Filed under: Drawing, Fleeting thoughts..., Photography | Tags: art, artist, drawing, Fitchburg Art Museum
My big success this week was to meet with Mary Tinti, the Fitchburg Art Museum‘s new curator. I’m NOT kidding. She’s putting together a show of still lifes, and was interested in some of my drawings. NO JOKE. I was so thrilled that she contacted me. She was very generous with her time and feedback. Besides getting to know her, I also really enjoyed hearing about the museum, its collection, and its history. I’m embarrassed to say that I had not ever been to the Fitchburg Art Museum (FAM) before. YIKES. Actually, I don’t think that I had even been to Fitchburg. I know. What’s wrong with me? (Don’t answer that…) Check it out:
This is the main visitor’s entrance of the museum. It was founded in 1925 by Eleanor Norcross, an accomplished artist and educator. The museum has a wonderful and diverse collection…paintings by John Singer Sargent, photographs by Charles Sheeler and Walker Evans, African masks and statues, and a series of Egyptian art and mummies, INCLUDING a mummified crocodile (it’s small…and it kind of looked like something that my son would make, but I digress…)
It looked sort of like THAT, but more shriveled. YIKES. This is the kind of thing that I’d find in the bottom of my son’s backpack…(not a result of my poor housekeeping skills, mind you…) MOVING ON…
This is an addition to the museum, completed in the late 80s by Burr & McCallum Architects. The materials are really nice, and it’s well detailed. Yes, I know. The architect side of my brain has been feeling neglected lately, and it desperately wants attention. (The housewife side of my brain is undeveloped and primitive…BTW). It’s hard to divide my multitude of interests among my limited brain cells. Well, at least I only have one brain to keep track of, although I do feel like THIS guy sometimes…
BRILLIANT! I think this comes with the territory of raising a kid and trying to work from home. (I have Terry Jones’s impatience.) But I digress again…FOCUS!
The current show at FAM is the 78th Annual Regional Exhibition of Art and Craft.
Juan Jose Barbazo-Gubo, Cervus Transformatio, 2011
This gorgeous piece by Juan Jose Barbazo-Gubo won “First Prize” at the show, which was juried by Nina Gara Bozicnik, Assistant Curator, Currier Museum of Art, Manchester, New Hampshire. I should have taken a close up photo for you to see the amazing linework, collage, painting and textures in this piece. I even love how the fragile paper is puckered around the image. Beautiful. Barbazo-Gubo is a Somerville resident…next time you see him at Highland Kitchen, tell him that his work is GORGEOUS.
Edward Monovich, Snake In The Grass, 2011
Check out this crazy drawing! Amazing. It’s actually all done on graph paper. So cool! The imagery is both appealing and disturbing. Who is that skunk boy? The drawing actually has the irregular profile that you see. Monovich’s got mad drawing skills, right? Also, he’s another local, and lives in Belmont! So give HIM a big “hello” if you see him at Stone Hearth Pizza in Belmont Center. (Actually, he’s probably too cool to eat there.) I’m not! I like that place, but it’s always packed with screaming kids. I feel that I can complain about that, as I’ve got one at home too. When I go out to dinner, I’m trying to ESCAPE and PRETEND that there is peace and sanity in the world. Hmph.
Lee Su, Twinkle Twinkle Little Hypercube, 2013
Don’t you love this? It’s got an interesting mix of flatness and depth. This somehow looks vintage to me. I love it.
Coelynn McIninch, Castle #9, 2013
Okay. I LOVE THIS TOO. So stunning. I believe that McIninch builds a physical model, and then photographs it and manipulates the photo. PLEASE look at her website. I love her work. This series in particular is gorgeous…and not just because of the architectural content. The images are so ethereal…ghost-like… I love how they are both beautiful and disorienting.
Nora Valdez, Baggage /Bagaje
Nora Valdez was also having a solo show at the museum. Her sculptures were amazing. She also had beautiful drawings.
Nora Valdez, Paper Bags / Bolsitas de Papel, 2009-2011
Crumpled bags carved out of limestone. Look how soft they look! I want those…
There was also a photography show going on:
I know! So much to see! I loved this:
Carl Chiarenza, Triptych: Don Quixote, 153/148/158, 1992
I wish that my photo was better. This was gorgeous. It’s so abstract, and yet the richness of the textures and materials are so incredible. Very beautiful.
I had a chance to wander around the neighborhood of the museum as well…this is what I found:
Hmmm. I’m glad that they labeled that.
This wall was so great! I’m not sure who the artists are…schoolkids? People in the community? Either way, I loved it.
Ah…so my trip to Fitchburg was a treat. In contrast, my main challenge of the week was that my five year old son has been creating “drop-off drama” at camp in the morning. Perhaps he thinks that he’s actually AT a “drama camp?” They do have those, right? He’s been upset when I have to go, but within ten minutes of me having gone…he’s fine (at least this is what I’m TOLD…) SIGH.
I’m wondering if I make a stuffed effigy of myself, complete with crabby face and disheveled hair, would this abate his separation anxiety? He could bring it WITH HIM. Brilliant, right? I can’t decide if I should use a mass of angora yarn to represent my humidity-induced frizzy hair, or perhaps simply an errant dust bunny would do…thoughts? Then again…this “faux mommy” doll may temporarily assuage his need for me (as I have about as much personality as a wad of polyester stuffing), but it will likely lead to odd looks from the other kids and subsequent years of therapy to get over this complex.
Perhaps I’ll just bribe him with ice cream, instead?
No, that’s not my attempt to create the “faux mommy” doll. This is my son’s piñata from camp! Isn’t it adorable? He whacked it with a wiffle ball bat in order to get the goodies out. On second thought…maybe this IS supposed to be me??? Did my son make this mommy-fetish to seek revenge for my leaving him at camp??? Egads. Now, I’VE got a complex. (Try to act surprised…)
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slightly wonky 