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Maria Molteni is a Boston-based artist who was a part of the Boston Artist in Residence program from 2016 – 2017. She is also the founder and team captain of the New Craft Artists in Action, a collective that looks at the intersections of art and sports with creative and social action. Her artistic practice and community presence are characterized by energy and color. Molteni works in creative expression across all media, and brings sports into this fold seamlessly through her chosen media, subjects, and collaborative focus on teamwork. How did this…
Corridors can be odd spaces in museums, heavily trafficked but not always experienced. Art mounted in these passages can feel like an afterthought. This was not the case with Caleb Cole’s Forget Me Not, recently on view at the Newport Art Museum. Occupying the hallway of the museum’s Griswold House, Cole’s work on gender, embodiment and, indeed, the idea of ‘passing’ as male, was especially fitting in this transitory space. The show, which ran from late May through July 30, concerned the “joy in queerness, transness, and femininity,” often manifesting with both…
The Minuteman Bikeway passing through Arlington teems with activity throughout the day and into the evenings. Whether it is a cyclist racing to get to work in the morning, or a young child who is still finding their footing while on a walk with their family, the path sees a variety of usages and users. With Pathways, a presentation of five artists’ work along the bike path, the Minuteman now takes on a new role as a public art installation. Presented by the Arlington Commission on Arts & Culture in collaboration with…
Men are a burden. This matter-of-fact sentiment prefaced the call for submissions Reflections on the Burden of Men, edited by Laura Beth Reese and Madeline Zappala. For a liberal feminist (like me), it was a fun sentence to say out loud, but the sweeping, binary language gave the impression that this lit mag would be a platform to talk about men without necessarily talking to them. I expected to find mostly angry and unapologetic essays, emotional personal stories, and darkly comic images shared primarily by and for women like me, so I…
Crossing Borders is a reflection of intercultural identity, both for the artists represented and for the larger society in which we operate. At times it feels like a celebration, sometimes like a confrontation, while yet other moments take a more nuanced approach. From Heeseop Yoon to Saman Sajasi to Julia Mandle, the artists presented here call out to their viewers in a cacophony of languages, both written, visual and metaphoric. Ten artists (local and international) of diverse cultural and national identities, overflow Periphery Space’s small but airy gallery on the first floor…
A used bar of pink soap. The glowing face of an alarm clock. An open beer can. Door knobs. A utility van’s handle. These are some of the subjects of Anthony Palocci Jr.’s straightforward yet enigmatic series of small paintings on view in his exhibition It Can’t Rain All The Time at How’s Howard?. Like a forensic photographer, Palocci Jr. studies things we might touch countless times or even rub over our bodies and put our mouth to, leaving personal traces with very little thought. Each item is gathered from personal experience…
This September, painter Ariel Basson Frieberg fearlessly explores figure painting through two striking gallery shows: Ariel Basson Freiberg: Trespass Daughter at Howard Yezerski Gallery (September 8–October 10), and Reconfigure with fellow Boston-based painter Lavaughan Jenkins at Abigail Ogilvy Gallery (September 1–October 1). While Freiberg holds her own very well in the solo show, her works’ dialogue with Jenkins’ is a truly memorable exhibition that offers two daring directions for figure painting. Freiberg’s paintings—in both shows from her recent series Trespass Daughter— are lurid explosions of teal, black, red and pink. As gallerist…
On the cusp of its 50-year anniversary, Inquilinos Boricuas en Acción’s Villa Victoria Center for the Arts provides the surrounding community with cultural enrichment. Events, programming, and exhibitions created by the Latino community center their perspectives and ruminations on identity, belonging, and the legacy of immigrant communities in Boston. Pedro Cruz begins the IBA’s autumn exhibits and programming with a show titled Mis Raíces. A lifelong member of the IBA’s youth programming and currently its Youth Arts Program Coordinator, Cruz endeavors to explore his Puerto Rican heritage and conserve his findings through…