You’re invited to the Boston Art Awards Ball

The New England Journal of Aesthetic Research and Big Red & Shiny are teaming up to present the 2008 Boston Art Awards Ball from 6 to 8 p.m. Monday, Feb. 2, at the Beehive at the Boston Center for the Arts, 541 Tremont St., Boston. We plan to announce the winners of the awards that night. (Vote here.)

The event is free and open to all. Creative evening attire is encouraged. So please join us for cocktails, toasts to great art, and awkward speeches as we support art from New England.

(Thanks to Big Red and the Beehive for all their help. And to BRS’s Matt Nash for designing the awesome postcard above – click on it to see its full glory.)

Vote for the 2008 Boston Art Awards

Here is the ballot for the 2008 Boston Art Awards, a contest organized by The New England Journal of Aesthetic Research to honor the best art made in New England (excepting Connecticut) and exhibits organized here in 2008. And you are invited to vote. You!

The ballot is long. Crazy long. More than 60 people contributed some 190 nominations for the 2008 Boston Art Awards. Yes! The process was designed to be open to all, democratic and broadly representative of our community. The resulting ballot – which includes nearly all the nominations – is somewhat messy, despite our best sincere efforts to give it clarity. (Send factual corrections here.) Ah, democracy!

Winners will be chosen by (1) local active art journalists and (2) anyone else who wants to vote – and will be announced in terms of these two separate categories of voters.

How to vote:
Voting is open to all. Voting will be by e-mail. Vote for just one nominee in each category. Be clear. List each category and then your vote in each category. We suggest copying the ballot into an e-mail, and deleting all but the stuff you’re voting for. It’s okay to vote for yourself – everyone’s doing it. You don’t have to vote in every category. Of course, you may only vote for stuff you have seen. And you may only submit one completed ballot. Anyone breaking these rules will be banished. Email your votes to here. Put “Vote” in the subject line.

The deadline for the receipt of votes is 6 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 23, 2009. Late votes will be ignored.

The New England Journal of Aesthetic Research will tally the votes. Nominees with the most votes in each category will win. Winners will be announced at the 2008 Boston Art Awards Ball from 6 to 8 p.m. Monday, Feb. 2, at the Beehive at the Boston Center for the Arts, 541 Tremont St., Boston. The event, which we’ve teamed up with Big Red & Shiny to present (thank you Redheads), is free and open to all. Creative evening attire is encouraged. So please join us for cocktails, toasts to great art, and awkward speeches as we support art from New England.

Please contact us with any questions, suggestions, complaints, dire warnings. And please vote.

A note on the composition of the ballot:
More than 60 people contributed some 190 nominations for the 2008 Boston Art Awards. We rejected about two dozen nominations. For gallery shows, solo shows that did not feature New England artists (excepting Connecticut) were excluded. Shows by artists from Away that were not curated by local curators or specifically for local institutions were excluded. Shows that didn’t happen in 2008 were excluded. A few things like theatrical productions and arts journalism (The Journal and Big Red & Shiny received nominations) that are not categories under consideration for awards this year were excluded. But you’re all still winners in our hearts.

The 2008 Boston Art Awards ballot

Voting is open to all, so please vote. That means you, dear reader. Here is an explanation of how to vote. The deadline for the receipt of votes is 6 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 23, 2009.


Installation:
• Jacob Berendes, HBML Junk Shoppe, Worcester, forever.
• Amy Stacey Curtis of Lyman, Maine, “Light,” Sanford Mill in Maine, October.
• "Dead and Gong" by Muffy Brandt and Ali Dennig of Providence, Ryan Riehle and Keith Waters of Boston, and Miles Huston of New York at Stairwell Gallery, August to September.
• Tom Deininger of Newport, RI, in "Trash,” 5 Traverse, September to October.
• The Institute of Infinitely Small Things of Boston in 2008 DeCordova Annual, DeCordova Museum, May to August.
• Jon Laustsen of Pawtucket, "The Reachers and Dwellers,” AS220, February.
• Jane D. Marsching of Boston, “Test Site, Experiments at Blue Hill Observatory,” Allston Skirt, April to May.
• Tape Art “Artaquarium” at 5 Traverse, February.
• Mike Taylor of Providence (now Florida) “Glitter Disco Synthesizer Nite School,” Stairwell, December, and in “New Obstructions,” AS220’s Mercantile Block, September to October.
• Andrew Witkin of Boston in ICA’s Foster Prize exhibit, November 2008 to March 2009.
• Joe Zane of Cambridge in ICA’s Foster Prize exhibit, November 2008 to March 2009.
• Kirsten Reynolds of Newmarket, NH, “Spotlight New England,” Currier Art Museum, November 2008 to February 2009.

Photography:
• Jess T. Dugan of Cambridge, Gallery Kayafas, September to October.
• Peter Goldberg of Pawtucket, “Providence Underground,” Gail Cahalan Gallery, November.
• Judy Haberl of Newtonville, MA, Gallery Kayafas, March to April.
• Sean Johnson of Boston, Boston Center for the Arts, September to November.
• Rania Matar of Brookline, ICA’s Foster Prize exhibit, November 2008 to March 2009; Gallery Kayafas, January to February; Tufts University, September to December; Simmons College, April to May.
• Ernest Morin of Gloucester, “Sight Lines,” Gloucester City Hall, July.
• Arun Shanbhag of Boston, photos of Mumbai terrorist attacks at arunshanbhag.com, November.
• “Social Photography Across a Century: The Works of American Master Lewis Hine and Contemporary Artist Scott Lapham [of Providence],” Slater Mill Gallery, Pawtucket, April to June.
• Mark Teiwes of Beverly, “Faces of the Working Waterfront,” Captain Joe & Sons lobster wholesale warehouse, Gloucester, October to November.
• Deb Todd Wheeler of Hyde Park,” Consumer Garden,” Allston Skirt, April to May.

