BOSTON, MA – East Boston Open Studios takes places this Saturday and Sunday, May 18 and 19. artscope managing editor Brian Goslow cornered June Krinsky-Rudder co-founder of the East Boston Artists Group Open Studios to discuss event preparations, what makes the open studio experience special and what they offer to the arts community.

HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN OVERSEEING YOUR OPEN STUDIOS WEEKEND?

This is my third year doing it primarily myself, but I oversaw it with one other person in 2005, and as a founding member of East Boston Artists Group, I have been one of the organizers since our first Open Studios in 2001. Elsa Campbell and Jesse Kahn handled much of the overall organizing in the early years. I didn’t organize in 2008 or 2009, when it was completely run by Todd Antonellis, who co-organized with me in 2005, and Liz Nofziger.) We skipped 2006 due to construction, and 2010 because no one took on the organizing.

WHAT – OR WHOM – BROUGHT YOU ABOARD?

I co-founded the East Boston Artists Group in August 2000, along with Anna Salmeron and Jesse Kahn. In 2011, Neil Wyatt, one of the participating artists, put out an email asking about interest in holding Open Studios. Somehow the meeting ended up in my studio. I’ve been organizing ever since. (*Most of the artists feel it’s important for the neighborhood that we hold Open Studios. Not all of the artists feel qualified to organize, or have time to do so. I make time because I feel it’s a vital event.)

WHAT DOES THE JOB ENTAIL?

The job entails many different things. The main thing is getting in touch with all known artists from East Boston. (Our definition is artists who live, work and/or create in the neighborhood.) It’s important to get as many of them ‘on board’ as possible — more artists = a better event for the visiting public, as it means more art to view. Some years (like this year) it involves applying for grant funding to cover expenses. (The East Boston Foundation has been a generous funder in all the years that we requested their assistance.) It involves making sure that the participating artists send their images and information to the person handling the website and to the person or people designing our print media. (This year, our web site is to be redone, by Liz Nofziger, our original web designer.) Planning Open Studios includes getting word out to the press and to the City of Boston. It involves budgeting – figuring out how much money will come in from artists’ participation fees and/or other sources, and determining the most important things that must be purchased with these funds. In the case of grants, it also involves arranging for a fiscal agent at East Boston Artists Group is not a not-for-profit organization. ZUMIX will be our fiscal agent — a role they have graciously undertaken in many past years. Bookkeeping is also important — tracking artists’ payments, and making sure bills are paid. It’s also important to make sure that we have signage at the locations where artists will be showing. Postcards and maps must be designed, printed and distributed. Studio/exhibit locations must be prepared for the public.

Though the coordinator/main organizer makes sure that all of this takes place, it is not work done alone. All of the artists involved, as well as many supporters of the arts who live in the neighborhood, take on different roles, primarily promoting the event and preparing their own spaces. ZUMIX not only acts as fiscal agent, but also opens their doors on Saturday each year. This year they are hosting a closing event, “Jazz at the Fire House.” HarborArts, Inc. Outdoor Sculpture Gallery at the Boston Harbor Shipyard, will be hosting a number of artists, and will provide maps of the sculptures on site. “Studios Without Walls”, a Brookline-based group that will have a featured exhibit this summer, will have at least one artist with work on site in time for Open Studios.

HOW MUCH TIME GOES INTO IT OVER THE YEAR AND WHEN DO YOU REALLY BEGIN TO RAMP UP PREPARATIONS AS THE EVENT APPROACHES?

A lot of time goes into it, and though it would probably be a much larger event if I had the ability to work on it year-round, I teach full-time, so I squeeze in about 8 months of work during the year. (More than I should, but less than it needs.) Neither I, nor anyone else is paid for coordinating. We try to pay the web designer each year, or whoever is updating (though none ever charge what the job is actually worth). When there is enough money, we also pay the person or people who design our cards and other print media.

WHAT MAKES YOUR OPEN STUDIO WEEKEND UNIQUE?

You can travel to HarborArts via the Water Taxi, for one thing. Ours is now held in the spring, as everything is beginning to bloom and the weather is usually nice enough to merit exploration of the neighborhood. We probably have some of the best restaurants in Boston, and the best water views of the city. We also get a lot of visitors who fly into Logan and then explore the area before moving on to their intended destinations.

WHAT MAKES OPEN STUDIO WEEKEND AN IMPORTANT EVENT FOR YOUR FACILITY AND THE PARTICIPATING ARTISTS?

