Aaron Brodeur

www.lisabarthelson.com

For much of the past 15 years, my work has focused on ‘the family debris series’, first conceived in response to my effort to purge our excessive accumulation of unwanted stuff as our three children grew and moved on. By repurposing the persistent byproducts of our consumerism and recycling my obsolete artwork, I challenge myself to create sustainable printmaking, mixed media, sculpture and installation art.

I work in an improvisational way. I look at, listen to and build with diverse materials, considering their color, form, texture, scale and history. The resulting work is often composed chaos layered with meaning. From toys, to plastic items and cardboard packaging, the familiarly varied components are reminders of how much detritus is generated by each of us, and how it never truly disappears. My work explores the question: can we reuse it all? Can we find joy or purpose in the results of a transformation that ideally keeps this stuff out of a landfill or incinerator? It must go somewhere. In my case, our debris becomes art. The work is a record of how we’ve lived and an embodiment of metamorphosis, offering an often humorous public wake up call to pause and consider our individual environmental footprint, and to follow the mantra: waste not, want not.

Lisa Barthelson grew up in a family of artists and has been making art since childhood. Her work is inspired by a reverence for the natural environment, and the drive for sustainability through re-imagining and re-purposing of the byproducts of family living excess. Barthelson has exhibited throughout New England and New York. Her mixed media, printmaking, sculpture and installation work have been featured in curated exhibitions of contemporary art at the Fitchburg Art Museum, the Newport Art Museum and the Danforth Art Museum. The site specific sculpture: ’hangling’ was purchased by the Newport Art Museum for their Permanent Collection. Commissions include site specific wall sculptures for Kronos. Inc. and Worcester State University. Artist-in-residence fellowships have been awarded by Vermont Studio Center VT, Playa OR, The Kimmel Harding Nelson Arts Center NE and Monson Arts ME. Barthelson works from her studio in Worcester, and from her home in Rutland MA. Barthelson was recently awarded a Material Needs Grant by ArtsWorcester and a Finalist Artist Fellowship Grant in Drawing & Printmaking for FY22, by the Mass Cultural Council.

www.aaronbrodeurart.com

My artistic practice is reflective of the historical concept of the Wunderkammer, or "cabinet of curiosities'', as it mirrors my vast assortment of interests and inspirations. Those wondrous rooms were characterized by the eclectic and seemingly disparate nature of their contents, encompassing natural wonders, scientific marvels, exotic artifacts, and artistic creations. I find resonance with the idea of the Wunderkammer as a repository for the accumulation of diverse subjects and dissimilar objects. My vision is to capture the mysterious spirit of the Wunderkammer and implement my own categorical constituents as I assemble my overarching body of work.

Stemming inwardly, the essential categories that I deem necessary to include are pulled from the subjects and life experiences that have synthesized into my personal identity. My fundamental philosophy towards creating art revolves around embracing diversity within my practice and producing series of works that are open-ended and expandable. Each series isolates and addresses distinct content or subjects, subsets that coalesce into a greater whole, divulging my artistic point of view. Thus, I work in a multifaceted way, unrestricted to convention, but generally defined by paintings, sculptures and drawings, and employing modes of abstraction, representation, and formalism.

Foremost among these vital ingredients is the duty to engage with my adoration for the rich history and legacy of art itself and the foundation that it provides. Beyond that, other characteristics of my work should adopt the unusual, peculiar or enigmatic. Nostalgia serves as another pillar, as I endeavor to capture the essence of memory and longing. Lastly are celebrations of what brings joy and pleasure to life’s experience, content that outwardly commemorates what I connect with. These associations are drawn from a myriad of sources such as pop culture, folklore, mythology, fantasy, movies, folk and tribal art, ancient civilizations, monsters and cryptozoology, the supernatural, and the ever-evolving content that piques curiosity.

My wunderkammer is a living archive of my personality, a sanctuary where the extraordinary and the everyday coexist, preserving the chronicles of a curious life.

Aaron, born 1983, has exhibited in galleries and institutions throughout Massachusetts, and is an Associate Artist of Boston Sculptors Gallery. He lives and works at his home setback in the woods along the Nemasket River in Middleboro, MA. He received his BFA from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth in 2009.

www.kingchrisgstudios.com

Chris King is a reuse artist practicing knotting and rope making using fishing gear and fabric scraps recovered from the ocean and mattress factory where he works. He gleans felled or discarded wood and tree branches through keen observation of nature and his neighborhood. His art is often found at the Worcester Sprinkler Factory Gallery and in Arts Worcester juried and member shows.

Raw material for this work was generously supplied from the extensive tailoring scrap collection of Stevie Leigh.

www.virginiamahoneyart.com

Scanning the undertow of human interactions, this work examines the disparity between surface appearances and underlying consequences. The specter-like forms, which evolved out of crushed and reclaimed old work, elicit the sensations and subtexts of the corporeal, layered complexity of human experience. Their presence is an enigma, both assertive and ambiguous, probing autobiographical stories and questioning accepted perspectives, as their hand-stitched words and phrases twist and question the labels we use to describe who we are, what we do, what we believe.