Painting:
• Samuel Bak of Weston,” Icon of Loss,” Pucker Gallery, October to November.
• Resa Blatman of Somerville in “Overflow,” Laconia Gallery, October to November.
• Katherine Bradford of Maine and New York, Samson Projects, September to October.
• Dana Clancy of Boston, “Viewing Space,” Danforth Museum, May to June.
• Raul Gonzalez of Somerville, “Chingasos,” New England Gallery of Latin American Art, May.
• Pixnit of Boston, “Hello my name is Pixnit,” Rotenberg, May.
• Terry Rose of Providence, “Portals,” Gallery NAGA, March.
• Henry Schwartz of Newton, “The Boulevard of Broken Dreams,” Gallery NAGA, February.
• Laurel Sparks of Jamaica Plain in “SMFA Traveling Scholars,” MFA, February to March.
• Bill Thompson of Jamaica Plain,” Dialects,” Krakow, November 2007 to January 2008.
• Neal Walsh of Providence, 5 Traverse, April.
• Shari Weschler Rubeck of North Kingstown, RI, “Odd Women,” Gallery 17 Peck, October to November.
• Entang Wiharso of North Kingstown, RI, “Black Goat Is My Last Defense,” 5 Traverse, November.

Drawing and printmaking:
• Jonathan Bonner of Providence in “NetWorks 2008,” AS220, Newport Art Museum, 5 Traverse, October 2008 to January 2009.
• Brian Chippendale of Providence, “Human Mold,” Stairwell, May to June.
• Marc Cote of Framingham, Fountain St. Open Studios, Framingham, April.
• Leif Goldberg of Providence, “Sound Beings,” Stairwell Gallery, March to April.
• Nicole Kita of Jamaica Plain, Rotenberg Gallery, August.
• Delia Kovac of Providence, “The Making,” AS220, December.
• Debra Olin of Somerville, Somerville Open Studios, May.
• Mary O'Malley of Somerville in “Overflow,” Laconia, October to November.
• Erin Rosenthal of Providence, “Sound Beings,” Stairwell, March to April.

New media:
• Dirk Adams of Boston, "Mouth of a Story" at the empty bear cages at Franklin Park, Boston.
• Elaine Bay of Somerville in “a politic,” Gallery XIV, July to October, also www.revolt2die.com, www.goldenjasmineyetidancers.com, and www.myspace.com/centralregioncoastguard.
• Jay Critchley of Provincetown, “Global Yawning for a small planet,” YouTube and “Greed, Guilt & Grappling,” Boston Center for the Arts, February and March.
• Richard Goulis of Providence, "High Definition,” Real Art Ways in Hartford, October 2007 to January 2008.
• Catherine D'Ignazio of Waltham in the ICA’s Foster Prize exhibit, November 2008 to March 2009.
• Georgie Friedman of Boston, “Seas and Skies,” MFA Thesis Exhibition, Tufts, April.
• Dan Hermes of Jamaica Plain, Boston Design Center, October.
• Steve Hollinger of Boston, “What’s Left,” Chase Gallery, September.
• Mary Ellen Strom and Ann Carlson, Rotenberg Gallery, April.
• Suara Welitoff of Cambridge, “Anonymous,” Allston Skirt, February to March.

Sculpture:
• Dave Cole of Providence, “All American,” Rotenberg Gallery, September to October.
• Taylor Davis of Boston, “N W Ab t,” Samson Projects, October to December.
• Peter Evonuk of Everett, “Dystopian Polemetrics,” Laconia Gallery, January to February.
• Tory Fair of Boston, LaMontagne Gallery, April 2008.
• Jungil Hong of Providence in “Jackals and Jerks,” Stairwell, June to July.
• Charles Jones of Medford, Boston Sculptors, November to December.
• Judith G. Klausner of Somerville, Arisia ’08 science fiction and fantasy convention art show, Cambridge, January.
• Dexter Lazenby of Acton, Maine, Nielsen Gallery, December 2008 to January 2009.
• Xander Marro of Providence in “NetWorks 2008” at AS220, Newport Art Museum, 5 Traverse, October 2008 to January 2009.
• Sally Moore of Jamaica Plain, “Edge,” Krakow Gallery, October to November.
• Rachel Perry Welty of Needham, “Same Difference,” Krakow Gallery, January to February.
• Liz Shepherd of Cambridge, “I Don’t Know the Details,” Essex Art Center, Lawrence, September to October.

Public exposure:
• “Cryptic Providence,” Providence’s North Burial Ground, organized by Jay Critchley of Provincetown, June to September.
• Platform2 of Boston, “Parade for the Future,” Boston Common, September.
• “Providence Art Windows,” exhibits in Providence storefronts, throughout the year.
• Laurencia Strauss of Providence, designed playground at Learning Community Charter School, Central Falls, RI, opened September.
• Victory Park surreptitious sculptures, Dorchester, throughout year.

Book:
• Jo Dery of Providence, “Quietly Sure - Like the Keeper of a Great Secret,” Little Otsu.
• Leif Goldberg of Providence, “National Waste 7,” self-published.
• Ben Jones of Providence, “New Painting and Drawing,” PictureBox.
• Laura McPhee of Brookline, “River of No Return,” Yale University Press.
• Caleb Neelon of Cambridge, “Book of Awesome,” Ginko Press.

