CRIT Introductions 1 2015
1 Introductions2015! Above: Emily Manning-Mingle’s work being critiqued at Maud Morgan Arts, May 2015. Photograph by Emily Brodrick.! Front Cover: Crit snacks out and artwork up at Kate Benson's Studio, October 2014. Photograph by Dena Haden.!
contents About 1 History 5 Local 15Artist Bios 21 Verse 47
about The Boston Critique Group (BCG), affectionately known as the \"Crit Group,\" is a Boston-based collaborative that enables local artists to share work, ideas, and innovation. The collaborative provides opportunities to give and receive beneficial feedback through the following strategies: contextualizing a piece within the contemporary art world, analyzing the conceptual and technical achievements of a piece, and sparking discussions designed to develop an artist’s practice.1
The group hosts monthly critiquesat members’ studios. In addition,the group organizes group eventsto artist lectures, gallery openings,and museum visits.Beyond the critique meetings, thegroup also acts as a platform forthe development of an artisticcommunity by encouragingcollaboration, communication,and the exchange of ideas.Left to right: Will Whelan, Katherine Vetne, Jenn Houle, Dena Haden, 2Emily Brodrick, Emily Garfield, Miranda Aisling, Emily Manning-Mingle,and Dan Kornrumpf. !
CRIT is a biographical cross-examination of the Boston Critique Group (BCG) and the experiences of its members as artists in Boston. Issue One of CRIT introduces you to some of our members through images, narratives, and personal writing. We hope that this issue allows you to “meet” some of our diverse members and share some of our most memorable experiences as artists and friends over the past five years.3
Phil Musen (left) and Will Whelan (right) at a Crit GroupBarbeque in 2013. Photograph by Emily Manning-Mingle.! 4
history I decided to start a critique group for artists as a way of building a new, post- Making a Crit graduation artistic community. I posted Group ads on Craigslist saying I was looking to “start or join a critique group for artists.” Katherine Vetne Hundreds of emails, one disastrous first meeting, and a few months later, I had a In the fall of 2009, I found myself regular group of smart, interesting, newly graduated with a BFA in exciting members from a variety of Painting from Boston University. backgrounds who were ready to meet Inside the isolated bubble of my own regularly to discuss art, share apartment, it suddenly felt like it didn’t opportunities, and be part of a creative matter if I made artwork or not. Since collaboration. The Boston Critique Group my professors were out of the picture, was born. no one noticed if I chose to labor over a drawing for 6 months rather than Now, I had a community, I had deadlines, watching TV after work every night. and I had an audience for my work. My formerly isolated-feeling apartment was So why bother? Why should I have now a hub for monthly discussions about two taxing jobs, when most people art. There were people who cared if I just had one? I thought to myself: if I made work or not. On top of that, I got didn’t have creative urges after a long the chance to be part of a truly day of talking to difficult clients, collaborative network. Members sent maybe I wasn’t meant to be an artist. I each other links to interesting lectures, didn’t realize it at the time, but I was articles, and opportunities. beginning to challenge the widespread idea that an artist is Many of us worked together on projects something you are, rather than or applied to group shows together. One something you pursue. might think that sharing opportunities with others lessens an individual’s I was committed to the idea of trying chances of getting ahead; however, I to be an artist despite the nagging found that the exact opposite is true. I feeling that I somehow wasn’t “right\" think this comes from the general sense for such a career. of community, rather than competition, that pervaded the overall mindset of the5 group.
