The new show at Lacoste/Keane Gallery in Concord, MA features both painting and ceramics—a new approach for the gallery in that it combines both the fine art of painting with (what is sometimes considered) the “lowly” craft of ceramics–and establishes a dialogue between the forms.

The show, entitled “Tim Rowan: Presence: Unifying Presence of Sculpture and Painting” features sculptures by Rowan, a leading ceramic artist in the Northeast, and abstract paintings by internationally-known Bernd Haussman,  whose works were  selected to compliment Rowan’s’ work.

The exhibit, at 25 Main Street in Concord, MA, runs through Dec. 1.

Tim Rowan
According to a gallery press release, “The ceramics elements of the show take visitors into the experience of an object’s presence and show how, by contemplating the materials and processes, the artist becomes ‘present’ with the work.

“Also, this significant new body of work by Rowan uses darker clay body with a darker firing— reflecting on how he sees our turbulent time.

“Among the upright vessels and boxes, a group of the intriguing elliptic forms (see Untitled Vessel VIII, below, left) resemble a capsule, missile or rocket mimicking a futuristic machine.

“The sense of irony is not lost to the artist as he examines the notion of man-made versus technology made works,” the writeup continues.  “What has been a study of technological forms like cogs and turbine in Rowan’s early works has evolved into abstract concepts.

“In Untitled Vessel X with Silver Tips (pictured below, right) a sleek dark grey hollow egg form with silver luster glaze conveys this and the artist’s energy.”

Shown in the gallery since 2000, Rowans work has taken a new direction, according to Gallery co-owner LaiSun Keane.

“In the past, it was the glorification of machine and this show is the critique of it – how one finds meaning in everyday life through man-made works and finding the energy of these objects as they are given in the making process.”

Bernd Haussman

Haussman’s paintings, chosen specifically by Keane and her co-owner Lucy Lacoste to compliment Rowan’s ceramic pieces, are, by and large,  two dimensional.

But, like ceramics, some are highly textured , with clay-like or even “fired” surfaces. Their colors and shapes coordinate with those of nearby ceramic pieces—and establish a dialogue with them.

Also like the ceramic pieces, the paintings show the artist’s process–and express the energy that goes into creating them.

As Haussman explained at the show’s opening on Saturday, November 10, many of his paintings express relationships–establishing dialogues– of colors, shapes and ideas– within themselves.

As artist-in residence at the Board Institute of Harvard and MIT from 2012-2015, Haussmann engaged scientists in a non-verbal dialogue through artistic work called “Dialogues.” He also participates in transatlantic exhibitions such as “KunstTraject langs de Leie”, Belgium, and “Art in Embassies.

Born in Tuebingen, Germany, Haussman has lived in the USA since 1994.

In my own view, the provocative ceramic works and beautifully crafted paintings amount to more than the sum of their parts. The novel combination—or dialogue– of objects and paintings makes a statement on the relationship of fine art to crafts–and to artistic creativity. And it turns the Lacoste Keane exhibition space into a work of art in itself.

At Lacoste/Keane Gallery 25 Main Street • Concord, MA 01742 978.369.0278 • www.lacostekeane.com* through December 1, 2018.

–Anita M. Harris

Anita Harris is a writer and communications consultant based in Cambridge, MA. 
New Cambridge Observer is a publication of the Harris Communications Group, also of Cambridge. 

Lacoste Gallery was founded 28 years ago by Lucy Lacoste with a focus on ceramics. In May, 2018, Lacoste joined forces with LaiSun Keane to form Lacoste/Keane Gallery– marking a new chapter in this gallery’s life. This gallery remains deeply committed to clay as an art medium focusing on showing contemporary, post WWII ceramic artists both established and emerging. In conjunction with its main ceramic shows, the gallery will present a 2-D art focus several times a year to broaden the dialogue between its ceramic works and audience. the gallery also offers for sale functional ceramic works by many well-known potters.

I was horrified by the mass shooting in Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life Synagogue…all the more so against a backdrop of  the current climate of hate in the US.

But I was heartened at the showing of support from the individuals, religious people and politicians who attended or spoke at yesterday’s vigil for the shooting victims, held at the bandshell on the Boston Common.

