Co|So Events :: Upcoming Artist Demonstrations

With the return of spring and beautiful weather in Boston comes the return of weekend artist demonstrations at the Copley Society of Art! Stop by the gallery from 1-3pm on Saturday, April 21st, Saturday, May 5th, and Sunday May 27th  to watch three of our artists create works and answer questions.

On April 21st, Boston-native Ian Factor will be painting a portrait of artist and musician Valerie Forgione. A member of the Copley Society for many years, Factor is a seasoned portrait painter and has studied in numerous art institutions both State-side and abroad. Factor's desire to paint from life extends past his realist work in portraiture and the figure, as he also paints landscapes en plein air. His paintings, as seen in December Morning featured below, are imbued with both his devotion to the human form as well as "the fine art of realist painting.” 

Ian Factor, December Morning, oil on canvas, 30 x 24

Whether painting figures or landscapes, the goal for Factor's art remains universal: “Through my work I am not searching only to explain my own theories and opinions to others, alone. I am searching for the common ties and lines between all human beings that break down all barriers, walls and separations, and am searching for the means and techniques to bring these commonalities to the minds, hearts and emotions of every person who makes contact with these works. The supreme ultimate is to transcend all cultural and personal relativity, to link all human beings together.”

Currently, Factor lives and paints in Boston while teaching Anatomy at the Montserrat College in Beverly, MA, which allows him to focus on his passion, the human form. 

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On Saturday, May 5th, Co|So will host Copley Artist Anne Heywood as she demonstrates how she creates a pastel masterpiece.  Like Factor, Heywood creates realist landscapes, but works primarily in pastel. Her pastel evocations of both traditional and modern spaces and objects reflect her dual life spent in both New England and Italy. Both her landscapes and still lifes feature strong compositions and a natural color palette that combine to create a strong sense of mood. Recently featured in the Copley Society's 2012 Winter Members' Show: Impressions was Heywood's intriguing rendering of an Art Deco glass bowl suggestively placed on top of a small table. 

Anne Heywood, CA, Desideri Fugiti (Fleeing Wishes), pastel and glitter, 28 x 20

Heywood says of her art: “I strive to entice the viewer into my world, beyond what is seen and known, to what is felt.” A New England based artist, Heywood works out of her studios in East Bridgewater, MA and Waldoboro, ME. Her works can be found in both national and international corporate and private collection. She is author and illustrator of Pastels Made Easy (Watson-Guptil Publications, 2003) and has published articles in books and magazines such as “Australian Artist” and The Best of Pastel. 

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On Sunday, May 27th Pamela duLong Williams will be in the gallery demonstrating oil painting to visitors. Also a portrait painter, Williams' work focuses on a specific object, either in the form of a person, a flower, or a house. Her loose, impressionist brush strokes add a lively, dynamic energy to her subjects. Williams diverse subjects allow her to fully explore her impressionist style, most recently seen in Co|So as a feature of last summer's Contemporary Still Life show, Reflections. According to Williams, "...working from life is essential with still life and plein air painting as well as portraiture." 

Pamela duLong Williams, Reflections, oil on canvas, 16 x 22

Stay tuned for more information on this wonderful artist's demonstration amidst the display of Fresh(ly) Paint(ed) works in the gallery from May 20th until June 2nd!

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All three demonstrations represent a special opportunity for these artists to present their creative processes to the general public.  We hope to see you there!

Co|So Exhibitions :: J.B. Jones - Still Light

This spring, the Copley Society of Art has the pleasure of presenting the solo exhibition of realist painter J.B. Jones entitled Still Light.  An architect turned artist, Jones has devoted himself to painting since 1994 and specializes in large, abstract works depicting ordinary objects.  Jones’s hyper-realistic paintings combine the ambiguous with the familiar on a monumental scale in an effort to engender a heightened sensory experience in his viewer.

