Exhibitions - 2009
On Their Own: Carole Bolsey
May 31 - August 16, 2009
Reception - June 14, 1:30 - 3:30
Carole Bolsey, Gable
Ancient Medium, N.E.W. Terrain
(New England Wax)
May 17 - September 6, 2009
Reception - May 17, 1:30 - 3:30
Duplicity 3 by Jeanne O'Toole Haymen, Chambered Nautilus by Kim Bernard, and From Across by Kelly Weeks
Rotations: Structures in Print
May 17 - September 6, 2009
Albrecht Durer, (1471-1528), Germany, St. Anthony
En Plein Air
Kimberlee Alemian, Sue Charles, Vincent Crotty
August 23 - November 8, 2009
Work by Kimberlee Alemian, Vincent Crotty and Sue Charles
En plein air is a French expression which means "in the open air", and is used to describe the act of painting outdoors. At a time when artists have a
vast variety of digital tools and high tech options available to them, we found three local artists who work outside, directly in front of their subject. Artists have
long painted outdoors, but in the mid-1800s working in natural light became particularly important to the Barbizon School and the Impressionists. The popularity of painting en plein air
increased in the 1870s with the introduction of paints in tubes. Previously, each painter made their own paints by grinding and mixing dry pigment powders with linseed oil.
Kimberlee Alemian has been drawing and painting since childhood. She received her BFA from Massachusetts College of Art studying with
George Nick, Paul Rahilly, and Rob Moore. She received her MFA from Boston University, studying with David Aronson, John Moore, Richard Raiseli and Graham Nickson.
Alemian says, "My love for painting, the act of painting and my interest in experimentation have led me to a current style involving the principals of expressionism. My
subjects emerge from open abstract areas of paint and charcoal lines. Color and light have always been a strong interest, and the exploration of
new color and paint application continues to evolve in my work."
Sue Charles grew up locally in Scituate. She graduated from Boston University with a BFA in painting and credits her instructors, John Wilson, Reed Kay and David Aronson with
giving her a love of drawing and encouraging her to follow her predilection to see pattern.
Charles says, "A painting exists on three levels. It attempts to depict 'real' light and space, while remaining a two dimensional pattern
of color shapes. A painting also expresses ideas in a way words and music cannot. Painting is thought made tangible. Finding the intersection
between these: the three dimensional, the two dimensional and the metaphysical, is my goal. To me, a good painting contains only the essentials and it stays with
you like a melody. I aim for that."
Vincent Crotty is an Irish-born artist living in Boston. Born and raised in Kanturk, County Cork, a small town in southwest Ireland, Vincent began
painting at age seven and was inspired by his mother's interest in art and the beauty of his natural surroundings. After secondary school, he spent five long years working
in a factory, during the bleak economic conditions of Ireland in the 1980s. Vincent then turned to painting at age 22 with a fierce commitment, as he says, "to make my living - one way or
another - with paint."
Regarded for his landscape and figurative paintings, Vincent explores the places and faces of the Atlantic coast as his primary subject matter. Working
with oils, he paints with rugged textures and vigorous brushstrokes, balanced by sensitive color. His paintings reveal a remarkable understanding of light, and with
this ability, Vincent transforms everyday subject matter into images that are memorable and moving.
New England Watercolor Society Regional Show
September 20 - January 17, 2010
Donald Stoltenberg, The Big Dig
This year, for the first time, The Art Complex Museum hosts the New England Watercolor Society's Annual Regional Show. The New England Watercolor Society (NEWS) was founded in 1885
as the Boston Society of Watercolor Painters, becoming the Boston Watercolor Society in 1896 and subsequently the New England Watercolor Society in 1980. Its original twenty-seven charter
members included some of the best known names in American Art such as Charles Curtis Allen, Frank W. Benson, F. Childe Hassam and Charles Woodbury. John Singer Sargent was an honorary
member and, more recently, Andrew Wyeth.
Today, the group makes their home at the Emmanuel Church on Newbury Street in Boston. The Society has more than 400 members from throughout New England. Membership is gained by being
juried into four Society sponsored exhibits, one being a national exhibit, within ten years. This exhibition will be juried by Connecticut artist Frank Federico. Federico has attained signature
membership level in a number of prestigious art societies and won national honors from the Pastel Society of America, and the National Society of Painters in Casein and Acrylic.
The mission of the New England Watercolor Society is to encourage and foster the excellence and advancement of the fine art of aqua media throughout New England.
Rotations: Recent Acquisitions
September 20 - January 17, 2010
Okuhara Seiko (1837-1913), Japan, Two Crows on a Branch
On Their Own: Judith Brassard Brown
November 15 - February 14, 2010
Judith Brassard Brown, Maybe Someday
Art Complex Home
The Art Complex Museum / 189 Alden Street / Box 2814 / Duxbury, MA 02331