While, of course, the same sort of thing could happen here–and it did, at the 2013 Boston Marathon–I found solace, for a time, in the eloquence and dedication to human rights–especially of Attorney General Maura Healey, Congressman Joe Kennedy, and State Treasurer Deb Goldberg–and of BU student  Ariel Stein, a Boston University student who has belonged all her life to the Tree of Life Synagogue, where the deadly shootings took place. “It is up to all of us to love,” she said.

I’m sorry to have missed talks by Boston Mayor Marty Walsh and Governor Charlie Baker but as one who is generally skeptical about politicians, I felt very glad to live in a state and city that elects responsible leaders–even if I sometimes don’t agree with them.

(I’ve been sending letters and will canvas to encourage infrequent voters to vote in the mid-term elections–and hope that you will do the same.)

Here’s a link to a video of the entire vigil posted on You-Tube  by Combined Jewish Philanthropies.  

–Anita M. Harris
Anita Harris is a writer and communications consultant based in Cambridge, MA. New Cambridge Observer is a publication of the Harris Communications Group, a content, PR and digital marketing agency, also in Cambridge.

For anyone who loves animals, mythology, feminism, fishing and/or nature, the current exhibit at the Cambridge Art Association is a must-see. Curated by sculptor  Gin Stone,  the show, called “Creature Comforts,”  features the work of  Christine Kyle, Gail Samuelson, Gin Stone, & Daniel Zeese.

As  described by a CAA press release, the show, at the Kathryn Schultz gallery, 21 Lowell Street,  “invites the viewer to enter another environment: a landscape of contrasts, with creatures and beings spotlighted in their native realms. Some are adapted to wetlands, others to an environment unrecognizable to humans.”

On entering the gallery, I was immediately “wowed” by the fantastical, life-sized large animal shapes formed of hard foam covered by various sorts of fishing gear –many of which their creator, Gin explained,  represent mythical gods, showing both beauty and pain. The creatures–with seemingly real fur, teeth, tongues and such– are set in dioramas meant to mimic those of traditional natural history museums.

Gin says: “I am an ardent environmentalist and multimedia artist. I create humane taxidermy (anti-hunting trophies) with recycled material. I use hand dyed reclaimed longline fishing gear as a medium. The material itself is part of the work’s narrative. The local fishing culture is deeply ingrained in the environment I lives in, my studio is on Cape Cod.

Mother’s Milk

“Some of my more experimental work, as personified by the piece “Mother’s Milk – Spilled, “creates chimera and allegorical/mythological creatures. With these pieces, I incorporate a current social commentary by adding spent bullet casings, axes and other found objects to address issues such as toxic patriarchy, violence against women and children and hate crimes.”

Working in a Cape Cod studio, she writes, she is well aware of the traditional fishing community–and that “more recently the science community has come into the arena to help recover retain the health of oceans. There is frequently a clashing between these two groups. By bringing the recovery and recycling of the fishing gear to the artistic arena, I can help put a spotlight on collaboration and creativity, and perhaps a hopeful outlook on the future from everyone involved.”

Christine Kyle’s simple, organic ceramic forms  stand in for “the messiness of life.” A geometric face or window slices through each piece, keeping its attention on the search for certainty.

Their surfaces, made primarily of wax, damar resin and pigment, give each piece its own character. The statures of her creatures range within intimate dimensions. The wall portals are complementary pieces to the creatures. They add the challenge of dimensionality and the view through their portals is inward.

Gail Samuelson’s photos, shot with a large format film camera , display beauty of nature. As she writes,  for example, “old leafless trees reaching towards the sky as new plants begin to grow in the rich decaying matter of upturned stumps. It is perfectly quiet except for the sound of cracking dead wood as I make my way further into the swamp. The predawn fog rises up from the ground, briefly casting its spell. Then in a moment, the sun peaks out over the trees, lighting each leaf and cobweb. Birds begin to sing.”

Daniel Zeese is an artist, designer and educator practicing in Somerville and Boston Massachusetts. His latest work explores populations, belonging, and identity within an urban environment. Inspired by a history of textiles and the domestic objects that we bring into our home to create refuge, Daniel reveals a way to let our minds return to nature while our bodies inhabit the city.

