Snowy scene out my studio window
at the Hungerford Building
prior to a big snow storm...
January, 2019
Cold wintry weather was not going to stand in my way, so I am going out to see artworks by some people who have studied with me at Rochester Institute of Technology. Here it is, late in January and there are dual opening receptions for "Articulating Craft" as well as a solo exhibition of new media by Rebecca Aloisio in the Colacino Gallery - both shows in the Nazareth College Art Center.
Rebecca Aloisio at the reception for "Stratum"
Yes, I worked with Rebecca as an advisor - and introduced to her new ways of looking at printmaking and she uses the advances in technology to her benefit. What I think is refreshing about her art are the new forms her abstraction has in evidence. Large scale and small, her work establishes new connections between color and form, and yet has a deep relationship to the process of collage - and you can read about it in her artist statement.
Read Rebecca's artist statement
One of the large compositions near the entrance to the gallery resembles some form of a face, but also could have geological ramifications. Crystals perhaps like a geode form where the mouth might be. There are shallow overlaps like layers or strata - hence the name of her show "Stratum".
Back away a bit and the form becomes a standing figure ( an "Ice Man"? ) - brandishing a sword or pole....
Rebecca Aloisio at
The Margaret Colacino Gallery
thru March 1, 2019
Nazareth College Art Center
In the main exhibition hall another one of my students from R.I.T. - Chenyang Mu has created unique bent glass pieces that are connected to flexible rubber tubes that pass through a sounding board so that if you breathe into a mouthpiece inserted into the rubber tube you can sound a musical note - not unlike that of a violin! Chenyang Mu has created a quartet of new musical instruments - creating a music that is soothing, and meditative. I like that her art really involves the viewer - you become an active participant!
Chenyang Mu with her musical glass "instruments"
in the new show
"Articulating Craft"
Next to the musical tubes there is a wall full of colorful plaster ornaments that could be worn around the neck and this part of the presentation is called "Workshop" by Brice Garrett. They are all lightly tinted and could be the beginning of a new fashion trend, and in fact there are several pieces in this show that can be worn as jewelry.
Workshop by Brice Garrett
in Articulating Craft
Another trend also represented in this exhibition are the 3D printed artworks and one item in particular caught my attention in black and white nylon called: "A Virtual Body" by Lauren Eckert.
It looks like a headset for VR with a bit of jazzy Op Art, but it is also a work of art itself. The craft of printing in 3D has come a long way since I first came across it at Kodak, where they were printing models for their new cameras - this must have been 20 years ago now....
Virtual Body - printed 3D nylon by Lauren Eckert
The art in "Articulating Craft" is everywhere on display in the Art Center Gallery at Nazareth College. There is a price list for the pieces that are on sale. The "Star Nosed Mole Belt Buckle", by Tom Muir however, is not for sale.....
Star Nose Mole Belt Buckle
by Tom Muir
