October 7 - November 4 2013

Architexture

Opening Reception: Friday, October 18st, 6-9 pm.

Susan Bernstein

Ubuntu

Ubuntu refers to the South African principle of interconnectedness. Desmond tutu said: One of the sayings in our country is Ubuntu – the essence of being human. Ubuntu speaks particularly about the fact that you can’t exist as a human being in isolation. It speaks about our interconnectedness. You can’t be human all by yourself, and when you have this quality – Ubuntu – you are known for your generosity. We think of ourselves far too frequently as just individuals, separated from one another, whereas you are connected and what you do affects the whole World. When you do well, it spreads out; it is for the whole of humanity.

Often people think of galleries as a places to view finished works of art, created by someone else. I am offering work that invites the viewer to get actively involved, to bring their own investigation and curiosity, so that the process of creating can remain ongoing and alive.

My most productive moments in creative process arise when I am relaxed and willing to surrender any fixed idea of where things are going. I am looking, wondering, trying things out, asking myself, if I shift this part, what happens? There is a feeling of seamless interplay between the hands, head and heart.

I have often wished I could touch the artwork in galleries and museums. This piece is designed to be touched, turned and shifted in any number of possibilities. There are multiple variations of patterns, color and texture. The shadow shaping that light brings, and the breathing space inside and between each panel, come into play as well. As soon as you get hands on the clay panels, all the alterations become yours to explore and experience.

Susan is a resident artist and teacher at Mudflat Studios in Somerville MA.

Debbie Nadolney

X-ing

The X-ing drawings and collages are, in a sense, a by-product of subconscious thought while doing crossword puzzles. They began as throw away drawings that unintentionally became significant. Once mindless scribblings, they oddly became a liberating project that created an opening for more intended drawings and constructions.

Debbie Nadolney was born in NYC in 1957. She moved to Boston in 1975 to attend the Museum School, the Art Institute of Boston, and in 1982 received a BFA from Massachusetts College of Art with honors in painting. During the 21 years spent in Boston she played in bands such as Lunch and High Risk Group, participated in numerous exhibitions, and co-founded the Causeway Visual and Performing Artists. For a period of two years, she acted as curator of the JP Art Market Gallery.

In January of 2012, Debbie moved to Provincetown from NYC to launch a ‘live’ gallery space called AMP. Website & Website.

Aysen Orhon

Sub-trac-tion, & |+ 14inches Gallery|

Subtraction is the inverse of addition, meaning that if we start with any number and add any number and then subtract the same number we added, we return to the number we started with. It is often useful to view or even define subtraction as a kind of addition, the addition of the additive inverse.

An American artist of Turkish descent, Aysen Orhon studied fine arts in Istanbul. She abandoned a promising career as a graphic designer in 2000 to become a full-time artist. Currently she lives and works in New England. Website.

Sara Overton

Stillness & Space

One of the things I love most about art-making is how quiet and still you can become. It’s just you, the object, the stillness – no in between. For me, my work succeeds when someone looking at it also shares that experience of just being with, that sense of quiet, openness and stillness. My work includes painting, drawing and constructions. It is often abstract and inspired by particular materials.

Sara Overton’s work was selected for the Center on Contemporary Art Annual Exhibition in Seattle in 2011. She resides in NYC, and holds a B.A. from Kenyon College and a degree from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism. Website.

Eileen Taylor

A Matter of Record

Drawing inspiration from architecture, philosophy and religious iconography, My work is influenced by written and spoken words linked by ideas, cultures and current events. A benign conversation, observations of street events, changes in an urban landscape begin explorations of the world we share where small movements alter lives forever.

Recent work explores the residential real estate market. Americans embrace the notion that owning a home is the path to stability, a measure of success. A colossal greed driven market, foreclosure, frenzy buying and complex financing changes are impossible for an average person to comprehend. My work explores individual decisions when acting on the desire to own a home vs. effects from the larger market.

Eileen Taylor is a Boston area artist working in a variety media over the past 30 years. Most recently she has been working with digital printmaking. She is a real estate broker and appraiser working the Boston market for 25 years and the founder of OGO Gallery, an attempt to combine her passion for art and her job in real estate.

Laura Wulf

Etched Photograms

This work reconciles the technology and the mediated experience of making a photograph with the tactility and the immediacy of making a drawing. First, in the darkroom, I expose the paper multiple times, as a photogram, without the use of a negative. Then, back in the studio, I scratch with a sharp tool or sandpaper directly into the emulsion of the paper.

I was involved with photography long before I began to draw, but when I encountered drawing I discovered a new kind of engagement with, and understanding of, the creative process. The work explores the color potential of chromogenic photo paper, the serendipity of a dark room and mark-making on an unforgiving surface. Each piece is unique and expands the notion of what a photograph can be-not simply a reproduction of something that already exists but an object in and of itself, something completely new.

Originally from NYC, Laura Wulf has lived in Boston since 1986. She received her BFA from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in 1996. Her work has recently been exhibited at the Hallway Gallery in Jamaica Plain and 13Forest Gallery in Arlington. Website.