Career survey of an artist with local ties:
• John Bisbee of Brunswick, Maine, “Bright Common Spikes,” Portland Museum of Art, curated by PMA’s Susan Danly, January to March.
• “Harry Callahan: Eleanor” at RISD Museum, late Providence photographer, organized by Atlanta’s High Museum of Art, November 2008 to February 2009.
• Harriet Casdin-Silver, late of Brookline, “Self-Portraits,” Gallery NAGA, June.
• “Chihuly at RISD” at RISD Museum, former Providence sculptor, curated by RISD’s James Hall, September 2008 to January 2009.
• Frank Gohlke of Massachusetts and Arizona at Gallery Kayafas and “Accommodating Nature,” Addison Gallery, organized by Amon Carter Museum, April to July.
• Corita Kent, late of Boston, ‘We Can Create Life Without War,” Breslin Fine Art, organized by Joanne Breslin, April to May.
• Nick Lawrence of Eastham, “Notes from the Underground: 1982 –2007,” Pierre Menard, September to December.
• Jo Sandman of Boston, “Once Removed,” Danforth Museum, curated by Danforth’s Katherine French, September to November.
• Peter Schumann of Glover, VT, “Placards, Broadsides, Rants: 1974-2008,” Plainfield Community Center, Vermont, August.
• John Walker of Brookline, “A Survey 1970-2008,” Nielsen Gallery, organized y Nina Nielsen, John Baker, and Josh Buckno, March to April.

Current events (art most reflecting our times):
• Samuel Bak of Weston, “Icon of Loss,” Pucker Gallery, October to November.
• Dave Cole of Providence, “All American,” Rotenberg Gallery, September to October.
• Catherine D'Ignazio of Waltham in the ICA’s Foster Prize exhibit, November 2008 to March 2009.
• The Institute of Infinitely Small Things of Boston in 2008 DeCordova Annual at DeCordova Museum, May to August.
• Rania Matar of Brookline, ICA’s Foster Prize exhibit, November 2008 to March 2009; Gallery Kayafas, January to February; Tufts University, September to December; Simmons College, April to May.
• Chaz Maviyane-Davies of Boston in “Reflections in Exile,” Museum of the National Center of Afro-American Artists, June to July.
• Peter Schumann of Glover, VT, Boston Center for the Arts, February.
• Arun Shanbhag of Boston, photos of Mumbai terrorist attacks at arunshanbhag.com, November.
• Suara Welitoff of Cambridge, “Anonymous,” Allston Skirt, February to March.

Awesomest spectacle:
• The Institute of Infinitely Small Things of Boston, “The Working Is the Work,” ICA, February to April.
• Iron Guild’s 6th Annual Halloween Pour at the Steel Yard, Oct. 31.
• Charles Jones of Medford, “Accord Group ‘Kyoto’: Proposal for installation at the United Nations Building” (giant elephant gas mask), Boston Sculptors, November to December.
• Platform2 of Boston, “Parade for the Future,” Boston Common, September.
• Ben Sloat of Jamaica Plain, street performance of “Thriller” as part of his exhibit “I’m Not Like the Other Guys” at OHT Gallery, September.

Best reflection of our local community:
• Jess T. Dugan of Cambridge at Gallery Kayafas, September to October.
• Peter Goldberg of Pawtucket, “Providence Underground,” Gail Cahalan Gallery, November.
• Ernest Morin of Gloucester, “Sight Lines,” Gloucester City Hall, July.
• “New England Survey” featuring Barbara Bosworth of Massachusetts, Tanja Alexia Hollander of Maine, Janet Pritchard of Connecticut, Thad Russell of Vermont, Jonathan Sharlin of Rhode Island, and Paul Taylor of New Hampshire, Photographic Resource Center, curated by Leslie K. Brown, March to May.
• “Social Photography Across a Century: The Works of American Master Lewis Hine and Contemporary Artist Scott Lapham [of Providence],” Slater Mill Gallery, April to June.
• Mark Teiwes of Beverly, “Faces of the Working Waterfront” photos at Captain Joe & Sons (lobster wholesale warehouse), Gloucester, October to November.

The decline and fall of civilization:
• Brian Chippendale of Providence, “Human Mold,” Stairwell, May to June.
• "Dead and Gong,” Stairwell Gallery, August to September.
• Tom Deininger of Newport, RI, in "Trash" at 5 Traverse, September to October.
• Leif Goldberg and Erin Rosenthal, “Sound Beings,” Stairwell Gallery, March to April.
• “Yassy Goldie for putting up those $50,000 bills on AbrahamObama in the South End [of Boston] and pissing off all those people.”
• Platform2, “Failure Support Group,” Cambridge, February.