Our Open Studios event provides us an opportunity to interact with the neighbors. It’s a real ‘family day’ — with not only multi-generational visitors, but many people arrive with their dogs in tow. The Atlantic Works Building, located at 80 Border Street, was once associated with ship-building, so it’s a unique spot in the neighborhood, and a lot of the ‘old-timers’ like to come in to see what’s going on as they “always wondered what was in there” while growing up. Some artists make sales of their work; it’s always nice to sell your work and to find new collectors. It’s always been more of a wonderful social event than anything else, and the variety and quality of the work in our neighborhood is always fabulous.

IN THE PAST, WHAT HAVE ATTENDEES SAID WAS AMONGST THEIR FAVORITE PARTS OF THE EVENT?

Sadly, I’ve always been running around checking to make sure that everyone was in their spaces, or that signage was up and visible, or taking care of other administrative tasks during the events, so I don’t necessarily know. I usually don’t even get to clean my space until the night before, or have work on exhibit. My goal is to change that this year.

WHAT DO YOU LIKE BEST ABOUT IT?

I like meeting neighbors and having friends stop by. I also like to see other people’s work when I can get out of my studio.

FROM AN ARTIST’S STANDPOINT, WHAT IS THE VALUE OF THE EVENT? HOW MUCH IS ABOUT INTRODUCING THEIR WORK TO NEW AUDIENCES AND HOW MUCH IS ABOUT MAKING SALES?

I think that for most of us, it’s about sharing our work and introducing it to new audiences. Obviously, sales are good, but most of us don’t make sales, and we don’t have that as our main motivation.

I’VE FOUND MYSELF OVERWHELMED WHEN I ATTEND OPEN STUDIO EVENTS. ANY SUGGESTIONS FOR FIRST-TIMERS?

I would suggest looking at the website to see what kind of art you might want to see, and then determine where the artists are located. In East Boston we have 3 locations so it’s likely less intimidating. One can start at HarborArts (arriving by Water Taxi) and then hit ZUMIX before moving on to 80 Border Street or the other way around. Maverick Station, on the Blue Line, is in between ZUMIX and 80 Border. I would also look into the local restaurants and consider bringing a camera to capture some of the beautiful harbor views.

ANY SPECIAL PERFORMANCES OR ACTIVITIES SCHEDULED FOR THIS YEAR’S EVENT?

ZUMIX is hosting “Jazz at the Fire House” on Sunday, May 19th at pm.

WHAT WILL YOU BE DOING ON THE MORNING PRIOR TO THE DOORS OPENING?

I will probably be delivering balloons and running to Costco to get food for my visitors.

AND WHEN THEY CLOSE?

This year I will clean as quickly as I can, and run over to ZUMIX for “Jazz at the Fire House”. Most years I also go get food and then go home and crash.

(East Boston Open Studios takes places on Saturday and Sunday, May 18 and 19. For more information, please visit http://www.eastbostonartistsgroup.org.)

Somerville, MA – The Boston area will see a series of Open Studios Weekends in the month of May. Artscope managing editor Brian Goslow cornered Rachel Mello, Coordinator, Somerville Open Studios (May 4-5); to discuss event preparations, what makes the open studio experience special and what they offer to the arts community.

HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN OVERSEEING YOUR OPEN STUDIOS WEEKEND?

I am only serving as coordinator for one year, starting in May after SOS 2012, and finishing my term this May. Before that I served on the Board of Directors for two years.

WHAT – OR WHOM – BROUGHT YOU ABOARD?

Just wanting to be a part of SOS. I came to some volunteer meetings in 2007, after wanting to help for several years. Then I just kept getting more involved.

WHAT DOES THE JOB ENTAIL?

The SOS Coordinator oversees the event, manages budgeting and planning, keeps the various departments working together, and tracks the timeline. Probably the most important part of the job is recruiting key team-lead volunteers. SOS is all volunteer run so we need a lot of very strong, committed members. The coordinator helps build and maintain the community and recruits from that, and works to help communication flow between them and make sure everyone is aware of each other’s needs. The coordinator is also the spokesperson for SOS.

HOW MUCH TIME GOES INTO IT OVER THE YEAR AND WHEN DO YOU REALLY BEGIN TO RAMP UP PREPARATIONS AS THE EVENT APPROACHES?

Ideally we would have each year’s coordinator in place by the end of the previous year, though that doesn’t always happen. I started in May of 2012 recruiting major team leads and working with the board to put in place some new initiatives for this year. My busiest time was probably the end of November into January. Since then mostly I have been staying out of the way of the team leads and letting them do their jobs, and handling unexpected things that pop up.

WHAT MAKES YOUR OPEN STUDIO WEEKEND UNIQUE?

