Now on Display
Aaron Norfolk: Audio-Visio
May 21 – August 13, 2023
Reception: May 21, 2023, 1:00 – 4:00 pm
The Boston-based painter’s large, color-rich paintings begin with what he hears, not with what he sees. He says, “Sight and sound run parallel in our perception, and these works do not intend to confound the two. Rather, the interest is for the viewer to switch back and forth across subjectivity, allowing sound its visual memory. As a word becomes a sound’s visual placeholder, so these paintings become their portrait.”
Norfolk began painting as a teenager and earned a BFA from the College of William and Mary, and received his MFA from Boston University.
Shown: Aaron Norfolk, Untitled, 2022, oil on panel
TAG: Contemporary Painters
April 2 – August 27, 2023
Reception: May 21, 2023, 1:00 – 4:00 pm
For this exhibition, we began by asking artist Carol O’Malia to be in the show. She then asked another painter to be in the show. That painter then chose another painter, etc. Hence the name “Tag.” The artists picked friends, studio mates, former classmates, and other artists whose work they admired. Like a game of tag there were not many rules, other than being based in New England, and even that rule was bent.
The result is an organically grown exhibition with a wide-ranging view. Artists in the exhibition include Angela Godoy, Kevin Kearns, Chil Mott, Richard Neal, Carol O’Malia, Tula Telfair, Peter Waite, and Gina Volpe.
Shown: Chil Mott, Untitled #17, from the Sill Life series, 2018, oil on board
The Secret Lives of Chairs by Mary Coogan
Pop-up Exhibit in the Alden Studio Gallery
Saturdays & Sundays
June 3 – 24, 2023
Reception: Saturday, June 3, 1:00 – 4:00 pm
More than an aid to sitting, beyond form and function, a chair can hold history, and there sits its secret life.
The paintings in this series explore the phenomenology of chairs holding memories. Even when empty, a chair tells a story. It speaks to the presence of former sitters, of former lives. There is a physical and psychological connection, a historical, aesthetic, cultural, and maybe even a spiritual element to the story a chair can tell.
A chair is a common object. Good for thinking, eating, reading, resting, waiting, writing, and tasking. These paintings suggest that a chair is just a chair until you sit in it.
Shown: Mary Coogan, Chair Up
Wanda Gag:
Artist, Author, and Illustrator
April 2 – August 27, 2023
Reception: May 21, 2023, 1:00 – 4:00 pm
A prolific printmaker, Wanda Gág was best known for her children’s books, especially Millions of Cats published in 1928. Gág devoted much of her practice to drawing, a commitment that became a personal motto that she recorded in her diary, “draw to live, live to draw.” She pursued her passion at the Art Students League in New York, working as an illustrator and sending money to her orphaned siblings. Her work as a children’s book author and illustrator brought Gág international fame. This exhibit features prints from the Art Complex Museum’s collection.
Shown: Wanda Gág, Siesta, 1937, lithograph
Please Approach the Bench
Ongoing
Five artists have made seating for our new Woodland Path, part of the museum’s newly landscaped grounds. Our open “call for seating” received responses from sculptors all over New England. We choose designs by Leah Woods, Jacob Kulin, Nancy Selvage, Mark DelGuidice, and Mitch Ryerson.
Shown: Leah Woods, Triangular Bench, 2021, Western red cedar, stain
Upcoming Exhibitions
Unsettled Pieces
August 20 – November 5, 2023
Reception: August 20, 2023, 1:00 – 4:00 pm
Three artists have chosen mosaic as the common language to explore issues affecting the planet, each in her own style.
Debora Aldo uses her signature material—pebbles—along with up-cycled contemporary materials, to infuse her lines with meaning. Nikki Sullivan and Anabella Wewer both use classical andamento to form their lines, but Nikki often uses a large found object as her focal point, while Anabella breaks down uncommon materials into regularly sized tesserae.
Each artist has embraced one or more topics within our changing world, and brought to it the unusual and uncommon set of skills that it takes to create a mosaic.
