[Sidebar] The Worcester Phoenix
July 11 - 18, 1997
[Art Reviews]

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We the people

Fitchburg's regional show brings artists out of the woodwork, canvas, metal shop . . .

by Leon Nigrosh

[White Hush] FITCHBURG ART MUSEUM 62ND REGIONAL EXHIBITION OF ART AND CRAFT at the Fitchburg Art Museum, 185 Elm Street, Fitchburg, through August 31.

Since its inception, Fitchburg Art Museum's regional exhibition has had two goals: to reward artistic excellence and to encourage artistic production. For more than 60 years, the museum has juggled with these two concepts, sometimes achieving perfect balance -- and sometimes not. Because the show is an open-entry event, if you bring it, FAM most likely will show it (barring images of extreme violence and, as one staffer put it, work that's extremely boring). Although this may seem egalitarian and democratic, it can often lead to a dull show. Witness the array of more than 300 items currently on display.

Fully one-third of the paintings are watercolors, almost all of which are either floral still lifes or landscapes, and many appear to be copied from photographs. This is not to say that watercolor, per se, is second-class art. In fact, it is one of the most difficult mediums to master, and many amateurs should think twice before they offer their efforts for public scrutiny. Notwithstanding, the judges awarded the top prize to a pale yellow flowered still life by Barbara Ellis.

An unwanted, but inevitable side effect of having virtually unjuried shows like this is that fewer and fewer recognized professionals participate. One such artist confident enough to continue showing his work among that of "emerging" artists is William Griffiths. His White Hush winter landscape abounds with crystalline magic that beckons us into the depths of his snow-covered forest.

Martha Monroe is another painter worthy of note. Her tall acrylic-on-canvas Colorado Blue presents a mournful view through a broken window of both a deserted home and a desolate desert. Her Whisper is a dark forest illuminated only by the light emanating from a tiny log cabin. Monroe carries the rustic effect to its fullest by texturing the painted frame as well.

Tom Mulholland's quirky Heroic Head is a sharply cut and broadly painted sheet of metal that floats in front of a second brightly painted metal rectangle.

Jill Pottle tweaks history a bit to give us her large, well-drawn, pastel rendition of Manet's Le Dejeuner sur l'Herbe (Luncheon on the Grass). Instead of the men being clothed and the women naked, Pottle has her lounging woman fully dressed as a man while two slightly puffy men sit in the buff enjoying hot dogs and Polar Cola.

There was no award for effort in this exhibit, but if there were it would go to Joseph Landry for his marble-and-steel sculptures. Whisper in the Wind is a slender, six-foot-tall sliver of pale Danby marble painstakingly rendered with a mysterious countenance. His antique verde marble The Polished Side of Man plays highly burnished surfaces against rough-hewn areas to develop a figure entwined on glistening steel rods. Landry's third entry, a carved and split marble tureen bound together with steel strapping and bolts, has the obvious title Pieces That Don't Hold Water.

Given all of the difficulties inherent in this type of open show, along with a significant reduction in gallery space anticipated next year, the FAM will start judging the event in 1998. By making this one change, the museum hopes to lure back some of the professionals and upgrade the look of the show as a whole. (For instance, there were so few crafts entered this year that a prize wasn't even awarded.)

Community-oriented shows of this nature are few and far between. The FAM Regional Exhibition of Art and Craft performs a valuable service to artists, both neophyte and established, by providing a neutral venue in which to exhibit. The general public also benefits from this event because it gets a chance to gauge what's happening in the world of art in its own neck of the woods.

The Fitchburg Art Museum is open Tuesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sunday from 1 to 4 p.m. Call 345-4207.

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