Somerville Open Studios is a truly citywide event. We have over 400 artists distributed across a city that’s about three square miles in area. Because of the density of artists in Somerville we have an unparalleled diversity of work. Our artists are in old industrial factories, and in single-family homes. Resident artists with no place to show are able to participate in our community space. We’re fully volunteer, independent event run by participating artists and members of the community coming together. We loop free trolleys around the city and have pedicabs in town to help people get around and which add to the festival air. It’s a fully immersive event.

WHAT MAKES OPEN STUDIO WEEKEND AN IMPORTANT EVENT FOR YOUR FACILITY AND THE PARTICIPATING ARTISTS?

With over 400 artists there are probably over 800 reasons why SOS is important! Some artists use SOS as a way to get feedback on new work, some use it as a way to prioritize art-making in busy schedules, some focus on sales and have an important opportunity to sell work directly to the public. As a community the power of the shared experience and the shared goals, being part of a large art-centric city, brings us together. Sometimes being an artist can be isolating working alone in your studio, but when artists come together and volunteer to help make the event happen, lasting friendships are built and critical professional networking occurs.

IN THE PAST, WHAT HAVE ATTENDEES SAID WAS AMONGST THEIR FAVORITE PARTS OF THE EVENT?

Again we get a range of responses when we ask that. Some love the giant industrial buildings with so many artists together; others like the almost voyeuristic intimacy of going into a home studio. Most say they loved being able to talk with the artists and ask them questions about their art, about their artistic life, and to see the places where art is made. It’s a hugely social event, and many talk about bringing their whole families, running into friends, seeing colleagues from work in one studio, and an old school friend in another. Many buy work that they especially cherish having purchased it as part of this event.

WHAT DO YOU LIKE BEST ABOUT IT?

As a volunteer and as coordinator I love the strong friendships and wide network I’ve made working with so many artists and art enthusiasts. I love that people come and see art they might not otherwise see. I love how we connect with our neighbors, and unite our city.

FROM AN ARTIST’S STANDPOINT, WHAT IS THE VALUE OF THE EVENT? HOW MUCH IS ABOUT INTRODUCING THEIR WORK TO NEW AUDIENCES AND HOW MUCH IS ABOUT MAKING SALES?

As an artist I most love connecting with visitors. At a certain point in a professional art career, it becomes very hard to get honest feedback. But at Open Studios often people will just say what’s on their minds. I always learn a lot during Open Studios. I do also make a lot of sales and line up commissions — not always during SOS, though. I recently made a significant art sale that will pay an entire year’s studio rent, to a person who came to my studio for three years before making a purchase at all. I’ve had my work in galleries because someone saw my work during SOS and called me months later. I think anyone looking to show new artists is seriously missing out if they don’t go to open studios.

I’VE FOUND MYSELF OVERWHELMED WHEN I ATTEND OPEN STUDIO EVENTS. ANY SUGGESTIONS FOR FIRST-TIMERS?

Plan in advance to get the best out of it, and don’t try to do too much. We have a very extensive website and printed map book, as well as a comprehensive group show at the Somerville Museum where you can see the work in person and note which artists you want to see. If you take an evening in advance to look through the listings, you can make design your own walking tour. The time outside between studio sites helps give you a chance to clear your head and refresh a little and process what you saw.
Don’t try to get everywhere: *enjoy* that you’re surrounded by more art than you can possibly see, and let that knowledge bring you back to new places next year.

ANY SPECIAL PERFORMANCES OR ACTIVITIES SCHEDULED FOR THIS YEAR’S EVENT?

Yes! On Wednesday, May 1 there’s “Beyond the Pattern: An Independent Designers’ Fashion Show.” It’s a full runway fashion show of work of Somerville based fashion, clothing, and accessory designers, as well as work from the Somerville High School students “Young Designers’ Challenge.” Like every SOS event, it’s completely free, too. That will be at the Arts at the Armory building, 191 Highland Ave at 7 p.m. (doors open at 6 p.m.).

On Thursday, May 2 Somerville Community Access Television present ”Somerville Open Cinema Film and Video Festival” of independently produced shorts. SCATV, Union Square Somerville, 8pm

We have three group shows: the comprehensive Artists’ Choice exhibit at the Somerville Museum, the show of the art of over 40 volunteers on view at Bloc 11 Cafe in Union Square, and the shop window display in the ”Inside Out Gallery” in the CVS window in Davis.

All SOS events are free. Info on all of these is on our website under the ”Visit” tab.

WHAT WILL YOU BE DOING ON THE MORNING PRIOR TO THE DOORS OPENING?

As coordinator, I’m taking this year off from exhibiting. Usually the morning of, I’m making labels and finishing matting. This year I’ll start at the Somerville Museum and catch a pedicab over to the Armory, then continue on from there.

AND WHEN THEY CLOSE?

Sleeping. Definitely sleeping.

