Frame 301

Petal Harder - Frame 301

2012-02-10T10:57:00.001-08:00

BEVERLY, MA- Montserrat College of Art Galleries is pleased to present Petal Harder, curated by Sara Santarsiero. Through their use of vibrant color and imagery, Montserrat alumni Bradford Rusick and Lindsey Parker will collaborate on a site-specific installation in the Frame 301 exhibition space. Rusick and Parker are bonded together through their akin creative production and their commitment to a collaborative and dialectic oriented processes of art-making.

Rusick currently resides in Beverly MA, assisting with local artists in addition to his own work. In the past year, he has curated at 17 Cox, Marblehead Arts Association and UFORGE Gallery. Operating out of Lowell MA, Lindsey Parker runs UnchARTed, a multimedia art space and collective of several artists working together. Parker also works with 119 Gallery in Lowell, where she recently created a collaborative mural with Stephanie Lak.

With the help of other artists, Parker and Rusick have established an annual art event, Arts Not Dead, enabling local and regional artists to come together and share their art.

Where: Montserrat College of Art, Frame 301, 301 Cabot Street,

Beverly, MA

Exhibit Dates: February 18 – March 22, 2012

Hours: 24/7

For more information about the exhibit,

please contact Sara Santarsiero, Frame 301 Project Manager at sara@santarsiero-art.com or visit us at www.montserrat.edu/galleries.

Events hotline: 978.921.4242 Option 3

Space, Light and Sound Activate Frame 301 at Montserrat

2011-10-05T07:41:00.000-07:00

BEVERLY, MA- Montserrat College of Art Galleries is pleased to present Joey Asal’s DUFAYEL (*DISCURSIVE) [PASS/GO], curated by Lydia Gordon. This Frame 301 installation is a site-specific material arrangement that explores the platforms of human interaction through the use of physical and non-physical materials. The artist uses recycled objects, canvas, paint, aluminum, light, and sound to create a non-linear material narrative within the Frame 301 space. The relationship of the installation’s physical and non-physical materials represents contemporary trends of communication, activities that now encompasses both virtual and in-person interaction.

Tangible sculpture and painted objects coexist with light and sound in DUFAYEL (*DISCURSIVE) [PASS/GO]. The negative space between layers of paint and suspended sculpture cast shadows and ever-changing lines within the piece. Sound is made available to passersby through individual artist performances. DUFAYEL (*DISCURSIVE) [PASS/GO] performs through each placement of material, facilitating as an environment for viewers to contemplate the synthesis of both means of communication. By inviting the audience to step away from more traditional forms of art-making, Joey Asal highlights the influential practice of using non-objective image making in conceptual art.

Joey Asal earned his BA and BFA in Sculpture and Printmaking from Truman State University. (Kirskville, Missouri) After moving to Boston in 2006, Asal continued to develop non-objective image making and started working with sound in 2009. As the curator of Lillypad Artspace, (Cambrdige, MA) Joey is well immersed in the alternative art scene in Boston, including performing and action-based artist.

Olsen’s Chasing Infinity travels to Montserrat’s Frame 301

2011-08-20T08:36:00.000-07:00

BEVERLY August 22, 2011- Montserrat College of Art Galleries is pleased to present David Olsen’s Chasing Infinity, curated by Lydia Gordon. The mixed media painting installation in Frame 301 is inspired by the artist’s recent travels across America. Through abstract drawings entwined with recognizable hints of figures, Olsen’s site-specific vibrant, three dimensional installation urges the viewer to think about their own relationship to space and the environmental triggers that influence personal histories.

Olsen voyaged across the country with the purpose of experiencing the most inspiring natural landscapes. While at these sites, the artist filmed, photographed, and drew on-location in response to his physical experience within these settings. Olsen’s feelings of existentialism and the affect of nature’s influence on the human emotion are represented in a new series of work, Chasing Infinity. Inspired by the surfacing of the artist’s childhood memories in response to these environments, Olsen comments on a distinct memory linked to location. His family vacationed in Pyramid Lake, a surreal place just north of Las Vegas where his father instructed him on how to survive if the US was under attack. As the artist travelled, his memories were re-told like stories, triggering responses and acting as a platform for drawing infinite connections between the artist’s past and present. Chasing Infinity discovers the never-ending relationship between human life and nature.

Like Olsen’s previous work, this site-specific installation was completed with the help and collaboration of students. Montserrat students worked with the artist during a week long installation process. Chasing Infinity draws in the viewer’s attention through the use of an intense color palette cast across Frame 301’s walls and windows. With street style contours, the artist uses both organic and human-made objects to create a new atmosphere by reflecting on his drawings, research, and overall time on the road. The artist hopes to guide the audience to both a familiar and totally new place, which will inspire thoughts about their own relationship to the spaces they occupy.

Originally from Seattle, Washington, David Olsen is a Boston-based artist working in multiple media. Olsen received his BFA from the University of Washington and his MFA from the University of Wisconsin- Madison. David has recently shown at Art Chicago (Chicago, IL) Project Gallery (Marseille, France), and French Neon (Brooklyn, NY). His work is also included in the permanent collections of the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art (Madison, Wisconsin), KUMU Museum of Art (Tallinn, Estonia) and the Smithsonian Institution (Washington, DC). David is Co-Director of Media Arts and Sciences and Assistant Professor of Media Arts at Wellesley College (Wellseley, MA).