I have been working with body-related forms for a very long time. The two works in this show are from a new series developed over the past year, when I decided to finally use the mass of disassembled and crushed old work that I’d been holding on to for awhile. The old work (the past that is always a part of who we are) was re-formed and became the foundation of new pieces. These specter-like objects emerged as I let the work find its way. Titles presented themselves as the work evolved, between slow and intense handwork, thought, and endless word lists.

All materials come from what I already have in the studio—the old work providing the structure, and the fabrics, ribbons, etc., retrieved from my reservoir of materials including deconstructed clothing, scraps, tablecloths and curtains. The series continues my focus on the undercurrents of human interaction and societal expectations: in politics, current events, and social norms or practices.

Virginia Mahoney holds an MFA in Ceramics from Cranbrook Academy of Art (MI) and a BA in Art with High Honors from the University of Florida. She was a Core Fellow at Penland School of Craft (NC). Mahoney was a Bromfield Gallery Solo 2022 Competition winner and has shown in juried and invitational exhibits both regionally and nationally. She has been published in Artscope Magazine and online magazines Hyperallergic, Boston Voyager and WBURArtery. Her work is in private collections and the Lancaster Art Museum (PA). She is a Core Member of Fountain Street Gallery in Boston, and makes work at her home studio in Brockton, MA.

www.rebeccamcgeetuck.com

Wrack Line- A trail of debris left on the beach by the high tide.

I began walking the wrack line as a kid with my father—attracted to the sea glass and shells like a perpetual seaside treasure hunt. I learned in time that the real treasures were not always as conspicuous. The random debris that washed ashore after spending ages enduring the ocean’s churn and grasp held more mystery for me. Foraging at the high tide water mark has metamorphosed into my passion and catalyst for my work.

Fishing lines, rope, lobster cages and other marine debris are colorful, full of texture and ready made to be woven into my assemblage fiber sculpture. But with each bag of jetsam collected, I felt the precarious weight of the impact of marine debris on our ocean. it a times overwhelmed me and it became clear that I need to take a more active role in the ocean’s protection.

“Along the Wrack-line” is the title I have given to my ongoing series of sculpture. With this work I raise awareness to the constant misuse of the ocean’s ecosystem by transforming pieces of marine debris into works of art and symbols of hope calling attention to the consequences of polluting our oceans and encouraging a new commitment to action!

Rebecca McGee Tuck is a found object fiber sculptor and an ocean activist based outside of Boston, MA. Rebecca received her BFA from MassArt in 2019. Her work is a visual narrative of what she accumulates from a throwaway society, and as a result, she gives new life to what others discard. Tuck has shown her work in multiple juried shows throughout the Northeast, including the Danforth and Fitchburg Art Museums, Viridian Arts Gallery in New York City, the PEG Center for Art and Activism, and the George Marshall Store Gallery in York, Maine. She has been invited to become a 2023-2004 Associate Member of the Boston Sculptors Gallery in Boston. Her series of work called "Along the Wrack Line" deals with the overwhelming amount of debris and plastic trash that contaminates our local New England beaches. Tuck works among her menagerie of debris from her studio at the Mill Contemporary Art Studios in Framingham, MA.

www.derricktepaske.com

During my many years as a university professor of media studies, I was primarily concerned with theoretical principles and digital methods. In purposeful contrast, my art has always involved wood and other tangible materials, employs tools and processes which are decidedly low tech, and results in unique and very physical objects.

If that sometimes appears to represent what I call “inefficiency in the pursuit of the unnecessary,” it’s a happily embraced perspective and an act of quiet defiance. Some of my pleasure, though, is surely that it makes me feel connected with ancient artists and artisans–-across cultures and throughout the world—who routinely made things which were more carefully crafted and beautiful than they really needed to be. I find joy and a sort of reverence in being part of that continuum.

As a thumbnail statement: “I have always been interested in classical forms, the ancient, the so called primitive, and the strange.”

Derrick Te Paske has exhibited his work throughout New England, ranging from his local Belmont Gallery of Art to two Biennials at the Fuller Craft Museum, and the Peabody Essex Museum’s 2015 Audacious: The Fine Art of Wood.

Since his retirement from academia in 2020, he has participated in 38 juried exhibitions, including Concord Arts, Boston Sculptors Gallery, Cambridge Art Association, and Arts Worcester, along with three (open, invitational, and national) at the Attleboro Arts Museum. Last year, the list included the Newport Art Museum’s Biennial; VARIATIONS (centennial national exhibit) at the Marblehead Art Association; Boston Society of Arts and Crafts; Concord Arts; and the Duxbury Art Complex Winter Juried Show (first place for sculpture).

Thus far in 2023, he has shown work with the New England Sculptors Association; the Concord Arts Members Juried Show (painting and sculpture); Arts Worcester’s 20th Biennial; and UNEXPECTED, at the Fort Point Assemblage Gallery. Also, he was selected for the Attleboro Arts Museum's double–juried “8 Visions“ exhibition in August.

His work has appeared three times in American Woodturner magazine, and was featured in ARTBEAT, both in print and online. He is represented in the international selection 500 Wood Bowls, the art collections of the Ink Block Gallery of the AC Hotel Boston, the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and the permanent collection of the Peabody Essex Museum.