For complete details on Somerville Open Studios, which takes place Saturday and Sunday, May 4 and 5, please visit http://www.somervilleopenstudios.org).

(This is the first of a three-part “Cornered” series with Boston area open studios organizers; look for Julie Barry, Director of Community Arts for the Cambridge Arts Council, who oversees Cambridge Open Studios, during the week of May 6 in advance of COS events on May 11-12 & May 18-19); and during the week of May 13, June Krinsky-Rudder of East Boston Artists Group Open Studios, which takes place on May 18-19.)

By Lindsey Davis

New York, NY – A few weekends ago, I attended my first-ever international art fair, taking the train from Boston’s South Station to Penn Station in New York City to spend six hours walking through rows and rows of art at The Armory Show.

Split between two piers on Manhattan’s West Side, The Armory dedicated Pier 92 to modern art and Pier 94 to contemporary art. The modern works were created during and in the style of the Modernism movement which reigned from 1890-1960, whereas the contemporary art was generally made by artists still living — forward-thinking conceptually heavy works.

Truth be told, there was hardly a difference in the types of work between each pier, except for that the modern section held works by masters like Picasso and Chirico and the Contemporary pier was more than twice the size.

The modern works were held on the second floor of Pier 92, creating two long rows of art that viewers could easily follow front-to-back. But the contemporary works were held on the first floor, a giant open warehouse filled with sections of arranged rows of booths, leading the viewer around and around but giving them a grand choice of which hallway to follow when they first enter.

One of my favorite works was Kelly Reemtsen’s painting “Mixed Metaphor,” shown in the David Klein Gallery’s booth on the Modern art pier. It featured a woman wearing a multi-colored polka-dot dress, shown from neck to knees and holding a pink axe delicately between both hands. There’s a strong, warm sense of light that shines on her strapless, V-necked dress, and she’s shown against a thickly textured white background. Her right hand sits at the canvas’ center, wearing a bauble ring and a beaded bracelet, and gripping the axe’s handle.

I started with the Modern pier, which was a nice transition to the grand site of The Armory Show’s entrance at Pier 94. The work there varied in every which way possible, but I noticed a lot of political work, a lot of visually stripped down, simplified pieces, and a lot of struggle between new ideas and traditional media — some bending in favor of using iPads and others sticking to oil paint.

By Brian Goslow

Boston, MA – A number of events scheduled for this weekend have been postponed due to impending blizzard Nemo; almost all of tonight’s openings have been cancelled. Here are the latest cancellations and postponements with rescheduled dates we’ve received up to this time:

The reception for Fountain Street Fine Art’s “Jeanne Williamson/Marie Craig: On and Off the Grid” exhibition has been rescheduled to Saturday February 16 from 5-7 p.m.

Due to the weather, the New Art Center will be closed Friday, Saturday and Sunday. All classes, workshops, open studios and Sunday Family Art Together programs are cancelled. The galleries will be closed and the building locked.

The opening reception for ACME Fine Art Bosotn’s retrospective survey of watercolors and drawings by noted abstract expressionist artist Michael Loew has been rescheduled for Saturday 16 February with a reception from 2-4 p.m. The gallery will be closed this Saturday.

Due to the severity of the winter storm predictions the Cahoon Museum of American Art will be closed on Friday and Saturday.

Due to the parking ban in Easthampton, tonight’s Easthampton Art Walk has been postponed till next Saturday, February 16.

Due to the snowstorm, Miguel Trelles’ artist talk at LA GALERÍA at Villa Victoria Center for the Arts has been rescheduled to Friday, February 22.

Gallery Z in Providence is closed on Friday.

The Cahoon Museum of American Art will be closed on Friday and Saturday. The reception for its Barbara Sparre & “The Magnificent Splendor of Trees: exhibitions has been rescheduled to Friday, February 15 from 5:30-7 p.m.

Due to the Worcester Center for Crafts being closed on Friday and Saturday, its Krikorian Gallery will have special Monday hours from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. for the closing day of “The Narrow Distance” exhibition.

The Friday Gallery Conversation with artist Myra Green at the Williams College Museum of Art is cancelled; it will be rescheduled in March.

Saturday’s scheduled opening reception for the “Eric Hess: Just Another Fag” exhibition at Atlantic Works Gallery has been cancelled; the show will be celebrated at its Third Thursdays party on February 21.

ARTSWorcester’s the Ninth Annual Colleges of Worcester Consortium Student Art Exhibit (AKA “The College Show”) opening is postponed one week to Friday, February 15, from 6-8 p.m.

Friday’s reception event for Esta Tierra Plana/This Flat Earth at Rose Contemporary in Portland, Maine will now be on Friday, February 22 from 6-8 p.m.