Frame 301's Summer Constellation

2011-07-11T06:29:00.000-07:00

A New Constellation Discovered in Beverly

Montserrat College of Art is please to announce Adria Arch's installation, Summer Constellation, curated by Lydia Gordon. The artist's multi-media piece radiates twenty-four hours a day in the Frame 301 window. With Summer Constellation's suspended materials, particular doodles and celestial imagery, Adria uses the street-side gallery as a portal to encourage connection among anonymous participants.

Adria Arch’s Summer Constellation exhibits the artist’s distinctive mark making in a three dimensional installation. Patterns of scribbles, sprays and drips are produced on multiple ten by three foot suspended mylar scrolls. By studying notebook doodles produced by her son, the artist revisits these spontaneous characters to execute the composition of each scroll. The interplay among the imagery evokes a patterning of symbols similar to how the stars appear in the night sky. Arch’s placement of suspended scrolls and cut out paper creates a dynamic visual dialog of the artist’s iconic shapes, speaking to the community of viewers on the street, as well as to the artist’s son.

Adria is inspired by the doodles found in the margins of her son’s high school notebooks. The artist reads these private drawings as an indecipherable language created in the uninhibited state of the doodler. Using these shapes as a source for her work in Summer Constellation, Arch invites her audience into a world unknown to them but extremely personal to her. The installation allows for a viewing experience that creates relationships between multiple sources, mapping an intricate grouping of connections like the patterns formed by prominent starts in a constellation.

Adria Arch is a Boston-based artist and Arts Administrator. She studied at RISD and Carnegie Mellon University for her undergraduate studies and earned her MA in Art Education from the University of Arizona. Adria also received her MFA in painting from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design. The artist has taught at deCordova’s School, Massachusetts College of Art and Design, and Montserrat College of Art. Arch has recently shown at the Danforth Museum of Art (Framingham, MA) and Lesley University (Cambridge, MA).

Where: Montserrat College of Art, Frame 301, 301 Cabot Street, Beverly, MA

Exhibit Dates: July 9, 2011 – August 20, 2011

Hours: 24/7

For more information about the exhibit, please contact Lydia Gordon, Frame 301 Project Manager at Lydia.Gordon01@gmail.com or visit us at www.montserrat.edu/galleries.

Events hotline: 978.921.4242 Option 3

May Artist Suspends Pies in Frame 301

2011-05-13T13:35:00.000-07:00

May 16, 2011 - The Montserrat College of Art Galleries is pleased to present Alexander Farrell’s Frame 301 installation, Destined to fail/Destined for sale, curated by Lydia Gordon. Inspired by the Housing Crises, Farrell converts the Frame 301 window into a platform for selling pies. Coupled with for-sale markers, the artist-made pastries are displayed like real estate items in an attempt to break down societal issues, engage viewers, and encourage conversation.

Through the installation of joint building materials and food objects, the artists challenges the root of the Housing Crises. Relying greatly on the material’s ability to resonate and connect with itself, Farrell uses jagged wood pieces, for-sale pies, and a site-specific installation method to investigate the cause and effect of the “housing bubble”. A sculptural mass of wood and hardware lines Frame 301’s back wall, enhancing the viewer’s looking experience with Destined to fail/Destined for sale’s three-dimensional composition. Considering the pie’s association with precious traditionalism and Americanism, experiencing them as commercial commodities triggers an uncanny, emotional response, correlating with the exploitation and suffering of those affected by losing their homes. Through the engagement with the art piece, viewers are able to acknowledge the complex issues on a smaller scale. By reducing the housing bubble to representational objects, Destined to fail/Destined for sale expresses the dynamics between politicians, financiers, and consumers.

Alexander Farrell is a Boston based artist working in multiple mediums. His portfolio includes paintings, drawings, and sculpture. As an abstract artist, Alexander works with found objects in works on paper and three-dimensional sculptural pieces. The artist earned his BFA in Architecture at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design in 2008. Alexander has been awarded a grant from the Vermont Studio Center (Johnson, VT) and is included in the upcoming exhibition, Flourish: Alumni Works on Paper at Bakalar and Paine Galleries, Massachusetts College of Art and Design (Boston, MA).

Where: Montserrat College of Art, Frame 301, 301 Cabot Street, Beverly, MA
Exhibit Dates: May 16, 2011 – June 13, 2011
Hours: 24/7
For more information about the exhibit, please contact Lydia Gordon, Frame 301 Project Manager at Lydia.Gordon01@gmail.com or visit us at www.montserrat.edu/galleries.

Events hotline: 978.921.4242 Option 3

This program is supported in part by a grant from the Beverly Cultural Council, a local agency which is supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency.

Montserrat College of Art is an accredited, private, residential college of art and design offering the Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, art education certification and year-round classes and workshops for adults through its Continuing Education program.
Visit us at www.montserrat.edu.

Vinyl, leather pants, and broken guitar amps!

2011-04-11T08:49:00.000-07:00

Take Your Protein Pills and Put Your Helmet On | Enter the Rock N’ Roll Vortex

April 11, 2011- Montserrat College of Art Galleries is pleased to present, THE ROCK N’ ROLL VORTEX, a dual part installation and performance piece for the Frame 301, Montserrat Galleries’ alternative display space. Curated by Lydia Gordon, THE ROCK N’ ROLL VORTEX will be up for the month of April. By combining elements of music, visual arts and audience participation, THE ROCK N’ ROLL VORTEX brings together the Montserrat community in recognition of the experience as the artwork.

