2021 Fall – 2022 Spring Exhibit

Featuring April Claggett, Kevin Gilmore, Dyan Gulovsen, Alice Lambert, Darrell Matsumoto, Joseph Ray, Jason Travers, David Wackell, Abigail Wamboldt, Michael Yefko

Featuring Stephan Brigidi and Robert Bly

In 2021, this series of framed works was gifted to the Art Center Gallery Collection, by author/photographer, Stephan Brigidi.

When photographer and teacher Stephan Brigidi traveled to Pompeii for the first time, he was captivated by the luminous frescoes of angels on the decayed walls of the ancient city. Here, long after the destruction by Vesuvius in 79 A.D., the angels remain, timeless and transcendent. Brigidi returned many times to photograph the angels and the crumbling walls around them. Working with his photographs of the angels, Brigidi began to feel that "the poetry of the angels could be best communicated when combined with the response of another artist who perceived the angel's message." That other artist was Robert Bly, whose powerful poems, both old and new, allowed the marriage of words and pictures to happen. This dialogue between photographer and poet is at the heart of Angels of Pompeii, a wondrous meditation on men and the angels who guide them.

Featuring Deborah Orloff

Memory Resurrected from the Ruined, Loss Revealed

It is with great pleasure we present the large-scale photo-works of Deborah Orloff in Elusive Memory, which resurrects from the seemingly ruined, the essence of memory and loss.

Orloff rescued a damaged treasure trove of family pictures, which were found damaged by moisture in her family’s basement. I imagine her initial impressions being tinged with anticipation and regret, given the unknown condition of the material. The wrecked photographs, though clearly deteriorated, trigger emotions and remembrances of familial significance. Despite the condition of the photographs, we are convinced of what we see. It is as if we are peering into a pool of water and having our visage obscured by a quaking disturbance of the surface. The lost and fractured portraits, including images of herself as a young girl, operate as a metaphorical familial mirror. The work simultaneously reveals and hides, revealing as much as it shelters. The photograph operates as a simulacrum for a memory, as it cannot replace the actual experience.

The scale of the work is essential to its viewing. The once intimate experience of contemplating, reminiscing, and recalling ephemera has been re-contextualized, enlarged, exposing subtle detail, demanding scrutiny. Orloff is disclosing the intimacy of the once private, inviting the viewer to look, then to be transformed from voyeur to participant. The principal subjects of father, mother, uncle, aunt, the likely familiar, and the seemingly unknown are intrinsic to the collection of photographs. To contemplate, reminisce, and to recall is a human luxury. The act of pondering our past offers both the melancholy and the revelatory. Classic and ubiquitous, the leatherbound photo album has served as iconic container of family memories, which is indebted to the individual chronicler. In this case, Orloff is asked to present a valuable family history in retrospect, not as the original chronicler. It is a task that Orloff has succeeded masterfully by producing a powerful body of work, which invites the viewer to be a participant, triggering personal reflection and the resurrection of lost memories.

The Department of Art and Design at Anna Maria College announces a new outdoor exhibition: Art in the Park, Worcester at Anna Maria College The exhibition features three sculptures on display from September 2021 thru May 2022. The participating artists are Thomas Matsuda, Anthony Heinz May, and Chris Plaisted.

This collaborative effort between Art in the Park of Worcester and Anna Maria College introduces public art to the college campus. A spacious venue known for its natural beauty, the display becomes a highlight of the visual landscape. This biennial exhibit proposes to explore the diverse use materials and duplication of forms that build the individual work. Each sculpture has distinctive characteristics that lend to the seasonal calendar of Central Massachusetts: on snowy surfaces, in rusty fall colors, and throughout verdant spring, morning mist and lively sunshine mark the intervals and testament of their quotidian presence.

The Worcester Cultural Council, under the direction and leadership of Gloria Hall, began Art in the Park in 2008. Ms. Hall, currently the Executive Director of Art in the Park, with the Department of Visual Arts at Anna Maria College, initiated this partnership to provide the campus and community with occasions to interact more intimately with the work, enriching daily life and deepening the beholders’ relationship to the art and surrounding space.

The public, students, and staff are invited to explore and enjoy these sculptures throughout the academic year. Join Anna Maria College as various programs, and sculpture walks celebrate this new partnership. Materials and information about the sculptures are available by visiting the Office of Admissions or the Art Center in Miriam Hall.

