Un-Cut
MassArt Senior Fashion Design Collections 2008
Friday May 2, 2008
Boston Center for the Arts/Cyclorama
6:30 p.m. doors open/reception
7:30 p.m. show

Boston, MA: On Friday, May 2, Massachusetts College of Art and Design presents its Senior Fashion Collection, Un-Cut. This year’s showcase features work by our rising young fashion designers and also celebrates MassArt’s new interdisciplinary textile design program.

Un-Cut will feature garments using print designs developed by the students. Prints range from motifs created by using traditional silk-screened or surface-designing techniques as well as computer-aided design software. MassArt’s runway will be like any other around the world that carries a print story. MassArt students have embraced the trend direction of Dior, Prada, and Dolce & Gabbana who have focused on prints. Fashion design professor Sondra Grace states, it’s great to see our students decide what works best—traditional surface design methods that create a loose, abstract flow or computer-generated repeats in a structured print. MassArt’s fashion design program engenders an environment where traditional tools and digital technology work together to create new design ideas. Fashion students invest their energy in creating their fabrics and developing narratives, rather than just using available textile designs.

As the fight continues over fashion design copyright, original textile designs sit nicely protected by the laws. I believe the ownership issue for a print design has helped students embrace creating textiles, says Grace. Options abound—with silhouettes inspired after the fabric is printed or when hand-painted motifs envision the dress as a canvas for art.

Whatever technique is used, print ideas are easily envisioned in the College’s fashion lab. A trio of CAD software is part of the portfolio for every student. Students learn how to design textiles using Adobe’s Photoshop and Illustrator along with Lectra’s U4ia to show how color, size, motif direction, and placement will appear on the body—all before ink touches the cloth. Sketches and scanned images can readily show a variety of color ways and repeats as each designer’s print story takes shape.

Massachusetts College of Art and Design will offer a new interdisciplinary program in textile design that combines courses from the fashion and fibers programs. In celebration of 100 years, MassArt will again offer a course outlined in its 1907 catalogue—DESIGNS FOR WALLPAPER AND TEXTILES.

For 100 years of textiles, fashion illustration and design please visit http://babel.massart.edu/fashionanniversary

Boston Center for the Arts/Cyclorama
539 Tremont Street, Boston, MA
617 879 7676

Massachusetts College of Art and Design, founded in 1873, is recognized as one of the premier colleges of art and design in the US. A public independent college, MassArt is known for providing broad access to a high quality professional arts education, accompanied by a strong general education in the liberal arts.  The college offers a comprehensive range of baccalaureate and graduate degree, continuing education, and K-12 programs, taught by outstanding faculty and designed to encourage individual creativity. A major cultural force in Boston, MassArt presents public programs of innovative exhibitions, lectures, and events.

MassArt Senior Wins National Merit Award for Industrial Design

On Saturday, April 5, the Industrial Design Society of America (IDSA) presented its Student Merit Award to Paul Sukphisit, a senior at Massachusetts College of Art and Design. The presentation was the highlight of the 2008 IDSA Northeast District Conference, which was held in Philadelphia.

One of Sukphisit’s projects is a fully reconceived tea infuser. His prototype addresses a number of problems with infusers currently on the market, such as water dripping from the infuser onto the counter and surrounding surfaces; the infuser falling into the cup while brewing; and multiple parts that require regular cleaning.

“My final direction is ultimately an enhancement on the current infuser, which blends a coherent aesthetic and functional appeal” Sukphisit says. “The drip-catching clip functions as a stand and graphic brand identifier. The overall form is marriage of functionality and elegance.”

Originally from Bangkok, Thailand, Paul Sukphisit grew up in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, where he attended school at Nova High School. After graduating, he took a break from school and moved to Massachusetts to work full time. He eventually enrolled at Bunker Hill Community College, where he received an associate’s degree in graphic design. He will graduate from MassArt in May with a bachelor of fine arts degree in industrial design.

Sukphisit was selected on March 20 by a jury of professional designers—members of the Boston chapter of IDSA—to represent MassArt at the district conference. Students from Rhode Island School of Design, Pratt Institute, the University of the Arts, the Art Institute of Philadelphia, Carleton University, Kean University, Philadelphia University, Rochester Institute of Technology, Syracuse University, the University of Bridgeport, and Wentworth Institute of Technology also attended the conference and competed for the award.