Solo artist from Away – non-gallery:
• “Anselm Kiefer: Sculptures and Paintings,” German artist, MassMoCA, October 2007 to October 2009.
• Adel Abdessemed of New York, MIT’s List Visual Arts Center, organized by Jane Farver, October 2008 to January 2009.
• Paul Chan of New York, “Three Easy Pieces,” Harvard’s Carpenter Center, curated by Harvard’s Helen Molesworth, November 2008 to January 2009.
• Moyra Davey of New York, “Long Life Cool White,” Harvard Art Museum, organized by Harvard’s Helen Molesworth, February to June.
• Tara Donovan of Brooklyn, ICA, curated by the ICA’s Nicholas Baume and Jen Mergel, October 2008 to January 2009.
• Spencer Finch of New York, “What Time is it on the Sun?” Mass MoCA, curated by Mass MoCA’s Susan Cross, May 2007 to April 2008.
• Anish Kapoor of London, “Past, Present, Future,” ICA, curated by the ICA’s Nicholas Baume, May to September.
• Ruth Laxson of Atlanta, ‘It Is Up To Us If We Go On As Is,” RISD’s Fleet Library, curated by RISD’s Laurie Whitehill Chong, May to July.
• “Sol LeWitt: A Wall Drawing Retrospective,” Mass MoCA, curated by Yale’s Jock Reynolds for Mass MoCA, November 2008 to 2033.
• Beth Lipman of Wisconsin, “After You’re Gone,” RISD Museum, curated by RISD’s Judith Tannenbaum, August 2008 to January 2009.
• Antonio López Garcia of Spain, MFA, curated by MFA’s Cheryl Brutvan, April to July.
• Ana Maria Pacheco of England, “Dark Night of the Soul,” Danforth Museum, curated by Danforth’s Katherine French, November 2007 to August 2008.
• “Shifting Perspectives: Esteban Pastorino Díaz” of Argentina, School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, curated by SMFA’s Joanna Soltan, August to October.
• "Mystic Masque: Semblance and Reality in Georges Rouault," late of France, BC’s McMullen Museum, curated by BC’s Stephen Schloesser, August to December.
• Erwin Redl of Austria, “Fade: A Light Installation,” Emerson, curated by Emerson’s Joe Ketner, September to November.
• Jem Southam of England, “Upton Pyne,” Wellesley’s Davis Museum, curated by Davis’s Dabney Hailey, March to June.
• “Andy Warhol: Pop Politics,” late of New York, Currier Museum of Art, curated by the Currier’s Sharon Matt Atkins, September 2008 to January 2009.

Locally-curated historical show:
• “Art and Empire: Treasures from Assyria in the British Museum,” MFA, curated by MFA’s Lawrence Berman, September 2008 to January 2009.
• “Grand Scale: Monumental Prints in the Age of Durer and Titian,” Wellesley’s Davis Museum, curated by Davis’s Elizabeth Wyckoff, March to June.
• “Imperishable Beauty: Art Nouveau Jewelry,” MFA, curated by MFA’s Yvonne Markowitz, July to November.
• “Samuel McIntire: Carving an American Style,” Peabody Essex Museum, curated by PEM’s Dean Lahikainen, October 2007 to February 2008.
• “Social Photography Across a Century: The Works of American Master Lewis Hine and Contemporary Artist Scott Lapham [of Providence],” Slater Mill Gallery, curated by Slater Mill’s Andrian Paquette, Pawtucket, April to June.
• “Storied Walls: Murals of the Americas,” Harvard’s Peabody Museum, Examination of Hopi, Maya and Moche murals via photographs, drawings models, and fragments; organized by Jeffrey Quilter, Stephen LeBlanc, Barbara Fash, William Saturno, and Mary Miller; March 2008 to December 2009.
• “Subject to Change,” RISD Museum, curated by RISD’s Anne Woolsey, Jan Howard, Judith Tannenbaum, Maureen O’Brien, Melissa Buchanan, Joanne Ingersoll, Kate Irvin and Laurie Brewer; June to ongoing.
• “To the Ends of the Earth,” Peabody Essex Museum, curated by PEM’s Samuel Scott, November 2008 to March 2009.
• “Two Museums, One Culture,” Museum of Russian Icons, Clinton, October 2008 to May 2009.
• “Views and Re-Views,” Brown University’s Bell Gallery, curated by Bell’s Jo-Ann Conklin and Brown history professor emeritus Abbot Gleason, September to October.
• “Zhang Daqian: Painter, Collector, Forger,” MFA, curated by MFA’s Joseph Scheier-Dolberg, December 2007 to September 2008.

Prettiest:
• “Drawn to Detail,” DeCordova Museum, organized by DeCordova’s Rachel Rosenfield Lafo, Kate Dempsey and Nina Bozicnik, August 2008 to January 2009.
• Tory Fair of Boston, LaMontagne Gallery, April 2008.
• “In Pursuit of Beauty,” Montserrat College of Art, curated by Leonie Bradbury, November 2008 to January 2009.
• “Overflow,” Laconia Gallery, curated by Blatman, October to November.
• Pixnit of Boston, “Hello my name is Pixnit,” Rotenberg, May.

