Curator’s Notes: Jenn Harrington
Resa Blatman’s “The Flowering”, “Fowlmere Mockingbird”, and “Sophisticated Black-Crowned Heron” are in “PICNIC” at the Nave Gallery Annex in Davis Square. These oil on hand-cut Mylar or panel, a botany of butterflies and bats floating through flora, emanate the perfume of a summer’s day— more than the inhalation of fragrance, it’s the absorption of an aroma on your skin. With an MFA in Painting from Boston University, Resa currently has a solo exhibition on view at Tufts University and has been honored with numerous awards, grants, and fellowships for her work. http://www.resablatman.
Sarah Meyers Brent’s “Hanging Plant,” “Overgrown Canvas II,” and “Overgrown Canvas IV” are in “PICNIC” at the Nave Gallery Annex in Davis Square. Mixing acrylic with organic materials this work possesses then climbs off the canvas, the idea of paint living growing on to the viewer. With an MFA in Painting from the University of New Hampshire, Sarah has shown work at Danforth Art Museum, Mount Ida College Gallery, Worcester State Art Gallery, Bromfield Gallery, among others.http://www.sarahartist.
Charles Daniels’s “Untitled (Wendy #1)” and “Untitled (Wendy #2)” are in “PICNIC” at the Nave Gallery Annex in Davis Square. These phosphorescent photographs on aluminum radiate a celestial scene of dancer’s bodies entwined within tree limbs. Charles—known also as the “Master Blaster,” former emcee from the infamous Boston Tea Party, where Zeppelin once played—has an empire of work spanning from fashion and music to dance, performance, and everything in between.http://www.
Brooke Mullins Doherty’s “Sprouts” is in “PICNIC” at the Nave Gallery Annex in Davis Square. This bronze, copper, and acrylic sculpture is abundant with the promise of prosperity—three bronze buds hold ground, copper threads coil upwards, their very shadows bearing the reproduction of growth. With an MFA in Sculpture from University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, Brooke has most recently shown at the Fuller Craft Museum, Colo Colo Gallery, Czurles-Nelson Gallery, and Six Summit Gallery.http://www.
Adam Gooder’s “Cosmo Core”, “Tulip Petals”, and “Alstroemeria X-Ray” are in “PICNIC” at the Nave Gallery Annex in Davis Square. These silver gelatin fiber lith prints capture petal and seed, even the fine dust lying upon them—and with this intense focus on one flower’s core, the enormity of the universe is seized. With an MFA from the Art Institute of Boston, Adam has most recently shown at Edwards Art Gallery, Biogen Lobby Gallery, and FourthWall Projects. http://www.
Brett Henrikson’s “Crack in the Sidewalk”, “Side of the Road”, “Cut From a Neighbor’s Garden”, and “Underneath the Peach Tree” from the Life in the Dark series are in “PICNIC” at the Nave Gallery Annex in Davis Square. These traditional 1/1 C-prints of flora marked by hyper-light are magnified to the grain—these are not phantoms floating in the night, mere afterimages, this is the work of the prisoner’s cinema. A graduate of the Rhode Island School Of Design, Brett has shown work at the Woods Gerry Gallery, the Vermont Center for Photography, and the Newspace Center for Photography, among others.http://www.
Zach Horn’s “Tip Toes” is in “PICNIC” at the Nave Gallery Annex in Davis Square. This acrylic on canvas is the tryst of form and flight, fiery bursts of color and insistent textures colliding with an amour for energy. With an MFA in Painting from Boston University, Zach has most recently shown at Gallery Benoit, The Painting Center in New York, Gibson House Museum, and 808 Gallery. http://www.
Four of Marja Lianko’s pieces from the “Koivu” series are in “PICNIC” at the Nave Gallery Annex in Davis Square. This series, meaning “birch,” binds plaster, paper, acrylic, and mixed media to create intricate works that transport the viewer to another time, another place. Marja’s work has been shown at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the De Cordova Museum, the Fuller Museum, and The Fogg Museum, among others. http://www.
Julie Martini’s “Untitled I” and “Untitled II” from the Blooms series are in “PICNIC” at the Nave Gallery Annex in Davis Square. Using paper as a petri dish, the acrylic and gouache expands into magnified cellular entities allowing you to observe the essence of vitality. An MFA graduate of the Massachusetts College of Art & Design, Julie has had work featured in numerous exhibits, including the Design Science Symposium at the Rhode Island School of Design as well as at Massachusetts College of Art and Design and Brickbottom Gallery. She has received residencies at the Petrified National Forest, the Women’s Studio Workshop, and the Vermont Studio Center. http://www.