Sukphisit, along with national award winners from four other districts, will present his work at the IDSA’s national conference this September in Phoenix.

Contact: 
Sandy Weisman
Massachusetts College of Art and Design
617-879-7527

PRESS RELEASE: March 6, 2008

Colleges of the Fenway
Boston Immersion Alternative Spring Break

Boston, MA: The Colleges of the Fenway (COF), through the collaborative COF Civic Engagement Committee, are poised to begin their second annual Boston Immersion Alternative Spring Break, March 9 – March 14, 2008.   In answer to Mayor Menino’s call for increased involvement among institutions of higher education in the city, our students are spending their spring vacation, including several pre-spring break learning sessions, exploring questions that affect our local communities, including how to connect high school students to opportunities in post-secondary education.

This program offers students from participating institutions an opportunity to spend their spring breaks staying in Boston to learn about, connect with, and take positive action in the community.  Eleven students from Emmanuel College, Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, Simmons College, and Wentworth Institute of Technology have been working to prepare for the immersion week.

The focus of this year’s trip is “Post-Secondary Opportunities: Challenging Our Assumptions.”  Students will be learning about the history of the Roxbury and Mission Hill neighborhoods, the assets and challenges for youth in bridging from high school to post-secondary years, and where college fits into this picture.  Through lectures, discussions, and meetings with local civic leaders, politicians, and college professors, aspects of the theme will be covered each day.  Students will also volunteer every afternoon and evening with two local organizations that serve youth, particularly around the connection of high school students and their opportunities after high school.

Students will gather at Simmons College on Sunday, March 9, for an afternoon of orientation for the week’s events, leadership workshops, and a social evening of dinner, a movie and discussion.  Starting Monday morning they will begin to immerse themselves in the Roxbury and Mission Hill communities through a tour given by Sam Williams, Director of Roxbury Youth Programs (RYP) at the First Church in Roxbury.  By Monday afternoon students will begin their tutoring and enrichment work with RYP youth, and their facilitation of financial aid workshops with ACCESS, where they will continue to work for the remainder of the week.

Other events include lunches with community leaders and politicians, a workshop with the staff at the Boston Center for Youth and Families led by Simmons professor of education Daren Graves on educational and structural barriers to equity, and a day of exploration of community assets that directly affect successful transition from high school into post-secondary opportunities. These assets include public and charter school that work with students on college access, after school programs such as 826 Boston and the Boston Center for Youth and Families, and youth advocacy and training programs, like Youth Build.  Students will prepare a presentation of their work for the COF presidents, and create personal action plans for further participation in the community. The week concludes with participants providing college awareness tours the RYP, youth with whom they have been volunteering all week.

Boston Immersion participants will be housed at the Emmanuel College’s Jean Yawkey Center, where they will also share breakfast and late evening reflections and social events.

This program was funded in part by a grant from the Massachusetts Campus Compact from their Raise Your Voice funding.

