Another Award for One of Our Own!

Hi all,

As you know our faculty is made entirely of working artists who are active in their fields. This means that our painting teachers are painters, graphic design teachers are graphic designers and illustration teachers, they're, well, illustrators. Having this kind of a mentor in the classroom is one of the mantras that Montserrat holds near and dear. Our faculty members are amazing people to have in the classroom, but also amazing people and artists and art advocates outside of the classroom. Below is an excerpt from an article announcing that our very own Elissa Della-Piana of the illustration faculty won a very exceptional award. Read on!

The 4th Annual Edition of North Shore Magazine's Best of the North Shore, has awarded the Gallery Della-Piana of Wenham, the “Best Art Gallery on the North Shore!” Elissa Della-Piana, Associate Professor of Illustration at Montserrat, opened the gallery one year ago in Wenham, MA. Below she explains how she learned of the award.

 

“Their representative walked into the Gallery on Friday, July 17th - one day shy of our first anniversary - she was carrying a framed picture and a portfolio of 'papers'...I naturally thought she was an artist dropping in to show me her work. Instead, she gave me the framed certificate and letters, etc., about the award. What a happy thing for our little town ofWenham, and to all our artists - who have shown in the North Shore's Best Art Gallery!”

 

In an upcoming exhibit, the Gallery Della-Piana will feature 12 Equine painters and photographers. The exhibit opens August 19th and runs through October 17^th and will include photography by Montserrat Trustee, Bill Wasserman, among others.

If you are on the North Shore, stop by Gallery Della-Piana and congratulation Elissa on this great achievement!

 

Montserrat's Bear Gallery

The Bear Gallery is Montserrat College of Art's student run gallery. It is a nomadic space that hosts shows curated by students that include their own work as well as the work of alumni, faculty, staff and artists from around the region. The Bear Gallery was founded in 2007 by a group of students who conceptualized the idea of a student run gallery and then initiated it by finding a space. That space happened to be an old barber shop on Cabot Street. That group of students, myself included, went to the Barber shop and got the job done. We ripped out sinks, tore down walls, put up walls, scoured the basement for some cool furniture to use, swept, mopped, scraped, pulled up old tiling and whipped that space into shape! This type of collective movement shows the true spirit of Montserrat.

Below is the current call to artists from the Bear Gallery and we encourage anyone and everyone to submit work! Please visit the Bear Gallery's blog at www.beargallery.blogspot.com!

Crevasse: Call for Artists

Let's start this year off strong and put our talents into making pieces for the "Crevasse" show at the BEAR Gallery. The show will be hung August 25th and will last until September 11th. We'll be accepting submissions from August 20th through the end of orientation.

Things to think about when making your piece: What is a crevasse? What does it smell like? What does it do? What does it not do? Where are they found? Can you eat one? How big is it? Why is it? How would you explain it to a creature not from our society? What does it look like? What color is it? What is it's texture? Is it someplace that you go and hide?

Any medium you desire will be accepted. Please limit the size of your pieces to smaller than a kitchen table. If you're interested in submitting an installation piece that is an option too. Please come talk to Kellie, Michelle, Robyn, or Courtney if you have any questions or insights.

If you have any questions email beargallery@gmail.com.

Pre-College Program Begins!

Today, Montserrat welcomed more than thirty high-school students from around the country that are participating in our Pre-College Program.

 

The Montserrat Pre-College Program is for students who have the initiative for rigorous art instruction at the college-level. It is designed to challenge your assumptions, test your theories and encourage you to take your art in surprising new directions.

One of the best things about living on campus is being part of a community of artists your own age. Residents cook and dine as a community while living in our apartment style housing. To assist students and ensure that their stay is safe and enjoyable, resident assistants reside with Pre-College students. Our apartments are right across the street from the main college building and just two blocks from the beach!  Montserrat College of Art is an easy commute to major attractions in the Boston area including galleries and museums. Students enjoy Boston area cultural and natural resources by visiting major museums, galleries, beaches, and historical sites during weekend and evening hours. In addition, the Visiting Artist Series provide opportunities for professional artists and students to work on collaborative projects. If you'd like to learn more about Pre-College or be updated on what the students are doing visit the Pre-College Facebook Page!

We always look forward to having our Pre-College students on campus and hope they have a wonderful time while a student at Montserrat!!  

The Third National Encaustic Conference

On the weekend of June 5 -7  Montserrat College of Art hosted the Third National Encaustic Conference, the only conference of it's kind.  The Conference was conceptualized and founded by Montserrat Faculty member and nationally recognized encaustic artist Joanne Mattera. This year over 200 artists from the US, Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Iceland, Ireland and France came together to the Montserrat College of Art campus for three days of conference talks and demos, and many stayed on for an additional three days of post-conference workshops. Please visit the Conference Blog for a full list of guest speakers and conference activities. Accompanying the conference were four on- campus juried or curated shows of strictly encaustic work.  Details about these shows can be seen at the gallery website.