Shown: Debora Aldo, Will the Birds Still Sing, 2018, cut pebbles, smalti, blue calcite crystals on a series of dimensional substrates
50/50: Fifty Years of Collection Art
September 17, 2023 – January 14, 2024
Reception: September 17, 2023, 1:00 – 4:00 pm
In continued celebration of the Art Complex Museum’s fiftieth anniversary, this exhibit examines the museum’s expanding permanent collection, amassed since its founding in 1971. Assembled after the museum opened, these art works reflect the collecting interests of founders Carl and Edith Weyerhaeuser, along with museum directors and curators as the ACM builds for the future.
Shown: Prilla Smith Brackett, Touchstone: Glimpses of Noon #2, 2004, acrylic and oil on canvas
50/50: Collecting the Boston Printmakers
September 17, 2023 – January 14, 2024
Reception: September 17, 2023, 1:00 – 4:00 pm
The Art Complex Museum has collected work by members of the Boston Printmakers since the early 1970s. This exhibit features winners of the Ture Bengtz Memorial Prize, selected from the group’s Biennial exhibition, which are part of the museum’s permanent collection.
Bengtz was the Director of the Art Complex Museum from 1971-73, and began a tradition of hosting exhibits of work by members of the Boston Printmakers at the museum. He remained at his post for three years, until his sudden death in 1973. A memorial award in his honor, the Ture Bengtz Memorial Prize began shortly afterward.
Established in 1947, the Boston Printmakers was formed by a group of students assisted by Ture Bengtz (then Director of the Graphics Department at the Museum School, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston), Otis Philbrick (instructor for the Massachusetts College of Art), and Arthur Heintzelman (printmaker and curator of Wiggin Gallery at the Boston Public Library). The students included Bengtz’ pupil, Richard Bartlett (president), Shirley Thompson Hadley (vice president), and Gladys Wilcock (secretary/treasurer). Initially a regional group, the Boston Printmakers soon expanded its reach to include the national and international art world.
Shown: Mark Sisson, Portrait of Daniel King: Scouting for Men, Boys, 2016
linocut, wood cut, lithograph
Andrae Green: Palindrome
November 12, 2023 – February 11, 2024
Reception: November 12, 2023, 1:00 – 4:00 pm
Growing up on the island of Jamaica, Massachusetts painter Andrae Green says that the Caribbean Sea never played a huge part in his conscious life, but he was always aware of its presence. He knew, unconsciously, that he could go to it whenever he wanted and that it would always be there for him. He remembers his father bringing his family to Kingston Harbor and watching the young boys jump off the docks, into the abyss. Their fearless trust in the sea always fascinated him. Their leaps of faith inspired him.
Since moving to western Massachusetts and no longer having easy access to the sea, Green feels a longing that has translated into his most recent body of work: paintings that speak to the limitless potential for human imagination and freedom (a perspective that is very needed in these times) and drawings about weightlessness and freedom, all inspired by bodies of water and the Caribbean landscape. Green says that in the Caribbean mind, the sea, “Brings both joy and fear, love and hate, hope and resentment.”
Shown: Andrae Green, Divers V, 2021, oil on canvas
Latest Facebook Posts
Artist Mary Coogan explores "The Secret Lives of Chairs" in this pop-up exhibit. "More than an aid to sitting, beyond form and function, a chair can hold history, and there sits its secret life."
Saturdays and Sundays, June 3 through 24th, 1:00-4:00 p.m.
Reception Sunday, June 3, 1:00-4:00 p.m.
Mary is also teaching the "Chair Talk" workshop on Saturday, June 10, from 10:00 a.m. to noon. See our website for registration.
#artcomplexmuseum #duxbury #chairart #seeplymouth
Love this concept!
Join us for a Gallery Talk on Thursday, May 25th. Learn about artist, author, and illustrator, Wanda Gág, and get a behind-the-scenes look at the 5-year journey of assembling the "TAG" exhibit.