J.B. Jones, Pink Suite, oil on canvas, 46 x 50

In Pink Suite the object of focus is a rectangular glass sugar dish filled with different colored packets of sweetener.  The dish is positioned on an angle and is reflected on an unknown surface.   The transparency of the glass dish magnifies and distorts the sugar packets into staggered abstractions that electrify the canvas.  The reflections of the packets become live-wires of energy as they extend down and out of the painting into the space of the viewer.  The precise use of light brings out the most minute details and highlights the contrast of bright colors against a dark background.  The ordinary is transformed into the extraordinary as the painting pulses with the creative force of the artist.

J.B. Jones, Blue Clip, oil on canvas, 42 x 54

In Blue Clip the small-turned-monumental objects take over the canvas, merely suggesting a sense of pictorial space.  The viewer is confronted with a close-up of a glass jar filled to the brim with blue metallic paper clips.  Colors swirl and collide as they are reflected off of the metal and glass surfaces and the use of line creates a dizzying sensation as the eye attempts to trace any one path of movement.  The attention to extreme detail and texture suggest the use of airbrush though the artist remained loyal to his paint brush.  Jones rejects the static, functional qualities of these office supplies and transforms them into pictorial inventions of dynamism and energy.  

These two works are but a few examples of the possibilities explored by J.B Jones in his unique creative process. The rest of J.B. Jones’s work can be viewed in the exhibition on display from April 5^th until May 10^th or online at copleysociety.org. We look forward to seeing you in the gallery soon!

Members' Reception*
Saturday, April 7 5:30 - 7:30
Members: Free | Non-Members: $10

Artist Talk
Saturday, April 14 | 1:00 - 3:00pm

Co|So Exhibitions :: 23rd Annual Student Show

On display in Co|So’s Red Room Gallery, the 23^rd Annual Student Show is generating a great deal of excitement for a few talented young artists.  On view thru March 29^th, the exhibition features eleven works of various subject matter and media including oil painting, photography, ink on canvas, pyrography and spray paint.  The works were selected by jurors David Brown, Associate Dean of Academic Affairs of Graduate Programs at the SMFA and Miriam Stewart, Curator of the Collection of the European and American Art Division at Harvard Art Museums.

Jeremy Horseman, Triptych: The Helicopters, oil on panel, 72 x 24

First prize was awarded to Jeremy Horseman for his Triptych: The Helicopters, a narrative focused on the origins and outcome of violent disputes.  Horseman’s work centers on both modern and biblical accounts of war, and questions the instinctual nature that drives lust for conquest. The subdued pallet and anonymity of the figures highlight the senseless violence and travesty of war.  Horseman’s choice to create the work as a triptych enhances the narrative:  foreboding helicopters descend upon a city silhouetted against the sickly green sky, an intimate collection of soldiers engaged in battle from behind old walls, and lastly the helicopters exit over a sea of wrapped corpses. Horseman elucidates the reference to conflict in the Middle East by including  architectural outlines of domes and minarets, in addition to the contemporary uniforms of the soldiers. Horseman’s resolution to refrain from painterly extravagance allows the somber commentary of Triptych: The Helicopters to shine.

Stephanie Owyang, Hong Kong, digital photography, 24 x 16

Stephanie Owyang's digital photograph, Hong Kong, won second prize.  In this photograph, Owyang captures the busy lifestyle of Hong Kong and conveys the over stimulation of colors, traffic, and signs that abound in the densely populated metropolis. The mood and atmosphere of Hong Kong infuse the photograph, as the viewers attention is simultaneously drawn to numerous parts of the image. The lack of negative space reflects the overwhelming feeling that an individual might experience when actually present in this environment. Owyang states that she enjoys capturing photographs that reflect her experience of the places she visits without making them about herself. The essence of Hong Kong is the visual experience of the city, and lacks an overtly personal depiction of the artist.