Please share any other cancellations in the message section below; we will do our best to update information of other postponements brought to our attention as soon as possible.

By Brian Goslow

Hartford, CT – (In the November/December 2012 issue of artscope magazine, managing editor Brian Goslow “cornered” Christopher “Kip” Bergstrom, Deputy Commissioner of the State of Connecticut’s Department of Economic and Community Development. Due to space restrictions, we could only print part of their hour-long discussion. Their talk continues here.)

BG: What brings the various facets under your job title together?

KP: The connection between all the things that I do — art, history, branding, tourism and stimulating the innovation side of the Connecticut economy — it sounds like a mish mash, but it’s not, because the common denominator among all those things is place — placemaking. Art and history are basically the two primary threads from which you weave the cloth of place. Tourism is selling what you’ve woven to outsiders so you leverage your local spending with outside dollars so you support the expansion of that cloth. Branding is really telling that story in a compelling way so that more folks will stay here, live here, build businesses here, and come to work in those businesses as young innovative talent attracted by the quality of your places.

The innovation ecosystem part of it is supporting the businesses that result from that and stimulating and accelerating their growth. We’ve sort of captured all that in this three-part mantra which is great art makes great places, great places attract great talent, great talent create great jobs. The totality of what I’m up to on any given day is working at all of those levels — the level of art and history, in place making and in conveying the quality of place to the outside world so folks do come here and working with that talent and the companies they’re part of to create the next economy. Those are all intertwined. On any given day, I’m working on all three of those dimensions.

BG: Connecticut is in the midst of its ‘Still Revolutionary’ tourism campaign. I read an article where you were discussing the value of a ‘single message’ campaign for the state. How difficult is it getting everyone aboard with the idea this is going to be the message and show how it’s going to benefit their organizations and businesses?

KP: You can only have one message for the state. It’s such a noisy media that if you have different messages for art, for historic preservation, for tourism, for talent recruitment, for business development, whatever else, none of them are going to break through. You want to find one unifying story that really captures the spirit of the state, past, present and future that will resonate with residents and that will actually make you more competitive for talent recruitment, for business recruitment, for tourism and for engaging all the creative energies of your people.

That’s what you’re trying to do with your brand — it’s a real tall order. ‘Still Revolutionary’ really captures that for Connecticut because it accurately expresses our history and our aspiration for the future. We are the place that is making the future today and that has been true throughout our history, and in no less in the arts than any other places. We are absolutely at the front of the pack in how to think about creative placemaking.

BG: Many of the country’s cities have become vibrant again after artists have moved into old industrial areas, often followed by the creation of arts districts with its new residents excited about bringing the past together with the future; similarly, long time residents who remember when those areas were vibrant, welcome their efforts. But once they succeed, both, find themselves forced out when rents go too high …

KP: What you said about historic places and how they often are sort of magnets for artists to sort of reinvent them and reinvigorate them, that’s absolutely true. The challenge is that oftentimes, that way that invention works is that these folks, these places, these wonderful places, fall on hard times. The rents become very cheap, the artists move in both because it’s cheap space and it’s wonderful space full of light and space that they really love to work in and they pioneer the neighborhood. They make the neighborhood cool and they a whole bunch of other folks follow them, the rents go up, and the artists, who all this time have been renting — they never bought, they tend not to — they get priced out and the cycle starts again.

They go someplace else and colonize it, pioneer it, but the neighborhood they left has turned from being kind of funky and cool to generic chic and you see that — Soho’s the classic (example). It was a really cool place there’s nothing cool about Soho now. It’s got the same generic boutiques that you’d find in any upscale district of any big city in any place in the world — and some not even so upscale, with few artists left.

It’s almost been inexorable as a pattern all over the place where artists colonize places, they make them cool and then folks flock to them, bid the rents up, and they become uncool places, just generic chic places. They’re successful economically, but there’s nothing arty or cool about them anymore.

BG: Is there a way to break this cycle to allow places to remain ‘cool’ forever?

KP: Part of it is you’ve got to manage to either keep some of your old buildings in unredeveloped condition where they’re still cheap or you need to build an affordable component into the redevelopment so you preserve the diversity of the people and types of retail and types of companies so it doesn’t all become upscale boutiques and corporate offices. That’s a tricky thing to do but it’s what we’ve been trying to figure out and why you can’t think of art by itself. It has to be part of a larger placemaking strategy that you utilize all your resources, including your historic preservation tax credits, where you spend your affordable housing money, where you do Main Street programs.