His work investigates what it means to be within civilization while on the edge of the wilderness. Outnumbered, on the fringe of what is accepted in the city, celebrated from a distance, and threatened to exile by the powers of the majority. Daniel reacts to the continuing history of violence within cities against people who, while defining the cultural identity of a place, are often misunderstood, attacked and objectified. Later we experience the outcome, the resulting martyrdom, through the master cultural narrative. This body of work explores, in many mediums, whom it is we choose to mourn and celebrate.

You can learn more about the artists at cambridgeart.org/creature-comforts and at an artists’ talk on  Thursday, October 25, 6:30-8pm

On view at the Kathryn Schultz Gallery • 25 Lowell Street, Cambridge MA 02138
Hours: Tuesday-Saturday, 11am-5pm

–Anita M. Harris

Anita Harris is a writer, photographer and communications consultant based in Cambridge, MA.

New Cambridge Observer is a publication of the Harris Communications Group, also in Cambridge.

When I was growing  up in Albany, my mother, our friend Dorothy and I frequently drove over to the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, in Williamstown, MA, to see the Degas, Renoirs and other European and American works from the museum’s collection.

Clark Institute-Opened in 1955

Over the years, the marble building, which opened in 1955, became increasingly crowded with visitors.

Clark-Center_ReflectingPool_Opened 2014

But recently, the Clark has added more than 2,200 square feet of new gallery space in a fabulous new, light-filled wing called the Clark Center; a library and research center;  and, on a hilltop across the 140 acre campus, the Lunder exhibit center.

This summer,  I viewed woodcuts and large-scale paintings by the American Artist Helen Frankenthaler (1928-2011), and prints by the Spanish artist, Pablo Picasso–all in the Clark’s new buildings.

No Rules: Helen Frankenthaler Woodcuts

No Rules
The woodcut show, “No Rules,” takes its name from a quote from Frankenthaler:

There are no rules, that is one thing I say about every medium, every picture . …that is how art is born, that is how breakthroughs happen. Go against the rules or ignore the rules, that is what invention is about.

As  a Frankenthaler Foundation writeup explains: in 1983, having experimented with lithography, etching and screen printing, Frankenthaler  traveled to Japan to work with the expert woodcarver Reizo Monjyu and the printer Tadashi Toda.

“These efforts resulted in an entirely new, layered approach to color, which differed from traditional forms of woodcut in which images are pulled from a single carved block or from several different color blocks.”In the 1990s and early 2000s,

Japanese Maple, woodcut, 2005

Frankenthaler continued to experiment in woodcuts , working with dyed paper pulp printed with color blocks to create layers of color. For Tales of Genji (1998) and Madame Butterfly (2000), she again collaborated with an expert Japanese carver, printers, and papermakers to produce stunning prints that are considered landmarks in the evolution of the woodcut medium.”

I especially liked her Japanese Maple (above) a 16-color woodcut displaying the deep, vibrant tones of such trees–but no images. 

As in Nature
I found “As in Nature” (twelve large-scale paintings exhibited in the Lunder Center at Stone Hill)  breathtaking: vibrant shapes and colors demonstrating tension between abstract art and nature.

As suggested in a Frankenthaler Foundation press release, Frankenthaler’s work  maintains “a complicated relationship” with traditional landscape painting– showing nature as a joyous respite, despite its unpredictability and even violence.

Many of Frankenthaler’s works of the 1980s and ’90s… feature ‘unsettling contrasts among colors and forms, evoking the drama inherent in nature, beauty and destruction…”

After viewing the paintings, I walked down the road toward the reflecting pool and the Clark Center with heightened awareness of the vibrancy and serenity of the trees, plants, white clouds and blue sky. 

Shifting my gaze from the stunning museum architecture to the vibrant hillside,  I felt  engaged in the synergy of manmade artistic structures and natural ones, each creation highlighting the beauty of the others. 