Heavy-duty vinyl signage with reflective, striking graphics lures the viewer to the window where, once looking through the “Vortex,” an avalanche of miniature sculptures, music paraphernalia and artist renderings transfixes the eye, leading them into an electrified world of rock-n-roll. By enticing audience participation through its aggressive presence on the street, THE ROCK N’ ROLL VORTEX lends itself to the expressive attitude of the music genre and of the art school. Created by the Rock Slop Art Collective, THE ROCK N’ ROLL VORTEX will open on April 15, 2011 in the 301 Gallery as a performance piece. Rock Slop Art Collective will invite Montserrat students, staff, and community members to join them and their band, The Fagettes, in a glam shock inspired reception with live music, costumes, video, and photography. Through this interactive art show and installation, THE ROCK N’ ROLL VORTEX, stands as a platform for artistic collaboration and its importance within the art college.

Rock Slop Art Collective consists of two Boston-based artists, Melanie Bernier and David Goodrich. Bernier, who earned her BFA in Studio for Interralated Media at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design in 2008, works across various media including fiber arts, ceramics, and mixed-media installations. Her recent project includes the installation, Rainbowbomb at MEME Gallery (Cambridge, MA). David earned his BFA in Film, Animation, Video at the Rhode Island School of Design in 2006 where he was awarded at the Intercollegiate Independent Film Festival. Also working across various media, David and Melanie are involved in the Boston music scene with their band, The Fagettes, (thefagettes.blogspot.com).

Where: Montserrat College of Art, Frame 301, 301 Cabot Street, Beverly, MA

Exhibit Dates: April 11, 2011 – May 13, 2011

Hours: 24/7

For more information about the exhibit, please contact Lydia Gordon, Frame 301 Project Manager at Lydia.Gordon01@gmail.com or visit us at www.montserrat.edu/galleries.

Events hotline: 978.921.4242 Option 3

March Exhibition: Urban Eden

2011-03-25T06:41:00.001-07:00

BEVERLY, March 11, 2011- Montserrat College of Art Galleries
is pleased to present Kim Salerno’s installation Urban
Eden,curated by Lydia Gordon. The current exhibition in
Montserrat College of Art’s alternative display space Frame 301,
Urban Eden reveals a vivid textured world of digital imagery,
wall patterning,and three-dimensional structures. Through the
useof rich,decorative elements, Salerno’s installation draws in
the attention of the viewers by arranging drawing, photography,
and digital media to form an intricate landscape.

Salerno’s installation transforms the narrow space of Frame 301
into an urban garden. Digital prints of landscapes and gardens
are cut, hung and layered alternately with transparent scrims
and curtains, and expand beyond the picture plane to create a
highly interactive window space. At first glance, the garden
appears as a collage of idyllic flowers and scenery, beautifully
nestled with embellished textiles and patterns. However, as
nature is depicted through digital media, the awry placement
of Urban Eden’s multiple forms begins to prompt a sense of
nervous break down and eventual decay. As these layered
materials create complex textual meaning within
the installation, utopian and dystopian visions collide
as the piece is confronted with human activity from the street.

Kim Salerno’s creative work began with architecture, which

continues to serve as inspiration for her more recent digital

and installation projects. Her work has been exhibited

throughout the United States in galleries, museums, and

other public venues. The artist is a recipient of the

Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant and the Visual Arts Sea

Grant from the University of Rhode Island. She earned

her Masters of Architecture from the University of

Pennsylvania, holds a certificate in Painting from the

School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and a BA

from Smith College. Kim Salerno currently teaches

at the University of Rhode Island.

Corey Corcoran's HYPERSLEEP

2011-02-07T08:40:00.000-08:00

Corcoran Constructs Blooming Structure: HYPERSLEEP

BEVERLY, MA, FEBRUARY 2, 2011- Montserrat College of Art Galleries is pleased to present Boston artist Corey Corcoran’s installation HYPERSLEEP curated by Lydia Gordon. The February exhibition in Montserrat College of Art’s alternative display space Frame 301, reveals a mysterious human figure stratified with turf, peat, and moss. Corcoran’s blooming structure calls attention to the awe of nature’s uncertainty while investigating its constant regeneration.

Corcoran’s first 3D site-specific installation, HYPERSLEEP engulfs Frame 301 with heaps of biomass, growth, and decay as a terrarium through creation. The window holds a cocooning figure saturated with earth, root systems, and endless unidentifiable matter. This obscure creation spans the entire length and depth of the window, enhancing every viewer’s looking experience. Completely sculptural in nature, HYPERSLEEP refers to a science fiction term similar to hibernation when life processes are halted completely for some duration. It addresses the artist’s continuous ideas concerning the persistence of life, fluidity of time, and the simple strangeness of nature.

Corey Corcoran is a Boston-based artist currently working at The Distillery, a vibrant community of artists in South Boston. Since acquiring his BFA from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design in 2007, Corcoran has shown regularly throughout the Boston area. Most recently, the artist has been included in shows at MEME Gallery (Cambridge, MA), deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum (Lincoln, MA), and LaMontagne Gallery (South Boston, MA) with solo exhibitions at The Little Gallery Under The Stairs (Lynn, MA) and Fivesevendelle Project Space (Boston, MA). The artist has been awarded the 2011 Clowes Award fellowship from the Vermont Studio Center (Johnston, VT).