Four of Laura Miner’s C-prints from her “Dawn” series are in “PICNIC” at the Nave Gallery Annex in Davis Square. Plastic plants and a computer-generated sky soothe you with uncertainty into a fabricated world that is so starkly beautiful, you’ll want to thrive in the lie. A BFA graduate of the Massachusetts College of Art and Design and a member of Boston photographers collective, C.R.I.T., Laura has had work displayed at the Boston Public Library, MassArt, and Spectacle, among others.
http://www.themta.com/
http://camerarecordsintime.
http://www.themta.com/
http://camerarecordsintime.
Cathy Moynihan’s “Sprouting Bulbs” and two pieces from the Aviary series are in “PICNIC” at the Nave Gallery Annex in Davis Square. These ceramic works invite touch—the grace in form and the fiber of each surface makes these objects so fertile for intimacy, they stir a desire to tend to them. With a B.A. in Fine Art from Messiah College, Cathy has studied sculpture at the Appalachian Center for Crafts and received her Art Education Certification from Massachusetts College of Art. She currently works as a full-time artist in Boston. http://www.
Liz Nofziger’s “Home” is in “PICNIC” at the Nave Gallery Annex in Davis Square. This video/audio installation can be viewed from a variety of perspectives: as an outsider, looking into the building’s front window as if beholding a memory; or peering at the scene through one of the room’s doorways; or sitting within the piece itself. In fact, “Home” encourages you to experience each view, to tip-toe around the idea until you are soothed by the sound of crickets enough to perch on the glider, then stretch your limbs out, close your eyes, and feel the sun. This is a day before the dog days of summer, a day where you still keep your loved ones close, a day where everything lives in a hum, a day when it all feels like a dream. A recipient of a LEF Foundation Contemporary Work Fund grant and an AICA Award, among others, Liz’s work has been shown at the DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park and world-wide. http://www.
“…between the lines, a dream is hiding…”—a collaborative video of Anne Siems’s paintings animated by Robert Campbell—is in “PICNIC” at the Nave Gallery Annex in Davis Square. Faces perched on gossamer bodies; birds and branch replacing organs and spine; snails crawling out of mouths—these are images typically reserved for nightmares, but there is tranquility here: these are the rodents who bring you blossoms; these are the birds feeding from your lips; these are the butterflies who will bring us home. With an MFA at the Hochschule der Kunste Berlin, Anne has shown her work extensively in galleries and museums throughout the United States as well as Germany.
http://vimeo.com/12207473
http://www.annesiems.com
http://vimeo.com/12207473
http://www.annesiems.com
Sophia Sobers’s “Abandoned Nature” is in “PICNIC” at the Nave Gallery Annex in Davis Square. This installation of molded polymer clay aflush in the gallery’s kitchen sink flourishes in a state of ethereal transformation. An MFA student in Digital + Media at Rhode Island School of Design, Sophia’s work has been presented at the SIGGRAPH International Conference and Exhibition for Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques and has shown in Providence, RI at Brown University and the Sol Koffler Gallery, among others. www.sophiasobers.net
Jesse Stansfield’s “Oh hello #deer. #Montana” is in “PICNIC” at the Nave Gallery Annex in Davis Square. Unframed, this archival pigment print on fiber paper could fit in your front pocket with ease, but the work is so precious—each tiny tuft of grass, every small spot on hide, one minute detail after another remarkably culled for petite portraiture—your only choice would be to protect it in the palm of your hand. One of four selected from his series PRICE(LESS), these prints will increased or decreased in price as admirers downloaded free digital copies during the exhibit. An MFA student at The Art Institute of Boston, Jesse has most recently shown his work at the Sixth Annual International Juried Plastic Camera Show and at Alter Ego II at the Nave. http://www.
Neil Wyatt’s “Cosmic Hornes”, “Daisies of Nirvana”, “Earthling Bulbs”, “Meteor Marigolds”, “Oranginas”, “Scarlet Poppers”, and “Tree of Joy” are in “PICNIC” at the Nave Gallery Annex in Davis Square. These oil and acrylic on canvas pull out the elements of petals, leveling their depth and reviving them with vivid color, marbled patters, and bold arrangements to create a new authenticity. With a studio at Atlantic Works in East Boston, Neil has shown throughout New England and the U.K., including the National Museum of Wales, the Rotunda Gallery at Hynes Convention Center, among others. http://www.neilwyatt.