Big idea show:
• “Alternating Beats,” RISD Museum, curated by RISD’s Zeljka Himbele, October to February, 2009.
• "Are We There Yet?" GASP, curated by Dawoud Bey of Chicago for GASP, March to May.
• “Badlands: New Horizons in Landscape,” Mass MoCA, curated by Mass MoCA’s Denise Markonish, May 2008 to April 2009.
• “Black Womanhood,” at Hood Museum, Dartmouth, April to August, and Davis Museum, Wellesley, September to December, curated by Hood Museum’s Barbara Thompson.
• “Close Encounters: Central European Video Art,” URI Fine Art Center Galleries, curated by Viera Levitt of RI, January to February.
• “Cornucopia: Documenting the Land of Plenty,” Montserrat, curated by Leonie Bradbury, November 2007 to February 2008.
• “Cryptic Providence,” Providence’s North Burial Ground, organized by Jay Critchley of Provincetown, June to September.
• “Drawing: A Broader Definition,” MFA, curated by the MFA’s Clifford Ackley, October 2007 to May 2008.
• “Drawn to Detail,” DeCordova Museum, organized by DeCordova’s Rachel Rosenfield Lafo, Kate Dempsey and Nina Bozicnik, August 2008 to January 2009.
• “Empire and Its Discontents,” Tufts University, curated by Amy Ingrid Schlegel and Rhonda Saad for Tufts, September to November.
• "Evolution/Revolution,” RISD Museum, curated by RISD’s Joanne Ingersoll and Kate Irvin, February to June.
• “Experiencing the War in Iraq,” curated by Jeff Carpenter of Fall River and Leif Goldberg, Raphael Lyon and Erin Rosenthal of Providence; at Machines with Magnets and Arts Exchange (Pawtucket Armory) in Pawtucket in March and Narrows Center for the Arts in Fall River in April.
• "Hecho a Mano: New Visions of Latin Contemporary Art,” Center for Latino Art, curated by Evan Garza, September to October.
• “In Pursuit of Beauty,” Montserrat College of Art, curated by Leonie Bradbury, November 2008 to January 2009.
• “Inside the Box” Yezerski Gallery, curated by George Fifield and Phaedra Shanbaum, January to February.
• “Many Kinds of Nothing,” Montserrat, curated by Shana Dumont, August to October.
• “Material Meditation,” New Art Center, Newton, curated by Denise Driscoll of Holliston, September to October.
• “Meat After Meat Joy,” Pierre Menard Gallery, curated by Heide Hatry of Brookline and Brooklyn, June to July.
• “Multi-Part Art,” RISD Museum, curated by RISD’s Judith Tannenbaum, July 2008 to March 2009.
• “The Museum of Small Finds,” Machines with Magnets, curators Lauren Holt and Ken Linehan, October to November.
• “New England Survey,” Photographic Resource Center, curated by Leslie K. Brown, March to May.
• “Overflow,” Laconia Gallery, curated by Blatman, October to November.
• “Presumed Innocence,” DeCordova, curated by DeCordova’s Rachel Rosenfeld Lafo, February to April.
• “Sex, Drugs and Rock + Roll,” Zevitas Gallery, curated by Steven Zevitas, October to November.
• “Silent Film/Music Video,” RISD Museum, curated by RISD’s Maya Allison, September 2007 to February 2008.
• “Styrofoam,” RISD Museum, curated by RISD’s Judith Tannenbaum, March to July.
• “Ten Artists Ten Walls,” Victoria Munroe Fine Art, May to August.
“This is Boston, Not LA,” LaMontagne Gallery, curated by Emily Isenberg and Russell LaMontagne, November to December.
• “Tongue of Shadows,” GASP, curated by Gilles Daigneault of Quebec for GASP, September to October.
• “War Stories” MassArt, organized by MassArt’s Lisa Tung, February to March.
• “Wedded Bliss,” Peabody Essex Museum, curated by PEM’s Paula Richter, April to September.

Local curator of locally-made art:
• Resa Blatman, “Overflow,” featuring Resa Blatman, Sara Hairston-Medice and Mary O'Malley of Somerville, Laconia Gallery, October to November.
• Leslie K. Brown, “New England Survey,” Photographic Resource Center, March to May.
• Bert Crenca and Joseph Chazan, "NetWorks 2008" survey exhibition of contemporary RI artists, AS220, Newport Art Museum, and 5 Traverse, October 2008 to January 2009.
• Katherine French of the Danforth Museum for organizing Arthur Polonsky of Newton “A Thief of Light,” February to May; Jo Sandman of Boston “Once Removed,” September to November; Jason Berger of Brookline, “Directed Vision,” October 2008 to March 2009.
• Mags Harries and Clara Wainwright, “Greed, Guilt & Grappling,” Boston Center for the Arts, February and March.
• Julia Hechtman and Kara Braciale, “Boston Does Boston,” Proof, December 2008 to January 2009.
• Maggie Holtzberg, “Keepers of Tradition,” National Heritage Museum, May 2008 to June 2009.
• James Hull for curating “Behind the Image,” Suffolk University Art Gallery ( NESAD), November 2008 to January 2009; Peter J. Evonuk of Everett, “Dystopian Polemetrics,” Laconia Gallery, January to February; John Guthrie of Jamaica Plain at FP3; Ben Sloat of Jamaica Plain at Laconia, March to April.
• Emily Isenberg and Russell LaMontagne, “This is Boston, Not LA,” LaMontagne Gallery, November to December.
• Carole Anne Meehan, “2008 Foster Prize,” ICA, juried by Jill Medvedow, Larrisa Harris, Harry Philbrick, Kelly Sherman, and Philippe Vergne, November 2008 to March 2009.
• Rhode Island State Council on the Arts, “2008 RISCA Fellowship Exhibition,” Machines With Magnets, February.
• Jesse Smith, “Providence Print Show ’08,” 5 Traverse, June.
• Neal Walsh and Mike Taylor, "New Obstructions,” AS220’s Mercantile Block, September to October.