Picasso/Encounters 

I would be remiss not to mention the fascinating Picasso | Encounters, which “ explores the artist’s interest in and experimentation with large-scale printmaking throughout his career.” The exhibit, in the Clark Center, displays  Picasso’s “evolving techniques, the narrative preoccupations that drove his creativity, the muses who inspired and supported him, and the often-neglected issue of the collaboration inherent in print production.   Showcasing 35 prints and three paintings, the exhibit includes  portraits, portraits and scenes such as “Luncheon on the grass,”  after Manet’s “Dejeuner Sur L’herbe.”   Several of the works bring the viewer perhaps uncomfortably “up close and personal” to the women in Picasso’s life.

According to a Clark writeup, Picasso (Spain, 1881-1973)had a complex relationship with women. He once argued: ‘There are only two types of women—goddesses and doormats.’ Such misogynist statements align with historical understandings of Picasso’s various muses as passive. But for Picasso the relationship was much more complicated; as his goddesses, these muses inspired his art and were the foundation of his family life. While it is perhaps easier to understand these women as servile, they were essential to Picasso’s life and art as collaborators and partners.”

Frankenthaler’s “No Rules” will be on view through September 24; “As In Nature” through October 9, and the Picasso “Encounters” through August 27. See them all if you can.

The Clark’s permanent collection features European and American paintings, sculpture, prints, drawings, photographs, and decorative arts from the Renaissance to the early twentieth century. The collection is especially rich in French Impressionist and Academic paintings, British oil sketches, drawings, and silver.

–Anita M. Harris
Anita Harris is a writer, photographer and communications consultant based in Cambridge, MA.
New Cambridge Observer is a publication of the Harris Communications Group, located in Kendall Square, Cambridge.

Walking into the Lacoste Gallery in Concord, MA I was struck by the  lightness, strength and movement in the work of Shozo Michikawa, a Japanese ceramicist who combines both slab and wheel methods to create pots resembling objects formed by nature.

Michikawa is “inspired by the power and energy of nature in its every form” and the belief that “nature will  ultimately triumph over science and civilizations,” he writes. “The beauty that nature offers as seen in the formation of rocks, mountains, deserts and the seas are unparalleled and conversely natural disasters brought on by tsunamis, earthquakes and erupting volcanoes cannot be underestimated.”

Accordingly, Michikawa throws clay to build block-like formations on a potter’s wheel, and, often, places a stick in the interior of the form and spins the wheel in different directions–thus creating, according to Atlanta’s  Catherine Fox “torqued, spiraling forms and a sense of dynamism.”   The pots, some of which resemble rocks, riverbeds, or other natural formations, may appear to be as unpredictable as forms created by natural forces.

Writing in Artsati, Fox  describes the pots as “irregular in shape, asymmetrical, roughly textured, and deceptively primitive.” She points out that, ” Unlike most ceramists, who center the clay o n the wheel and build up the walls of the vessel with two hands — one on the interior, one on the exterior — Michikawa effects his sculptural forms by working the decentered clay from the inside out, often poking the interior with a stick to get the shape he wants.” After spinning it on the wheel, Michikawa may “cut away at the exterior with a wire to shape the rodlike protrusions, wedges, flaps and origami folds that give his work an earthy tactility.”

Each piece is then faceted and glazed to mimic the effects of nature, according to Lucy Lacoste, the Concord gallery proprietor.”Built on the potter’s wheel and often twisted on an internal axis, ” the works are sculptural yet retain a core of functional pottery.” That functional core is critical, the artist says, because pottery has been so integral to people’s lives in Japan.”.

Shozo Michikawa at Lacoste Gallery, Concord June 4, 2017

Michikawa was born on the Island of  Hokkaido, the most northern area of Japan, in 1953. After graduating from Aoyama Gakuin University in 1975, he worked in business until evening classes “gave him a passion for clay,” according to a gallery writeup.  Ultimately, he settled in Seto,  one of the sites of the six ancient kilns in Japan.   His exhibitions are held widely in Japan and also internationally, such as Philippines, Mongolia, France, USA, and UK.
“Michikawa’s is a unique talent based on his personal expression of pottery as an art form, Lacoste says.  “His voice is contemporary and poetic. ”

 At  the Lacoste Gallery, 25 Main Street
Concord, MA until June 28, 2917.