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Colleges of the Fenway is a collaborative effort of six neighboring Boston-based colleges in the Fenway area. This collaboration was created to add value to student academic and social life while seeking innovative methods of investing in new services and containing the costs of higher education. Collectively, the colleges represent more than 11,400 undergraduate students, comprising 16.2% of the total Boston population of undergraduates attending four-year colleges, more than 700 full-time faculty and 2,300 course offerings.
Emmanuel College is a coed, residential, Catholic liberal arts and sciences college. Complementing its rigorous academic program, the College offers students the opportunities to explore real-world experiences through internships, research and strategic partnerships within the Longwood Medical area and the city of Boston, the extended classroom.
Massachusetts College of Art and Design founded in 1873, is recognized as one of the premier colleges of art and design in the United States. A public independent college, MassArt is known for providing broad access to a high quality professional arts education, accompanied by a strong general education in the liberal arts. The college offers a comprehensive range of baccalaureate and graduate degree, continuing education, and K-12 programs, taught by outstanding faculty and designed to encourage individual creativity.
Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences is proud of its long and distinguished history as Boston’s oldest institution of higher learning. Founded in 1823, the College provides a unique academic environment to guide and support students toward successful, sustainable careers and leadership in healthcare. Professional or undergraduate degrees are offered in pharmacy and pharmaceutical sciences, nursing, physician assistant studies, dental hygiene, radiologic sciences, environmental sciences, health psychology, chemistry, and premedical and health studies. Graduate programs are offered in drug regulatory affairs and health policy, applied natural products, drug discovery and development, pharmaceutical sciences, medicinal chemistry and pharmacology.
Simmons is a nationally recognized small university, which for more than a century has offered women a pioneering liberal arts education integrated with professional work experience. In addition to the all-women’s undergraduate school, Simmons has renowned coeducational graduate programs in social work, library and information science, health studies, education, liberal arts, and communications, as well the world's only MBA program designed specifically for women.
Wentworth Institute of Technology, founded in 1904, is an independent, co-educational nationally ranked institution offering career-focused education through 15 Bachelor degree programs in areas such as architecture, computer science & systems, construction management, design, engineering, engineering technology, environmental science, and management.  For over a century, Wentworth has been a leader in technical education known for its academic excellence, community service, and support for the economic growth of the region.  A hands-on approach is apparent in courses, which feature extensive lab and studio work. Wentworth provides its students unparalleled co-op career opportunities that offer both educational advantages and professional experience.
Wheelock College is a coeducational private college founded in 1888 whose mission is to improve the quality of life for children and families. By providing both liberal arts and professional training, Wheelock educates undergraduates and graduate students for careers in such fields as elementary and early childhood education, special education, day care, counseling, social work, child life work, and related fields.
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 23, 2008

War Stories
February 11–March 12, 2008
Sandra and David Bakalar Gallery
Reception: Tuesday, February 12, 5–7 p.m.
(Snow date: Wednesday, February 13, 5–7 p.m.)

Boston, MA: War Stories brings together contemporary artists whose work examines the politics, events, and consequences surrounding war. For the current Iraq war, perhaps more than any prior American war, truth and interpretation of facts lie at the center of the conflict. Intent, alternatives, and objectives were confused and confusing from the start. Years into the conflict, it is now nearly impossible for any of us to be completely objective or confident that we know all the facts.  Among the most powerful and important statements of this war have been images; from the satellite shots of supposed WMD facilities to the digital snapshots of Abu Ghraib. Stand-alone images, though compelling, are still incomplete. The potential for misinterpretation of this highly charged imagery is a given based on each viewer’s subjectivity.

All the works in War Stories powerfully convey an experience of war. Using visuals and text, each artist proffers a reality of war. Photographs, videos, sculptures, and paintings incorporate written matter to create narrative and give further dimension to the events at hand. Revelatory, empathetic, disturbing, and heroic, these works bring us a step closer to understanding what our own involvement as citizens should be. Although it would be ideal to get all the facts straight and understand the real picture, ultimately it cannot be achieved as there is always room for infinite narratives and alternative meanings. 

Included in the exhibition are photographs from Nina Berman’s Purple Hearts series, a selection of work from Jenny Holzer’s Redaction Paintings, and a video installation, 9 Scripts from a Nation at War, by collaborators David Thorne, Katya Sander, Ashley Hunt, Sharon Hayes, and Andrea Geyer.

For Purple Hearts, photographer Nina Berman interviewed and took portraits of American soldiers wounded in Iraq at their homes, in military hospitals, and on Army bases. Berman’s photographs, paired with the interview texts, attempt to show some of the physical and psychological problems of veterans that civilians often have a hard time comprehending.

The source materials for Jenny Holzer’s seductive Redaction Paintings are sensitive United States government documents made public through the Freedom of Information Act. Using declassified memos, field reports, directives, and photographs, Holzer brings to light covert operations, questionable treatment of prisoners, suppressed government activities, and war tragedies in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Guantanamo Bay.

Debuting at Documenta 12, Germany’s prestigious quinquennial exhibition and making its North American, 9 Scripts from a Nation at War is a 10 channel video installation that is structured around a central question: how does war construct specific positions for individuals to fill, enact, speak from, or resist? Each video shows the staging of a script from different types of individuals who experience the war (a student, citizen, actor, blogger, etc.) as performed by actors and non-actors. Through the speaking of text we can inquire into the recording, reporting, learning, and understanding of the current war, and our place within it.