Where: Montserrat College of Art, Frame 301,

301 Cabot Street, Beverly, MA

Exhibit Dates: February 7, 2011 – March 11, 2011

Hours: 24/7The exhibit and related events are free and open to the public unless otherwise noted.

For more information about the exhibit, please contact Lydia Gordon, Frame 301 Project Manager at Lydia.Gordon01@gmail.com or visit us at www.montserrat.edu/galleries.

Events hotline: 978.921.4242 Option 3

Montserrat College of Art is an accredited, private, residential college of art and design offering the Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, art education certification and year-round classes and workshops for adults through its Continuing Education program.

Visit us at www.montserrat.edu.The vision of Montserrat College of Art is to be recognized as the nation’s premier independent, small art college.

"This program is supported in part by a grant from the Beverly Cultural Council, a local agency which is supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency."

Street Reflections 301: Cleanliness Next to Godliness

2011-01-07T13:29:00.000-08:00

Elizabeth Michelman, Street Reflections 301: Cleanliness Next to Godliness, January 2011

BEVERLY, MA January 2, 2011- Montserrat College of Art Galleries’ Frame 301 is pleased to present Elizabeth Michelman’s Street Reflections 301: Cleanliness Next to Godliness, curated by Lydia Gordon. The kick-off exhibition of 2011, takes a look at downtown Beverly by focusing on the relationship between Frame 301 and two neighbors: a laundromat and church.

Michelman’s site-responsive installation Street Reflections 301: Cleanliness Next to Godliness prompts a questioning of collective relations. By noticing how Frame 301 stands across from a church and a laundromat, the artist wonders how much these pillars of the neighborhood know of and understand each other. These three institutions offer different routes for expressing fundamental values in contemporary American culture: the art school practice, private worship, and personal hygiene. Street Reflections 301 quotes the words of a familiar proverb to capture, meditate on, and reflect these ideas back out to its viewers.

Street Reflections 301 dramatizes the window’s physical characteristics of transparency and reflection, conveying its message through illuminated language best visible at night. The words “cleanliness” and “godliness,” emanate from the window with a projection of inner light and color. By linking elements of each building through the proverb, the artist renews our curiosity with the streetscape and our relationship with the streetscape. The installation implicates Montserrat College as a cultural agent, situated to observe and comment on the disparities between our exterior environment and the inner feeling underlying the everyday needs, purposes, and values of our audience.

Elizabeth Michelman is an interdisciplinary artist exhibiting public and site-responsive installation art, video documentaries and artist’s videos. Her range of media includes sculpture, drawing, painting, poetry, video, and installation. Both as an artist and a curator, she has organized many site-responsive exhibitions and community participatory projects throughout New England. Michelman has taught and lectured on a range of subjects including exhibitions, 2D/3D design, drawing, sculpture, and interdisciplinary art and installation at Mass College of Art and around New England.

Diane Bronstein: underdressed

2010-12-13T14:38:00.000-08:00

December 11, 2010- January 5, 2011

Montserrat College of Art Gallery is pleased to present Diane Bronstein’s installation, underdressed, curated by Lydia Gordon. The closing exhibition of 2010 in Montserrat College of Art’s alternative display space Frame 301, Bronstein’s arrangement of handmade underwear, bras, and slips suggest a narrative to each article of clothing, hinting at the vulnerability yet desirability of its wearers.

The artist’s creation of intimate apparel derives from her interest in privacy and how we identify ourselves by covering the body. The detailed sketching, clothing design and delicate craftsmanship of each piece allows the artist to explore the closest layer of clothing to our bodies and its protective connotation. By exposing what is usually covered, the artist brings intrigue to each piece, its owner, and their relationship.

A visual and conceptual pastiche, underdressed transforms the storefront gallery into a scene of laundry lines. underdressed is constructed from hand-sewn paper clothing, sketches of figure drawings, and sky-blue paint, drawing connections to the everyday surroundings on Cabot Street. By incorporating elements of the laundromat, art school practice, and skyline, underdressed rearranges physical characteristics of our community. By utilizing the unique perspective Frame 301 offers viewers, Bronstein hangs her pieces in a zig-zag fashion, ultimately proposing a three-dimensional, unconventional looking experience. While the artist’s process involved the layering of pencil, charcoal, and paper, underdressed ultimately strips down to the idea of physical identity, modesty, and desirability.

Diane Bronstein is a Boston-based artist focused on the creation of paper clothing, inspired by her attendance to life-drawing sessions at the Arlington Center for the Arts . Bronstein received her B.F.A in Graphic Design and Illustration at Carnegie-Mellon University and currently works as an exhibition designer for traveling, temporary and permanent exhibitions at the Museum of Science in Boston.

For more information: http://montserrat.edu/galleries/frame%20301/

Yassie Goldie & GJYD's "i want to soX yuO"

2010-10-07T12:37:00.000-07:00

October 5 – November 5

Originally a storefront window, Frame 301 was the perfect space for GJYD to launch their most recent campaign, which includes commercials for yuO soX memorabilia that glow from within gold television sets and yuO soX merchandise available for purchase.

With an interest in shedding light on social injustice and promoting change rather than promoting themselves, it was clear that GJYD needed a figurehead. In 2008, this responsibility was given to Mr. Yassy Goldie. The group utilizes Goldie’s public persona for promotion and representation so the individual identities of the collaborative members may remain anonymous. I want to soX you, a campaign inspired by Boston’s beloved baseball team, is Goldie’s attempt at introducing himself to and connecting with the city of Boston.

