Category Archives: Grubbs Gallery

Jessie Young Brings a Drawer’s Eye to Digital Art

Self portrait by Jessie Young

Digital artist Jessie Young learned as an adult she had a condition called “face blindness,” meaning her brain processes faces differently than typical brains and, as a result, she has a hard time recognizing people. “When I learned this it felt like discovering that everyone around me had X-Men powers,” she said.

In response to this revelation, she started studying faces, really looking at them. This led to doodling faces, which led to drawing faces. She now is about halfway to her goal of creating 100 vector drawings of faces, a challenge she invented for herself, in part to show her art students at Cambridge Rindge and Latin School that she can walk the walk—that she works hard for her craft, as she expects them to do. Young also teaches at Putney School during the summer. She spoke about how her drawing muscles are getting stronger because of her mission to create 100 drawings to Adobe Create Magazine. She uses Adobe Draw on her iPad and Adobe Illustrator on her Macbook Pro. “No filters, no tracing,” she said, “just marks on a surface, and from time to time I hit ‘undo.'” Continue reading

‘Luminous Planes’ Define Susannah Auferoth’s Paintings at the Grubbs Gallery

Shimmer by Susannah Auferoth; photo by David Hillberby Photography

Kicking off the 2017-18 exhibit schedule at the Grubbs Gallery will be Holyoke-based painter Susannah Auferoth. Auferoth uses oil paint and often resin and/or wax on wide stretches of paper or board, resulting in compositions that resemble flat horizons. Color palates differentiate each piece, as do the grades of hue in each stratum, and the subtle markings on each plane. Continue reading

Justin Kim Paintings Challenge Tradition

Painting by Justin Kim
Painting by Justin Kim

Justin Kim’s work, on view at Williston’s Grubbs Gallery through April 28, combines the grand tradition of figure painting with a contemporary sensibility, exploring themes including archetype, pastiche, authenticity, and the relationship between technology and the artist’s hand. In addition to landscapes and figures, Kim works on miniature collages, combining forms and figures from traditional painting. His work generates tension between artifice and reality while challenging traditional painting structures.

Painting by Justin Kim
Painting by Justin Kim

Born in Hartford, Connecticut, Kim received a B.A. from Yale University and an M.F.A. from the American University in Washington, D.C. He interned with the artist David Hockney, and has taught at Yale, Dartmouth College, Smith College, and Deep Springs College in California. The recipient of several residencies and awards, he has exhibited both regionally and nationally.

Winter Arts Roundup

Trimester 2 wrapped up with fantastic performances by Williston visual and performing artists:

  • From February 18-20, Williston students presented the annual Winter Theatre Lab performance, this year entitled “Fish Out of Water.” See photos here.
  • At “Songs of Then and Now,” a Winter Choral Coffeehouse, students performed a variety of songs, from pop music to madrigals. See photos from the February 26 event here.
  • Dance and choreography students presented their work in an afternoon performance in the Chapel on Monday, February 29.
  • This Thursday, March 3 in the Grubbs Gallery, the Trimester 2 Arts Walk will offer an opportunity to see student work in the Grubbs Gallery and hallways of Reed Campus Center, from 6:30 – 7:45 p.m.

 

Grubbs Gallery Presents Jessica Tam

Colossus, ink on acetate, 20 x 25 in., 2014 Jessica Tam
Colossus, ink on acetate, 20 x 25 in., 2014 Jessica Tam

In the Gallery: January 6-28:
Reception: Saturday, January 9 from 1:30-3:30 p.m.

In her gallery-wide installation, “Welcome to the Jungle,” featured in Northampton’s Oxbow 04Gallery over the summer, Jessica Tam’s wrestling figures twisted and flexed, their bodies thrown against one another.

Her painting covered the gallery walls—some 80-feet in length—with contrasting and overlapping images of men, an audience, window panes, a referee, limbs, agonized faces.

In January, Ms. Tam will bring her abstract works, based on sensationalist popular culture, to the Grubbs Gallery for the first show of 2016.

Continue reading

Linda Batchelor in Grubbs Gallery

Waltz of the Chicken, Linda Batchelor
Waltz of the Chicken, Linda Batchelor

On Display: November 2-January 5
Reception: Saturday, November 7 from 1:00-3:30 p.m.

Working with prints and collage, Linda Batchelor explores the emotional harmonies created through colors and patterns. Her work ranges from stylized bottles and figures to the most abstract. After focusing on monotypes and collages, Ms. Batchelor has recently been working on larger scale pieces.

In her artist statement, Ms. Batchelor notes her earliest efforts at collage were “jazzy and colorful with a sense of humor,” but that she has lately increased her focus on straight monotypes.

“These new pieces combine composition skills honed through years of collaging with a freer, more experimental, approach to transferring ink to paper via a press,” she writes. “The pieces can be quieter and more contemplative. I think of them as my northern work.”

The award-winning artist, who includes a merit prize from the Smithsonian American Museum of Art among her various accolades, has exhibited both regionally and nationally. Ms. Batchelor’s work is featured in collections at the Boston Public Library, Baltimore City College, and Fidelity Investments. She attended Brown University and Maryland Institute of Art and has a studio at One Cottage Street, Easthampton.

 

Grubbs Gallery Presents David Gloman

Keystone Bridge 2015 copy
Keystone Bridge 2015, David Gloman

Light and geometry are the two themes that run through the whole of David Gloman’s paintings, whether he’s working on a watercolor of the Southwestern desert landscape or an oil painting of a swimming hole in the woods.

“The role that light and weather play in an agricultural place and the grid like geometry of the fields are two elements always present in my work,” wrote Mr. Gloman in his online artist statement. “I paint directly outdoors and the paintings are distilled visual experiences of specific places.”

