Month: August 2008

Artist’s Statement- Sean Greene

“My paintings are rooted in the study of color. Color intervals are calibrated to provoke the fleeting sensations of light animating a space. Forms are developed to support this intention. Bands of color become paths—traces of motion: brush and arm and body, and paths that lead the eye through a space and around a surface. These bands evoke written languages like Arabic or graffiti– illegible but loaded with expressions of balance or instability, variation of speed, entanglement, congestion or comfort, fluidity or angularity. In this way, the abstract calligraphy can be read and allows each painting to have its own complex and unfolding personality. In this realm of color, space and form, I am developing and exploring a language as well as a reality that is perhaps, a parallel to my own.”

Thirty-five years old, Sean Greene lives and works in Florence Massachusetts. He earned an MFA from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 2004, where he was awarded a three-year teaching associate ship and a BFA from the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan in 1996.

Greene has received grants from the Northampton and Somerville arts councils. He has had two solo shows at the A.P. E. Gallery in Northampton (Color as Light, 2004, New Paintings, 2006), as well as a solo show at Wunderarts in Amherst in the spring of 2008. He also exhibits regularly in group shows around the Northeast, including New Art 2007 at MPG Contemporary in Boston, New York/New England/New Talent at Hampden Gallery.

His work is in private collections across the United States and in the United Kingdom, and has recently been purchased by the Neiman Marcus Corporation.

September 14 – October 19
Hampden Gallery Studio Gallery
Free and open to the public

Artist’s Statement- Petula Bloomfield

“Shadowy, faceless, androgynous forms emerge from densely layered
surfaces upon which the kinetic energy of emotions is superimposed.
Questioning the concept of identity, I explore the relationship between
physical and emotional identity. In these paintings, I destabilize
individual likeness in favor of presence. The presence of the undefined
figure may stimulate a psychological interplay between the inner and
outer environments.

The paintings can be adversarial, violent and vulnerable at the same
time. The technique of using multiple overlaying layers of paint
attempts to reveal both the transparent and opaque nature of the
physical, emotional and spiritual experience of being human.”

Petula Bloomfield has been an exhibiting artist in galleries and museums
since 1990. She was accepted into the PhD in Visual Arts program at the
Institute for Doctoral Studies in the Visual Arts in 2007, and has a
Master of Science in Art from the University of Massachusetts Amherst
and a Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts from Clark University, Worcester.
She has taught art classes and designed and presented workshops in
schools and her studio since 1996. She has been an art instructor at the
Pioneer Valley Performing Arts Charter School since 2003 and has
completed two residencies at the Vermont Studio Center. She is
represented by Gallery Anthony Curtis in Boston. Petula’s work was
commissioned as a permanent installation for the entrance lobby in the
new Sunderland Public Library, Sunderland, MA.

September 14 – October 19
Hampden Gallery Main Space
Free abd open to the public

Artist’s Statement- Stephen Foley

Born in 1972, I was raised in Central New York State. I studied sculpture at Syracuse
University and graduated with a Bachelor’s of Fine Art degree in ceramics. I live in the small
town of Sunderland, Massachusetts, where I have my studio. My work is shown both
regionally and internationally.

My current body of work is diverse in experimentation and the weaving of traditional and
alternative techniques. In addition to traditional firings and surface treatments, I have
incorporated the use of epoxy clays and alternative coatings such as phosphorescent and
florescent pigments, graphite, and acrylics in my work. These materials provide me with the
ability to achieve a higher level of technical innovation without compromising the oneness,
fluidity and elegance in each sculpture.

September 14 – October 19
Hampden Gallery Incubator Project Space
Free and open to the public

In Our Bodies: Expressions of Body and Self features the results of a workshop organized by Stacey Mimnaugh to provide students an opportunity to express their thoughts about body image.

Stacey Mimnaugh, of the Women’s Health Project, in collaboration with the Student Union Craft Center spearheaded the event. Mimnaugh, who is also curating the exhibition, says the work features life-size silhouettes drawn or painted on paper and also includes photographic documentation of the workshop by Oliver Scott Snure, a student photographer for The Daily Collegian.

The Women’s Health project, a student organization, organizes educational events about women’s health issues, and is part of the Health Education Department at University Health Services. The workshop was made possible by a grant from the UMass ARTS Council.

Stacey Mimnaugh is an
MPH Candidate
Community Health Education
UMass Amherst
School of Public Health

September 9 – 23
Central Gallery
Free and open to the public