remodeled Currier shows NH artists

Out of an almost two-year remodeling project emerges a little gem of a museum—the new Currier Museum of Art. The improved museum in Manchester has some bright facets to show off. It has expanded its footprint by more than a third, adding 33,000 feet of gallery space and ancillaries. The renovations now enable the museum to host larger, nationally prominent shows, such as “Andy Warhol: Pop Politics,” which is coming in late September. 

The introduction of five new galleries also means Currier will be able to exhibit 50 percent more of its collection. The current exhibit, “Celebrating New Hampshire Artists,” contains just about every medium: painting, glass, sculpture, tableware, crafts, ceramics, fine art furniture, wood engraving, prints, silver gelatin and giclée photography. The work of New Hampshire artists will rotate through a gallery dedicated to this concept for the next six months.

Overnight Art 2008 submissions sought

This year, when May rolls around, flowers won’t be the only things blooming in the Port City. Public art will also take root at various locations throughout Portsmouth. Art-Speak, Portsmouth’s Cultural Commission, recently announced its call for submissions to its public art contest, Overnight Art 2008. The competition will culminate in a scattered-site exhibit of public art from mid-May until the end of the summer.

The holidays are over, New Year’s memories are foggy and there is nothing between now and the warm release of spring except the monotonous cold of winter. If only there were someplace to go, some sanctuary where the colors of spring were reproduced in an appealing way, like paint on a canvas. It would have to be a sanctuary where art is practiced like religion and the instructors impart wisdom like humble sages. Alas, there is such a place. Beginning in late January, Sanctuary Arts in Eliot, Maine, will offer a wide range of classes to keep even the most unseasoned artist warm.

Located in a converted 1861 New England church, Sanctuary Arts includes a teaching studio, private studios and a gallery. With 18-foot ceilings and enormous windows, “people just love coming into the space. They love the atmosphere of it,” says Christopher Gowell, director and owner of Sanctuary Arts.

affordable original artwork on display in Northwood

Affordability is not usually part of an artist’s lexicon when describing his or her own work. Most artists would probably prefer that their work be described as “priceless,” rather than “price-conscious.” However, almost all artists agree that everyone has a right to enjoy art, regardless of financial status. Gallery 4 in Northwood has taken this sentiment to heart with its new show, “The Good, The Bad and the Ugly: A Celebration of Interesting and Affordable Art.” Beginning on Wednesday, Jan. 2, the show will feature modestly priced work in a variety of mediums.

When The Music Hall completed its most recent restoration in early September, exposing an opulent interior dome covered with dazzling artwork, the public was thrilled with the results. The dust from the renovation has settled, but, according to executive director Patricia Lynch, public excitement has not.

“People were overwhelmed,” Lynch said. “They love it so much, but they have been asking what we are going to do about the lobby. There is a real appreciation for the work we’ve done to date, but there is a little disconnect between the theater and the downstairs.”

Edgy yet accessible continues to be the stated theme at ellO Gallery and Shop in Portsmouth. The gallery’s newest exhibition, “Point + Shoot, Photography on the Edge,” went on display on Friday, Dec. 14. It features photography from a number of emerging Seacoast artists who have shot beyond the boundaries of standard photographic subject matter. Organizers hope that, by showing somewhat controversial images, they will challenge viewers to look at situations in a new light.

An opening reception held on Dec. 14 featured live music from Maudlin Cinema and a performance from Boy. The exhibit will be up through Jan. 7.

a photo journey to South Africa

A library is one of the best places to be in the winter. Not only is it warm, but it also allows you to take infinite journeys without ever stepping on a plane. While most of those journeys are taken on the wings of words, some can be taken with the visual aid of photographs. This month, York Public Library hosts a series of photographs by Kennebunkport artist Berri Kramer. The photographs, which will remain up through December, bring visitors across the globe to the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa.

A total of 22 artists and craftswomen will sell their wares from 5 to 8 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 30, and from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 1, in the South Berwick Town Hall auditorium. Thirty percent of this year’s featured artists are new to the event, which is the foundation of the Home for the Holidays downtown celebration.

Katherine Doyle’s third story studio is strewn with strange objects, including a pair of medusa wigs. She has clothing, figurines, vintage furniture and other oddities, all under the high ceilings of her drafty work space in Portsmouth. It’s a collection of objects that could only find coherence on an artist’s canvas. But, despite the profusion of props, her studio is relatively empty these days. All the finished pieces have been scattered among seven exhibitions throughout the Seacoast, across the country and as far away as Italy.

“I’m intrigued with the idea that we live in a borrowed environment—we live in cities that were built by others, often we live in houses that someone else built, we use furniture that dates from earlier eras, we have favorite recipes that come from others, etc. But, they are our cities, homes and recipes etc., now,” Kittery artist Gail Sauter wrote in an email. “We are part of the flow and passing of time. I try to convey the past that is living in our present and is in our care for the future.”

