Past Exhibitions and Events 2018
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Wild at Heart; portraits of endangered species
Dawn Siebel December 6 - 31, 2018 "I paint portraits of endangered species because I believe their right to exist is equal to ours. We are all in this together; yet the threat to their existence is entirely my species’ fault. I am arguing for their rights with these portraits. The more time I spend with the species I paint, the deeper my understanding of their physiology, temperament, social rules and habits. On extended zoo visits I spend hours with these animals over days, shooting images for reference, but often just sitting with them, watching. Keepers share quirks and stories with me about their wards. Back in my studio, all this research finds its way into my portraits, both practically and magically, as I bring that emotional memory to the canvas. I have met my subjects; we have regarded one another. I carry a sense of their presence. We have looked eye-to-eye. Each animal I paint is a specific equal Being looking back at the viewer. It’s that Beingness I want the viewer to grok, a recognition of an equal Other, of sentience. I do not paint the generic. These animals have posed for their portraits. I love them all." Dawn Howkinson Siebel |
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Lost and Found
Judith Inglese and Bernice Rosenthal November 8 – December 2 A.P.E. Gallery will display ceramic murals by Judith Inglese and assemblages by Bernice Rosenthal for the month of November. The exhibit, entitled “Lost and Found,” speaks to the process of re-incarnation and transformation. Bernice uses found objects that were discarded or forgotten and gives them new meaning and form. Judith’s ceramic murals explore themes of childhood, the time for play, imagination and lost innocence. Both art forms engage the viewer, using whimsy, detail and storytelling in the murals, and juxtaposition and abstraction of forms in the assemblages. Both artists work with natural materials such as clay and wood, and use bas-reliefs and three-dimensional forms. |
Image by Carolyn Webb
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The Space Between 2: Zea Mays Printmaking Biennial
October 5-November 4, 2018 There is a quality of interest in “two” of anything. Cells duplicate, twins are born, mirror images speak a universal language, people marry each other, birds mate, lovers meet, we have two hands, two feet, binary code, and on, on, on... And there’s a special interest in what lies in the space between – what connects, integrates, repels. Both the fusion and tension that occurs in those spaces is fertile ground for artistic interpretation. This exhibition explores the Space between Two through the medium of printmaking and takes many forms: prints, books, sculpture, textiles and video. Several pieces are large and hang from the ceiling—or are built as boats and the prints are the “skin” of the boat. Other prints are long and sculptural, presented in book form or in video. All of the prints are hand-pulled and created using non-toxic approaches to printmaking. |
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UNDER THE VOLCANO
William Hosie & Christin Couture September 7-29, 2018 As youngsters Christin Couture and William Hosie were fascinated by volcanoes (eruptions, smoke lava!). Later on they became personally familiar with the daily activities of an actual volcano, the Popocatepetl in Mexico, believed to possess human qualities (sleeping, hiding, exhaling, temper tantrums). In Malcom Lowry’s great tragic novel, Under the Volcano, it is an ominous presence. As a universal symbol (destruction, upheaval, sexuality, hidden emotions, creativity) the volcano image appears in 19th Century literature and art, from Emily Dickinson’s poetry, to the paintings of Frederick Edwin Church. For Couture and Hosie the volcano remains a powerful form both symbolic and actual, which they, as visual artists, have been exploring through 2 Dimensional and 3 Dimensional mediums, and observing through a 24 hour web camera over the past several years. In their collaboration selected images of the volcano, along with other related works, are merged whole or in part with sculptural elements and symbolic passages of color into a fully considered environment that expands upon their previous work in Mexico City. MORE |
Image by Grant Halverson
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Uncertain Distances
Residency with Meredith Bove and Lailye Weidman May 20-June 2 From May 20–June 2, dance artists Lailye Weidman and Meredith Bove will be in residence at A.P.E. Ltd. Gallery for Uncertain Distances, a collaborative project combining solo dance-making and dramaturgical practices. The residency focuses on the artists’ interests and histories as solo dance-makers, and their desire to choose companionship over isolation during processes of creation. The artists will oscillate between roles of performer, dramaturg, witness, researcher, archivist and caregiver for two solos: “Cathedral” (Bove, 2017) and “Showman” (Weidman, 2016), asking, “How does sharing our experiences and perceptions of one another's work impact the creative process?” These solos will be presented in public performances on June 1 and 2, 8pm. |
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May 15 – 19
Exhibition Benefit DARK TO LIGHT Journey to Syria and the Coffeelands: Conflict, Healing and Hope The Polus Center invites you to a multimedia exhibition and week-long series of events highlighting 20 years of international humanitarian efforts helping victims of conflict around the world. Join us as we share our work with Syrian refugee youth and landmine affected Coffee farmers through art, conversation, food and film. Photographs by Stephen Petegorsky Artwork by Syrian Refugee Youth |
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Right to Left, What’s Left to Write?