Installation View  of "In the Round: New Work by Kim Bernard and Deborah Kapoor"

The fact that artists from around the globe are attending this event year after year, speaks not only to the importance of the conference, but to the draw that Beverly, Massachusetts and Montserrat College of Art has on whoever steps on campus.  

Kim Bernard, Unraveling, 2009, encaustic, cotton & plaster

About Encaustic:

Unlike oil paint, in which pigment is suspended in linseed oil, or acrylic, in which the pigment is suspended in polymer medium, encaustic paint is pigment suspended in beeswax. The paint is applied hot with a variety of tools, then cools and hardens within seconds. Encaustic is known for its endless versatility. Multiple layers of paint and clear wax create overlapping color and amazing depth: the medium can be textured, scraped, incised, etched, combed, embossed, sculpted into three dimensions or smoothed to an enamel-like finish. Its molten natures can be used for collaging or imbedding mixed media into the wax; since beeswax is compatible with oil paint, oil pigment sticks can be used to glaze in rich color or to fill in incised markings. 

Encaustic is actually one of the world's most ancient and archival painting mediums, predating oil paint. The Fayum portraits from Grego-Roman Egypt, circa 100 B.C. to 200 A.D., have survived through the centuries. Encaustic was virtually a lost art until pioneer Jasper Johns began contemporary encaustic painting in 1954, exposing it to a new generation of artists. Many artists believe that we are now at the start of another encaustic renaissance.

This Collective Pull

Below is the press release for "This Collective Pull" a curatorial project initiated by alumni Bea Modisett '07.

Justin Bothwell. Untitled. Charcoal on paper. 32" x 28" 2009 

"This Collective Pull" is Bea Modisett's '07 latest curatorial project.  This show will feature the work of a number of Montserrat College of Art alumni who have stayed local and who have been maintaining a studio practice, but not necessarily showing their work.  For one night only we will be taking over the walls of a friend's apartment to showcase our efforts, brainstorm possible new collaborations and bring to focus the lively arts community that exists in Beverly, independent of the school.  This is the first opening of many shows to come that will bring to light the artistic energy of those alumni who choose to stay local after graduation.

Bea Modisett. Untitled (From the Mental Vault series). Ink, pastel and graphite on bristol, 5" x 7". 2009

The night will consist of great art, food, wine, lots of music and probably way too much dancing. Artists include:  Justin Bothwell '05, Peter Breffini '07, Brendan McCauley '07, Bea Modisett '07, Julie O'Boyle '06, Emily Pardoe '07 and Justin Paszul '07. The show will be taking place at 66 Dane Street, Second Floor Beverly MA on Friday, June 12 beginning at 7:00.  We hope you will join us, and please contact Bea at beamodisett@yahoo.com if you have any questions! 

Bea Modisett and participating artist Julie O'Boyle '06 both work as Admissions Counselors at Montserrat, while still maintaining their own private studio practice.

 

Congratulations Class of 2009!!!

Montserrat College of Art held its 39th Commencement on Friday, May 22, at the beloved Cabot Cinema, on Cabot Street, Internationally recognized conceptual artists Jenny Holzer and Annette Lemieux received Honorary Doctorates from the College and Lemieux gave the Keynote speech.

Forty four students received Bachelor of Fine Arts degrees in concentrations including Fine Arts, Graphic Design, Illustration, Interdisciplinary Studies, Painting and Drawing, Photography, Printmaking, and Sculpture as well as certification in Art Education and minors in Art History and Creative Writing . The faculty speaker was Gordon Arnold, author and professor of Liberal Arts at Montserrat, and the student speaker was Sarah DesJardins, who received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting. Awards were also given to students showing exceptional talent and dedication to their field.

We wish our graduates the best of luck in their future endeavors, we are sure they will go far and spread the good word that is Montserrat. Congratulations Class of 2009!

Montserrat College of Art Graduating class of 2009 stand on the steps of the Beverly Public Library.
Photo Credit: Julie O'Boyle '06

Artrageous 23!

Montserrat College of Art’s Artrageous! 23 benefit art auction on May 9, 2009, was a great success!

Julie Mehretu, Fracture Etching with aquatint, sugarlift and spit bite, 23" x 28" 2008 Commencement Speaker

The auction, now in its 23rd year, raised a huge amount of money, the majority of which is dedicated solely to student scholarship, but also towards purchasing state of the art, industry standard technology for classrooms.

The auction included more than 200 pieces of contemporary art by some of the country’s most respected and well-known artists, including Will Barnet, Norman Laliberté, Julie Mehretu, Brian Ulrich, Dave Kinsey, George Gabin, and a number of prominent faculty and alumni of the college.

Each year the Live Auction is juried by prominent members of the Art Community. This year's jurors were Tony Fusco of Fusco and Four, Joshua Buckno of the Nielson Gallery and Susan Lanoue from Lanoue Fine Arts. Hundreds of pieces are submitted and of the final twenty or thirty artists chosen for the Live Auction, there are always a hand full of students selected to have their pieces bid on alongside the work of world renowned artists. 

Congratulations and thanks are due to all involved in making this night such a success!