Gathering for Purification, with music, performance, and fire begins at 5:28 p.m. in field behind Madonna Hall (rain date will be November 4th at sunset)

Featuring:
Thomas Matsuda, artist/sculptor
Shido Hiroyuki, composer/musician
Olga Ehrlich, Mountain River Taiko
Miho Connolly, Mountain River Taiko

Reception to follow in the Art Center Lobby

Thomas Matsuda Artist Statement

A renowned sculptor in Japan, Koukei Eri, said that one can sense in old sculptures, "a mysterious strength that has the power to touch and penetrate our spirits." As a contemporary artist, it is my aspiration to evoke this spirit.

I began my formal studies as an artist at Pratt Institute and then printing artist’s lithographs in New York. I traveled to Japan and lived there for twelve years. During that time I apprenticed under the sculptor, Koukei Eri, and sculpted in wood and stone. I created over two hundred sculptures in Japan for businesses, individual patrons, villages, temples, and shrines, and exhibited in many major cities. Returning to America, I am bringing a culmination of all of my experiences and ideas together in my work. I carve traditional Buddhist sculptures and I synthesize eastern and western ideas in a contemporary approach.

Fire, air, water, earth, and space are the five elements in eastern culture. I use these natural elements in my work, often burning wood. Each time, my work evolves with the situation, site, inspiration, and materials. I have created large installations often with performance components at many venues. I have collaborated with dance troupes, musicians, Buddhist monks, and Native Americans. I deal with the environment, natural and human, addressing environmental issues, cultural relationships, and the integration of art, culture, and spirituality.

Charred wood and blackened earth conjure up ideas of life, death, and rebirth, as well as the burning away of illusions and desires -a reference to the fierce deities of Tibetan Buddhism that represent cutting through or overcoming our desires. Yet it can also be seen as a reminder of war, destruction of the earth, corruption within ourselves, and the close relationship between purification and destruction.

...sacred writing speaks the word of the Great Spirit, what shall we bring forth, purification or destruction? Hopi Prophecy

ZOOM Awards Presentation:
Wednesday, January 26, 2022 at 7:00pm

Art Center Gallery, at Anna Maria College will send out ZOOM announcements and invitation.
Please contact David Wackell for detailed information.

Featuring selections from all Studio courses from Fall 2021

Celebrate our students!

To kick off 2022 Spring, we invite the entire community to the Opening Reception. The Department of Art and Design is pleased to present the All Student Art Show. Student Art and Design works, selected from all Studio courses from Fall 2021 Term.

Featuring Fred Lynchf

The World According to F. Lynch
It is with great pleasure we present Fred Lynch: Drawing All Over the Place. This exhibition presents a compendium of drawings from the observed world, representing work from the past decade or more.

Lynch, an artist/illustrator, is the constant sketcher; he sits, he observes, and he records. He will spend much time looking, finding specific points of view, tirelessly recording what he sees. His monochromatic drawings in shades of black or brown ink are a wonder to see. The work is distinct as it holds a definite sense of place and time, enhanced by his whimsical hand. In his drawings the space he creates becomes a poignant setting for the unfolding of a potential narrative.

The narrativity inherent to the drawings has much to do with process. In a conversation I had with him, I learned that he will sit and complete much of each drawing in situ. Not surprisingly, a curious neighbor, or passerby will undoubtedly ask to peek at his rendering. In sharing his efforts in process, Lynch becomes part of a contemporary narrative, which adds to the historicity of place. In turn, the passerby will invariably share a fascinating anecdote about the subject. This exchange is genuine and both artist and bystander are enriched by this chance meeting. He will work on a series over several years—we can only imagine the number of collected stories.

Lynch’s pursuit of sense of place is human in scale and nature. The drawings own a specific perspectival concern, as if viewed through a semi-fish-eye lens, forming visual curvatures, slightly bending whimsically toward the viewer. The drawings appear to be about exploration and discovery. This viewpoint presents a sense of innocence and wonder, evoking narrative queries. The Lynchian perspective is a distinctive way of seeing.

Featuring:
Jordyn D’Aniello, Art Therapy, Hidden Universe, mixed media painting
Jennifer McNally, Art Therapy, More than a Table Setting, mixed media (yarn), installation

Featuring:
Ryley Powers, Studio Art, Seasons, acrylic on canvas
Matthew Waite, Graphic Design, Trails, mixed media installation