By way of the internet, social media, guerilla performances and public installations, GJYD have exhibited their “death metal glam ghettotech” aesthetics throughout the regional and digital art communities. The group’s egalitarian street art style and process symbolize their dedication to targeting closed-mindedness, prejudice and hatred through truth, irony, humor and satire in the most public spheres.

Raul Gonzalez: The Gangs all Here, Minus a few featuring El Frijol, El Negrito and the Angel

2010-10-07T12:33:00.000-07:00

September 2 – October 4

A Founding member of Somerville art collective Miracle 5, Gonzalez work references histories through the aesthetic of antiquated cartooning. In his most recent work, stereotypical cartoon character archetypes are used to encourage a socio-historical critique.

“The Gangs all here, Minus a Few featuring El Frijol, El Negrito and the Angel” refers to the nicknames used as terms of “endearment” to those with darker or lighter skin tones in the Mexican culture. The characters are fictional and drawn using the same shapes but the colors with which they are painted changes their interpretation. The clouds and the colors distract you from seeing the shape in it's true form.

"Cartoon characters are like water in that they can take any form that we imagine for them as well as survive any treatment. They have been dehumanized and can therefore be tortured and humiliated without any lasting degree of guilt or consequence before disappearing from our memories altogether." - Raul Gonzalez

Karen Moss: The Commuter

2010-10-07T12:20:00.000-07:00

August 4th - 30th

The Commuter, an installation by Boston-based artist Karen Moss exhibits her recognizable hybrid characters cavorting through imaginary landscapes. In this site-specific work, Moss' imagery sets up a comparison of the urban and the bucolic. Both scenes merge retro aesthetics with the characteristics of contemporary street art to depict the experience of popular culture in both metropolitan and rural environments.

Meltdown

2010-10-07T12:12:00.000-07:00

June 1st - July 5th

As Part of 2010 annual Encaustic Conference, wax scraps were collected from attendees and installed in Frame 301.

Brandy Wolfe - "Stuffed"

2010-03-31T07:47:00.000-07:00

Stuffed, Boston-based arist Brandy Wolfe's installation is in our space until April 6th. The installation includes family photos the artist found from the 1930’s to the 1950’s. They are accompanied by her own sewn stuffed animals that mimic the memories shown in the photographs.

Wolfe’s exhibit focuses on the connection between individual memories with specific material objects. The piece began with Wolfe purchasing displaced family photographs from online auctions, focusing on those that depicted children with stuffed toys. By recreating the inanimate characters from these photographs, pinning some on the wall and letting the others pile up below, she has put on display a dissection of these memories and alluded to the difficulty of actually recreating them. Like the displays in a natural history museum, Wolfe’s piece reflects the malleability of collective memory.

(Wolfe now residing in Brighton, MA has been featured in many exhibits throughout the U.S. She received her BFA in Painting from the Maryland Institute College of Art and Masters in Art History from Ohio State University. Wolfe has recently exhibited her work at the MCLA Gallery 51 in North Adams, MA, KSpace Contemporary in Corpus Christie, TX, the Atlantic Works Gallery in Boston, MA and will be installing work in the group exhibition Yellow at the Boston Children’s Museum this year.)

Autumn Patricia Ahn - "Hallow Halos"

2010-03-31T07:40:00.000-07:00

Autumn Patricia Ahn's piece, Hallow Halos was the first exhibition of 2010 in Frame 301!

Ahn’s intricate work draws in the attention of viewers by reflecting on and incidentally playing a part in the experience of a shared visual landscape.

A multilayered piece in conception and construction, Hallow Halos transformed our storefront gallery into a temple of coiled figures and messages. This powerful, celebratory shrine commemorates the human response to our daily overstimulation of imagery. Ahn’s work uses narrative visual languages often found in religious iconography, offering her viewers signs, symbols and clues to create a unified statement.

Hallow Halos is constructed from layers of neon paint, string, masonite and vinyl. Utilizing every perspective available in this unique space, Ahn adhered vinyl to the outside of the glass to create a foreground, designed an altar of solid color and writhing characters on the wall itself and constructed elements that hang in the space between the glass and dry wall.

(Ahn is Somerville-based artist, current working as part of the collective artist studios at 9 Olive Square, Somerville, MA. Since acquiring her BFA in Painting at Boston University in 2008, Ahn has shown regularly throughout the Boston area. She is sought after for her ability to create large, enaging images, such as the commissioned murals she has recently completed with Underground Snowboards/Indoor Skate Ramp in Boston, MA and Firebeat Dancesport Studios in Allston, MA. She was also recently included in the Hey I Know That Guy exhibit at the Washington Street Art Center and Off-the-Wall Paper at Gallery 5 in Boston, MA.)

Wendy Kawabata - "Withdrawn from Circulation"

2010-03-31T07:25:00.000-07:00

We had the pleasure of exhibiting Kawabata's Withdrawn from Circulation from November 5th through December 1st. The Hawaii-based artist's piece was constructed out of books pulled from circulation from Honolulu libraries, which Kawabata bought for a dollar a piece. The books are exaggeratedly dog-eared, their interiors becoming exposed and rearranged.

“The interior of a book is traditionally an individual and private experience,” the artist explains, “for these books….the private experience is no longer accessible. They have been quieted, now the barnacles growing on library walls as people move towards new ways of engaging with text”.

