Amherst, MA
www.alicebriggs-illustration.com
Alice has been a professional illustrator her entire working life. After graduating from Bennington College she went to the Museum School in Boston, having decided that a career in art would be better than life in a practice room. There she discovered she was an illustrator and got jobs right away as a freelancer.

It’s Pastel!

November 2nd – 25th

The work of three artist friends, Sally Dillon, Susanne Personette, and Ruth Rinard, who share a love of painting in soft pastels. The title was inspired by the answer they often find themselves giving to viewers of their work who inquire: “What is that? Is it oil paint?”

Sally says,” The pastels themselves — and the simplicity of using them — are as inspiring as whatever scene I am painting. The method of applying color is direct and every mark can vary in size and intensity. With an infinite number of colors and textural possibilities, I feel like a kid again, making bright colored marks with pastel on sanded paper. Pastels are such fun! Who could ask for more?”

Susanne says: “For as long as I remember, my eye has been caught by the color of light and color of shadow in nature. Pastels are the most richly satisfying way for me to joyfully respond to what I see. I am thrilled by the intensity, vibrancy, and purity of these colors and their intensely tactile application to sanded paper. Pastels are deeply colorful, completely engaging, generously forgiving, and incredibly flexible.”

Ruth says: “I have always felt a deep connection to the visual world, and I’ve drawn since childhood. It is only within the last ten years, though, that I found the medium that allows me to fully express what I both see and feel. When I am drawn to an object or scene, I want to explore what makes it special and worth observing, what qualities might be easily overlooked or passed by. A shape, a color, a line, or a mood — all can compel me to see and explore with awe in pastel.”

An opening reception will be held on Thursday, November 2nd, during Amherst Arts Night Plus, from 5pm to 8pm.

About Sally Dillon:
Sally has been a fiber artist for more than 40 years, specializing in hand-painted silk and more recently felted wool.  After retiring from the craft fair circuit a few years ago, she decided to try her hand at some more traditional artist’s materials and techniques, and fell in love with pastels. 

About Susanne Personette:
Susanne has been drawing, painting, and studying art since childhood. In the midst of a 30+ year career in architecture, taking a pastel workshop was the “eureka moment” when she found “her” medium.  Painting as often as possible during the past ten years of her career, her recent retirement finds her eagerly pursuing her passion for plein air painting in pastel.

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.

Shaking Loose: Rhys Davies and Ann Knickerbocker

October 5-28, 2017

New work by local artists Rhys Davies and Ann Knickerbocker. This show marks new and live experiments in approach and process for the two artists. The two artists will be painting live in the gallery a few hours each week, separately on their own work and together on a single piece, a growing arrangement of painted brown paper to reach, they intend, to the gallery ceiling.

Ann Knickerbocker paints large, gestural bright-colored abstractions more inclined to light than realism. Ann says her new works are “abstract paintings about abstraction”, a different approach to painting than her usual method of beginning with a specific topic. Rhys Davies paints tangles of flowers, not-quite flowers, in deep colors, nature woven into secretive shape and shadow. In his new body of work, Rhys aims for less control of his process, to “let the images appear”.

An opening reception will be held on Thursday, October 5th, in conjunction with Amherst Arts Night Plus, from 5pm to 8pm.

About Ann Knickerbocker:
Ann and her husband, Charles Tarlton, moved to Florence from San Francisco in 2014. Her painting “You Must Thrash This Out for Yourself” will be included in a show of Gallery One Connecticut artists at the Marquee Gallery in New London, September 13 – October 7, 2017. She has exhibited in solo shows at The Emily Dickinson Museum (September 2016) and at Cider House Media in Easthampton (September 2015) and is a former member of Amherst’s Gallery A3. Her work was selected for juried shows at the Essex Art Association in 2017 and 2016, for the Northampton Biennial in 2015 and for the 105th Juried Annual of the Connecticut Academy of Fine Arts in Mystic, Connecticut in 2016.

About Rhys Davies:
Rhys is a Welsh-born artist and illustrator who currently lives in Amherst. In this new body of work, he aims to not over-control the process and let the imagery slowly happen. He has exhibited in the UK and Denmark, and locally at Wunderarts and The Emily Dickinson Museum in Amherst, and The Elusie Gallery and the Grubbs Gallery in Easthampton. This will be his fourth show at Hope & Feathers.

His Twin Obsession: The Art of E.E. Cummings

September 7th – 30th, 2017

Why do you paint? For exactly the same reason I breathe.”

