Mary Ann Wenniger

April 13, 2021 By Gallery 444

Mary Ann Wenniger

Opening reception with the artist Friday, 10/22 6pm-9pm & Saturday 10/23 6pm-9pm

Artist, teacher, author, Mary Ann de Buy Wenniger is a well-respected art dealer and gallerist of forty years in Boston, Rockport, Provincetown and now co-owns Wenniger Cottage Gallery and Print Studio in Gloucester, Massachusetts. Mary Ann studied Art history at Boston University and New York University. She received an M.A. in art education from Harvard and a M.F.A. from Vermont College. Mary Ann learned printmaking at the Radcliffe Institute and DeCordova Museum, and is a self-proclaimed course junkie delighting in learning new things. Mary Ann was one of the first artists to experiment with the collagraph during its genesis in the 1960’s when polymer glues were developed that make it possible to create permanently adhered collaged plates and print them on rag paper using an intaglio press. She purposely uses new colors for each print; thus each print is unique. The plates themselves are art works. They take weeks to assemble. She uniquely combines elements of sculpture and printmaking. Wenniger collagraphs captivate with their genre scenes, poetic titles reflecting her optimistic spirit. Their hand wrought, painterly surfaces shine with rich colors from heavy printmaking oil inks used. Although printmaking implies multiples, for Wenniger each print becomes a painting. Wenniger collagraphs are primarily in private homes with some in corporate collections: First Bank of New Hampshire, Bank of Boston, Fidelity Investments, Rockefeller collection. maryannwenniger@gmail.com www.wennigercottagegallery.com

Sian Robertson “ You Are Here “

March 18, 2021 By Gallery 444

Week long show. Opening on Friday night.

Sian Robertson, a self-taught artist originally from the UK who has lived on the outer Cape for over 20 years, likes to say that a beautiful map makes her heart race and her hand reach for her X-acto knife.

Known for her 3 dimensional work created from used maps (which themselves are a 2 dimensional representation of a 3 dimensional world), Robertson is driven almost entirely by the aesthetics of the colors, lines, and shapes within them. She cuts, tears, rolls, layers, and ‘excavates’ the maps – hand cutting away specific areas, which then heightens the focus on others. The viewer is able to peer deep into the mass of tangled layers of streets, the roads remaining intact within the fragile structure of the now lacelike pages.

Robertson as been exhibiting in galleries in Provincetown and Boston since 2015, and has been included in many members’ and juried shows at the Provincetown Art Association and Museum, Cape Cod Museum of Art, and the Cultural Center of Cape Cod. in 2020 she was the Artist in Residence at the Higgins Art Gallery at Cape Cod Community College, and she often teaches collage and assemblage classes at PAAM and Castle Hill.

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Jonathan Gershon Stark “Sticks and Stones” Verbal Abuse Awareness

March 14, 2021 By Gallery 444

Opening on Friday night.

I will be presenting work from my ongoing Sticks and Stones Project which focuses on what I feel is the overlooked prevalence of and damage caused by verbal abuse. This abuse can be direct, e.g. “You are so stupid,ugly, etc.” or more subtle and equally damaging, e.g. “Why are you so sensitive?” or deceptively undermining, e.g. “You want to be an artist…you know that is difficult”. As you might intuit this project is very close to home and I am on a “mission” to bring attention, in an artistic way, to this problem.

Relatedly, I am Jewish and in our tradition the worst “sin” one can commit is Lashon Hara, or evil speech. It is considered worse than murder because words can “kill” a person over and over. Another key part of my tradition is Tikkun Olum, making the world a better place. I see my Sticks and Stones Project as my commitment to this.

Sites

February 16, 2021 By Gallery 444

To Raise Awareness of the Ever-Increasing Level of Violence in Our Society

Large scale Black and white photographs by Tara Conant

The Sites project began when there appeared to be a sharp rise in the number of murders of women in Western Massachusetts. The locations photographed are at the scene of the crime or in close proximity to where one took place.

As the project grew and developed, it became instantly clear the random nature of the murders. Not just indiscriminate acts of violence, since family or friends often committed many of the murders but in the ordinariness of these settings. The places we generally regarded as safe, were no longer so. Modest homes, parking lots, shopping malls; the locations of our everyday life have become something else. This project is a visual investigation and documentation into the social landscape of these locations where women have been found murdered or abducted.

On a much larger scale, the hope is that these photographs could function to help raise awareness of the ever-increasing level of violence in our society, which seemingly has become almost ‘acceptable’ and that this violence should not be tolerated. These works can serve as a remembrance for the victims of these violent crimes so that they will not be forgotten.

The Sites project was a past recipient of the Massachusetts Cultural Council Artist Fellowship.

Tara Conant – Gallery 444 Featured Artist

May 16, 2020 By Gallery 444

Tara Conant

Tara Conant is a professional photographer as well as a photo educator. She earned a Master of Fine Arts in Photography from Bard College. She has taught photography at Westfield State University, Holyoke Community College as well as other colleges during in her career.

Her photographic work has been shown in solo and group exhibitions throughout the United States for a number of years. Some themes and subject matter she explores in her photographic work range from street photography, documentation of the representation and treatment of women in society to environmental issues.

She has earned recognition for her work including a Massachusetts Cultural Council Artist Grant for her documentary series of photographs entitled Sites and she was selected as one of the 2000 Women in Photography by Women in Photography International. Additionally, she works as a freelance photographer.

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Visit our Featured page for more of Tara’s work.

Tara Conant – “Ripples” © photograph. Select image to view larger.

Tara Conant – “Yellow Boat” © photograph. Select image to view larger.

Paul Hastings – Returning Artist

March 13, 2018 By Gallery 444

Paul Hastings, Returning Artist at Gallery 44

Paul Hastings

Opening on Friday night.

All of my work is done “en plein air” and most of it right in P-town. No working from photos-ever.

Boston Artist Paul Hastings grew up in Manchester, NH and received his bachelor’s degree there in Commercial Art from Notre Dame College. Although trained in the graphic arts, after college Paul began to gravitate towards freer forms of expression and later studied drawing and painting at Massachusetts College of Art and Design.

One can easily see the roots of his graphic design training in his calculated compositions and in the use of shape and color as strong graphic elements employed to capture light as it plays on everyday objects, the human figure, or the landscape. He is currently influenced by the work of Fairfield Porter, Janet Fish, and George Nick and is striving to reduce the visual clutter of his subjects without sacrificing their essence.

Paul paints in his studio in West Roxbury and en plein air on the Outer Cape –usually in short four or five hour sessions. He is a member of the United South End Artists Association, and his work has been exhibited in the Roslindale Open Studios show and at the Provincetown Art Association and Museum.

http://paulhastingsartist.com/