Kawabata’s interest in topics of interior and exterior mimic the underlying themes of Frame 301 so we were excited to exhibit this work in our storefront window which exits as a gateway between many public and private spheres.

(Kawabata received her BFA in Art History at Massachusetts College of Art and completed her MFA in Studio Art at the University of New Mexico. She is currently based in Honolulu, where she is an Assistant Professor with the department of Art and Art history with the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Kawabata has shown regularly over the last ten years in both group and solo shows nationally and has made public presentations a regular part of her exhibition process.)

Margaret Realica - Elements

2009-11-03T11:11:00.000-08:00

Sculptor Margaret Realica, known for her fusion of the mechanical and the nostalgic, had a showing at the Frame of her most recent work from the 2nd-29th of October. The eight most recent pieces contained elements of transparent photographs, metallic components,gears and electrical wires. Her use of warm nostalgic imagery juxtaposed, with the hard mechanics lets each piece stand on its own. They have a bold presence and a certain level of sophistication within each piece.

Realica's process entails the reconstruction of objects as a method of deconstructing concepts. “To see the interaction between the two,” Realica explains, “the affect of one upon the other [is to see] the images of one transforming within the other.” The transformation is evident and enticing to the eye. The colors are rich and soothing with subtle textual elements existing within the photographs. The mechanical components are non functional but still important to the body of the art work. Without those elements her work would be feel complete.

Noise Can Be Hostile: Seven, Eight, Seven, Five (REVISITED)

2009-11-03T10:42:00.000-08:00

In July and August of 2009, Montserrat College of Art graduate (2009) Anthony Montuori created an evocative, minimal visual landscape with 27 used speakers pressed upon the glass, inspired by the ambiguous, yet often dueling definitions of public and private spaces by calling our attention to the glass that separates the street from the gallery. The audible mash-up included bits of classical music, stand-up comedy, readings of theory, sounds of people coughing and clearing their throats, and tracks from post-mod DJ Girl Talk. Visitors were able to hear a murmer of the audio through the glass, but had crystal clear reception when picking up the telephone that had been installed outside the gallery.

For Noise Can Be Hostile: Seven, Eight, Seven, Five (Revisted), Montuori collaborated with artist Daniel Phillips to remix the space once again. Montuori and Phillips documented themselves with still photographs adding debris from Philliips' current installation Tear Down These Walls (on view in the 301 Gallery) and rewiring the audio element of the original Frame 301 piece. In their final rendition, the phone installed outside exists as the only way to receive the sounds from inside the Frame and and stop-motion video of the work the artists did was also installed within the storefront space. The messages of both artists were strengthened by their collaboration, which highlighted their mutual concern for issues of conceptual and spatial appropriation and use.

"Working with Daniel and Anthony was a rewarding experience" said Amber Hakim, a work study for the 301 Gallery. "Helping create this whole new environment changes your understanding of space, while it may have looked off putting at first glance you start to notice all the little quirks and different elements that were amongst the debris. The sound aspects of the installation were a total spin on what we normally would hear through a telephone."

Noise Can be Hostile: 7,8,7,5

2009-07-21T06:55:00.000-07:00

Noise Can Be Hostile: Seven, Eight, Seven, Five

Anthony Montuori, in Collaboration with Ethan Berry and Maggie Cavallo

The experience of passing by the Frame 301 exhibition window at Montserrat College of Art has been altered by a new site-specific installation. Montserrat College of Art graduate (2009) Anthony Montuori created a n evocative, minimal visual landscape with 27 used speakers pressed upon the glass. A colorful vortex of wiring connects the speakers through a small hole in the wall. A murmur of sound is audible from the sidewalk, emphasized by pressing one's ear to the pane of glass that separates the viewer from the speaker.

In planning the installation, Montuori and his collaborators, Montserrat Faculty Ethan Berry and Frame 301 Curator Maggie Cavallo, considered the ease with which the public participates with Frame 301 in comparison to the number of people who willingly enter the 301 Cabot Street building to view the gallery within. Montuori pursued the ambiguous, yet often dueling definitions of public and private spaces by calling our attention to the glass that separates the street from the gallery. "The sidewalk is public property that is still owned or controlled;" the artist explains, "window displays are also used to sell products, and in times of unrest the first to be smashed and looted for their contents." While the gallery spaces at 301 Cabot Street and the sidewalk that flanks it are both considered public, a visitor's past experiences with these areas are varied and affect how the spaces have been categorized and experienced. Beginning with a consideration of Frame 301 as a symbolic space between academic private property and the public area of the street and sidewalk, Montuori demonstrates how multifaceted these demarcations can be.

In titling his work, Montuori found influence in the conceptual art and Truisms (seemingly self-evident statements) of spring 2009 Montserrat College of Art exhibitor and honorary doctorate recipient Jenny Holzer. "In my window display, the first Truism, ‘Noise Can be Hostile,’ is present due largely to the nature of the piece as kind of a wall of sound and as an image of abundance; where too much is in favor here; too many speakers and an iconography of decadence," Montouri explains. He appropriated the phrase from the vinyl lettering of the past Frame 301 installation by Miles Conrad. The artist goes on to explain, "the numbers in the title refer to the truism: Private Property Created Crime. This is also in relation to the organization of the speakers in the windows. Four separate panes, four words. 7,8,7,5 respectively." Yet we also see reference to the window as a site, the window as a symbolic display of private property.

