Just finalizing the details for the show I am curating at Concord Art. I found some wonderful artists doing work around the theme of birds. It's really coming together.
Birds in Boston
Well, after a crazy week that included my daughter's emergency appendix surgery Monday night - while my husband was out of town on business - my show is up on the walls of the gallery and ready for the opening night! Once Mira was home and Jim was back, I headed into Boston. Abigail and I scrambled to get the main walls painted gray, composed the show on Wednesday, and the installer took care of the rest. I stopped by the gallery last night and couldn't be happier with the result.
And after all this, there's SNOW! Boston and Concord schools are closed but I'm hoping the storm won't keep too many people away from the opening. I'll be no matter what.
Here's a sneak peak. The snow is up all month.
Work is packed and ready
Salon Show at Abigail Ogilvy Gallery
It was a beautiful salon show at the gallery in Boston. My piece, Sway, was hanging next to my friend Bryony Bensley's portrait of my daughter, Mira, as the Green Man's Daughter. Bryony is a wonderful artist; we met a few years ago when we were both at the Albright Gallery in Concord, MA.
Opening Reception at Three Stones Gallery
What a whirlwind night! Jennifer Johnston threw quite a bash and the gallery was packed with people. Lots of friends stopped by. It was great to speak with the other artists and we met a ton of new people as well. Thanks to everyone who stopped by and to the wonderful staff at the gallery! It has taken me a while to post because Jim and I were so busy talking and mingling that neither one of us took a photo. Got this one today from my friend Hedi.
A beautiful visitor
While I was working outside at my mom's house yesterday, this lovely green heron stopped by. He stayed around a long time, letting me get quite close while photographing. Others came by too: a rowdy group of blackbirds and some wild parrots that flew overhead on their way to other parts. Since my mom had to take down the big grapefruit tree in the back, they haven't been around as much. Sometimes you'll see lots of different kinds of birds on the electrical wires down the street: blackbirds, pigeons, parrots, seagulls, all hanging around together.
A mention in Art New England
There's an article on the new galleries in SoWa in this month's Art New England. The Abigail Ogilvy Gallery was mentioned and so was I! Just one sentence but what a nice surprise to be included in the new happenings downtown.
A Moveable Feast by Zachary Jason (Art New England, Sept/Oct 2015, p. 35)
...And when six more galleries open this fall in the back of 460 Harrison (Mohr & McPherson moved its warehouse from there last year), SoWa will boast more galleries than Newbury Street. The newcomers include T + H Gallery (contemporary mixed media), Abigail Ogilvy Gallery (featuring early-career American contemporary artists), and Gold Gallery. Founded by thirty-something entrepreneur Adam Gold (a native of Western Massachusetts), Gold Gallery will open its new space in October after its final show on nearby Tremont Street, Immerse (September 8-18), a series of St. Louis artists Ali Cavanaugh’s watercolor portraits of her young daughter. T + H, directed by Beijing native Ting Liu (her husband Zihao Chen is the associate director), will open in November with Typology Morphology, a group show highlighting digital media created at Alfred, New York’s Institute for Electronic Arts since its founding in 1997. Abigail Ogilvy, a Dartmouth graduate and former assistant curator of Galleria Tornabuoni in Florence, will open her gallery (depending on when construction finishes) in October or November with a showcase of recent Boston University MFA graduate Keenan Derby, whose large-scale abstract statement pieces take three to four months to craft. Ogilvy’s future featured artists range from Polish-American watercolorist Natalia Wrobel to Concord native Holly Harrison, who creates collages out of handwriting samples, photographs, and Japanese and Indian printed papers.
“It goes without saying today that SoWa is the art destination in Boston,” Ogilvy said. Foot traffic continues to swell and more high-end local retails (including A Street Frames) and two new luxury apartment buildings open this fall: Ink Block on Harrison, located above a new Whole Foods, and the 378-unit Troy Boston on Traveler Street. But perhaps no transformation in the area outpaces the artists’ studios. After you’ve spent three visits roaming around the workshops of the still life painters, the potters, and the sculptors, you may have to return to see the new artists who have since moved in – there’s currently a two-year waiting list for studio space at 450 Harrison. As Cal McPherson said, SoWa is now much more than a marketing device. “SoWa today has a distinct character, a buzz and a passion for design unlike anywhere else in the city.”
Here's the whole article with a nice writeup of Susan Lanoue's gallery as well. She's been down there just over a year now after moving from Newbury St. and the new incarnation of Lanoue Gallery is just beautiful. On a personal note, she introduced me to Abigail Ogilvy, which is how I came to be at Abigail's gallery. Thanks, Susan!