Essex Art Center/Lawrence, MA
www.essexartcenter.com
FINNED & FEATHERED
“Without showing any detectable style biases, curator Tamara Krendel identifies the work of five artists included in this exhibit, which is broadly based on birds and fish, as poetic realism. She augments the visual presentation with written poetry, having asked each artist to submit at least one poem for the gallery notebook. The opening reception featured readings by Jenny Grassl, whose poems are also in the gallery; their typography and layering are as inviting as an artist’s sketchbook. Krendel’s sensitivity to both the natural world and poetic interpretations of it has toughness and wit, dispelling any criticism of identity politics that might be associated with the exhibit’s celebration of Women’s History Month. From the ironical leaps through history watched over by birds in Gail Boyajian’s five paintings to the droll, voyeuristic curiosity of pigeons courting and mating in Linda Price-Sneddon’s video, intellect and edginess face off against tenderness and often quite sumptuous color. The artists’ commitment to idea balances, if not overtakes feeling. In her poem, Price-Sneddon writes of “Vulnerable Tenacity,” an apt description of the forces of nature observed.
The thickly applied paint and fluid marks of Laurel Hughes’s and Elizabeth Awalt’s paintings fervently connect with their subjects. Hughes’s chickens are depicted close-up but generalized, their body language and postures telling all. Awalt, with great range and rich palette, manages to paint a reflected sunset immersed in all its exquisite drama without an ounce of sentimentality. Krendel explores the metaphors of a caged bid with fluent brushwork and an eye for lyrical light.
Not surprisingly, most of the selected poems are image and nature centered (Mary Oliver was the choice of more than one artist). As noted by Krendel, the poet as muse or inspiration is not the intention; rather, the artists and poets meet in their observation of nature as a vantage point for perception.”
– Meredith Fife Day