Montouri pulls from the ideas of Holzer to use in other works. His interest lies in sampling from other artists but abstracting what he takes. "I see this as a kind of sampling that one might find a DJ or postmodern musician engaging in." While passing by, viewers (or listeners) will hear the sounds of classical music, a contemporary DJ (emphasizing Montuori's idea of sampling), stand-up comedy, the sound of people clearing their throat and theoretical readings. The choices for the audio components emphasize the jagged, imaginary edges that separate private and public, and high or low culture.

Near the door of 301 Cabot Street, a phone awaits viewers’ curiosity. By making the conscious decision to pick up the phone and place it to their ear, viewers will hear a clear reception to the sounds going on inside. Montuori's piece encourages us to think critically about the spaces we deem as public and private, and to have the courage to participate in both.

INTERVIEW w/ ANTHONY MONTUORI 7/16

Influence of Jenny H's Truisms?

I have been pulling from this list for a while now and using it in other works. I am interested in sampling from other artist but abstracting what i take. I see this as a kind of sampling that one might find a DJ or postmodern musician engaging in.

Who were the situationists? What do they have to do with your piece?

I small group who wrote much on capitalist society and who could be considered a continuation of marxist theory. Their writings focused on urbanology, the spectacle and various methods for reclaiming the landscape or shifting existing media to subvert them. This piece sees itself situated in a display window which puts it in the position of spectacle. It is viewed by individuals traveling in cars, a commodity often used, by the situationists, to describe the eptiome of the spectacle. Also their urban studies, which favored unteathered exploration of urban landscapes relates perhaps to the people who might walk by. Perhaps they may pay more attention to their surroundings as they continue their journey.

What audio is playing? Any direct quotes?

Classical music, stand up comedy, readings of theory, contemporary music (girl talk, which is all about appropration and juxtopisition), people coughing or clearing their throat. etc. The phone will be a source as well, so that talking into it will produce sounds through some of the speakers.

Anthony - btw, in all your situationist reading did you ever get into daniel buren? He's my fav.

not in the situationist reading but I am familiar with buren and enjoy the idea that work can be critical of where it is placed or the institution that exhibits it...

Idea of the experience of someone walking by?

that they might place their ear to window, feel the glass vibrate... get a sense of the various sound sources. With the phone, hopefully a level of contribution is conveyed and afforded the active viewer.

How does this piece relate to other works you've done? How has your work developed?

It certainly relates in my use of stand-ins for words. I have an interest in language and its inadequacy to convey information. Ive layered various sound sources together in the past but never in this way and certainly not as an installation. This piece is really very much a combination of a lot of the things that have interested me in other media: Combining desparate imagery in either collage paint or video; dealing with language; sampling from other artists to recontextualize their works.

How does the piece work, technically, what is involved?

It is basically a lot of speakers all wired to seperate sound sources that will be playing on endless loop. The speakers are either adhered with hot glue directly to the glass or strung up on a horizontally taught metal cable. The telephone will be monitoring the sound in the window by having the speaker in the headset connected to a microphone placed in the window and the mouth piece in the phone will be connected to several speakers so as to be another sound source.

Noise can be hostile?

Certainly. I’m sure the people in 301 will feel that way by the end of the month. It can be intrusive... even classical music in this case will start to lose its beauty. Of course it also refers to the sound sources and the nature of capitalist modes of advertising(window display)

Miles Conrad - "Wax & Wane" - Encaustic in the Summer

2009-06-30T08:04:00.000-07:00

Bound, wrapped and dipped in wax, the perception of the objects in Conrad’s installation fluctuate between their organic and synthetic sources. Inspired by Conrad’s workshop at the 2008 Montserrat College of Art Encaustic Conference, "Off the Wall: Encaustic in 3D," this piece involves coating found objects such as cactus thorns, twigs, cardboard and rubber globes in wax and forming them into orbs, where they serve as abstract representations of natural forms.

In this version of the concept, Conrad and Conference Director Joanne Mattera were inspired to incorporate the effects of the sun and heat on these wax-covered objects. Exposed to direct sunlight and the high temperatures of the storefront window, the forms will collapse and transform. “With so much focus by the contemporary encaustic community on the preservation and the archival quality of the material,” Conrad explains, “the concept was to offer an exhibit that celebrates the medium’s fragility and temporarily”.

Conrad describes his studio practice as combining encaustic, found objects and mundane materials to create biomorphic abstractions; encouraged by studying source images from the fields of biology, immunology and pathology. Through his interest in the biological and the natural world, Conrad discovered another layer of meaning to the installation in its reference to the effect of global warming and a changing planet.

Much of encaustic’s most exciting origins were based in artists relinquishing control to the wax itself, a material that would dry and take shape before one could recreate it. Conrad has offered this authority not only to the material, but to the affects of the natural world; allowing his piece to be created and recreated by it’s surroundings.

PEEK!

2009-06-30T07:52:00.000-07:00

“These three-dimensional, constructed black and white photographs inside white optical viewing sculptures reflect a critical, humorous and questioning view of the world, seen through the lens of a future memory of a fictional place…” Rebecca Hackemann, 2009

Hackemann’s PEEK series shines a light on the act of seeing – the process of vision and the construction of meaning. Approaching Frame 301 visitors will notice the large storefront windows have been covered with white paper dotted with peepholes, enticing them to “peek”, “look” and “see”. Inside, Hackemann has attached mobile stereoscopes, at once taking viewers from Cabot Street to another landscape. Often criticizing an Orwellian visual culture, some images prompt viewers to reconsider the making of meaning based on the visual reception of image/text combinations. In other photographs, viewers may feel detached from a recognizable image as they attempt to grasp exactly what they see. The participatory requirement of the PEEK series is a subtle reminder that we are constantly receiving and conveying meanings. Hackemann has challenged the common definitions of the viewer/object relationship and the language of photography and sculpture by transforming the aesthetic experience. As we are active participants within this piece, we are reminded of our role and responsibility to create, exchange and disseminate our own definitions.

