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Gallery Plans Live Illustration of Environmental AbusesBy Tammy Daniels - June 18, 2008
iBerkshires Staff
 | | Hanging artworks at IO Gallery on Main Street in North Adams. |
NORTH ADAMS — A group of local artists is hoping to energize individuals into taking action on environmental issues by illustrating the problems firsthand.
"We have got to take every opportunity to manage pollution and come up with a solution," said Jason Morin, owner of IO Gallery, which will feature a half-dozen or so artists creating works on the spot on Saturday night from 6 to 9. "This is one of the most important issues we face as human beings, I think."
The art-making is part of the gallery's second seasonal opening; its first exhibit, for spring, opened in March along with Morin's IO Digital Services, which shares the space.
The Main Street office's "beautiful walls" just cried out for art, said Morin, who will participate in the art-making Saturday. But he isn't all that interested in running a gallery as he is to providing a background for local artists to express themselves.
"I'm not interested in being in the business of art as I am in the delivery of art," he said, so he's no longer charging commissions on artists' works. Instead, he's hoping that the gallery will survive on free-will donations from artists and patrons. He's still got his Web design and digital services business; the gallery is about balancing his commercial work with his artistic side.
Some 15 artists total will be represented in the new IO exhibit, including well-known local photographers Ian Grey, Kelly Lee, Gillian Jones and visual artist Jennifer Mulcahy. Also featured will be Pete Schoeffer, JenniGood, Merritt Fletcher, Chris Diamond, the Infamous Mr. Fitz, Jake Spitz, Ed Cating, Susan Rose, Dan Field and Rodney Wilkinson.
 Artists will each have their own space and plywood 'canvas' with which to work on Saturday night at IO Gallery. |
The art-making will take place in the gallery's newly opened back room. Four artists will each have a cubby in the center of the room with three squares of plywood (bottom and two sides) forming a dioramalike canvas. The one or two others will occupy space in the room's corners.
JenniGood (also known as Jenni Goodhind) is planning to make a collage to illustrate the direct effects of mass consumerism on the landscape.
"I'm incorporating my photography with found objects, and corporate brands and logos," she said. Goodhind has lots of nature photography - including pictures of nature sullied. "I've taken photographs of dumping and littering. I'm going to tie them all together."
Morin sees this exhibit as a way to bring sharper focus on immediate environmental problems. Gallerygoers will be invited to write down their thoughts and resolves at each art station, becoming themselves part of the performance piece and, possibly, part of the solution.
"If you write just that you're going to give up plastic bags, that's a start," said Morin. The idea is to make people face the issues head on and force them to consider how their actions hurt or help.
And if seeing the effects of pollution can make people act, what better way than to use artists as the medium to deliver those illustrations? he said.
The flyer for the exhibit warns that "we should no longer be distracted by the advertised entitlements of life.
"Let us see beyond what is persistently placed in dominant view and instead focus on the corners to see what is being created there."
The exhibit opening and art making will run from 6 to 9 p.m. on Saturday, June 21, to mark the start of summer. The reception is free and open to the public. The gallery is open weekdays during business hours. |
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