War Stories is curated by Lisa Tung, Director of Curatorial Programs and Professional Galleries at MassArt and is supported in part by Apple, Inc.

Gallery Hours: Mon., Tues., Thurs., Fri., 10:00 a.m.–6:00 p.m.;
Wed. 10:00 a.m.–8:00 p.m.; Sat., 11:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.
Free and open to the public. Handicapped accessible.
Address:          621 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MBTA: Green "E" line.
Information:     617-879-7333 or www.massart.edu

Massachusetts College of Art and Design, founded in 1873, is recognized as one of the premier colleges of art and design in the US. A public independent college, MassArt is known for providing broad access to a high quality professional arts education, accompanied by a strong general education in the liberal arts.  The college offers a comprehensive range of baccalaureate and graduate degree, continuing education, and K-12 programs, taught by outstanding faculty and designed to encourage individual creativity. A major cultural force in Boston, MassArt presents public programs of innovative exhibitions, lectures, and events.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: October 25, 2007

Massachusetts College of Art and Design
 to award Master of Architecture
Board of Higher Education approves application

BOSTON: The Massachusetts Board of Higher Education has unanimously approved the application of Massachusetts College of Art and Design (MassArt) to award the Master of Architecture (M. Arch.). After three years of intensive program development, including a review and site visit by the National Architecture Accrediting Board, the college is now poised to offer a 60-credit graduate degree designed to provide rigorous, accessible, and affordable professional preparation for a variety of architecture-centered careers, including those which address global challenges. The program expands the college’s graduate offerings; while enhancing its stature as a leader in art and design education. The first cohort of ten students will begin the program during the summer of 2008.

“This truly is an exciting time for MassArt, and we are pleased the Board of Higher Education has joined us in recognizing the richness and value of this new program and the complementary role it provides to our other offerings.”
 -Kay Sloan, President, Massachusetts College of Art and Design

The proposed Master of Architecture program is designed to embrace the college’s mission of preparing students to participate in the creative economy as art and design professionals and to engage in the well being of their society by training architects who acquire the necessary design and engineering skills, while also understanding the environmental and social impact of their actions.
 
The Master of Architecture curriculum is offered in four intensive semesters, starting in summer, continuing through fall and spring, and ending with a final summer semester devoted to the student's thesis. Use of summer semesters permits shop and construction experience in prime building season, so that all students develop experience with crafting details and assembling materials.  The program can be entered, upon portfolio review, after completing MassArt’s 120-credit undergraduate Bachelor of Arts in architecture. Students with an undergraduate architectural design degree from other schools also may apply for direct admission to the Master of Architecture program.

A distinguishing aspect of this new program is that it seeks to educate students toward an understanding of construction through design-build studio coursework, an increasingly popular alternative for architects seeking to work outside the major architecture firms in design-build firms, construction companies, or to create their own firms. Grounded in energy-conscious building and site design, coursework is intended to promote the practical application of learned theory in building systems, construction technology, ethical practice, and cultural traditions in architecture. 

The program also seeks to build social awareness and participation in the larger community. Students are encouraged to work with the agendas of, or directly with, communities and nonprofits. This process exposes them to the diverse requirements, needs, and relationships of people and place, and encourages them to solve problems. 

“The faculty, current students, and alumni of MassArt’s architecture department have eagerly awaited the creation of this new Master of Architecture program for some time.  We believe its unique hands-on and urban focus will provide a valuable alternative for aspiring architects at MassArt and other schools, and we expect that its graduates will contribute greatly to the regional architecture culture.” -Patti Seitz, Program Head

Globally, the design field, which includes architecture, is identified as an increasingly important source of economic growth, innovation and competitiveness, and Massachusetts is a world center of design.  Recent studies show that Boston ranks second among North American cities in its number and concentration of design professionals.1 Within the U.S., Massachusetts has the highest proportion of architects and designers in its workforce.2 Additionally, a significant shift to smaller enterprises is underway in the architectural sector; no longer is it dominated by large companies. Eighteen percent of MassArt’s graduates in the undergraduate architecture program have started and maintain their own architecture companies within the Commonwealth.