Standout performance by a local artist in a group show:
• Elaine Bay of Somerville in “a politic” at Gallery XIV, July to October, also www.revolt2die.com, www.goldenjasmineyetidancers.com, and www.myspace.com/centralregioncoastguard.
• Resa Blatman of Somerville in “Overflow,” Laconia Gallery, October to November.
• Jonathan Bonner of Providence in “NetWorks 2008,” AS220, Newport Art Museum, 5 Traverse, October 2008 to January 2009.
• Marc Cote of Framingham, Fountain St. Open Studios, Framingham, April.
• Jay Critchley of Provincetown “Global Yawning for a small planet” on YouTube, in “Greed, Guilt & Grappling,” Boston Center for the Arts, February and March.
• Tom Deininger of Newport, RI, in "Trash,” 5 Traverse, September to October.
• Georgie Friedman of Boston, “Seas and Skies,” MFA Thesis Exhibition, Tufts, April.
• Leif Goldberg of Providence, “Sound Beings,” Stairwell Gallery, March to April.
• Jungil Hong of Providence in “Jackals and Jerks,” Stairwell, June to July.
• Catherine D'Ignazio of Waltham in the ICA’s Foster Prize exhibit, November 2008 to March 2009.
• The Institute of Infinitely Small Things of Boston in 2008 DeCordova Annual, DeCordova Museum, May to August.
• Scott Lapham of Providence in “Social Photography Across a Century: The Works of American Master Lewis Hine and Contemporary Artist Scott Lapham,” Slater Mill Gallery, curated by Slater Mill’s Andrian Paquette, Pawtucket, April to June.
• Xander Marro of Providence in “NetWorks 2008,” AS220, Newport Art Museum, 5 Traverse, October 2008 to January 2009.
• Chaz Maviyane-Davies of Boston in “Reflections in Exile,” Museum of the National Center of Afro-American Artists, June to July.
• Debra Olin of Somerville at Somerville Open Studios, May.
• Mary O'Malley of Somerville in “Overflow,” Laconia, October to November, and “Drawn to Detail” at DeCordova, August 2008 to January 2009.
• Jen Raimondi of Providence in “The Museum of Small Finds,” Machines with Magnets, October to November.
• Erin Rosenthal of Providence, “Sound Beings,” Stairwell Gallery, March to April.
• Laurel Sparks of Jamaica Plain in “SMFA Traveling Scholars,” MFA, February to March.
• Andrew Witkin of Boston in ICA’s Foster Prize exhibit, November 2008 to March 2009.
• Joe Zane of Cambridge in ICA’s Foster Prize exhibit, November 2008 to March 2009.

Solo show by local artist (or collaborative):
• Dirk Adams of Boston, "Mouth of a Story" in the empty bear cages at Franklin Park, Boston, September.
• Samuel Bak of Weston, “Icon of Loss,” Pucker Gallery, October to November.
• John Bisbee of Brunswick, Maine, “Bright Common Spikes,” Portland Museum of Art, January to March.
• Katherine Bradford of Maine and New York, Samson Projects, September to October.
• Brian Chippendale of Providence, “Human Mold” at Stairwell, May to June.
• Dana Clancy of Boston, “Viewing Space,” Danforth, May to June.
• Dave Cole of Providence, “All American,” Rotenberg Gallery, September to October.
• Amy Stacey Curtis of Lyman, Maine, “Light,” Sanford Mill, Maine, October.
• Taylor Davis of Boston, “N W Ab t” at Samson Projects. October to December.
• Jess T. Dugan of Cambridge, Gallery Kayafas, September to October.
• Tory Fair of Boston, LaMontagne Gallery, April.
• Frank Gohlke of Massachusetts and Arizona at Gallery Kayafas and “Accommodating Nature” Addison Gallery (organized by Amon Carter Museum), April to July.
• Peter Goldberg of Pawtucket, “Providence Underground,” Gail Cahalan Gallery, November.
• Raul Gonzalez of Somerville, “Chingasos,” New England Gallery of Latin American Art, May.
• Richard Goulis of Providence, "High Definition,” Real Art Ways in Hartford, October 2007 to January 2008.
• Judy Haberl of Newtonville, MA, photos at Gallery Kayafas, March to April.
• Dan Hermes of Jamaica Plain, Boston Design Center, October.
• Steve Hollinger of Boston, “What’s Left,” Chase Gallery, September.
• Sean Johnson of Boston, Boston Center for the Arts, September to November.
• Charles Jones of Medford, Boston Sculptors, November to December.
• Nicole Kita of Jamaica Plain, Rotenberg Gallery, August.
• Delia Kovac of Providence, “The Making,” AS220, December.
• Yanick Lapuh, Hynes Convention Center, September to October.
• Jon Laustsen of Pawtucket, "The Reachers and Dwellers,” AS220, February.
• Nick Lawrence of Eastham, “Notes from the Underground: 1982 –2007,” Pierre Menard, September to December.
• Jane D. Marsching of Boston, “Test Site, Experiments at Blue Hill Observatory,” Allston Skirt, April to May.
• Rania Matar of Brookline, Gallery Kayafas, January to February.
• Sally Moore of Jamaica Plain, “Edge,” Krakow Gallery, October to November.
• Ernest Morin of Gloucester, “Sight Lines,” Gloucester City Hall, July.
• Pixnit of Boston, “Hello my name is Pixnit,” Rotenberg, May.
• Kirsten Reynolds of Newmarket, NH, “Spotlight New England,” Currier Art Museum, November 2008 to February 2009.
• Terry Rose of Providence, “Portals,” Gallery NAGA, March.
• Jo Sandman of Boston “Once Removed,” Danforth Museum, September to November.
• Peter Schumann of Glover, VT, exhibits at Boston Center for the Arts, February, and “Placards, Broadsides, Rants: 1974-2008,” Plainfield Community Center, Vermont, August.
• Henry Schwartz of Newton, “The Boulevard of Broken Dreams,” Gallery NAGA, February.
• Liz Shepherd of Cambridge, “I Don’t Know the Details,” Essex Art Center in Lawrence, September to October.
• Ben Sloat of Jamaica Plain, “I’m Not Like the Other Guys,” OHT Gallery, September.
• Mary Ellen Strom and Ann Carlson, Rotenberg Gallery, April.
• Tape Art “Artaquarium,” 5 Traverse, February.
• Mike Taylor of Providence (now Florida) “Glitter Disco Synthesizer Nite School,” Stairwell, December.
• Mark Teiwes of Beverly, “Faces of the Working Waterfront,” Captain Joe & Sons lobster wholesale warehouse, Gloucester, October to November.
• Bill Thompson of Jamaica Plain, “Dialects,” Krakow, November 2007 to January 2008.
• John Walker of Brookline, “A Survey 1970-2008,” Nielsen Gallery, March to April.
• Neal Walsh of Providence, 5 Traverse, April.
• Suara Welitoff of Cambridge, “Anonymous,” Allston Skirt, February to March.
• Rachel Perry Welty of Needham, “Same Difference,” Barbara Krakow Gallery, January to February.
• Shari Weschler Rubeck of North Kingstown, RI, “Odd Women,” Gallery 17 Peck, October to November.
• Deb Todd Wheeler of Hyde Park,” Consumer Garden,” Allston Skirt, April to May.
• Entang Wiharso of North Kingstown, RI, “Black Goat Is My Last Defense,” 5 Traverse, November.

