2023 Fall – 2024 Spring Exhibit
Opening Reception Wednesday, August 30, 5 – 7pm
Featuring Sonja Czekalski, Kevin Gilmore, Alice Lambert, Darrell Matsumoto, Ross Nomandin, Kyle Petty, Cynthia Schilling, Chad Self, Jason Travers, Jillian Vaccaro, David Wackell
Art Center Lobby
Opening Reception to be Announced
Figures in Line – Features the mixed-media works by Professor Sonja Czekalski, Lecturer in Art and Media Arts
Opening Reception, Wednesday, October 11, 5:00-7:00pm
Conversation with Artist and Gallery Director, Darrell Matsumoto, 5:30pm
Flotsam and Jetsam
It is with great pleasure we present Lures and Tackle; mixed media works by Susan M. Matthews.
The work is impeccably assembled with the artisan precision of an expert maker—sewing, knitting,
of textiles and fibers; fused with ceramic, Styrofoam, and latex; seamlessly producing surreal figure/forms; seductively skinned.
What appears at first reading as flotsam and jetsam washed up after a seafaring accident—Matthews’ figuration is surreal, seemingly innocent, and playful with a nod to “Dr. Suess” (directly referenced in a piece not in the exhibition, This Belongs to: Dr. Suess’ Daughter, 2018 —page 17), are otherworldly and surprising to encounter. The surfaces are not unlike plush “Carnival” novelties, which we joyfully cuddled in our nostalgic youth, however, with a twist—the work is pockmarked, studded, and imbued with tantalizing blooms to entice interaction. The vivid, sometimes lurid coloration resembles inner space creatures from under the sea. The scale of the work enhances the experience—confounded by the surreal shift from micro to macro, or vice versa.
Matthews’ mixed media works confront the viewer to embrace what we see and experience. The works appear ambiguously playful and dangerous simultaneously. Can something be alluring and repulsive at the same time? We are seduced by the materials and form, tempted to touch, fondle, or possibly educing an urge to pet the sculptures. Simultaneously, as we lean toward the object, a reaction to withdraw our gesture causes a temporary micro-palsy. This feeling of uncertainty is not unlike the primordial fight or flight response. The exact moment of pause is essential to experiencing the work. This encounter is not unlike meeting your paramour—seduced. Unparalleled beauty or ultimate unsightliness presents a compelling ambiguity to ponder.
Lures and Tackle is an invitation to the world of Susan M. Matthews, come play with her creations.
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 four sculptures on display from September 2023 thru May 2024. The participating artists are Mary Angers, Jose Criollo, Helen Duncan, and Don Ledversis.
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.
30th Annual New England Secondary School Art/Design Competition
Exhibition Dates: December 21, 2023 - March 6, 2024
Zoom Awards Presentation
Wednesday, February 28, 2024 at 7:00 pm
Art Center Gallery at Anna Maria will send out Zoom announcements and invitations
Eligibility
Open to all secondary school art students. All work must be original and completed within the last two years.
Medium Categories
Digital Design
Drawing
Mixed Media
Painting
Photography
Printmaking
Sculpture/3D
Video
Awards
Anna Maria College Art/Design Merit Scholarship (Senior Standing Required)
$2,000 - $10,000 Merit Scholarship Awards
Requirements
Up to 3 works per individual
2D: 72dpi at 10" or 720px
3D: 1 additional photo allowed/piece
Video: MP4 H264 Codec, no longer than 3 minutes
Deadlines
Submissions from November 1, 2023 - December 15, 2023
Please contact David Wackell for detailed information at dwackell@annamaria.edu
Opening Reception: Wednesday, January 17th from 5-7pm
Celebrate our students!
To kick off 2024 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 2023 Term.
Opening Reception, Wednesday February 7th from 5:00-7:00 pm
Conversation with Artist and Gallery Director, Darrell Matsumoto at 5:30 pm
Bartel's Longhand
It is with great pleasure we present Todd Bartel: Landscape Vernacualar. This exhibition is a compendium of "uncollages"1 on the subject of landscape, reflecting extensive research, representing work from the past decade to the present. Bartel’s complex narrative work is not unlike a visual soliloquy to ponder.
Bartel is clearly a maker/thinker. He has an obsession for detail and clarity. His thirst for the potential-absolute is somewhat uncanny. Bartel is in continuous pursuit of knowledge, uncovering visual gestalt. I liken his unyielding process to the practice of “longhand” writing, in which he precisely assembles each work. His parsing is to explore deeply into a subject, discovering detailed nuances to build layers of information, not unlike the formation of Socratic reasoning.
Bartel has laid the groundwork for the historicity of the Western Landscape. The word, landscape, enters the Western lexicon during the Renaissance. It is of Dutch origin, landschap. The four hundred years from the Renaissance through the Age of Enlightenment or Reason marks the moment in human history, arguably, when Western creativity and intellect triumphantly emerges from the dark/middle/feudal periods. The Renaissance was a period of innovation and expansion, allowing makers and thinkers to thrive. Five hundred years forward, we continue human invention and imagination, with abandon. Bartel presents for examination our triumphs and hubris through elegant visual constructions.
Once upon a time, the world’s knowledge could be contained in alphabetized encyclopedic volumes. Bartel’s “uncollages” are expansive addenda which upends, exposes, and refigures how we see the world. The truth and beauty of the landscape is resurrected and complied through subtle and complex juxtapositions. We reflect and embrace the long way home, Bartel’s poetic longhand.
Opening Reception Wednesday, April 17th from 5:00-7:00 pm
Featuring
Aryan Batra, Graphic Design, Metaphor World
Sean Magee, Video and Photographic Arts, Smokeless Mirror
OJ Warden, Graphic Design, NFL World Exhibition
Opening Reception Wednesday, April 24th from 5:30-7:00 pm
Featuring
Bobbilyn Baillargeon, Video and Photographic Arts, Senior Art Exhibition
Willow Harvey, Art Therapy, Taste the Rainbow
Grace Kotoski, Digital Social Media Design, GraceLand
Victoria Leger, Video and Photographic Arts, Darker Life
Opening Reception, Wednesday May 8th from 5:00-7:00 pm
Conversation with Artist and Gallery Director, Darrell Matsumoto at 5:30 pm
Featuring: Matthew Waite, Lifebooks: A Postmodern View of Reality and Perspectives