From reviewing trends, the college expects that the vast majority of building work in the future will be done within increasingly stringent building codes for clients whose programmatic requirements will include serious concerns and limitations regarding budget, energy use, and maintainability. Future buildings which are both pleasantly memorable and sustainable must be achieved, not with luxurious use of space and resources, but with intelligent use of building technology, careful construction, craft, conservation of global resources and respect for historical, social, and cultural context. 

MassArt’s Master of Architecture program seeks to prepare students to excel in this changing profession and for licensure as architects through the National Council of Architecture Registration Boards (NCARB). Graduates are eligible to apply for licensure once they have matriculated from a program approved by the National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB) and fulfilled the required three-year internship, which must be served under a registered and practicing architect in the full range of practice.  In July 2007, the college was granted a four-year NAAB candidacy with an interim candidacy in 2009.  MassArt anticipates final NAAB accreditation for the Master of Architecture program in 2011.

Massachusetts College of Art and Design, founded in 1873, is recognized as one of the premier colleges of art and design in the United States. A public independent college, MassArt is known for providing broad access to a high quality professional arts education, accompanied by a strong general education in the liberal arts.  The college offers a comprehensive range of baccalaureate and graduate degree, continuing education, and K-12 programs, taught by outstanding faculty and designed to encourage individual creativity. A major cultural force in Boston, MassArt presents public programs of innovative exhibitions, lectures, and events.

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Making the Link:  Advancing Design as a Vehicle for Innovation & Economic Development, ERBI, City of Toronto 2006.
2 The Creative Economy:  A New Definition. New England Foundation for the Arts.  August 2007 (highlights)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 14, 2007

Massachusetts College of Art and Design Presents Two Jewelry Exhibitions:
Golden Clogs, Dutch Mountains and IN SITU
October 15–December 7, 2007

Sandra and David Bakalar Gallery, Massachusetts College of Art and Design
Reception: Wednesday, October 24, 5–7pm
Symposium: Saturday, October 27, 2007

Boston, MA: Massachusetts College of Art and Design (MassArt) is pleased to present Golden Clogs, Dutch Mountains and IN SITU, two exhibitions that investigate jewelry and personal objects. Divergent approaches to the implied built-in context stimulate thought about our relationship to adornment and the body. Because these explorations use jewelry as a point of departure there is an assumed function for the work; how these two groups employ this corporeal context illustrates a fundamental difference in cultured perspective. Building on the contemporary Dutch jewelry exhibition, Golden Clogs, Dutch Mountains, curated by artist Andrea Wagner, MassArt has organized a “response” to the Dutch tradition: IN SITU, featuring five American small metals artists who push the notions of what jewelry is further—from adorning the body towards the realm of enveloping site-specific installation. The combination of these two exhibitions creates a dialogue about the use of materials and the impact of context in a globalized art world.

 Golden Clogs, Dutch Mountains features the work of eleven up-and-coming artists working in the Netherlands. Included in the exhibition are Iris Eichenberg, Jantje Feischhut, Gésine Hackenberg, Ineke Heerkens, Stephanie Jendis, Iris Nieuwenburg, Katja Prins, Constanze Schreiber, Manon van Kouswijk, Andrea Wagner, and Francis Willemstijn. The progressive tradition of jewelry making has had a remarkable history in the hands of Dutch jewelers. For the past forty years, European, and especially Dutch artists, have been at the forefront of a speculative, inventive, and provocative dialogue with the history and meaning of jewelry objects. A current generation of jewelers from the Netherlands is keeping alive the tradition of inquiry that has come to be the Dutch hallmark. Eschewing the conventions of material and form, these boldly inventive artists breathe new meaning into once-familiar objects of personal adornment.