Federal bailout for the arts?

An $825 billion economic recovery bill being drafted by the U.S. House Appropriations Committee proposes funding for the arts in the form of a $50 million supplementary appropriation for the National Endowment for the Arts. The focus seems to be on maintaining jobs in cultural nonprofits.

A report (pdf) put out today by the committee chairman, Congressman Dave Obey (D-Wisconsin), says:

“The arts community throughout the United States has been heavily impacted by recent funding reductions due to philanthropic retrenchment after the past year’s stock market declines and by reductions in state and local support because of revenue shortfalls in a depressed economy. The National Endowment for the Arts is positioned to use existing mechanisms to allocate lifeline funding quickly to these nonprofit organizations to retain jobs. These existing mechanisms provide direct grants to fund arts projects and activities with 40 percent distributed by formula to State arts agencies and regional arts organizations and 60 percent set aside for competitively selected arts projects and activities.”

Here’s the text of the relevant section of the draft “American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009” (pdf) proposing additional funding for the NEA:

“For an additional amount for ‘‘Grants and Administration’’, $50,000,000, to be distributed in direct grants to fund arts projects and activities which preserve jobs in the non-profit arts sector threatened by declines in philanthropic and other support during the current economic downturn: Provided, That 40 percent of such funds shall be distributed to State arts agencies and regional arts organizations in a manner similar to the agency’s current practice and 60 percent of such funds shall be for competitively selected arts projects and activities according to sections 2 and 5(c) of the National Foundation on the Arts and Humanities Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 951, 954(c)): Provided further, That matching requirements under section 5(e) of such Act shall be waived: Provided further, That the amount set aside from this appropriation pursuant to section 1106 of this Act shall be not more than 5 percent instead of the percentage specified in such section.”

Stay tuned.

Bessire named director of Portland museum

Mark Bessire has been named the new director of the Portland Museum of Art, the Maine institution announced today. He is expected to begin work on March 2, filling the shoes of Daniel O’Leary, who stepped down in May.

Bessire has been director of the Bates College Museum of Art in Lewiston, Maine, since 2003. He was director of the Institute of Contemporary Art at the Maine College of Art in Portland from 1998 to 2003. (In 2006, The New York Times reported that Bessire was “one name that has repeatedly surfaced” as a front-runner for the director’s post of the Dia Art Foundation.)

“I look forward to the opportunity to lead the museum at this critical point in its history,” Bessire said in a press release. “The acquisitions of the Winslow Homer Studio, the Charles Q. Clapp House, and the property at 87 Spring Street all demand a clear articulation of the museum’s mission and aspirations in order to determine the next exciting stage of its growth. Developing these priorities will enable us to expand audiences, attract donors, and build the collection to make the Portland Museum of Art one of the most vibrant museums in America.”

Bessire resides in Portland with his wife, Aimée Bessire, associate professor at Maine College of Art, and their two children.

Related:
A profile of Bessire in a 2004 Bates publication.

“To the Ends of the Earth” at Peabody Essex

From my review of “To the Ends of the Earth: Painting the Polar Landscape,” curated by Sam Scott at Salem’s Peabody Essex Museum:

In July 1860, Captain Isaac Israel Hayes’s schooner, the United States, left Boston and sailed to the Arctic. He was in search of the legendary open polar sea, a hoped-for water passage to the North Pole or between Europe and the Pacific. But it was the kind of voyage you made too because you desired to test yourself against Earth’s final forbidding untamed frontier.

By October, the ship was frozen in, and the men continued north by dogsled. When conditions finally stymied Hayes’s progress, he scaled an icy hill and scanned the horizon.

“All the evidences showed that I stood upon the shores of the Polar Basin, and that the broad [frozen] ocean lay at my feet … and within a month, the whole sea would be as free from ice as I had seen the northern water of Baffin Bay,” he declared in his 1867 book The Open Polar Sea. He added, “I have shown that the open sea exists.” He turned out to be wrong, but it was a thrilling tale.

Hayes named one of the icy mountains Church Peak after his artist friend Frederick Edwin Church, who had given him some drawing lessons. And he gave Church his sketch of it after he sailed back into Boston Harbor in October 1861.

