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David Hyde Costello: Real Life Imaginary Friends
Feb 14, 2019
March 7th to 30th
A show of small watercolors featuring charming and lovable animal characters from the imagination of picture book author and illustrator David Hyde Costello. These adorable paintings appeal to all ages. Come by and find a new imaginary friend!
David explains, “My hope with each painting is to give someone a reason to smile, to lighten their burden for a moment, and, with humor, to reflect back at them the best parts of human character. It’s a lot to ask of cute cartoon animals, but I believe in them – and I hope you will, too.”
A reception will be held on Thursday, March 7th, during Amherst Arts Night Plus, 5-8pm. David will be sketching in the gallery on Saturday, March 16th, 1-3:30pm. Come by and ask him to sketch your imaginary friend!
A coloring zine featuring drawings by David will be for sale for the duration of the show.
Opening Reception: Thursday, March 7th, 5-8pm, during Amherst Arts Night Plus.
Meet the Artist: Saturday, March 16th, 1-3:30pm – David will be sketching in the gallery.
About David Hyde Costello:
David is the author and illustrator of HERE THEY COME, I CAN HELP, LITTLE PIG JOINS THE BAND, and LITTLE PIG SAVES THE SHIP. He is the illustrator of A CROW OF HIS OWN by Megan Down Lambert. He created the cover illustration for SHELLY AND THE SECRET UNIVERSE, a book which exists only in the Wes Anderson film Moonrise Kingdom. With a background in theater as well as visual arts, David has painted scenery for plays and motion pictures including Amistad, Spider-man (2002), The Fighter, and The Heat. In his own studio, David’s work is divided between children’s books and the design and construction of puppets. He is also a ukulele player, “self-taught through the productive use of procrastination.” David lives in Amherst.
Jon Crispin: American Demographics
Aug 20, 2018
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
Natalie & Sue Kassirer: The Heart & The Harrows
Aug 13, 2018
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.