IN SITU, curated by MassArt faculty member Joe Wood, consists of a group of young artists working primarily in the United States. Included in the exhibition are Jennifer Crupi, Nick Dong, Lauren Fensterstock, Lauren Kalman, and Deb Todd Wheeler. These artists also employ elements from conventional approaches to jewelry and personal object making, but whereas the Dutch artists on view embrace the open, enigmatic, and fragmentary, the artists based in the United States create an almost complete narrative fiction that surrounds the objects. For the Americans, the object remains central to the experience but only as it becomes wrapped in a specific personal projection of their intent. Interaction, performance, and documentation become directly part of the work, falling into a larger tradition of installation and site-specific artwork in contrast to what is traditionally an intimate and minute genre. In each instance the artists utilize objects to focus on, explore, and question their context and role as personal embellishment. Included in the exhibition are site-specific installation, sculpture, photographs, and video/performance. With the respective differences of vantage that these two groups of artists have we can see this essential element as an international multi-media conversation about jewelry.

These exhibitions have been supported in part by the Consulate General of the Netherlands, New York; Koo de Kir, Boston; the Mondriaan Foundation; Ornamentum Gallery - Hudson, New York; and the Massachusetts Cultural Council.
 
PARALLAX: The apparent displacement or the difference in apparent direction of an object as seen from two different points.

Saturday, October 27, 2007
In conjunction with the exhibition will be “Parallax,” a one-day symposium to discuss the exhibition on view and the state of the international jewelry world today. Golden Clogs curator Andrea Wagner will speak about the characteristics of Dutch design as well as give a quick review of Dutch jewelry (c. end 1960s to now). Artists Iris Eichenberg (Netherlands), Lauren Fensterstock (United States), Katja Prins (Netherlands), and Deb Todd Wheeler (United States) will speak about their work and experiences; IN SITU curator Joe Wood will moderate. There will also be a gallery tour (with exhibiting artists who are able to attend), and a special gallery reception and lunch for participants.

Gallery Hours:        Monday–Friday, 10 a.m.–6 p.m.; Wednesday, 10a.m.—8p.m.; Saturday, 11 a.m.–5 p.m.
                              Free and open to the public. Handicapped accessible.
Address:                 621 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA        MBTA: Green "E" line
Information:           617-879-7333 or www.massart.edu/calendar

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

August 28, 2007

Sensacional! Mexican Street Graphics
September 24–December 1, 2007

Stephen D. Paine Gallery, Massachusetts College of Art and Design
Gallery walkthrough with the exhibition curator: Wednesday, September 26, 5:15 p.m.
Reception: Wednesday, September 26, 6–8 p.m.

Gallery Walk-through:
Monday, October 8, 11 am & 1:30 pm; Saturday, November 3, 1:30 pm

Boston, MA: Massachusetts College of Art and Design is pleased to present Sensacional! Mexican Street Graphics. Organized by Tricle Editiones, Mexico City and Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, Sensacional! began as a book project collecting and critiquing the popular images of Mexico. The book inspired an exhibition that has toured to Glasgow School of the Arts in Scotland, American Institute of Graphic Arts Gallery in New York and Armory Center for the Arts in Pasadena, California, yet every exhibition is unique to its venue.

This exhibit celebrates Mexican art and design. Presented here are murals, flyers, products, paintings, and posters that capture the essence, flavor, color, and emotion of contemporary art in Mexico. A compendium of images from Mexico’s small towns, roadsides and cities, and from a variety of printed matter Sensacional! explores the ingenuity of a vernacular commercial tradition.

The artists of this exhibition are known as Los Rotulistas (sign painters), anonymous creators without technical training, who produce their work at once, without preliminary sketches or planning. Sometimes the results are ugly, sometimes they are hilarious, charming, or beautiful. This spontaneity creates a visual richness that is a delight for the eyes.

In an exhibition that transports the urban imagery from Mexico to the Stephen D. Paine Gallery at MassArt, patrons are given the opportunity to consider: What is it about these idiosyncratic handmade graphics that make them more meaningful and attractive than artificially perfected corporate logos? What does it mean to walk among these images in an art institution removed and condensed from their original street incarnations? And what does the show say about ownership of public spaces? The Gallery will be brought to life with gargantuan wrestling and religious characters, foods and desserts made of vibrant color, anthropomorphized shoes, tires and appliances. Architecture and images become one in this graphic cacophony.

Director of Visual Arts René de Guzman says of this unique exhibition, "This is a rare opportunity to celebrate the work of unheralded artists and artisans, and gain insight into alternative ways visual culture evolves world-wide."