Brooks Turner,  Follow on Us and Hide Us, no.10, ink on canvas, 37 x 64

Fall on Us and Hide Us, No. 10 by Brooks Turner received third prize in the annual student show.  Measuring 67 x 38 inches, this large-scale ink on canvas commands the viewer's attention.  Reminiscent of dynastic Chinese landscapes, this work seemingly portrays a path that draws the viewer into darkness. In his work, Turner explores ideas such as isolation, loneliness, absurdity, and the subconscious.  The dramatic size and perspective of Fall on Us and Hide Us, No. 10 emphasizes the feeling of monumentality, and asks the viewer to contemplate his/her place in the foreboding landscape.

The 23rd Annual Student Show will be on display until March 29th in the Red Room at the Copley Society of Art.

Co|So Exhibitions :: Art & Design of the 20th & 21st Centuries

Co|So Special Event :: AD 20/21 Art and Design Fair

This weekend, March 15-18, the Copley Society of Art will be exhibiting works at the Art and Design of the 20^th and 21^st Centuries & the Boston Print Fair.   AD 20/21 will be held at the Cyclorama at the Boston Center for the Arts in the South End.  A collection of work from galleries and art dealers from New England, the East Coast, and Europe will be on display and for sale at this one-of-a-kind event.  Co|So attended AD 20/21’s Gala Preview to benefit the Boston Architectural College.  At this Gala, a lifetime achievement award was be presented to interior designer, Vincente Wolf.

Co|So is one of over 30 exhibitors at the 5^th Annual Fair offering modern to contemporary fine art.  The fair also includes exhibitors who feature vintage and contemporary studio furniture, decorative arts, jewelry, and sculpture, as well as exhibitors at the Boston Print Fair.  This is the only show and sale of its kind in New England, and, as a first time participant, the Copley Society is excited to offer drawings, paintings, and photographs from a number of our artist members.

Co|So's booth is similar to the gallery, with all genres and media hung side by side to display the wide range of our artist members.  Black and white photographs by Mark Chester and Tony Schwartz will be hung amongst impressionistic oil paintings by James Kubiatowicz and Paul Schulenberg.  Abstract acrylics by Jacques Walther and Pippip Ferner are set against the hyper-realist drawings of  Kate Sullivan.  Other artist members that will be featured include: Nancy Colella, Jennifer Day, Ellen Granter, Rick Fleury, Jon Allan Marshall, Robert Pyle, and Edwin Rudd.  AD 20/21 looks to be a wonderful weekend filled with a great variety of contemporary and modern art and furniture - come stop by the booth to see what the Copley Society's artists are up to!

Follow @cosogallery on Twitter and Copley Society of Art on Facebook for photos and updates during the Fair.

Co|So Exhibitions :: Winter Members' Show: Impressions

Co|So’s newest exhibition, Impressions, showcases our artist members’ depictions of both natural abstractions as well as highly-structured, man-made forms.  High-contrast, black and white works are scattered throughout more colorful pieces, predominately featuring calming shades of blue along with vibrant reds and yellows. Presiding over the space from its perch in the center of the gallery, Peter Coes painted wooden sculpture of a house draws the eye with its sharp lines and innate sense of whimsy. Kate Sullivan’s hyper-realistic drawing of the Dresden skyline, Mary Hughes’ linear, abstract painting, and Ginny Zanger’s intricate monotypes compliment one another with high attention to detail and focus.  The obsessively detailed works are offset by the impressionist renderings of figures and landscapes offered by Robin Samiljan, LaVerne Christopher, and James Kubiatowicz.

Jennifer Day, Sesuit, oil on canvas, 36 x 36

The two largest works in the show stand out for their literal and figurative attention to the passing of time.  Jennifer Day’s oil on panel piece  Sesuit was granted second prize by jurors David Brown and Miriam Stewart.  This tumultuous ocean in black and white visualizes the movement of the water, not in a frozen moment, but in a continuously changing cycle. Sesuit is exemplary of Day’s artistic technique of allowing her painting to reach full composition through organic growth.  The artist explains that she only has a vague idea of how a piece will end up at its start; she allows the composition to adapt to her own willed impositions on the media.  Jennifer Day’s artistic vision in exploring the interaction between the visual and the emotional is strongly evident when viewing her piece.

