Sunday, March 25, 2012

Boston Sculptors at UMass Lowell

BOSTON SCULPTORS CELEBRATES ITS 20TH ANNIVERSARY April 2 - 26

Curated by Univ. MA Lowell (UML) professor Ellen Wetmore

Installation assistance by UML professor Jim Coates

Artist Reception and Gallery Talk with Gillian Christy: April 4, 5 - 7 pm

A Conversation with Nancy Selvage: April 23, 3-4:30 in O’Leary 222

Outdoor Exhibition continues through June 30
.
Lowell MA: The University Gallery at UMass Lowell is pleased to present a group exhibition of work by the Boston Sculptors. This exhibition highlights the variety of approaches to sculpture explored by 30 of the members and features an eclectic examination of materials and processes. The show includes works installed in the gallery and outdoors in the adjacent quad area. The Boston Sculptors is an artists’ cooperative whose founding members recognized in 1992 that there was a shortage of exhibition opportunities for sculpture in the Boston area. They set about to create more opportunities, in exhibition spaces, public galleries and in public art. What began as a series of conversations over dinner has, twenty years later, yielded two successful commercial galleries and numerous critically acclaimed shows.

Representative works from Massachusetts Cultural Council award-winning artists Laura Baring-Gould, Rosalyn Driscoll, Beth Galston, Mags Harries, Sarah Hutt, and Julia Shepley will be included as well as important works by B. Amore, Caroline Bagenal, Kim Bernard, Benjamin Cariens, Gillian Christy, Murray Dewart, Donna Dodson, Laura Evans, Sally S. Fine, Peter DeCamp Haines, Ken Hruby, David Lang, Michelle Lougee, Joyce McDaniels, Nancy Selvage, Jessica Straus, Marilu Swett, Dan Wills and Andy Zimmermann. Outdoor works are on view through June 30th and include work by Andy Moerlein, Margaret Swan, Hannah Verlin, Joseph Wheelwright and Leslie Wilcox. This show is offered in conjunction with the yearlong activities throughout New England to celebrate the group’s twentieth anniversary.

Curator Ellen Wetmore is an established artist who has been a member of the Boston Sculptors Group for over eight years. She works with a variety of materials and media, including sculpture, video, sound art, and interactive environments. Ellen joined the UML Art Department faculty in 2008 and teaches foundation courses.

Jim Coates has taught sculpture at UML for over 30 years. He’s an established artist whose site-specific work revolves around an interest in shelter forms (primitive, modern and contemporary) and their ephemeral relationship to the natural environment.

The Dugan Gallery in Dugan Hall hosts a coinciding companion exhibition of sculpture by the B.F.A. students enrolled in the Spring 2012 Sculpture class working under the direction of Prof. Coates.

The University Gallery at UMass Lowell is coordinated by the Art Department and funded by the College of Fine Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences. Funding for the outdoor exhibition provided by the Lowell Cultural Council, a local agency, which is supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency. Additional funding provided by the Office of the Provost at UMass Lowell. All events are free, open to the public & handicapped accessible. Gallery Hours: Mon. – Thurs. 10 am - 7:30 pm, Fri. 11 am – 4 pm, Sat. by appt

Image: Tiger Frog, 25" tall, wood, paint 2006 by Donna Dodson

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