In the contemporary global economy, images function as a kind of currency, and artists frequently sample, remix and re-invent familiar symbols, texts and pictures. The DIY advertisements, signage, attention-seeking lines, and illustrations in Sensacional! embodies global consumer culture, folk traditions and economic need. Familiar corporate logos are appropriated, turning a mass visual voice into individual expressions. These handmade renderings are born from necessity or casual inspiration and are thus infused with energy. Their humanity and imperfection, amidst exact multinational image manufacturing, is what makes them so compelling. As David Byrne states in his essay for the exhibition catalogue, “We realize that a crooked line sometimes has more soul than a perfectly straight one…As true perfection appears on the horizon, as the fruits of the enlightenment and of centuries of scientific progress appear within grasp, we take a bite of the perfected tomato or a huge flawless strawberry and realize that something has been lost. Flava. Soul. Humor. Funk.” Sensacional! reminds us that the spirit of the imperfect is thriving.

Sensacional! celebrates the vernacular design of the comic books, flyers, posters and signs common in Mexico. Though these artists may not concern themselves with visual art trends, their work has enormous significance: in public environments increasingly monopolized by corporate controlled and mechanically produced imagery, these artists assert a brilliant graphic presence that's hand-made, individualistic and defiantly human.

This exhibition has been supported in part by the Secretary of Foreign Relations, Mexican Department of Cultural Affairs.

Gallery Hours:  Mon., Tues., Thurs., Fri., 10:00 am–6:00 pm; Wed. 10:00 am–8:00 pm; Sat., 11:00 am–5:00 pm
                        Free and open to the public. Handicapped accessible.
Address:           621 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MBTA: Green "E" line.
Information:     617-879-7333 or www.massart.edu

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

April 23, 2007

Robert Pinsky to be Honored at MassArt’s 2007 Commencement

BOSTON:  President Katherine Sloan will present the Massachusetts College of Art + Design graduating class of 2007 in an outdoor ceremony to be held at the college on Friday, May 18, at one o'clock in the afternoon. Approximately 360 graduate and undergraduate students will be awarded Bachelor of Fine Arts, Master of Fine Arts, and Master of Science in Art Education degrees.  In addition to recognizing the tremendous efforts of graduating students, the college is also awarding the Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts to Robert Pinsky, United States Poet Laureate, translator, essayist, and teacher. Mr. Pinsky will address the class of 2007.

Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts
Robert Pinsky, United States Poet Laureate

Robert Pinsky, three-term United States Poet Laureate, is the author of six books of poetry, most recently Jersey Rain and a new chapbook, First Things to Hand. His best-selling translation, The Inferno of Dante, received the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. In 2005, he published a prose narrative, The Life of David. His anthology An Invitation to Poetry, co-edited with Maggie Dietz, includes a DVD with twenty-five of the Favorite Poem Project videos, as seen on The News Hour with Jim Lehrer.

Currently he teaches in the graduate writing program at Boston University. He is the poetry editor for the online magazine Slate, and writes the weekly Poets Choice column for the Washington Post Book World.

Massachusetts College of Art + Design will also honor the following individuals at the Commencement ceremony:

Distinguished Alumnus 2007
Arne Glimcher (’60)

Arne Glimcher founded The Pace Gallery in Boston in 1960. Three years later, he moved the gallery to New York City and quickly developed an international roster of many major 20th- and 21st-century artists. In 1993, Pace merged with Wildenstein & Co. forming PaceWildenstein, an organization with the potential to show works of art from the Renaissance to the present. Mr. Glimcher presides as Chairman, overseeing three galleries and an international roster of artists and estates including Alexander Calder, Chuck Close, John Chamberlain, Jim Dine, Agnes Martin, Elizabeth Murray, Louise Nevelson, Pablo Picasso, Ad Reinhardt, Mark Rothko, Kiki Smith, Lucas Samaras, Joel Shapiro, and Robert Rauschenberg. Mr. Glimcher is also a producer and director of motion pictures. His credits include The Mambo Kings (1992), Gorillas in the Mist (1988); and Legal Eagles (1986), among others. Mr. Glimcher is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and is a board member of the Art Dealer's Association of America. In 2003, he received the insignia of the French Legion of Honor. Mr. Glimcher earned a B.A. from Massachusetts College of Art + Design and attended Boston University's Graduate School of Fine Arts.