R. Michelson Galleries and A.P.E. Gallery join to present a performance artwork enacting a dialogue between two cultures. May 11-13, 2018 Over forty years ago, sculptor, then painter, Ernesto Montenegro was commissioned to do a series of Renaissance-style paintings for a residence in Boston’s South End. His career has since turned from painting to sculpture and his works can be seen in public spaces across the country including the Gateway to Manchester in NH, the Cyclist in Greenfield, MA, and the 53 foot Ourhandsthenandnow in Claremont, NH, in celebration of the town’s 250th anniversary. Dr. Foad fled Iran in the late 1970’s as a 16 year old boy fearing danger because of his Baha’i faith which was prohibited and was widely persecuted in the new Islamic Republic. He came to the United States and educated himself at Boston University and Harvard University. Mr. Montenegro has recently re-acquired this series of paintings and is joining with Dr. Foad for an event and conversation about cultural fusion. Dr. Foad will be engaging the audience in a dialogue and with their help will write a narrative over these paintings in the calligraphy of Ancient Persia, his native language of Farsi. In our time of political polarization, cultural identity has brought with it both opportunity and strife. This event is intended to start a conversation about the nature of those identities and how they can co-exist. Separate events will happen on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday as each of the four panels are transformed through cooperation with the audience. |
Photo by Brian Rogers
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A Tunnel Year
Karinne Keithley Syers May 3-9 A Tunnel Year is a three-part book with a play at its center, built from a few years’ worth of interrupted thoughts crammed into one-line scenes voiced by animals. Germinated in the bardo of parenthood and compelled to work in the form of the fragment, it asks: Did I escape? Or am I lost? A Tunnel Year will be installed as a walk-though comic book, and also performed as a live radio play with a cast of five actors from the 2016 New York production at The Chocolate Factory Theater. MORE |
Image by Sally Clegg
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Four Ways In
New work by Sally Clegg, Claire Crews, Kevin Pomerleau, and Esther S White April 4-29, 2018 Esther S White, Kevin Pomerleau, Claire Crews and Sally Clegg present new work in conversation. The four artists have been meeting since September 2017, building a routine of collaborative thought and curation. Working independently, they have each created work that in a variety of ways addresses the subjects of touch, permeability, barriers, visualization, and proximity. Their work spans across the mediums of printmaking, textiles, book arts and sculpture and is concerned with these common themes: recognition of touch as a destructive force, textiles as a stand-in for intimacy or the domestic sphere, and documentation of time through printmaking. The artists work alongside one another at Zea Mays Printmaking and in this exhibition operate as a collaborative curatorial/studio art team, developing both existing personal projects and new collaborative artwork specifically for the gallery space at A.P.E. |
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google gogol
Friday, March 30 & Saturday, March 31, 8:00 PM open rehearsal: Wednesday, 3/28, 8 pm No Theater presents google gogol, inspired by Nikolai Gogol’s Ревизор, (Revizor - The Government Inspector), the 19th Century comedy about how the corrupt officials of a small Russian town, headed by the Mayor, react with terror to the news that an incognito inspector (the revizor) will soon be arriving in their town to investigate them. No Theater rarely performs locally. During the 70s and 80s they regularly performed on Thornes Third Floor such original works as The Elephant Man, DFS (de fiance suction), Last Resort, and Dupe. Their most recent local production was Richard Maxwell’s Cave Man, which previewed here for several months before its run in New York. No Theater’s work has been performed throughout Europe and also in Japan and Australia. The cast of google gogol includes Barton Byg, James Emery, Tony Giardina, Charles Holt, Jane Karakula, Tom Mahnken, Tom Schieding, Peter Schmitz, and Sheena See. Directed by Roy Faudree. No Theater is in residence at APE the month of March creating the new work. The image above is the logo for the Gogol Center (ГОГОЛЬ-центр), the Moscow Drama Theatre named after Nikolai Gogol, whose Artistic Director is currently under house arrest by the Russian government. Google Kirill Serebrennikov for details. |