Mary Hughes, Strata, acrylic & oil paint marker on canvas, 60 x 47 3/4

Strata, by Mary Hughes, demonstrates the artists' keen eye for detail through its repetitive, layered amorphous lines.  The painting is reminiscent of topographical maps, implying a sense of traversed space and time.  Hughes drew her inspiration for this work from her time spent studying the landscape of Ireland.  Hughes observed endless divisions within the vast landscape composed of fields, stone walls, and roads.  These boundaries and borders inspired her to “build” walls with paint.  Though her direct source of inspiration is not overwhelmingly evident, the linear boundaries formed by earthy color combinations in her work pay homage to her development as an artist.

In their various sizes, mediums, and content, the pieces of Co|So’s Winter Members’ Show represent the diversity of our artist members.  Impressions will be on view until March 29, 2012. To view the works stop by the gallery or click HERE to view the exhibition online.  We’d love to know which pieces are your favorites!

Co|So History :: James McNeill Whistler Exhibition, 1904

Let’s take a step back in time.  It’s the evening February 23, 1904 and Copley Hall opens its doors to more than 1,600 people, who have traveled to Boston to see the works of James McNeill Whistler.  The attendees of this private opening received invitations and catalogues produced to resemble those previously designed by Whistler. Included in the Copley Society Archives is an incomplete invitation to this Tuesday evening, February 23^rd 1904 opening.  According to the society’s annual report of 1904, “The invitations to this opening were, in the main, reproductions of those used by Mr. Whistler for an exhibition of his work held in London.” The butterfly insignia, located on the lower left corner of the invitation, had been a trademark signature of Whistler’s since the 1860’s.  With a stinger added as a tail, the butterfly represented the sensual and aggressive natures of both Whistler’s personality and work.

Invitation to 1904 Whistler Exhibition

James McNeill Whistler was born in Lowell, Massachusetts in 1834 and began his art career through drawing assignments for the United States military.  In 1855 he moved to Paris, set on the goal of becoming an artist.  Here, Whistler was influenced by a variety of international styles including French Realism, Japanese print and decoration, as well as seventeenth century Dutch and Spanish schools.  Soon after settling in Paris, Whistler moved to London and made a name for himself when his painting At the Piano was received by the Royal Academy for an exhibition in 1860. 

James Abbott McNeill Whistler. At the Piano. 1858-59. Oil on canvas. Taft Museum, Cincinnati, OH, USA

Whistler’s paintings give the viewer a profound sense of his ability to compose harmonious arrangements of color into thoughtful series of portraits and landscapes.  While his work can be described as subtle and somewhat classical, his approach to art was more radical for his time.  A contemporary of the Impressionists, Whistler belonged to the ‘l’art pour l’art’ school of thought:

              

“Art should be independent of all clap-trap – should stand alone, and appeal to the artistic sense of eye or ear, without confounding this with emotions entirely foreign to it, as devotion, pity, love, patriotism and the like.” 

- James McNeill Whistler

James Abbott McNeill Whistler, Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket, 1875, oil on panel, Detroit Institute of the Arts, Detroit

Upon hearing the news of Whistler’s death in June of 1903, and with the help of Whistler’s friends and patrons, the Copley Society began preparation for the memorial exhibition.  The artist’s personal aesthetic stretched from the invitations and catalogues to the decoration of Copley Hall, which featured Whistler’s oriental influence in the Japanese cloths, carvings, and ornaments that adorned the walls. The memorial collection featured work from every period of his artistic career from school-boy drawings until the time of his death.  The main hall contained eighty-four of Whistler’s oil paintings, while separate rooms displayed black and white works, etchings, dry-points, lithographs, watercolors, and pastels.