Forming the BCG taught me that the A few of us had a show together over thisnotion of “being” an artist is a bit of a past summer, and I am in touch withmisnomer. None of us “are” artists; at many members who have all continued toleast, not in the sense that we are offer their support and insight while Iinnately creative, born with or without have been in school. I even attended apersonality traits that pre-determine critique while traveling home for winterour artistic determination and break last year, and still email the groupsuccess. Instead, we need to take an when I hear of good opportunities! active role in setting ourselves up withsituations that can help us navigate No matter what shape or form the BCGthis illogical, unregulated career path takes over the coming years, I hope thatwe have chosen for ourselves. For the one thing that remains constant is theme, community building has been an sense of community that hasexcellent solution to the many issues immeasurably helped me not only makeand challenges that exist alongside an art, but make the kinds of choices thatart-making practice. make an artistic life possible. Since forming the group five yearsago, I have since moved across thecountry and enrolled in an MFAprogram. It was a difficult decision to leave theBCG, but I am thrilled about how thegroup has grown and changed whilein the hands of its new main organizer,Dena Haden. In addition, I have beenlucky enough to stay involved in thegroup in some ways. Georgia Kennedy viewing Kate Benson’s work at a 6critique in October 2014. Photograph by Dena Haden.!
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“The process is part of the piece, so the figuring it out is what I’m interested in, just as much as the outcome” – Georgia Kennedy, ! Crit Notes from August 2014!At Every Star a Knot, at Every Knot a Star, thread, rope,hematite beads, found objects, silver Mylar, 2012.! 8
Building The Critique group has connected me in Community so many more ways than I thought possible. The ability to discuss art, ideas, Dena Haden materials, and concepts with a group of people has been invaluable. After graduate school in Philadelphia, I moved to Boston and quickly found Automatically, I became so much more myself without a network of artists. excited about connecting to the local art Spending many hours working alone community and opportunities began to in my studio, I was determined to find open up. local artists to discuss and collaborate with, and in time I found the Boston Critique Group.9
Over the years, we have organically I feel as though the Critique group bringsgrown into a group of individuals that authenticity and an objective eye to eachhave connected through sharing of ideas, monthly critique. Sharing personalopinions, artwork, jobs, art opportunities, artwork at various stages of progress,group exhibitions, art material swapping and allowing other group members toand so much more. dissect, react and respond to the work is a vulnerable act. But it is this very activity that activates our work and I feel as though I embark on a journey of collective and individual expression during each discussion. There really is no other experience like it!A gathering of members and friends at the Crit Group exhibition 10contain/keep/cradle at the Nave Gallery, July 2014. !
“The green bird has the strongest personality.” – Will Whelan, Crit Notes from August 2012!11
Shannon Wright, The Bird Protectors, smashed cans, rusty metal, broken glass, 12pine cones, bird features, dead plants, varied sizes, 2012.
Contemporary Art Practices Emily Manning-Mingle I met Katherine during our time at Boston University. We were in a printmaking class together sophomore year, but really became close during our junior semester abroad in Venice, Italy. Katherine was hard working, good at giving advice, and always up for an adventure. I wanted to be her friend. In school, we attended guest lectures and organized museum trips. In Venice, we attended a Richard Serra lecture and got gelato with Lawrence Carroll. When we returned to BU, Jenny Seville shared a behind-the-scenes look at her studio practice and Dana Schutz joined us during our senior critiques. Together, we have visited the Uffitzi Gallery in Florence, the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, and the ICA in Boston. Most importantly, art school provided daily opportunities to get advice and feedback on our work from our peers and professors. After graduation, these opportunities were hard to find.13
The summer after we graduated,Katherine told me about an idea shehad of hosting a monthly critiquegroup as a forum for constructivefeedback. My initial reaction was,“Why didn’t I think of that?”Katherine began posting ads onCraigslist and interviewing potentialmembers. Her goal was to form agroup of creative and thoughtfulartists that were knowledgeable aboutcontemporary art practices.She spent the first few monthsbuilding a community and deciding onthe logistics of how to run a group—how often to meet, how longindividual critiques should last, andhow to publicize events. Part of what I admired aboutKatherine’s vision was her ability toallow for flexibility. Her goal was tocreate a space that felt useful to itsmembers; a caring community thatpeople would enjoy being a part of.Nearly five years later, I am proud tostill be a part of the “Crit Group,” as itis affectionately called. There havebeen periods over the years that Ihave been busy and unable to attendregular meetings. The beauty of thegroup is that this is natural and okand it will be there when you need it.Each time I attend, I feel rejuvenated.It is a powerful feeling to be a part ofa creative community. After eachcritique, I leave feeling inspired. I stepout of the studio and see mysurroundings in new ways. Emily Manning-Mingle at the opening of Life of Materials at 14Gallery263, January 2014. Photograph by Meredith Beaton.!