–Anita M. Harris

Anita Harris is a Cambridge writer, photographer and communications consultant based Cambridge, MA.
New Cambridge Observer is a publication of the Harris Communications Group, also located in Cambridge.

Darcy Badali, Lacoste Opening

Earlier this month,  I much enjoyed the opening of  Lacoste Gallery’s current exhibit, “The Transcendent Vessel,” which features astonishingly-large thrown stoneware vessels by California ceramicist Darcy Badiali.

I especially liked the delicacy of his works, which, in some cases, resemble giant eggshells. Other pieces, he explains, “are reminiscent of plants, stones coral and other objects found in nature, ” with surfaces that look or feel like elephant skin or craters.  While the forms have their origin in function, ” he adds, “the scale lends itself to sculptural issues of space.

Darcy and Tracy Badiali, and assistant

Badiali’s works are included in the permanent collections of Sam and Alfreda Maloof Foundation for the Arts, Alta Loma, CA, American Museum of Ceramic Art, Los Angeles, CA, Kathryn H. Herberger Museum, Tempe, AZ, Daum Museum of Art, Sedalia, MO, Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, Overland Park, KS, Kansas City Art Institute, Kansas City, MO, Archie Bray Foundation, Helena, MT, and in Shigaraki, Japan in the Shiro Otani Collection. 

At the Lacoste Gallery in Concord MA through May 27. 

—Anita M. Harris
Anita Harris is a writer and photographer based in Cambridge, MA.

New Cambridge Observer is a publication of the Harris Communications Group, also in Cambridge.

Yesterday, I was privileged to view a remarkable documentary film shown at the Griffin Museum of Photography. As a  photographer/artist and writer, I sometimes wonder if there’s a point to all of the time and energy I put into my crafts. The film, called “A Single Frame,” produced by  Austin businessman and filmmaker Jeff Bowden, makes clear that one can never know the tremendous impact a work of art may ultimately have.

While on a family  trip to Dubrovnik in 2007, Bowden’s daughter  suggests going to an exhibit showing the work of female war photographers. Bowden is much taken with a photograph of a refugee boy taken during the war in Kosovo by  a young French photographer, Alexandra Boulat.

Driven by the  haunting image, Bowden sets out to find the child–who, if still alive would have been in his twenties or early thirties. Bowden’s search takes him from Texas to Paris, where he learns that Boulat passed away due to natural causes not long after the war. He tracks down a group of photographers she worked with, and, in conversations with them and others who were impacted by the war, learns of the devastation it caused, and of the post-war culture of the Balkans. Joining  forces with an experienced war-time fixer, he embarks on a search for the boy.

Rather than give away the outcome of the search, I’ll just say that  A Single Frame, released in 2015,   humanizes and educates distant audiences about the origins and impacts of the cruel war that lasted from 5 March 1998^[8] until 11 June 1999 in the former Yugoslavia. (As described on Wikipedia, the war was fought by the forces of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (by this time, consisting of the Republics of Montenegro and Serbia), which controlled Kosovo before the war, and the Kosovo Albanian rebel group known as the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), with air support from the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) and ground support from the Albanian army). Effective in multiple dimensions, the film shows that one never knows where a  work of art might lead, whom it might affect, and how its spirit might live on to inform, influence and inspire future generations. Bravo!

–Anita M. Harris

Link to trailer 

New Cambridge Observer is a publication of the Harris Communications Group, in Cambridge, MA.

Much enjoyed last week’s opening of the Koch Institute’s 2017 Image Awards Exhibition. The exhibit, dubbed “with/in/sight”  includes 10 scientific images chosen as best-in-class from among some 120 entries from MIT life scientists and their collaborators across the country–and one from Ireland.

The display, in the public galleries at the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, is the Koch’s seventh in as many years. Its goal is to celebrate “the diversity of biomedical research at MIT and offers insight into the important role that science and engineering play in our complex and ever-changing world,” according to a Koch brochure.

The images are printed on t-shirt material stretched across frames back lit with LEDs. They are striking artwork in themselves– and showcase some of the most exciting work under way in the cancer research arena.

“Making Waves: Delivery for Ageless Skin.” Koch Institute, Harvard University, Mass General Hospital.