We’re trying to integrate all that and the next stage of it, beyond the work we’ve been doing for the last year in realigning our arts funding, the next stage is to think how do we integrate our art funding and our historic preservation funding so that we’re co-investing at the same time in the same place that has the result that the place keeps its richness and diversity over time and doesn’t just become and economically successful but soulless place over time. So that’s the trick that we’re going to try to figure out next. That is building on the work we’re doing with our arts funding.

BG: Normally, these places have lots of interesting histories in their past. How do you take that faded and usually long-gone past and make it relevent and attractive today?

KP: What happens is, you said, you see these places, these places with history, and in those places, on those buildings, on those cultural landscapes is written the history of innovation of our predecessors. They left their mark in our landscape and you cannot avoid seeing it. It just washes over you daily here and you get inspired by that to leave your own mark on the landscape. So that’s the connection to place making and ultimately to tourism, is that revolutionary thought and action comes a lot from the inspiration of place.

Inspiring places, places that matter and have these layers of meaning, that’s what people want to go visit. They don’t want to go visit the generic chic place that’s just like the last generic chic place they went to visit. They want to visit a place that’s unique, that has its own story, that no other place has and is still making that story and the residents are engaged with that story, understand it, there’s a buzz with it and when you go there, you hear the story, you experience it and when you come home, you tell that story to other people and you set off a chain reaction of other people coming. That’s what great places have, is that storytelling that’s alive. That’s what the brand means. It dips into that depth of places that matter, and places that matter are places people want to visit.

BG: How has the ‘Still Revolutionary’ campaign done for Connecticut?

KP: What we did initially, we’re using tourism as the engine to seed the brand because tourism marketing is a mass-market marketing, you have to use mass-market means like television to get to the tourism audience, and that gets your brand out there. The wonderful thing of tourism marketing is if you do it right, it more than pays for itself because it generates incremental visits and incremental spending, which produces incremental state taxes that end up more than paying for the cost of the campaign.

It only works if you have a large market next to you, like we do between Boston and New York that like to do things that they can do in Connecticut that they don’t know they can. So when you show them they can do the things they like to do here, you show people like them doing those things they like to do here, they will in fact do them here. If you’re marketing to them at the moment they’re making decisions about where to do those things, they’ll consider you, especially if they didn’t know they could do it in Connecticut prior to you telling them.

We’ve just had phenomenal increases in our online interactions with the market. Our website went up 100 percent; our facebook page went from 48 to number 8 in the country. For a while, it was number one in New England. We’ve had a huge increase in our online subscriber base and these are folks that become deeply engaged with the state and visit multiple times. We’re up over 500,000 folks; we have more online subscribers than the New York Times does. It’s been phenomenally successful.

by Brian Goslow

Providence, RI – Providence-based abstract impressionist artist, Dennis Coelho, has donated his “Ice Castles” oil painting to be auctioned off at the “Bidding for Good” auction, which benefits the Rhode Island’s AIDS Care Ocean State, an HIV/AIDS service agency.

“Ice Castles was part of a series depicting the complexities of human emotions and feelings,” Coelho said. “You may note the pointed Icicles that point upward and downward as the painting was designed to face either/or. The mind can be a serene cold and beautiful escape all at once, it can be filled with complex hurdles that can block passage to a place you may want to be going or it can be an inviting journey.

“Either way the human mind is a beautiful place where one can create his or her own world a world that can actually come to life just by imagining it to be, If one can believe it, visualize it then one can attract it’s presence and or realize it’s being, therefore even in and during the coldest moments beauty exists. The painting describes that beauty exists in everything, even things perceived as bad, there is no bad, all is good.”

The online auction for “Ice Castles,” which is 28” x 36” in size, closes at noon on October 15, then moves onto the floor for the live silent auction (which includes 40 other works of art) at the ArtBeat 2012 Live Auction Gala on October 19 from 6:30-9:30 p.m. at the Providence Biltmore Hotel, 11 Dorrance Street, Providence. The event also includes cocktails, a live band and lite dinner fare. Ticket are $45 and available at aidscareos.org.

To bid on Dennis Coelho’s “Ice Capsules” go to  www.biddingforgood.com

Then see the other artworks up for bid, visit: www.biddingforgood.com

By Rosemary Chandler

GLOUCESTER, MA- On August 2, I had the good fortune to find myself at the Rocky Neck Art Colony for their monthly “Nights on the Neck,” during which galleries keep their doors open late into the evening and local musicians take to the streets, where they play for throngs of art enthusiasts in their move from one gallery reception to the next. Although rain showers had been forecasted, it turned out to be one of those amazing New England summer nights, where the temperature miraculously drops and the humidity vanishes at the end of a long, hot day. It was exactly the right kind of evening to visit the Neck.