Image: Kevin Pomerleau
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6'1"
New Works by Luke Cavagnac, Jil Crary-Ross, Maclyn Milsark, and Kevin Pomerleau March 6-31, 2018 Luke Cavagnac has a well-known presence in Easthampton, where his colorful, pop-art style can be seen on a big mural at 123 Cottage Street. Working out of his “Invisible Fountain” studio in Eastworks, Cavagnac has concentrated on producing affordable and accessible works that also have a sense of humor. Jil Crary-Ross is an NYC based painter. Jil explores the relationship between identity, the built environment, and form to create an account of new Americana. Maclyn Milsark currently lives in Brooklyn and finds himself regularly noticing different patterns; in different spaces, in ways of speech, in earning and spending, and interactions between objects, living or inanimate. Kevin Pomerleau’s work focuses on telling stories through contemporary textiles that have inhabited spaces during relevant periods in his life. Ranging from topics such as isolation, relationships, and the plights of the queer community Pomerleau’s work hopes to convey a narrative that entices the viewer to look into his world without ever actually allowing them to enter. |
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Big Dance Theater’s CAGE SHUFFLE starring Paul Lazar
Friday, March 9, 2018, 8:00 PM, Arts Night Out After playing to a full house at A.P.E. Space in Northampton last summer, Paul Lazar is bringing back his “joyous” and “transfixing” dance/theatre solo, Cage Shuffle. In Cage Shuffle Paul Lazar speaks a series of one-minute stories by John Cage from his 1963 score Indeterminacy while simultaneously performing choreography by Annie-B Parson. The stories are spoken in a random order with no predetermined relationship to the dancing. Chance serves up its startling blend of inevitable and uncanny connections between text and movement. MORE |
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Proverbs N Portraits
Ken Gagne What do you get when you cross a proverb with a portrait? A.P.E. Gallery shines a spotlight on new work by local artist Ken Gagne that examines how, together, they can create a humorous situation, which nowadays isn’t so much a joke but a basic survival tool – a lifeboat we can use on life’s river. “Ever since I was a kid I’ve been fascinated by the power of the proverb and how it can offer wisdom to the heart, be practiced and passed along to others,” states Gagne. “Proverbs are short sentences drawn from long experience. Portraits are of a similar nature. Nothing in a portrait is a matter of indifference. Expression, gesture, dress, ink even – all must combine to realize a character.” There is a contemporary pop culture sensibility to Gagne’s images, using vibrant color to depict signs of our time. For example, in Gagne’s “Never trouble trouble until trouble troubles you,” a tattooed steam punker sees his nose fly off his face and replaced by the seat of his pants. And in “Happiness is seeing your mother smile” the piece depicts a loving embrace of mother and child, all the while as the mother is preoccupied with all the concerns associated with raising a child in our current technological culture. |
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Collaborative Project: City of Northampton and WMAIA Design Project.
February 4-10, 2018 Design exhibition at the A.P.E. Gallery, for a one week exhibition, competition, speakers, and receptions. The exhibit will help us highlight how we can create very small very green housing that is affordable to people left out of the green housing market, find a design solution to some surplus city-owned lots, and highlight conservation limited development. MORE |
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Gordon Thorne
New Work January 2018 |