Exhibitions - 2008
Haiga
August 31 - November 9, 2008
Reception - September 28, 1:30 - 3:30
Stephen Addiss, Crusty
Haiga are Japanese paintings that accompany haiku, a seventeen-syllable poem usually describing a
fleeting, seasonal moment. The painting may not directly represent the images of the poem, but juxtapose
them. Calligraphy used to write haiku is the third component of the visual image. Haiga and haiku complement
one another. The result is greater than the sum of the three individual parts - painting, poetry and calligraphy.
There are a wide variety of styles and subjects in haiga which were sometimes created at gatherings of
friends as a form of communal entertainment.
Restraint and simplicity characterize these images brushed with ink and light color on paper. Often
the brush strokes are like the calligraphy in the same work of art. There is no unnecessary detail. There
may be an amusing or ironic element. Because the subjects are frequently unpretentious and unremarkable, they
encourage us to view everyday things in a fresh manner. Although they may appear simple, they often reflect
profound observations. Literally, hai means comic and ga means painting.
This exhibition will focus on contemporary haiga, including work by Dr. Stephen Addiss and Reiko Yoshida.
Addiss is on the faculty of University of Richmond, Virginia and is the author of over thirty-five books on
Japanese and Chinese art. In 1995, he organized the first major exhibition of Japanese Haiga in the United States. Because Addiss's poems are written in English, they allow non-Japanese speakers to more clearly understand the whimsical, childlike playfulness and humor of haiga.
Reiko Yoshida lives in Nara, Japan. She uses a variety of paper, ink washes and abstracted Japanese
calligraphy in her non-traditional haiga. Translations of her calligraphy will be provided.
Rotations: Glass en Masse
September 21 - January 25, 2009
A sampling of glass from the collection.
The American glass industry of the nineteenth century developed tremendously with the establishment of factories on the
eastern seaboard, such as the Boston and Sandwich Glass Company in 1825. Methods of mass-production were perfected. The
introduction of the pressing machine in 1826 rapidly generated more complex forms and decoration.
Maud Moon Weyerhaeuser Sanborn avidly collected Ribbed Bellflower glassware, which was made by both the Boston
and Sandwich Glass Company and the McKee Brothers of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. One of the most popular patterns of the 1850's and
early 1860's, Bellflower embellished a large variety of tableware. The museum's extensive pressed glass collection and other types of
glass made by Steuben, Tiffany or in Bohemia will be represented in a unique display in the Rotations Gallery.
Artists and Books
September 21 - January 25, 2009
Reception - September 21, 1:30 - 3:30
Exhibiting Artists: Laurie Alpert, Milton, MA; Laura Blacklow,Cambridge, MA; Chrystal Cawley, Portland, ME; Marcia Ciro, Watertown, MA;
Debra Davidson, Boston, MA; Steven Daiber, Williamsburg, MA; Laura Davidson, Boston, MA; Qin Feng, Chelsea, MA; Jesseca Ferguson, Boston, MA;
Susan Kapuscinski Gaylord, Newburyport, MA; Mags Harries, Cambridge, MA; Linda Hoffman, Harvard, MA; Daniel Kelm, Easthampton, MA; Louise Laplante,
Easthampton, MA; Elizabeth Rotchford-Long, Scituate, MA; Joyce McDaniels, South Boston, MA;
Anne Pelikan, Ipswich, MA; Laurie Spitz and Amee Pollack, New York, NY; Carolyn Shattuck, Rutland, VT;
Mary Taylor, Marshfield, MA; Dorothy Simpson Krause, Marshfield, MA;
Karen Roehr, Acton, MA; Stephanie Stigliano, Malden, MA; Susan Schwalb, Watertown, MA;
Johanna Finnegan-Topitzer, Rollingsford, NH; Jeff Warmouth, Fitchburg, MA;
Artist books by Anne Pelikan and Johanna Finnegan-Topitzer
Artists and Books showcases a diverse and talented survey of New England area artists - printmakers,
photographers, painters and sculptors - all making art from books and about books. The featured artists
use a wide variety of materials from natural to found objects to handmade papers and fabrics to the complete
and totally unexpected, incorporating traditional and contemporary bookbinding techniques
with a wide variety of non traditional practices. More than 24 artists from New York and all
six New England States.
Artist book by Stephanie Stigliano
Artist books by Marcia Ciro and Allison Cooke Brown
On Their Own: Laura Tryon Jennings
November 23 - February 15, 2009
Reception - November 23, 1:30 - 3:30
Laura Tryon Jennings, Two Scoops
oil on canvas
Marshfield painter Laura Tryon Jennings fills Phoenix Gallery with her bold and colorful paintings. Her aerial views of seemingly simple table settings are more than they
first appear. She says," My paintings represent the complexity and intricacy of life and relationships. Within each piece I use an amalgam of color and composition to depict the wavering tension between tranquility
and chaos. My perspective is achieved by physically viewing my subject as though I am looking down at a puzzle, and connecting the shapes, that don't appear to fit, but somehow work to complete a scene."
Jennings uses the images of coffee cups, cereal bowls and assorted found materials as metaphors, reminding us that we should take time from our hectic pace to "reflect and treasure life's simplicity, if
only for a moment." She has shown her work in solo exhibitions at the Wall Street Gallery in Madison, Connecticut and at Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts. Her work is collected by a diverse and eclectic
group including, Grammy Award winner Bruce Hornsby and his wife Kathy, author Mary Higgins Clark and Broadway producer David Black.
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