A selection of sketches, drawings, and paintings by E.E. Cummings (1894-1962).

It is not generally well-known that the poet E.E. Cummings was also a visual artist, who experimented with art as he did with words. He devoted as much time to drawing and painting as he did to poetry, and considered himself equally an artist and a poet. Cummings said art was his “twin obsession“; painting and writing were daily routine, both necessary means of expression. He published sketches and drawings and exhibited paintings early in his career, but ultimately withdrew from the New York art scene in the early 1930s. Art became a private pursuit as his writing increased in popularity and his reputation as a poet was firmly established. His art reflects some of the more modern and boundary-pushing art trends of the time, especially post-impressionism and fauvism, and the influence of artists like Cézanne and Matisse can be clearly seen in much of his work.

This exhibit is a selection of Cummings’ artworks curated to show a range of his artistic experiments. Most have not been shown publicly; most were probably not intended to be seen by the public.

The pieces in this show are from the collection of Ken Lopez of Hadley, MA. All works are for sale. A portion of the proceeds from sales at this show will benefit Reader to Reader, Inc., a nonprofit literacy organization.

An opening reception will be held Thursday, September 7th, 5-8pm, during Amherst Arts Night Plus.

Saturday, September 16th, 5:30-7:30pm:Flash Poetry, Spoken Word, and EE Cummings” – a special event in conjunction with the Amherst Poetry Festival, featuring readings of Cummings’ poems, poems inspired by Cummings artworks, and poetry mad-libs! Readers will include local poets Dara Wier, Lori Desrosiers, Paul Richmond, and more! Organized and emcee’d by Alison Murchie, local writer and creator of the popular monthly “Unbuttoned” spoken word evenings in Easthampton. Event starts at 5:30pm, readings begin at 6pm.

Secret Garden: Paintings by Ali Moshiri

Hope & Feathers Framing and Gallery hosts Secret Garden, paintings by Amherst artist Ali Moshiri, from June 1 through July 1.

Oil paintings created between 2010 to 2017, represent various interpretations of nature and the natural world.

Moshiri’s work is based on observations from nature, primarily landscape. His work over the past fifteen years, while still based on these observations, has veered toward abstraction, though he does not see it as such. Moshiri explains: “The ultimate result is that of the paint and the painted surface, in an attempt to capture its own nature with only minor hints or references to anything external to the painting.”  His continued experiments in the expression and abstraction of nature ensure his work is always fresh and vibrant.

An opening reception will be held on Thursday, June 1st, in conjunction with Amherst Arts Night Out, from 5 pm to 8 pm.

About Ali Moshiri:
Born in Iran, Ali Moshiri was educated in England and the US, returning to his native country for medical school. After his residency in Cincinnati, he worked at the Austen Riggs Center in Stockbridge where he met his mentor, Leo Garel, who had been the artist-in-residence and a pioneer in art psychotherapy. After a period of painting on his own, he sought guidance and instruction from Garel, developing a relationship that lasted until Garel’s death in 1999. Moshiri and his family live in Amherst. ww.alimoshiri.com

Image: detail from spring garden coral red“, oil on linen, 31×31”, by Ali Moshiri

Q&A with Ali

How old were you when you created your first artwork?
10 years old when I started oil painting.

How has your style changed over the years?
Moved slowly in 1990’s to abstracted depictions of nature. I go back and forth in different series from pure abstractions to ones with references to the natural elements.

When did you know you wanted to be an artist?
1983. When I went to my teacher to buy a painting for my first house. “$800”. Hell I can do that. Very quickly I became aware that I could not and thus began my serious attempt to try.

Why did you choose your medium?
After several years of larger gouache paintings I moved to oils that I was always drawn to. Love the lushness and the versatility.

What inspires you?
The utter thrill of getting to the point in the painting when IT begins to tell you what to do, and paint and I can abandon most of the initial intent.

Where do you work?
Studio at home. This allows me pop in for minutes to hours.

What is your creative process like? How do you work?
A tempo, color or an effect in nature that I then paint in different ways in my head and come up with a direction that usually leads to a series of 2-20+ paintings.

What do you like about being an artist in the valley?
Surrounded by great nature and other artists.

Which artists do you admire?
Pierre Bonnard, Vuillard, Diebenkorn, Arshile Gorky, Rothko, Howard Hodgkin.

What is your favorite piece that you’ve created?
Maybe the world without us is the real poem: on the opening page of my website: www.alimoshiri.com