From Hayes’s tales and chalk drawing, plus Church’s own experience sketching icebergs at Newfoundland and Labrador in 1859 and the Aurora Borealis at Mount Desert Island in Maine in 1860, Church invented an astonishing 7-foot-wide canvas "Aurora Borealis" (1865).

The painting is one of the showstoppers of the excellent exhibit “To the Ends of the Earth: Painting the Polar Landscape” at Salem’s Peabody Essex Museum.

Read the rest here.

“To the Ends of the Earth: Painting the Polar Landscape,” Peabody Essex Museum, East India Square, Salem, Nov. 8, 2008, to March 1, 2009.

Pictured from top to bottom: Frederic Edwin Church, “Aurora Borealis,” 1865; William Bradford, “Sealers Crushed by Icebergs,” 1866; William Bradford, “Lights of the Aurora,” 1869; Frederic Edwin Church, “Iceberg,” 1891; Rockwell Kent, “Resurrection Bay,” 1919; and Johannes S. Kjarval, “Summer Night at Thingvellir,” 1931.

2008 Foster Prize exhibit at ICA

From my review of the ICA’s 2008 Foster Prize exhibit, featuring Catherine (Kanarinka) D’Ignazio of Waltham, Rania Matar of Brookline, Joe Zane of Cambridge and Bostonian Andrew Witkin:

On November 12, the Institute of Contemporary Art opened its biennial Foster Prize exhibit of "Boston-area artists of exceptional promise." The game show works like this: four finalists present their work in the museum and we wait till early 2009 for the institution to announce the $25,000 winner. (The three others get $1500 consolation prizes.) So for those of you playing along at home, let's meet the contestants...

Read the rest here.

Who will win the Foster Prize? The ICA plans to announce the winner on Jan. 21. I suspect visitors will be most attracted to Matar's photos. But my guess is that the jury will pick Witkin. His work, which has an air of correcting the world via awesomely tasteful home decoration, rubs me wrong. But you can't deny the force of his vision.

“The 2008 Foster Prize,” Institute of Contemporary Art, 100 Northern Ave., Boston, Nov. 12, 2008, to March 1, 2009.

Related:
ICA breaks Zane sculpture.

Pictured from top to bottom: Andrew Witkin’s untitled installation; Rania Matar’s photos “Rocket Hole” and “Defiant”; Catherine D’Ignazio’s looping video projection “Exit Strategy”; Joe Zane’s installation and sculpture “Schadenfreude”; and more of Andrew Witkin’s untitled installation. Installation photos by John Kennard.

Boston to create public art directory?

Could the city of Boston be developing a web-based directory of public art around the community? That sounds like a great idea. And that seemed to be a plan of the Boston Art Commission when it advertised in November for an intern to “work on a highly focused project on the development of dynamic website for Boston Public Art/Boston Art Commission,” including “planning, concept and design of a website for Boston Public Art.”

But yesterday when I spoke with Karin Goodfellow, staff director for the commission, she kept the commission’s plans close to the vest. “We are just mapping it out still,” she said.

The idea seems to be to create a website for the five-member commission, a mostly volunteer board established in 1890 (“the oldest municipal art commission in the United States”) that approves new public art on property owned by the city. And this website may (or may not) include a listing of public art, plus temporary public art projects, plus maps. Let's hope it does.

Related:
Comments on public art on “Radio Boston.”

“The Triumph of Marriage” at Gardner

From my review of “The Triumph of Marriage” at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston:

If you've been desirous of an eminently tasteful exhibit that undermines the sanctity of marriage, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum's "The Triumph of Marriage: Painted Cassoni of the Renaissance" may be for you.

Oh, I exaggerate. A bit. But how better to introduce a lovely little show whose highlights include a pair of delicately rendered Renaissance paintings depicting the tale of the ancient Greek prince Antiochus, who had the hots for his young stepmom, Stratonice? (It's also the subject of next year's Boston Early Music Festival opera production, Christoph Graupner's Antiochus und Stratonica.) The first painting finds the prince sick with love. He appears next — as an exhibit brochure politely explains — "dangling a military baton: his secret love has sapped his strength." (Wink, wink.) A doc explains what's up to his dad. Off stage, the king generously annuls his marriage so that his son can wed his wife; he also gives the lad half his kingdom. The second panel shows the young 'uns getting hitched by the king and a wedding party.

"To give to another his beloved spouse," the 14th-century Italian poet Petrarch wrote when recounting the tale, "O utmost love, unheard-of courtesy." The moral of the story might be something about the sacrifices of marriage and serving the greater good of the community.

"The Triumph of Marriage," which was organized for the Gardner by Cristelle Baskins, chair of Tufts University's Art & Art History Department, is a sharply focused scholarly show of 16 paintings (including four matched groups) that originally served as panels of cassoni, or Renaissance hope chests.

Read the rest here.

“The Triumph of Marriage,” Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 280 the Fenway, Boston, Oct. 16, 2008, to Jan. 18, 2009.

Pictured from top to bottom: Detail of Biagio D’Antonio and workshop, “Marcus Furious Camillus Brings Statue of Juno to Rome,” early 1470s; Lo Scheggia, “The Triumph of Scipio Africanus,” ca. 1470; Jacopo del Sellaio, “Tarquin and Tanaquil Entering Rome,” ca. 1470; Biagio D’Antonio and workshop, “Marcus Furious Camillus Brings Statue of Juno to Rome,” early 1470s; and Lo Scheggia, “The Coronation of Frederick III in Rome,” ca. 1460.