local A Slice of Studio Life Matt Theodhos Hi, my name is Matt Theodhos and I’m a collage artist. Though I started out as painter in acrylics and watercolors, which I will still occasionally work up, upon starting to assemble collages around 1997, I had found my medium & never looked back. I’ve been around the art world since my mid teens, going to art auctions, doing art research, going to flea markets and galleries and was inspired and encouraged by these experiences to become an artist. I’m a native of Boston’s South End where I still live and work. The influences on my art are many and varied; from my love of learning in general to my love of language learning specifically, growing up in an Albanian family & being interested in all things ethnic such as music, food and language. I constantly enjoy experimenting with materials and compositions. Collage is a realm for the surrealist, which I certainly am. 15
Emily Manning-Mingle, It Was for The Best (unfinished), 2014.! 16
Emily Brodrick, Vulnerability, varied yarns, polyfill, wire, 2014.!17
A Great Place for Os Gemos, The Giant of Boston, 2012,a New Art Grad Dewey Square, Boston, MA !Emily Brodrick Among the many names I found Katherine Vetne, the woman that startedSince the summer before my senior year of it all. I checked out her website, and ofcollege, when I lived in Cambridge for the course fell in love with her ridiculouslyfirst time, I have discovered a plethora of repetitious and disturbingly detailedart culture in the greater Boston area. I artwork and decided to email her askingremember being afraid to move here if she needed an assistant.because someone at Hampshire College,where I attended undergrad, told me that Luckily she did. Boston was essentially void of art. Katherine introduced me to the critiqueBoy, were they wrong. group, and all the wonders that encompass it (e.g., its members, theThe very first time I came to Boston, which group critiques, and trips to localwas some time during the spring of my museums). She also opened my eyes tojunior year of college, my boyfriend and I Big Red and Shin and Hire Culture. Shewere driving through Dewey Square when even took me to my first SOWA Firstwe saw this giant mural which I later Friday.discovered was created by the twin artists,Os Gemeos. I remember thinking to myself Through the network of artists I have metthis place is going to be cool. in the BCG, I found many of the galleries I have shown in, my studio and my job. SoThat was many months before I moved if you ask my opinion on what it’s like tohere and found out about the BCG, this be an artist in Boston, I will tell you thatamazing fountain of information on there is an abundance of art galleries,anything artistic happening in the greater museums and events to attend, as wellBoston area. as a welcoming, intelligent community of artists here who want to talk shop,Later that spring I was looking for any sort strengthen ideas, construct an artisticof summer job related to art in Boston. I community and make art.typed into Google “Boston art” and foundthe website Boston Arts Underground and 18looked under the “local artists a-z” section.
“I like the combination of 2d and 3d in the newer piece. The jagged shapes that they make on the wall is more interesting and less expected. Do more of that.” – Crit Notes from November 2013!19
Emily Brodrick, 3D Lace Abstraction, 20 crocheted Plastic, 2013.!