Image of Whistler Memorial Exhibition from the Archives of American Art

Whistler’s international status left various countries - including France, Germany and England – scrambling to procure their own collections of Whistler’s work, but it was his home state of Massachusetts and the Copley Society that secured the privilege.  The Whistler Exhibition attracted a total attendance of 41,111 by the time of its closing on March 28, 1904.  Keeping with its tradition of engaging and educating the public, the Copley Society arranged special days during the exhibition for art students, artists, and members of the press to visit free of charge. 

The Copley Society was greatly honored to hold such a momentous, and successful, exhibition for one of the most prominent American painters.

"WebMuseum: Whistler, James Abbott McNeill." Ibiblio - The Public's Library and Digital Archive. Web. 09 Feb. 2012. <http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/whistler/>.

Co|So Exhibitions :: New Members' Show 2012

Happy New Year from the Copley Society of Art!

We kicked off our year with the opening of the New Members' Show 2012, in which 34 of the 36 new members accepted into the gallery in 2011 currently have work on display. The white walls of the upper gallery are covered in paintings, photographs, and sculptures in both bright and somber hues, and range from the exceedingly large to the small. The obvious variations in sizes, genres and media exemplify the diverse talents of the newest Co|So artist members.

From left to right: Ken Northup, Sean Flood, Matt Glushien, Coleman Rogers, Ann Trainor Domingue, Pippip Ferner, Kimberly MacNeille, Derek Uhlman, Barbara Leiner, Ginny Zanger, Antonia Tyz Peeples, Cameron Schmitz, Joan DeRugeris, Linnea Toney Leeming, Jim Connelly, Bill Lane, Marilene Sawaf, Leigh Campion-McInerney, Claudia Kaufman, Tom Belkakis, Robin Samiljan, and Mary Graham.

New Members not pictured: Anne Davey, Susanah Howland, J.B. Jones, Andrea Kemler, Marla Korr, Brennan King, Diana Kirkpatrick, Elizabeth Lazeren, John Murphy, Edwin Rudd, Patrick Shea, Laurie Simko, and Jacques Walther.

Attendees to the opening on Saturday, January 14th packed the gallery, eager to see works by the latest additions to the Copley Society. Linnea Toney Leeming's fearlessly painted and larger than life abstract piece Jammin' blasts the upper gallery with color, while Sean Flood's iconic 60 x 80 cityscape NYCorners anchors the exhibition with its architectural stability, compositional integrity, and urban spirit.

Linnea Toney Leeming with her piece Jammin'

Sean Flood with his work NYCorners

Co|So welcomes artists from the New England area and beyond for artist membership. Europe is represented by two of the class of 2011: Swiss artist Jacques Walther and Pippip Ferner, from Norway, who we were fortunate enough to have with us at the opening. Pippip is pictured below with her delicate yet dynamic painted drawing Summerplankton II. Boston photographer Coleman Rogers stands alongside Pippip with his energetic evocation of The Bycicle Race. Another must see of the show is Connecticut sculptor Derek Uhlman's radiant alabaster Stone Gesture, enlivened by the juxtaposition of geometric shapes carved into the natural form.

Pippip Ferner and Coleman Rogers.

Derek Uhlman with his sculpture Stone Gesture.

Large, varied and impressive seems to be the theme for 2012. Next in the queue is Co|So's Winter Members Show: Impressions, which will be juried by David Brown, the Associate Dean of Academic Affairs for the School of the Museum of Fine Arts Graduate Programs, and Miriam Stewart, the Curator of the Collection for the Division of European and American Art at Harvard Art Museums. The gallery has received over two hundred submissions from more than 60 of our current artist members. This looks to be another highly successful show, and the jurors definitely have their work cut out for them!

Opening reception attendees clamoring to photograph the new members.

But until then, come see what all the hubbub is all about: Co|So's New Members'  Show 2012 runs through February 14. Click HERE to view the exhibition online. We look forward to seeing you in the gallery!