“Making Waves” conveys research on non-invasive sound waves that carry genetic material through protective layers of skin, transferring genes to cells whose genetic clocks have been turned back by the nucleic acids they have received– in order to reverse skin-aging. Credits go to Carl Schoellhammer, Denitsa Milanova, Hamberto Trevino, Cody Cleveland, Jeffrey Wyckoff, Anna Mandinova, Giovanni Traverso, Robert Langer, and George Church.

Whithead Institute: Snap Chat: A Flatworm Creates a New Profile

At the Whitehead Institute, Samuel LoCascio, Kutay Deniz Atabay and Peter Reddien are studying planarian flatworms to learn more about how they regerate. Each color in their image represents a different layer of neurons in the flatworm’s head.

Downstream Dreams: Investigating Melanoma in a Zebrafish: Koch Institute, MIT

Dahlia Perez and Jacqueline A. Lees are studying zebrafish to provide insight into melanoma. This image shows the organization of zebrafish cells in their normal state. Next, biologists will mutate a single gene known to initiate a certain melanoma in order to determine its “downstream” effects.

Center: “Minding the Gap: Studying the Tumor Extracellular Matrix,” Koch Institute

Tumor Penetrating Nanoparticles Infiltrate Cancer Cells, Koch Institute

Steffen RIckelt and Richard Hynes of the Koch Institute are studying not the clusters of brownish colon cancer metasteses shown in the image, screen, but, rather, the “seeming neutral” tissue matrix around them. The goal is determine how the matrix impacts the progression of tumor cells navigating a complex network of cells and proteins.

Langliang Hao, Srivatsan Raghavan, Emilia Pulver, Jeffrey Wyckoff and Sangeeta Bhatia of the Koch Institute are using  biocompatible nanoparticles (yellow) to target and penetrate clusters of cancer cells (pink) with the goal of delivering treatment.

Body of Knowledge: Self-Organized Brain Cells, MIT Department of Biological Engineering and Koch Institute at MIT.

Colin Edington, Iris Lee and Linda Griffith of MIT are involved in the Griffith lab’s “Human on a Chip,” project, in which many different”mini organs”, developed from stem cells in matrix, are linked together in a bioreactor platform. The researchers are studying interactions of multiple organs and the cross between them in order to develop new disease treatments. Shown here are neurons (green) and astrocytes (red).

Microfluidics for the Masses, Measuring Cell Growth Rates, Koch Institute

Selim Olcum, Nathan Cermak and Scott Manalis are using microfluidics to measure the response of cell masses to drugs. Their image shows fluid filled channels (bottom) connected to tiny mass sensors shaped like hollow diving boards (top); the sensors’ whose  vibrations precisely reveal the mass of individual cells passing through them. As treated cells flow across the array of sensors, each cell is weighed multiple times, thereby revealing how quickly the mass of individual cells is changing. Researchers are beginning to use this method to predict optimal treatment strategies for individual patients.

Hashtag No Filter,: Visualizing Breast Cancer Conversations. Royal COllege of Surgeons in Ireland and Wellcome Images.

My favorite image does not show cells, nor was it submitted by an MIT lab. Rather, it visualizes twitter conversations about breast cancer carried out by a network of connected cancer patients and their loved ones, patient advocates, health care professionals, and researchers. The image, by Erie Clarke, Richard Arnett and Jane Burns of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland,  represents 92, 915 tweets posted over an eight-week period. It is from the Wellcome Images collection.

Other images not included here display pathways taken by metatastic lung cancer cells over time and  ovarian cancer cells as they break through the abdominal wall.

I’m the first to admit that these photos do not do justice to the real images–nor do they adequately convey the amazing convergent technologies –including imaging–used to carry out the research.

The gallery,  at street level in the Koch Institute, 500 Main Street, in Cambridge, is open to the public at no charge from 8-6 Monday-Thursday, and until 4 pm on Friday. The images are also visible from the sidewalk, outside.

Through March 2018.

Anita Harris is a writer, photographer and communications consultant based in Cambridge, MA.
New Cambridge Observer is a publication of the Harris Communications Group, an award-winning PR and market development firm located in Kendall Square, Cambridge.