Open Studios: Fort Point

On Saturday the Fort Point Artist Community had an open studios event. They have a large, brick building near the Fort Point Channel with a great view of downtown. It had a vaguely winding interior layout so I felt like around any corner I could find another artist.

It was my first time ever going to one, and I was a little nervous but really enjoyed it. For those of you who haven't heard of this, open studios events are when a group of artists in a certain area organize a free showing of their works inside their studios. This gives them a chance to share their art without gallery liaison, focusing on whichever they choose to exhibit and sometimes including in-progress pieces as well. It's pretty laid back; you can look around quietly or interact with and question the artists (I shyly opted for the former). Some people had free food and drink (lots of Halloween candy!), and some economically-savvy girls were selling baked goods in the hallway. Open Studios take place in cities all over, so if get a chance look for events in your area.


My first stop was to see my drawing professor, Bob Siegelman. He works in different media, first showcasing large abstract prints with beautiful colors and a mesh of twisty splotchy lines. Then on to small ink-and-oil paintings with evocative atmospheres. Sorry, I have no pictures of these.

He also works in photography, trying to "express the need gay men often feel to create a sense of identity, within one's self and culture." They often focus on graphic sexual imagery, but the graininess of the shots lends them a certain softness.


I popped by the studio of Linda Huey, whose gorgeous, organic sculpture caught my eye from the hallway. She has small- and medium-sized pieces that draw from natural, floral forms thematically influenced by "the relationship between growth and decay". Many of her pieces are intended to be in gardens, shown by accompanying photographs of them within different leafy locations. Many of them had an almost alien feel, due to the larger-than-life bulbs and glossy vibrant colors.


Painter Dan Osterman has lovely, expressive landscapes of beaches and mountains. His slightly abstracted viewpoint and free linework make for very striking images. He also had this awesome spinning metallic sculpture hanging from his ceiling that I found fairly mesmerizing.


Bruce Rogovin creates surrealistic self-portraits by repeating his body multiple times in one image. My favorite was one of him sitting on a couch in a rather dank living room, with several nude, translucent versions of him placed around the room. It was sort of Sandy Sklogund-ish, with that suggestion of parallel dimensions. Of course I could find no pictures of them, I'm sorry, but keep an eye on him I guess and hopefully he'll put some on his website.


Bubble World! Martin Berinstein takes bubbles and fluid movement as his inspirations, photographing the effects of dyes and air in liquid mediums. Their extreme close-up compositions make for detailed, intriguing images.
His series "Air, Water and Dyes" was put on large display, as well as a mix of other works, with several focusing on spheres.


Though Laura Davidson works in a variety of media, most of her pieces on display all took a travel theme as the subject. Upon entering a wooden case with many little shelves hanging on the wall caught my eye. It featured little wooden birds and small objects scattered throughout, reminiscent of a Joseph Cornell assemblage but more twee. She had lovely small mosaics of buildings and ancient pottery in etched copper frames.


Her main output seemed to be hand-made books and cut-paper tableaus, or "tunnel books". One book I flipped through, called Mapping My World, Buildings and Bridges, illustrated various places she'd visited. It had hand-drawn maps and pop-up bridges sprawled across almost every page, along with icons of monuments and found vintage stamps.


The tableaus were multi-layered in the way of Dali's Little Theater. Laura was probably my favourite of the artists I visited; the love and attention she put into every piece was to me very apparent, so I could not help but love it too.

The last leg of this artistic journey was a visit to Lenore Tenenblatt's studio, within which I saw wonders done with wood and paint. Her assemblage-like sculptures are full of texture and depth, with interesting shapes and interplay of color. They seemed to have a comfortable familiarity that istantly drew me in, probably due to the materials she uses.

She works with both wall-mounted pieces as well as freestanding. She had some photography and painting on display as well, but I was mostly focused on the sculpture. Also the room smelled like chicken soup. Mmmm.

Other artists I checked out were bookmakers Mary McCarthy and Philip Manna and painter Caroline Muir. I picked up a pile of artist post cards, so all in all a day well spent! If you're in the Boston area, keep an eye out on these artists for future exhibitions. They're having a group show until October 24 in their gallery. Several of the Fort Point artists also teach and run workshops at the Fort Point Studio School.

SoWa First Fridays

Last Friday I had the opportunity to check out the SoWa (South of Washington Street) studios for their October installment of the First Fridays event. Located at 450 Harrison Avenue in Boston, the SoWa Artist's Guild is essentially a gigantic warehouse, but one full of stylish and fascinating contemporary work. The three-story building is home to over 50 studios, and they open their doors to the public on (yup, you guessed it!) the first Friday of each month. Take away the formality and cost of a large museum and you get the open studio experience: people mingle in the hallways holding plastic cups of wine, artists speak directly to the viewers about their artwork (and about anything worthy of some small talk, for that matter!), and unfinished paintings sit right beside polished and mounted works. It's fun, casual, and as interactive as you'd like to make it.

Linda Cordner was one of several artists who specializes in encaustic painting, a technique which involves creating an image from multiple layers of hot wax and pigment. As the wax hardens quickly, the painting process must be extremely efficient and exact.

In another room, 50 cents bought you an ominous fortune cookie from a vending machine. The words "YOU WILL DIE." marked the wall behind it, and the little slips of paper inside answered how. I'm going to have to appreciate silence from now on, as mine told me that my iPod would spontaneously burst into flames and ignite my clothes, burning my body to a crisp.

There are also some fantastic jewelry studios and one woman creates a whole bunch of bright hats-think feathers, vintage veils, and cozy knits. Here are some samples of some stunning contemporary earrings and a necklace by Sophie Hughes.


Another artist was busy making portraits and had an audience of people in folding chairs examining him as he worked with a live model. A friend and I both spied finished paintings of our studio art class models-sometimes Boston is a smaller place than you'd think!

One of the most popular rooms is always the wire sculpture studio of Brian Murphy. He has a wonderful sense of humor and cunning perception of presence and absence of forms in the pieces of "Totally Wired." His lighthearted works include clever titles sure to delight anyone who looks closely at the details.

Equally popular was the newer "Architecture of Bones" gallery. Haunting (and sometimes politically explicit) images of buildings constructed from human skeletons lined the walls. In the center, artist Shaun Lynch displayed several miniature monuments made to look as if they were pieced together with skulls, ribs, and other body parts. The implications? Definitely worth exploring.

One of my personal favorites was the studio in which Barbara Glee Lucas showcased her large naturalistic paintings featuring glass. A fusion of landscape and still life, Lucas's pieces show a masterful rendering of distortion and details. She's set up in a number of locations, including Australia and France. She talked with some of us about potential locations in Boston for her upcoming projects. I'd love to see her tackle a darkly lit place (maybe a nightclub or bar) and capture the reflections of light on the glassware from neon signs and such. Look for more work from her this year as she explores Boston!



First Fridays is a great way to get to know the South End galleries and have a one-on-one connection with the artists and their work. Head to SoWa with some friends and fellow art enthusiasts on November 7th from 5-9pm for the next event if you're interested in checking it out for yourself. Free artwork, food, wine, and shmoozing abound!