Especially notable were Judith Goetemann, owner of Goetemann Gallery, who is moving in a new direction in her artwork through the introduction of bolder and brighter colors in her batik and silk dye painting; and E.J. Lefavour, who is adding stunning visual depth to her works with a technique she began using last winter, in which she layers sheets of painted glass one behind another, at Khan Studio.

Elynn Kröger Gallery and Studio, located on the second floor above another gallery at the beginning of a long row of galleries, could easily be walked past and overlooked. But Kröger’s works are not to be missed.

Standing at her gallery’s doorway, you’re immediately drawn to the enchanting, abstract landscapes hung on the opposite wall. The works invite you to stand before them and contemplate the depth of their many layers, to enter a vibrantly colored world built up from a blank canvas through countless hours of work.

You want to reach out and touch the indigo-colored tree trunks that rise up from the vivid blue forest floor in “Light in the Forest,” to follow them upwards as they extend higher and higher into the ethereal world of which they are apart, eventually ending in a leafy canopy that we can only imagine.

The works are intuitive, Kröger said, each one begun with a color, a brushstroke, and nothing more. She doesn’t work from a concept, and she is never certain where her artistic instincts will take her. When she has worked to completion, she simply knows.

And although she draws her inspiration for her works from within, the scenes of otherworldly forests, fields, and seas somehow feel familiar. Imbued with a quiet, meditative energy, Kröger’s works are like memories of beautiful dreams.

(“Nights on the Neck” is held on the first Thursday of every month, June through September, from 5:30-9 p.m. For a schedule of events, or to learn more about the galleries at the Rocky Neck Art Colony, visit rockyneckartcolony.org or call (978) 282-0917.)

By Barbara Bausch

artscope’s Barbara Bausch, who is also a dancer, will be a participant at this year’s FIGMENT Festival, which will be held this weekend in Boston, where she’s been living since April. Here she describes her expectations for her first FIGMENT Festival.

Three weeks ago, I had never heard of the FIGMENT Festival. Then, while dancing on the street in front of Cambridge City Hall, I met a woman in a pink tutu who told me that, under the name Denise Awesome, she aerobicizes people all over the city. “Call me and we’ll do it together,” she said. One week ago, I finally got in touch with her. She immediately asked me if I would like to join her in an aerobic and dance performance at the FIGMENT Festival. I said yes, and started to read about what FIGMENT is.

“Everything is meant to be played with,” writes Brad Cohen in Arts & Architecture. “If FIGMENT were a country, it would be the happiest in the world — and I would apply for citizenship immediately.”

Founded in 2007, FIGMENT is an annual non-commercial, de-commodified, environmentally responsible festival entirely organized by volunteers and participating artists. It contains interactive exhibits, performances and scheduled activities, all completely free and open to the public.

The founders wanted to address different problems they saw in today’s cities and society. Citing a lack of opportunity for emerging artists, too much passivity in our society, a lack of community among urban residents and few free events for young families, they wanted to create not only access to the arts for everyone, but also awareness of underutilized public space. They try to demonstrate what art can be beyond commercialism: “Participatory, bursting out with creativity and completely free, born from the desire to share imagination and invention between artists and the public.” Everyone is encouraged to get involved — not only by visiting and observing, but also by getting creative and active in his or her individual way. As I understand it, the core concept of FIGMENT is to offer a space where everyone makes art for everyone, with no expectations other than creating community and having a lot of fun.

FIGMENT began at New York City’s Governors Island, where the festival is followed by a summer-long exhibition including an interactive sculpture garden, an artist-designed miniature golf course and an architectural pavilion. Growing each year, the festival now also travels to Boston, Detroit, Washington, Pittsburgh and Jackson, Mississippi. Some art pieces will make their way around the country, but since its inception, the local artists of each participating city ensure that every FIGMENT is a unique experience.

This weekend, I will not only visit the FIGMENT festival for the first time, but also be part of its Bostonian version. Denise Awesome and I — as b. wilder — figured out what we will do. Reviving ‘80s music and style, we will get people to do aerobics and dance with us. A saxophone player will support us with live music in our public lesson, and the whole performance will be documented by video. I have no idea what the other artists have planned, and I’m already very excited to find out. FIGMENT seems to be an art festival that is exactly what one makes of it. For my part, I’m ready to get involved and be enchanted. I can’t wait to touch and play, an approach to art that usually gets lost as we grow older. Maybe we can be like kids again — even if it is only for one weekend.

(The FIGMENT Festival takes place this Saturday and Sunday, July 28 and 29 at the Rose Kennedy Greenway in the heart of downtown Boston. For more information, visit http://boston.FIGMENTproject.org/)

PROVINCETOWN- The motto of this year’s Sixth International Encaustic Conference is “All Waxing, No Waning” and from the sound of things, there will be no waning at this year’s conference.