Hackemann is a British conceptual artist whose studio was recently relocated from New York, NY to a barn and farm that she shares with her family in Waverly, Iowa. Born, raised and educated in West Germany, England and America, Hackemann has developed as a person and as an artist alongside a variety of visual cultures. She continues to travel extensively, actively participating in numerous residencies that have taken her from Syracuse, NY to San Francisco, CA. Hackemann is a MFA graduate of Stanford University, CA and received her BFA from the University of Westminster, London. Recent exhibitions include the 5th Biennial of Contemporary Art in Novosibirsk, Siberia (2007) and Chinatown In/Flux, a large, site-specific public art project in Philadelphia in conjunction with the Asian Arts Association.

Angela Silver Makes her Mark in Beverly, MA

2009-04-27T09:02:00.000-07:00

Concerned with the structure of speech and corporeal experience, Silver's performance and subsequent installation involved using an electronic typewriter ball as a tool to create a pattern of black, alphabetic imprints captured with carbon paper. "The black letters slip, collapse and collide," Silver explains, "as an examination into the elasticity of the English language void of any direct meaning, representing the internal organs, the sounds, sighs and utterances that form a language."

A timely and relevant piece considering our email and text-message-based communication, the Anastrope Series encourages viewers to consider the performance of language and the fluid use of text in private and public spheres. The overwhelming use of text-messaging creates more private conversations in public spaces, yet the performance of these exchanges has shifted from the "sounds, sighs and utterances" that Silver mentions, to the swift movement of thumbs.

The Anastrope Series at Frame 301 was installed with the help and creativity of Montserrat Freshmen, Thom Bush and Zach Goldstein. For more information please visit: Montserrat College of Art Galleries - Frame 301

Water Colors: Fountain NY 2009 Like the vessel that holds it, the Fountain Art Fair is stripped-down, but glaringly eccentric.

2009-03-30T08:03:00.000-07:00

"The Fountain Art Fair prides itself on independence, so much that this year, for its third anniversary, organizers decided to host it on a barge afloat in the Hudson—a symbolic separation that underscores the show’s desired freedom from the more traditional fairs down the avenue. Clean, white-walled cubicles with neatly lettered placards are traded in for more organic layouts that spill over their boundaries, paired with grease smoke from the kitchen grill churning out hot dogs and clam chowder......"

For more of this review by Amanda Scigaj, please visit:

http://www.nyartbeat.com/nyablog/2009/03/water-colors-fountain-ny-2009/

(comfort)

2009-03-28T13:08:00.000-07:00

A Domestic History of Beverly, MA (comfort), an installation by Valerie Rafferty on view March 3 - March 29, 2009.

A discreet tribute to the community, (comfort) was constructed with materials that once belonged to the households of Beverly. Over the course of four months Rafferty collected pillows and seat cushions that had been left out for the trash. With the stuffing emptied at floor of the installation, the worn and tarnished fabrics are hung and displayed without garnish. While recording a material history, the work is also a testament to this cultural exchange between Montserrat students and the Beverly community.

"To be honest, I think it began as a reaction against painting itself. I began to notice that there was a trend at Montserrat toward painting and very modernist ideals. This frustrated me, as I was very interested in exploring other materials and ideas in other ways. I began as a painter and photographer and, in a roundabout way, I think the school forced me to question the use of certain materials and they way that materials and objects are typically used.

Frame 301 was a very challenging, yet rewarding space to work within. You basically have 14 inches of depth to move between the window and wall, making it very difficult to paint and install work. It became a completely performative experience for me. I had never been forced to work inside one of my pieces the way that I had to that day. I actually really think the window would lend itself to performance more than any other type of work because, as an artist, you are encased inside the space, yet completely on display for anyone and everyone to see. " Rafferty, March, 27 2009.

For more images and information visit: http://www.montserrat.edu/galleries/

MONTSERRAT EXHIBITION SPACE “FRAME 301” AWARDED GRANT FROM BEVERLY CULTURAL COUNCIL

2009-03-18T20:23:00.000-07:00

Montserrat College of Art is pleased to announce that alternative display space, Frame 301, has been awarded a grant from the Beverly Cultural Council (BCC). This grant will enable Frame 301 to attract a wider array of local, national and international artists by providing partial shipping and travel expenses for featured artists.

As a part of the new initiative supported by the BCC grant, this blog was created as a forum for discussion and critique of alternative display spaces in the Greater Boston area. As a gesture from the college to the community, Frame 301 wants to invite and engage in a dialogue that with Beverly citizens and the creative public at large. Students, visitors and members of the global community are invited to share throughs on Frame 301 exhibitions, other unconventional installations and their ideas for incorporating the visual arts into daily life.

Frame 301 has a stimulating line-up planned for the coming months, including the edgy, text-based work of Canadian artist Angela Silver and the imagines machines of West Coast sculptor and mixed-media artist Margaret Realica. For more information on upcoming installations, visit http://www.montserrat.edu/galleries/.