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contemporary art

Curator's Corner

Gem of the Month: Kyoko Tokumaru

Monday, June 10, 2024 | Karl Cole

Kyoko Tokumaru is a brilliant sculptor who creates organic forms in ceramics, fashioning complex pieces out of hard-to-work-with porcelain. Like many contemporary clay sculptures, Tokumaru’s wor ...

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Curator's Corner

A Winter Tree: Jennifer Steinkamp

Monday, January 22, 2024 | Karl Cole

I’m fairly certain that many of us have experienced the sight of snow-laden trees in January. That is my favorite part of winter. What better image to conjure up the sensation of a cold winter d ...

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Curator's Corner

The Intangible in Japanese Photography

Monday, October 30, 2023 | Karl Cole

Traditional reverence for nature—a mainstay in most Japanese art forms throughout art history—continues in the work of contemporary Japanese artists. After a couple of beautifully foggy mo ...

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Curator's Corner

Gem of the Month: Lori Weitzner

Monday, October 16, 2023 | Karl Cole

Some of the major developments in the design world during the 2000s have involved the use of sustainable materials, ecologically friendly production processes, and upcycling otherwise wasted materials ...

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Curator's Corner

AAPI Heritage Month 2023: Chan Chao

Tuesday, May 30, 2023 | Karl Cole

Photography was a groundbreaking art form when it was first introduced. Quite soon after its development, numerous Western photographers explored photography for documentary and journalistic purposes. ...

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Curator's Corner

Gems of the Month: Contemporary Japanese Tea Bowls

Monday, May 8, 2023 | Karl Cole

This month’s gems are contemporary artworks that serve the ages-old Japanese tea ceremony (chanoyu or sado). Tea drinking was first introduced in Japan during the Nara period (710–794) aft ...

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Curator's Corner

Spring Green from Gary Hume

Monday, April 24, 2023 | Karl Cole

In my ongoing celebration of spring, I’m featuring British artist Gary Hume. His Spring Angels series of eight screenprints sets just the right tone with their vibrant colors. In some of the pri ...

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Curator's Corner

Facing the Past: Jennifer Karady

Monday, January 9, 2023 | Karl Cole

Many people would probably prefer to forget about the wars in both Afghanistan and Iraq, but there is something therapeutic about facing them and admitting they happened. Artist Jennifer Karady uses h ...

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Curator's Corner

Hispanic Heritage Month 2022: Lari Pittman

Monday, September 26, 2022 | Karl Cole

The 2022 Hispanic Heritage Month series continues with the work of Lari Pittman. Pittman’s complex works examine fantastic, personal narratives about love, sex, death, religion, citizenship, and ...

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Curator's Corner

Space-Motion-Light: Robert Irwin

Monday, September 12, 2022 | Karl Cole

September 12th is the birthday of artist Robert Irwin, whose spectacular artistic career has spanned numerous art forms and styles through the years. His light installations are usually based on the l ...

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Curator's Corner

Rain, Rain Go Away?: Tanya Goel

Monday, August 29, 2022 | Karl Cole

Some parts of the U.S. are experiencing too much rain, while others are in drought situations (as we are in Massachusetts). Well, the extremely hot weather worldwide, linked with the combined bamboozl ...

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Curator's Corner

Gem of the Month: Oki Sato

Monday, April 18, 2022 | Karl Cole

It’s always refreshing to learn about a designer who combines an unconventional aesthetic with concern for our climate-changing planet, so Oki Sato’s Cabbage Chair is my Gem of the Month. ...

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Curator's Corner

Native American Heritage Month: Marcus Amerman

Monday, November 15, 2021 | Karl Cole

The Choctaw band is descended from the Mississippian culture (Mound Builders), which had villages throughout the region of the Mississippi River across the Deep South. They are thought to have be ...

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Curator's Corner

AAPI Heritage Month: Kota Ezawa

Monday, May 24, 2021 | Karl Cole

The Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month series continues with Kota Ezawa, a Japanese-German American media artist and art educator. He is renowned, since 2002, for his vi ...

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Curator's Corner

Women's (Art) History Month 2021 III

Monday, March 22, 2021 | Karl Cole

Women’s Art History Month continues with a look at an artist who has a totally unique body of work, pursuing with photography what artists have done since its inception in the 1840s: the use of ...

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Curator's Corner

Beauty in Weeds and Flotsam

Tuesday, September 8, 2020 | Karl Cole

Jewelry typically functions for its beauty alone, an adornment for the wearer to display wealth, identity, or style. For artist Jan Yager, her jewelry is meant to give voice to marginalized people and ...

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