artist bios Miranda Aisling Hometown: Stamford, CT! BCG Member: 2012-present! mirandaaisling.com! (Ash-lean) is an idea person. Her ideas take shape through writing, visual art, music, and teaching. But she doesn’t just come up with ideas, she actually makes them happen. Recently, Miranda has been focusing on her book Don’t Make Art, Just Make Something, and her series of Knitted Canvases. Miranda holds a B.A. in Studio Art from Mary Baldwin Collage where she was part of the Program for the Exceptionally Gifted and an M.ed. In Community Art from Lesley University. She spent two years teaching at the Museum of Fine Arts as a Community Art Liaison and as an instructor for the Artful Adventures and Artful Healing programs. Currently, she is the Studio Arts coordinator at The Umbrella Community Art Center and is in the process of starting Miranda’s Hearth, the first community art hotel. Her work focuses on reconnecting art with daily life.21
White Edges, oil paint on hand-knit fabric, 2014.! 22
Emily Brodrick Hometown: East Hampton, NY! BCG Member: 2013-present! emilybrodrick.com! I grew up on the South Fork of Long Island and moved to Cambridge after graduating from Hampshire College in May of 2014. My early years of Hampshire focused on drawing and plaster sculpture and in my later years there I worked with fiber sculpture and installation. My work explores people’s interpretations of what is craft and what is fine art and questions why our society believes that craft is the lesser valid of the two. My work sits somewhere on the spectrum between folk art and fine art because I use knitting and crochet, media associated with domesticity and function to create non- functional, often abstract installations and sculptures. My work has been shown in multiple exhibitions and galleries statewide. I work out of my studio in Somerville and I teach art to preschoolers and kindergarteners at the Agassiz Baldwin Community and Maud Morgan Arts.23
Thinking of Spring, acrylic and cotton yarrns, 2014.! 24
Emily Garfield Hometown: Manhattan, NY! BCG Member: 2012-present! emilygarfield.com! Currently based in Somerville, Massachusetts, Emily Garfield has participated in exhibitions throughout the greater Boston area as well as New York and Philadelphia. She was the 2014 director of the Somerville Open Studios city-wide arts event, and regularly holds workshops in creative drawing and mapping. Her work has been positively reviewed in numerous publications, and is also included in the book From Here to There: A Curious Collection from the Hand Drawn Map Association. Emily Garfield received her BA in Visual Arts from Brown University, where she also pursued studies in the brain’s response to art and aesthetic beauty through the Cognitive Science department.25
Sepia Lines (Cityspace #221), pen and watercolor.! 26
Dena Haden Hometown: Sagamore Beach, MA! BCG Member: 2011-present! hadendena.com! Dena Haden is a visual artist who works with a variety of media, including sculpture, drawing, painting and installation. Within her work she explores the natural cycle of something coming into form, living, ever-changing and malleable, and the residue it leaves in passing. She was born and raised on Cape Cod and earned her BFA in Painting and Illustration from the University of Massachusetts of Dartmouth. She attended the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia earning her MFA in 2008. Dena has instructed painting and design courses for several years at nonprofit organizations and private institutions and has developed valuable leadership and communication skills through teaching. Dena lives and works out of her art studio in Berkley, Massachusetts, where she is an avid gardener. She is the co- founder of Groundwork Creative Space in New Bedford and is the director of the Boston Critique Group. Her artwork has been included in exhibitions nationally and internationally and is part of numerous private collections and public installations. 27
for us, hand-dyed interfacing, metal and thread, 2013.! 28
Georgia Kennedy Hometown: Greensboro, North Carolina! BCG Member: 2014-present! 