this Category populates the Exhibitions page of the website
Thursday July 20th – Saturday August 19th
Thursday, July 20th 6:00-9:00 pm Opening Reception
Thursday, August 17th 6:00-9:00 pm Closing Reception
Gallery Hours Fridays and Saturdays 2:00-6:00 pm
Atlantic Works Gallery 80 Border Street East Boston
June 3 – 30, 2017
With the rise of nationalism in the USA and all Events over the globe, there is a sense of déjà vu. There is a shared anxiety among millions across the globe that history is repeating itself, that we are witnessing an epic process of dehumanization, that we are living in a world that not only tolerates hate, segregation, atrocities, and genocides, but rather promotes those things. Therefore it is essential to bring back the collective historical memory of our brutal past – to remind ourselves that the abyss is not just a vague paranoid delusion, it is happening here and now.
The show will take advantage of the very well-researched public domain photographs of war-zones, deportations, mass killings, and other atrocities. The visitor experience, although a bit uncomfortable, will be engaging and informative. The images will be integrated into a collage of past and present. Together they will form a four-walled landscape that will transform the Atlantic Works Gallery to a solemn
space for remembrance, discussion, and reflection.
Opening Reception: Saturday, June 3, 6-9PM
Artist Talk on Art and Politics: Saturday, June 10, 6-9PM
Artist Panel Speakers on Human Rights Activism: Thursday, June 15, 6-9PM with
Anat Biletsky, Former Chairperson of B’Tselem, an Israeli human rights organization
Rick Sacra, M.D. a doctor serving in Liberia 20 years and Ebola survivor
Gallery Hours: Saturdays and Sundays, 2-6 PM or by appointment
May 6 – 27, 2017
Opening Reception: Saturday, May 64, 6-9PM
Third Thursday Reception and Artist Talk: Thursday, May 18, 6-9PM
Gallery Hours: Saturdays and Sundays, 2-6 PM or by appointment
April 4 – 25, 2017
Walter Kopec’s work, … And Things That Remain, is a response to the volatile world of contemporary politics and social turmoil. The work explores our personal relationship with public symbols and our ability to express ourselves through them. Using visual and verbal references, Kopec probes our reliance on shared symbols to reflect our common bonds and our ability to communicate using them in this uncertain world. While some pieces may read as haunting visual poems, others unveil a tinge of humor… some toe the very thin line between the two. Using the simplest of concept-appropriate materials and the strategies of linguistic puzzle-making and myth-construction, the sculptures and drawings deconstruct and reconstruct the meaning of the “things that remain.”
Melissa Shook’s Landscape of Memory chronicles the seasonal changes of flowers grown in a community garden plot, from bare earth to seedlings, first flowering, late summer abundance, frost and snow. This multi-media installation uses large sequential color photographs of zinnias, sunflowers, cosmos and marigolds, small pastel and ink drawings, watercolor and acrylic paintings of flowers along with text and video to pay homage to the grandfather who so unexpectedly produced a mass of flowers in a backyard garden when Melissa Shook was thirteen.
Opening Reception: Saturday, April 1, 6-9PM
Third Thursday Reception and Artist Talks: Thursday, April 20, 6-9PM
Gallery Hours: Saturdays and Sundays, 1-5 PM or by appointment
March 4 – 25, 2017
Artists create work that responds both to the external forces
that surround them, and the internal state of their minds.
For this exhibit, Atlantic Works member artists have been invited
to show pieces from both past and present, giving the viewer
insight into how the artists and their work may have changed
over the years.
Opening Reception: Saturday, March 4, 6-9PM
Third Thursday Reception and Artist Talks: Thursday, March 16, 6-9PM
Gallery Hours: Saturdays and Sundays, 1-5 PM or by appointment
February 4 – 23, 2017
Opening Reception: Saturday, February 4, 6-9PM
Third Thursday Reception and Artist Talks: Thursday, February 16, 6-9PM
Gallery Hours: Saturdays and Sundays, 1-5 PM or by appointment
January 14 – 28, 2017
Gallery members and invited artists interpret yellow…
Opening Reception: Thursday, January 19, 6-9PM
Gallery Hours: Fridays & Saturdays, 2-6 PM or by appointment
December 5 – 30, 2016
Gender euphoria, rather than gender dysphoria, animates Samantha Marder’s new solo show at Atlantic Works Gallery in Boston.
