ArtScape exhibit reflects Concordians’ revolutionary spirit in unexpected ways
If you were an artist, how would you respond to the prompt “revolutionary”? The interpretations are on display through July 15.
If you were an artist, how would you respond to the prompt “revolutionary”?
Ann Sussman, curator and co-founder of ArtScape, received “quite a diversity” of replies to a call for works to constitute an exhibit on the theme.
The exhibit is full of surprises, Sussman says, with the artists interpreting “revolutionary” in unexpected ways.
Running through July 15 in ArtScape’s main gallery in the West Acton Cultural District, the “Revolutionary Show” includes not only paintings and mixed-media pieces, but also old postcards and photographs of Acton, a quilted commentary on the current political climate, and a copy of a map found in the pocket of a British spy in 1775.
Honoring the past
Dan Kopcso, a Acton artist, submitted wooden bowls “that are part of the life cycle of a tree that stood on our property for over 75 years,” he says. “When the town removed it during roadwork, I couldn’t bear to see it go to waste.”
Kopcso shaped pieces of the old oak into functional bowls, “giving new life to something that had been part of our home for generations,” he adds. “For me, that’s the heart of transformation, honoring the past while creating something new for the future.”
Rebecca Magill’s installation, “20 Years of Lint,” comprises 20 vests made from two decades of dryer lint. Magill, a Acton resident, transformed the lint into handmade paper and sewed it with red thread. Each vest marks a year of laundering her daughter’s clothing, “an embodiment of unseen care and domestic labor,” she says.
“By turning this overlooked residue into garments meant to be seen, not worn, I reveal the hidden weight of caregiving and the environmental imprint of everyday routines.”
‘Anti-war statement’
Marcia Schloss created “Mourning Mantilla,” a watercolor that she calls an “anti-war statement.” It depicts a tank draped in a black lace mantilla and was inspired, says the Acton artist, by the memory of her older sister wearing a mourning mantilla, or veil, at the funeral of the latter’s husband, who died while training for the Vietnam War.
An eighth grader at Acton Middle School, Clara Frank, created a piece titled “Plastic Palette,” inspired by a Tony Cragg work called “Real Plastic Love” that she saw at the Duke Art Museum this past winter. Clara says she found pieces of discarded objects in rainbow colors and “added them to the canvas in swirls.”
Among artists from elsewhere whose pieces appear in the exhibit is Tricia Deck, a member of the Artists Association of Nantucket. Deck constructed a quilt using a drawing her daughter made showing the American flag.
She had the drawing printed, then cut out the pieces, gave each one a backing and batting, connected them with red and blue variegated thread, and stitched the edges in white, “with hope that we might connect the nation once again.”
ArtScape is a community of 20-plus artists, including painters, photographers, multimedia artists, and a master calligrapher.
The “Revolutionary Show” is in ArtScape’s main gallery at 33 Bradford St., second floor through July 15. Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays. For more information, email [email protected].