Sauter’s words reveal the motivation behind much of her pastel work. On Friday, Nov. 9, the walls of the Haley Art Gallery in Kittery, Maine, will be adorned with Sauter’s work in an exhibit called “Passages—of Time and Places.” The exhibit will open with an artist reception from 3 to 6 p.m. on Nov. 9 and will remain on display until Dec. 6.

Gravestone Artwear breathes life into death

It seems only fitting that Gravestone Artwear, a business based on art made from gravestones, should be hidden away in the bottom of a building. It’s even more apropos— almost unbelievable, really—when you learn that the store occupies space that was once used by an undertaker to embalm bodies. The space seems destined to always contain something pertaining to death.

Thirty-five-year-old Kirsten Reynolds, of Newmarket, was recently awarded an Artist Advancement Grant from the Piscataqua Regoin of the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation. The foundation selected Reynolds to receive the $26,000 award based on her application, which explained how she will use the money to advance her career.

Reynolds has worked in a variety of mediums, but her recent work has focused on creating large-scale installations that combine architectural elements, sculpted figures and colorful patterns to create space-specific experiences for viewers. In a recent interview with The Wire, Reynolds explained some of her latest pieces.

For those who need numbers to measure what the arts mean to Portsmouth, a recent study called “Arts & Economic Prosperity III” supplies the latest facts.

Thirty-six arts organizations surveyed in Portsmouth, Kittery and Rye report that they spend $12.66 million annually. More than 500 surveys among their audience members and visitors revealed an additional $25.52 million in event-related spending, for a total of $38 million.

That spending supports 1,161 full-time equivalent jobs and generates $4.38 million in local and state government revenue, according to economic analysis provided by the Georg Institute of Technology.

PMAC explores options for a new facility

When its five-year lease runs out next September, the Portsmouth Music and Arts Center will move to a new home. Exactly where that new home will be, however, is still up in the air. PMAC has been exploring a number of potential sites, and the Wentworth Elementary School on Granite Street currently tops the list. But the arts education center is still far away from finding a new home.

celebrating 10 years of exposing local artwork

More than 300 pieces of artwork created by more than 75 area artists will be on display this weekend in a 10,000-square-foot factory space converted into a temporary gallery in downtown Amesbury, Mass. The weekend exhibition celebrates the 10th anniversary of The Provident Bank’s Lobby for the Arts program, which began at the bank’s Amesbury headquarters in 1997.

Organizers of the Prescott Park Arts Festival have had a lot to celebrate in recent weeks. The end of summer marked the completion of the festival’s 33rd year in existence. Ben Anderson, recently appointed as the new executive director, is charged with the task of channeling the festival’s growth. And, most recently, the festival received a $100,000 gift from a former Portsmouth resident.

new art studio opens in Dover

The ocean adds scenery, the bars and restaurants add nightlife and the history adds character, but the artwork is what makes Portsmouth cool. More accurately, artistic energy is what invigorates this city. Not all artists manage to get their work displayed in galleries, but there are hundreds of artists, musicians and writers waiting in the shadows, buzzing with creativity.

From an early age, Kenley Darling liked to draw. But, for a long time, her work lacked focus. She doodled. When she started attending the Sudbury Valley School in Framingham, her talent became more concentrated. Sudbury Valley is known for its flexible curriculum and emphasis on individuality and creative discovery. Instead of grades, Darling was given guidance.

Upon entering downtown Woodstock, N.Y., the town’s dedication to the arts quickly becomes obvious. The colorful peace signs and graffiti on Route 375 are a fitting introduction to the town itself. Most of the shops are related in some way to music and the arts. In the span of just a few blocks, you pass multiple vintage clothing stores, a couple of art galleries, a music shop and a store that seems to offer flag-sized banners of every band that played at the infamous Woodstock Festival of 1969. The quaint “village green” downtown seems to be populated by descendants of the festival’s audience. The youth at the benches are either carrying a guitar, wearing tie-dyed shirts, sporting a head full of dreadlocks or executing some combination of the three.

WaterFire Providence sets the night on fire

the art of Russian nested dolls

book of photographs documents a mother's pregnancy

Young Tess Kontarinis squealed and squirmed as her mother attempted to subdue her long enough for photographer Jeremy Heflin to snap a few family photos.

“This happens every time,” said the mother, Melissa Cooperman. She cooed at her daughter, who is just shy of two years old, and affectionately fixed her hair, as five-year-old Jack stood waiting. Melissa was due to have her third child just a few days later, and her bulging stomach was about as big as little Tess.

open studio day in Rollinsford

Angela Zampell keeps the Seacoast fashionable

Angela Zampell, owner of Mode Merr in Rochester, thought last week would be a good time to premiere some of her new women’s clothing designs.