100percentgdk.com! Georgia Kennedy was born in Greensboro, North Carolina in 1987. She makes fabrics and installations which are, at points, tapestry-like and interconnected; at points, grid-like and nettled; at points, tangled. These are ways the universe complexly renders itself. Exploring alternative, craft-rooted methods as a young painter, making my own pigments and sewing my own supports, and imagining a painting as a skin or hide, I traveled to Ghana in 2007 to observe its indigenous arts, including adinkra stamping and kente weaving. Integrity and septicity of chosen materials, and the diversity of the way an artist’s “hand” can be in a work became very important to me, while also wrestled with first-world waste production and the necessity of making, and found purpose in working with recycled materials. Fragments of non-Western patterning, totems, and psychedelic imagery traced to 1960s American counterculture are present in my electric compositions. I strive to make images that overwhelm the senses, with surprising, odd color relationships, and visceral jumps and twists. I’d like my viewers to feel a pulse running through the body; a pinprick; even love. My recent fabrics reference lingerie and costuming with the inclusion of transparent fabrics which subvert traditional quilting, bringing to the forefront my woman-ness, my touch, and my Southern heritage. Nets, lattices and open areas in the fabrics are formally parts of the compositions where the designs open up and breathe, but also moments where traditional craft and domestic roles are questioned, and made subversive or literally “seen through.” The puzzle-like qualities of my quilted objects are a new direction of my practice, which is still derivative of painting. Formal intuition to push and pull my objects into a whole image, with a collage-like shifting that I employ (Robert Raushenberg was a sort of almighty hero of this practice) is, I believe, why my works are paintings. I’ve found influence in the psychedelia and mesmerizing patterns of Yayoi Kusama, Lucas Samaras, and Fred Tomaselli, which render vast, dense surfaces—nearly obliterated picture planes. Equally so, have I found resonance in the quilts of Gee’s Bend; Guatemalan sawdust paintings; ancient dwellings in New Mexico; and the garage rock scene in Boston.29
Strange Love Ocean, Digital printing on silk, silk nets, crochet ,lace, cotton, painted silk, polyester, 2014.! 30
Daniel Kornrumpf Hometown: Yardley, PA! BCG Member: 2011-present! danielkornrumpf.com! Daniel Kornrumpf earned his BFA from Kutztown University, majoring in painting and furniture design. He then attended graduate school, earning his MFA at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia with a concentration in painting. Daniel then moved to Massachusetts to teach at Newbury College and Mount Ida College where he currently instructs Art Foundation and Interior Design courses. Daniel’s work has been published in numerous national and international publications including New American Paintings, The Huffington Post, and Fiber Art Now Magazine. Daniel has been included in exhibitions, most recently, at Blank Space Gallery in New York, the Schmidt Dean Gallery in Philadelphia, and the DeCordova Museum in Massachusetts. Daniel was also a 2013 recipient of a Massachusetts Cultural Council Grant. Daniel’s work is in the permanent collection of Kutztown Univeristy, and the 21C Museum in Louisville, Kentucky as well as numerous private collections.31
Mr. David Lasley, oil on canvas, 2012.! 32
Emily Manning-Mingle Hometown: Ossining, NY! BCG Member: 2010-present! manningmingle.weebly.com! Inspired by observations, memories, and artifacts from her daily life, Manning-Mingle creates work that investigates her complex relationship with \"stuff.\" Acquiring, using and investigating materials is a playful, intuitive process. In her recent work, she alters and combines familiar materials, including clothing, nail polish, hardware, paper and other everyday items into new compositions. Employing various techniques, including painting, sewing, collage and assemblage, she explores formal elements, including color and composition, as well as social issues of domesticity, gender, and consumption. Originally from New York, she moved to Boston to attend the College of Fine Arts at Boston University and graduated with a BFA in Painting and an MFA in Studio Teaching. She has exhibited her work in Massachusetts, New York, and Italy. She has received several awards, including the Constantin Alajalov Scholarship and the Foundation for an Open America Painting Award. Her work is in a permanent site-specific installation at Boston University and in several private collections. Emily teaches art to elementary, middle school, and high school students throughout the year. She is an active member of the Boston Critique Group and works out of her home in Brighton, MA.33
Left: Openings, from, Fabric Collages, 2014.!Right: Saturate, from, Fabric Collages, 2014.! 34
Elizabeth Menges Hometown: Newport news, VA!! BCG Member: 2010-present! elizabethmenges.30art.com! I am an artist and high school art teacher with my MFA in Painting from Boston University. My work uses portraiture to explore my role as a female in society and my blend of traditional (Greek and Cypriot) and contemporary (feminist and American) roots. This critique group has been a blessing; it’s helped me reconnect with artists and keep my artistic eye sharp, which can be very hard to do when you leave the ready-made environment of grad school.35