Mr. Gloman, who has been a featured artist in previous Grubbs Gallery seasons, returns to the Williston Northampton School campus on October 1 for a show of his latest work, “Rocks and Water.”

The paintings in the exhibit—created through the in-nature style that Mr. Gloman has perfected through his use of a truck-based mobile studio—feature such locations as the Green Mountain National Forest, Chesterfield Gorge, Dead Branch of the Westfield River, and Chester, MA.

Becket Quarry 2015, David Gloman
Becket Quarry 2015, David Gloman

“The paintings are an attempt to capture the particulars of a specific place: time of day, weather, topography, and season in the simplest painting language possible,” Mr. Gloman noted recently. “I was seeking out places where there was interplay of rock and water: permanence and fluidity.”

Mr. Gloman is the artist in residence at Amherst College and offers Saturday art classes in the fall and winter for talented high school artists. He has previously worked with such Williston student artists as Emma Kaisla ’15.

“Rocks and Water” will be on display in the Grubbs Gallery from October 1-29. A reception for the artist will be October 10 from 1:00-3:30 p.m. in the gallery.

Grubbs Gallery Presents O’Flynn and de Bethune

Copy of Facebook Post

Reception: Saturday, September 26 —cancelled

A husband and wife team, who explore the space between realism and the abstract, will open the Grubbs Gallery 2015-16 season. See Grubbs Gallery hours.

Agnes de Bethune and Thomas O’Flynn met in Boston in the 1970s and began traveling the country, refining their own styles: his in collage and sculptural assemblages, hers in the two-dimensional realm of oils, watercolors, and acrylics.

Although the art they create is distinct, Ms. de Bethune and Mr. O’Flynn have had a long history of mutual inspiration. Arguably one of the best examples of their playful collaboration is their annual holiday card, which can be assembled into a 3D art cube. Turn the cube one way and it becomes Ms. de Bethune’s hyper-realistic oils; turn it the other, and it’s suddenly Mr. O’Flynn’s assemblages.

Ms. de Bethune, a Massachusetts native who lives and works in Jersey City, received a Fellowship from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts. She has worked as a graphic artist, as a teacher at Pratt Institute in New York City, and on museum exhibits. Her work been exhibited in New York City and elsewhere in New England and California. Prior to establishing her own studio, she attended Massachusetts College of Art.

In considering her work, she asks viewers to examine the small details, composition, the psychological content, and the so-called “Photoshop effect.”

Continue reading

Grubbs Gallery 2015-16 Season

The Exhibitions This Year Feature Bold Style and Mixed Media

Waltz of the Chicken, Linda Batchelor
Waltz of the Chicken, Linda Batchelor

This year’s exhibitions in the Grubbs Gallery will focus on mixed media and bold style.

That’s particularly true with a series of artists who specialize in multi-dimensional work. The first exhibit features a husband and wife team (Agnes de Bethune and Thomas O’Flynn) who together combine painting and found-object sculptures. December’s artist, Linda Batchelor, features the unification of painting and collage, while Jessica Tam, whose exhibit is in January, uses such materials as acrylic, oil, etching ink, and spray paint on paper. I am hoping that these artists will inspire our students to push beyond using one medium in isolation and will make them want to experiment with combinations of materials in both their two-, and three-, dimensional work.

Several artists in this year’s lineup share a bold style. Artist Eric Wolf (February 2) uses  india ink on paper primarily to depict abstracted and stylized Maine landscapes. Painter Dave Gloman (October 1) will return to the gallery after a recent spell on the road. He spoke in the gallery a few years ago as he was about to set off for a painting trip in the southwest in a modified studio-on-wheels truck (which he showed to our students). This year’s exhibit will feature paintings from that trip of southwestern landscapes and will be an excellent follow-up for some of our students who remember his first exhibit and gallery talk.

"Art in America" Agnes de Bethune Oil on canvas, 2014 64" x 46"
“Art in America”
Agnes de Bethune
Oil on canvas, 2014
64″ x 46″

Both Mr. Wolf and Mr. Gloman share a striking, graphic, and non-traditional approach to landscape painting—with very differing results. I anticipate that this will influence our students, who respond well to large, straightforward, and high-contrast work (as we all do).

In April, the gallery will feature the work of our Visual Arts faculty. We generally hold a faculty exhibit every few years because of the incredible energy and excitement it causes in our Arts Department (for both students and faculty) and throughout our community in general.

After the faculty show, we will have our first ever student-curated exhibit. This will give a student, or several, a chance to conceive of, and produce, a student show based on a theme they choose. In this way, students can experience the flip side of gallery management. This is the beginning of increased student involvement in the running of the gallery, which we hope to grow into an exciting and comprehensive program in the future.

Grubbs Gallery Shows 2015-16

"The Red Queen" Thomas O'Flynn Assemblage, 2015 40.5" x 26.5"
“The Red Queen”
Thomas O’Flynn
Assemblage, 2015
40.5″ x 26.5″

September 9-29: Thomas O’Flynn and Agnes de Bethune
Reception: Saturday, September 26 —cancelled

October 1-29: Dave Gloman
Reception: Saturday, October 10 from 1:00-3:30 p.m.

November 2-January 5: Linda Batchelor
Reception:  Saturday, November 7 from 1:00-3:30 p.m.

January 6-28: Jessica Tam
Reception: Saturday, January 9 from 1:00-3:30 p.m.

February 1-March 18: Eric Wolf
Reception: Saturday, Feburary 20 from 1:00-3:00 p.m.

March 21-April 29: Faculty Show
Reception: Saturday, April 23 from 1:00 – 3:00 p.m.

May 2-12: Williston’s Student-Curated Show

May 16-June 1: Williston Scholars Exhibit