Encaustic, for those of you who are not in the know, is the use of making art with a paint that has been mixed with beeswax and fixed with heat after its application. Some may see this as a fad or a novelty, but encaustic has been used as early as ancient Egypt. Artists like Jasper Johns used to make his own beeswax paints, but as of 20 years ago companies have been manufacturing beeswax paints to accommodate artists’ needs.

It’s safe to say that encaustic is no passing fad and the International Encaustic Conference is a testament to that.

The conference journey began with artist Joanne Mattera and her book The Art of Encaustic Painting: Contemporary Expression in the Ancient Medium of Pigmented Wax published in 2001. The influx of e-mail Mattera accumulated as a result of the book being published lead her to believe that there was a lot more discussion ahead  and interested professional artists who wanted more information. “You have an idea for something, and then others have to think it’s a great idea too for it to get off the ground,” says Mattera.

Thus after much planning and deliberation, figuring out the format of the conference, who would speak, where to have the event, the conference was born north of Boston in 2006. The conference became a place to learn, a place to network and build professional relationships among artists but was becoming larger and larger with each passing year.

Knowing the conference needed a larger venue to meet the needs of attendants, Mattera put a post on Facebook looking for an institution that loved artists. Cherie Mittenthal, executive director of Truro Center for the Arts at Castle Hill answered the call and immediately e-mailed Mattera to have the conference in Provincetown. Mittenthal was then also instrumental in arranging accommodations at the Provincetown Inn for conference space.

The conference this year consists of a keynote speech, pre-conference workshops from May 29-31, the actual conference from June 1-3 and post conference workshops from June 4-8. The conference includes talks and panels from professional artists including topics like ‘The Influence of Science on Art’ and ‘Ephemeral Figures in Wax’.  Some workshop titles include ‘Material Awareness with Sculpture’, ‘Photography and Encaustic’ and ‘Constructing Bricolage: Adhering, Fastening and Problem Solving’ to name a few.

Though most of the conference is closed to the public, as the conference requires pre-registration, many Provincetown galleries will host a free gallery walk Friday, June 1st from 5 pm-10pm. All galleries involved will have a photograph of a wax ball in their windows.

But the conference is not just all about wax. Mattera is hoping the conference will help dispel the notion that encaustic is a marginalized art form or a novelty. “We’re artists making art and we happen to make art using wax,” says Mattera. “I’m a painter who found a medium I really love and able to bring together others that love that medium.”

For more information on the conference visit http://encausticconference.blogspot.com.

by Sara Farizan

BOSTON, MA- I have to admit something. Kindles/Reading tablets and their ilk frighten me. I know, one day I will probably have to use one, since bookstores are closing left and right, but there is something precious about holding a book in your hands. The feel, the smell, wondering who has read the book before you, or, if you’re so lucky to have a first edition, to think about the history of that particular book and where it comes from.

That is why I find the non-profit North Bennet Street School so fascinating.

It is a school, founded on 125 years of tradition, that teaches age old basics to potential craftsmen/craftswomen in things like book binding, jewelry, violin making and repair, carpentry, jewelry making and repair, preservation carpentry and locksmithing and security technology.

NBSS began as an industrial school for immigrants in 1885 teaching trades and skills necessary for then immigrants to build a life for themselves in America. Now, the school has become a haven for artisans who look for hands on training in a craft they are passionate about, using new and old technology in a supportive environment to achieve their goals. For example a student today, making jewelry and being taught traditional methods, can utilize new computer software to help them with design.

The school is bringing old school to the 21st century, and doing it well.

Currently on display is an exhibit titled “Made by Hand: A Celebration of Exceptional Work from the North Bennet Street School” showcasing selected pieces from current students and alumni to show the breadth and depth of students, past and present. The crafts, curated by Associate Director of the school Walter McDonald, represent many of the skills taught and perfected at NBSS from jewelry to cabinets to violins. The detail and time taken on each piece is evident as is the passion of the students.

And it is the passion of the students for learning the craft that indeed makes NBSS so special. From full-time to part-time students, NBSS has a wide range of students of different backgrounds and ages, many of whom, decided to begin a new chapter of life after years in a certain field. From a former software engineer now well versed in cabinet making to a former research doctor learning how to make furniture, NBSS teaches everyone the basics and what is old is new again.

And if books are one day going to be a thing of the past, there has never been more of a need to preserve the texts we do have, making skills like book-binding/preservation more important than ever. This gives me a great deal of comfort that one day I will never have to switch over to reading tablets. Some things just never go out of style.

“Made by Hand” will be on display until May, 18th at 125 High Street from 8 am to 8 pm.