Summer is fading fast, but not at Marion Art Center's members show. Check out the exhibit.
Established in 1957, the Marion Art Center is the oldest art gallery on the SouthCoast.
Presently, it is exhibiting its jam-packed Summer Members’ Show on both floors, for a total of 117 works in a wide range of disciplines, including painting (acrylic, oil, watercolor), drawing, photography, collage, sculpture, furniture and fashion.
Ostensibly, the show has no “assigned” common theme that unifies the exhibitors but it appears that one asserted itself anyway, at least for the bulk of the artists, and even to the casual viewer: it is clear that the unspoken motif, aptly enough, is summer itself.
The town of Marion and the nearby communities of Mattapoisett, Wareham and more exude a special kind of charm in the dog days of summer, with expansive views, remarkable skies, and an unhurried sensibility.
Ben Bassham’s oil painting “Acadia” may have been done locally but its very title and the craggy white capped shoreline and abundance of pines suggest Maine. It is peaceful and quietly majestic. And whether up north or right here, it doesn't really matter. Summer is a state of mind.
“On the Pier'' by Bernie Klim, an acrylic painting, works in large part because of its purposeful, limited palette and a soft focus without a hard edge anywhere. A faintly yellow sky hovers above, and below is situated a foreground of purply gray.
Purple and yellow, taken to their more pure forms, also play prominent roles in Jaye Degnan Tirimacco’s “Beach Day.” The sand is golden yellow and the shadows, including the backs of beach chairs and distant figures, are purple, playing the complementary colors off each other.
Heather Long-Roise presents a giddy acrylic of a boiled lobster set against a pale blue backdrop. Titled “Red Bug,” it reminds me of those midwesterners who are initially revolted by the crustacean delicacy until they dip that sweet white meat into drawn butter.
Some other titles reveal the adherence to the unthemed theme: “Onset Bay Sunset” by Tom Geagan, “Tabor Bay at Sunset” by June Strunk, and “Fort Phoenix Sunset” by Linda T. Olsen, among many others.
Any number of the other exhibiting member artists chose other avenues.
Furniture artist Michael Pietragalla’s “Green & Green Bench” is a masterfully executed work, made from cherry and leather, with exquisite details, particularly evident at the joining corners. However, it is not green at all. Rather, Pietragalla was inspired by the works of the design firm of Green & Green, creators of “the ultimate bungalows” in places like Pasadena, California.
“Summer’s Gown” by Emma Rose Zhou is a full length, sleek sleeveless gown, featuring a number of patterned fabrics in lavender, blue and black. A metallic gold element in the shape of a cartoon sun is prominently featured. But I am not a fashion critic. I don’t understand a dress until I see it on a woman.
“Attitude,” an acrylic painting by Susan Costa, is to the point. A young woman crosses her arms over her Rolling Stones black tee. Her lips are cherry red, her eyes are unseen behind mirrored sunglasses, her wavy black hair is partially tucked up under a scarf. Think Madonna, circa 1984.
Zelia Kenyon’s drawing “Oppenheimer, Alter” is the source of some confusion. Rendered in pencil and charcoal, it appears to be Einstein rather than Barbie’s box office competition. But maybe, just maybe, the word “alter” in the title offers a clue.
In a pop culture world where Daniel Kwan’s “Everything Everywhere All at Once” won the Academy Award for Best Picture and the multiplexes are often featuring Spider-Verses and Multiverses of Madness, perhaps Kenyon is suggesting that on another plane of reality Oppenheimer looked like Einstein. And maybe vice-versa? Damn, I hope so.
“Poetry Tree,” a 2D photographic assemblage by Susan Gilmore, with its deep hues of gold and copper and a brown the color of dried blood, is resolute in its mysteriousness. There are elements that resemble phantom flowerheads, angel wings, and a ghostly negative space figure in profile. It is intriguing and unfathomable. I know Gilmore well enough to say that despite her gregariousness, there are things that she won’t readily reveal.
Sculptor John Magnan, never one to shy from controversial subjects, displays two works that are effectively companion pieces, even if they are not displayed side by side as they ought to be.
The first is “Colonize 1600: Quill,” crafted of white oak and maple. It features a large feather in the unrelenting grip of a clamp, signifying the taking of the North American continent from the Native People and the rules they imposed upon them.
Magnan’s second sculpture is “Colonize 2022: META.” It is a 3D oak version of the META (a.k.a. Facebook) logo formed out of oak, spinning endlessly on a turntable. The logo is a variation of the infinity symbol. It is also reminiscent of the ouroboros, an ancient symbol depicting a snake swallowing its own tail.
He notes that contemporary “colonization includes the digital documentation of personal information” and it “can be as controlling as a military force.”
Perhaps even more so, as we have already surrendered.
But maybe surrender — like summer — is just a state of mind.
The Summer Members’ Show is on display at the Marion Art Center, 80 Pleasant St., Marion, until Sept. 22.
This article originally appeared on The Herald News: Marion Art Center's summer show features paintings, sculpture and more