Presented in various media, BENT is not only visually intriguing but also sheds light on the notions of identity, rapidly shifting cultural and biological constructs, therapeutic indulgence and personal evolution as the work glides along the gender spectrum.
Surprisingly, much of the focus of this show is on the agnostic dresser–the “tourist’ or hobbyist” who indulges, but does not commit, to change. Turns out the Everyman of gender bending is in actuality a straight married middle-aged male.
Several portraits of trans men further complement this post from our cultural boardwalk.
The show reflects Marder’s work of two decades creating often evanescent art, much of it fashioned in My Changing Room, a cross dressing studio in Boston she founded and runs.
The Show includes: The Portrait Gallery, celebrating the joy and drama of the blooming Narcissus experience; Archive Lounge, revealing exuberant correspondence and (discretely filtered) candid photos; Dressing Room, allowing a tiny re-creation of the transformation experience with accoutrements and favored items (all available to try); Narrative elements, providing context with dashes of wit and whimsy; Installations, highlighting relics of years spent frocking.
Opening Reception: Saturday, December 3, 2016, 6-9PM
Third Thursday Reception and Artist Talks: Thursday, December 15, 6-9PM
Gallery Hours: Saturdays and Sundays, 1-5 PM or by appointment
November 5 – 27, 2016
Both artists explore the difference between reality and perception based on social norms and ideas taught to us at young age. Perla and Kristen focus on topics relating to the body and how we can give it praise. They document overcoming personal struggles that are relatable but not often discussed and sometimes seen as taboo. They would like to bring social awareness with their new work.
Perla Castaneda enlightens us on the topic of pregnancy overcoming her personal struggles and the common myths surrounding being pregnant.
Kristen Freitas immerses her work in the topics relating to identity of self-worth, self- harm and body positivity.
While both concentrating on the self, Perla and Kristen showcase a variety of mediums and approaches to thought provoking topics.
Opening Reception: Saturday, November 5, 2016, 6-9PM
Third Thursday Reception and Artist Talks: Thursday, November 17, 6-9PM
Gallery Hours: Saturdays and Sundays, 1-5 PM or by appointment
October 8 – 29, 2016
IMG Credit, L-R: George Shaw, Marjorie Kaye
George Shaw and Marjorie Kaye will present unique approaches examining the lyrical dissection of space and surface in in this two-person exhibition at Atlantic Works Gallery in East Boston.
George Shaw’s paintings and constructions are on and made of wood panels, and consist of oil paint, oil pastel, dry pigment, wax medium, molding and found objects. This combination produces a balance between luminosity and saturation, with a focus on texture and the relationship between minimal objects and space. The background and foreground is interchangeable, creating illusive space, yet there are very distinct relationships between them.
He writes: “The physics of consciousness, in relation to modern quantum mechanics theory illustrates my intention in regards to my work. I am interested in what consciousness truly is and the physical connection between our consciousness and/or spirit and the universe; and that we are truly interrelated.” The desire for an answer appears as a shelter, an anchor, a sanctuary: home. “Gradually, in my works, a house-like shape emerged, and became an important element: a counter-point to a universe, poised on the knife edge of meaning and the precipice of the void.”
Marjorie Kaye’s sculptures consist of individual forms cut from plywood, nailed and layered with wood glue. Some of the pieces are painted with gouache and sealed with acrylic medium. Others are made to be either interior or exterior pieces harmoniously settled within the environment, painted with exterior house paint. Whether free-standing or wall mounted, the pieces are built out from a mass or a singular point. Many are layered in a circular formation, forming cone-like attached entities.
Her gouache paintings start from automatic drawing, releasing form and shape from movement. The forms are immediately organic, swirling and undulating from one end of the surface from the other. Once this has been established, the shapes are dissecting it into their unique rhythms, balancing between energy and calculation. There are many solutions to the imminent puzzle put forth by the initial drawing, all based on sequence.
Both sculptures and paintings address the puzzles present within the etheric universe. Both inward and outward are the mechanics of duality, vibrating between the laws of intention and those of chance, and coming together in an ocean of predetermination.
Opening Reception: Saturday, October 8, 2016, 2016, 6-9PM
Third Thursday Reception and Artist Talks: Thursday, October 20, 6-9PM
Gallery Hours: Fridays & Saturdays, 2-6 PM or by appointment