“ERM & MJM,” egg tempera, gold leaf, wood, 2014.! 36
Gessica Silverman Hometown: Somerville, MA! BCG Member: 2014-present! gessicasilverman.com! Gessica Silverman is a mixed-media artist working in Somerville, MA. Her work examines communication, interaction, connection, and dialogue using color and form. Working intuitively, she abstractly portrays conversations, interactions, and stories that express her experiences in the world. Gessica’s work has been exhibited nationally. Recently named the Cambridge Art Association’s Artist of the Week (June 20, 2014), Gessica’s work has received several awards and had been featured in several publications. Gessica received a Post-Baccalaureate Certificate and a Studio Diploma from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, a Certificate in Multimedia Content for the Web from New York University, and a Bachelor of Arts from Washington University in St. Louis.37
Masters of the Universe, mixed media on canvas, 2014.! 38
Matthew Theodhos Hometown: Boston, MA! BCG Member: 2010-present! www.saatchiart.com/theodhos! I’m an artist that works in various media, but my primary artistic medium is collage. The other media I work in are linoleum block prints, pen and ink drawings, with the occasional watercolor or acrylic painting thrown in. Although I attended drawing classes at both the SMFA and MassArt in the late ‘’90s, I largely consider myself to be a self-taught artist. The technique which I’ve developed for assembling collages has come from constant experimentation with materials. My work has been exhibited around the Metro Boston area since 1998 in various solo and group shows and has also been used as album art for CDs by various musicians and bands across the country. I have also executed works on commission for private clients and numerous works of mine reside in private collections around the country.39
Augmenting the Annotations of the Crystalographers, collage on board, 2012.! 40
Katherine Vetne Hometown: Newburyport, MA! BCG Member: 2010-2013! katherinevetne.com! Katherine is a multi-disciplinary artist whose practice is primarily based in drawing. Her current work is rooted in identity politics, and tackles issues of gender, class, and capitalism. Originally from the Boston area, she received her BFA from Boston University in 2009 and is currently in the last year of an MFA program at San Francisco Art Institute. 41
the comforting weight and clarity of Waterford's fine crystal, gold point and silver point on gesso panel, 2014.! 42
Will Whelan Hometown: Allston, MA! BCG Member: 2010-present! willwhelan.tumblr.com! Will Whelan is an artist and educator based in Boston, MA. He graduated from the University of Chicago in 2005 with degrees in Art History and Studio Art, and earned an M Ed in Art from Lesley University in 2010. He has worked as an educator and artist-in- residence in Boston for non-profit youth programs including St. Stephen’s Youth Programs, Culture for Change, and the Boston Center for the Arts. Whelan’s work in printmaking, painting, and video develops a graphic language of pattern, text and abstraction to access issues of the urban environment, race, class dynamics and popular culture. He has also painted and worked on murals in Boston and Chicago.43
Left: Milkcrate Block, phonebooks and milk crate, 2011.! Right: Milkcrate Print, 2011.! 44
“One solid piece of material, rather than individual cups, wouldn’t be intimate anymore.” Crit Notes from May 2014!45
Dena Haden, as time passes I begin to remember, that I,forget, Kombucha culture, thread, found metal, 2014. 46
verse when I'm sniffin' plastic army men my speak kicks like Games \"shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit...\" thats the wind up 2 Eric Grab misplaced mentals assault analytical fault lines man. I've been playing board games framing you lately, so you know my head ain't right. burning you in effigy more like F You, G let me postitulate on that ass. murderous us against them like stitching brain stems to glass conflict and then someone shouts emergency— and the ultimate I break in case of me. grapefruit showdown care of word, man I would so much rather dance Mr. McMahon or move my cromaggin hip saggin carpet shaggin cuss words, love swaggerin-ness then sit around pushing fantasy death Damn. squads up my brother's nose. I'd much rather just hold one word in my47 breast and express simple and clear not against I'm with you to the extent that I'm not and you're not but no, not even WE are but I AM. I hold Love and move it— still (I don't spill a drop) -Anononymble
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