Coffee at 10:30 and the talk begins at 11:00 am.
Shown: Un-crating one of Tula Telfair's paintings after its journey from New Jersey.
#artcomplexmuseum #wandagag #seeplymouth Tula Telfair Artist
Now THAT'S a big painting!
Pop-up Exhibit!
Oil paintings by students of Laura Tryon Jennings, on display in our Alden Studio Gallery.
Exhibit and Reception:
Sunday, May 21st, 1:00-4:00 pm
#artcomplexmuseum #oilpainting #seeplymouth
Opening Sunday, May 21st is Aaron Norfolk: Audio-Video, a collection of paintings. Join us for the opening reception from 1:00 to 4:00 pm.
Shown: Aaron Norfolk, Untitled, 2022, oil on panel
#artcomplexmuseum #artmuseum #seeplymouth
Collection Spotlight: Mother and Child
This carved soapstone sculpture shows a kneeling woman with an infant in a carrier on her back. Her eyes and necklace, made from ivory, stand out against the dark color of the stone.
Creating carvings from natural resources like stone and bone is a traditional craft of Inuit artists. Soapstone, a softer stone, is easier to carve. Figures of animals, birds, men, women, and children are popular motifs. In the hunting culture, the carved figure of mother and child contrasts with imagery of male hunters, and represents the giving and nurturing of life.
Wishing all mothers a beautiful Mother's Day!
Mother and Child, c. 1940
Unknown artist, Baffin Island, Canada
#artcomplexmuseum #inuitart #mothersday #artmuseum #seeplymouth #duxbury
It's back: Drum Circle on May 13!
Frequently called “in-the-moment music-making,” participants sit in a circle and play drums and/or hand percussion instruments. Participants engage together to create a group rhythm and cooperate in rhythm games. Facilitated by local percussionist Ed Sorrentino, Percussion Department Chair at the South Shore Conservatory.
Other sessions are scheduled for June 10, July 8, and August 5.
Registration required. See artcomplex.org/programs/classes-workshops/ for details.
#artcomplexmuseum #drumcircle #duxburyma #seeplymouth South Shore Conservatory
Me too! First thing 💗
I spot Kim Arouca
If you haven't yet seen Lisa Houck's "Botanical Explorations," visit the museum this week! This joyful, colorful show includes mosaics, watercolors, and a large print, and it closes on Sun, May 14.
The museum is open Wed-Sun, from 1:00-4:00 pm.
Shown: "It Flowers All Year Round," (Detail), 2020, mosaic
#artcomplexmuseum #mosaic #watercolor #print #seeplymouth #duxbury #artmusuem
Aaron Larget-Caplan returns to the Art Complex Museum to perform his solo program, "Looking Bach, Listening Forward." The program includes music from his forthcoming album, "Spanish Candy," music by J.S. Back, and a premiere by Daniel Felsenfeld.
The concert is free. Seating is first-come, first-served. We reserve the right to cap attendance if the capacity of the room is exceeded.
#artcomplexmuseum #concert #duxburyma #seeplymouth Aaron Larget-Caplan, Guitar Artist
Date? Time?
Pop-up Exhibit!
"growing pains," an exhibit of creative works by high school students, will be open for two weekends:
May 6 & 7 and May 13 & 14, from 1 to 4pm.
This exhibit was guest-curated by Duxbury High School senior Bella Marino, and is the culmination of her internship at the museum.
Shown: Charlotte Tobin, "Portland Plein Air," 2022
#artcomplexmuseum #popupexhibit #studentart #seeplymouth #artmuseum
Duxbury Public Schools
The herring are running! The herring has long been an integral part of the local ecosystem, and in the spring, they return from the sea to spawn in the river in which they were born.
Join us on Saturday, April 29th, 1:00-3:00 pm, to learn more from Brian Taylor, Environmental Educator from the North and South Rivers Watershed Association. Family activities. Free event.
#artcomplexmusuem, #duxburyma, #herring, #seeplymouth North and South Rivers Watershed Association