Massachusetts College of Art + Design Award for Excellence in Education
Diana Hampe

Diana Hampe is a teacher and administrator in Walpole Public Schools and Walpole High School. This award will be bestowed upon her for her long career of inspired teaching, sustained art education, and tenacious commitment to the progress of each of her students. There will be an exhibition of her students’ work from the Walpole Public Schools in MassArt’s Arnheim Gallery in June.

Massachusetts College of Art + Design, founded in 1873, is recognized as one of the premier colleges of art and design in the US. A public independent college, MassArt is known for providing broad access to a high quality professional arts education, accompanied by a strong general education in the liberal arts.  The college offers a comprehensive range of baccalaureate and graduate degree, continuing education, and K-12 programs, taught by outstanding faculty and designed to encourage individual creativity. A major cultural force in Boston, MassArt presents public programs of innovative exhibitions, lectures, and events.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Learn the Art of Bidding on Art at the MassArt Auction!
The 18th Annual Benefit Art Auction, Saturday, March 31, 2007

Boston, MA.: Each spring, the Annual Benefit Art Auction at MassArt draws a crowd of over 600 collectors and art enthusiasts, each one hoping to capture the joy of discovery, the thrill of the hunt—a new work of art to bring home!  The MassArt Auction is one of the year’s most popular social events; attracting a who’s who of Bostonians committed to supporting the arts.


Many of Boston’s top collectors started their collections at the MassArt Auction and they continue to attend and buy. The auction is an excellent place to get an overview of what’s happening in today’s contemporary art scene and to begin collecting works of contemporary art, much of which is “affordable.”  The novice collector can feel confident in his/her purchases as all works are pre-screened by a jury for quality and artist reputation—a record setting 1,100 entries were received this year to fill only 325 lots in the Auction.  A Silent Auction will include 281 works of art where attendees can survey the options, pinpoint their targets and claim their prizes around every corner in the Bakalar and Paine Galleries, two contiguous spaces that are home to various contemporary art exhibitions at MassArt throughout the year. Serious connoisseurs will be focused on the 44 pieces offered in a Live Auction but the opportunity to make a move and bid silently on works on paper, canvases, glass, photography, ceramics, jewelry, etc. continues throughout the evening.


Among the nationally and internationally known artists, emerging artists, MassArt alumni, faculty and students represented in this year’s auction include: Ambreen Butt (’97), Chuck Close, Jim Dine, Sam Durant (’86), Bob Freeman, Sol LeWitt, Robert Mangold, Laura McPhee, Abe Morell, Vic Muniz, George Nick, Nick Nixon, John O’Reilly, William Wegman (’65) and Sue Williams.


Proceeds from the Annual Benefit Art Auction generate critical funding needed to support academic programming, awards and scholarships for many talented, often economically disadvantaged students.

AUCTION DATE:    
Saturday, March 31, 2007—doors open at 7 p.m. 
The Live Auction begins at 9pm with Skinner Auctioneers’ CEO, Karen Keane, poised with gavel in hand.

PREVIEW RECEPTION:      
Thursday, March 29, 2007—6 p.m.–8 p.m.

PLACE:
Bakalar and Stephen D. Paine Galleries
Massachusetts College of Art + Design, 621 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA
617-879-7333, www.massart.edu, public transportation via T Green (E): Longwood
Handicapped Accessible.  Free and open to the public.

TICKET PRICE:      
$150.00 per person, (prior to event) includes ticket to Auction and Preview Reception on March 29, 2007.

**$175.00 per person (at the door of the event)

For tickets or general information, contact Claudia Ascrizzi at (617) 879-7014 or email: auction@massart.edu.  Tickets may also be purchased online by visiting: http://alumni.massart.edu/auctiontickets2007.

PUBLIC PREVIEW:
Tuesday, March 27th, Wednesday, March 28th—10 .am.–7p.m.
Thursday, March 29th—10 a.m.–5 p.m.

ONLINE PREVIEW:
www.massartauction.org  

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:  March 9, 2007

Master of Fine Arts Thesis Exhibitions
Bakalar and Paine Galleries, Massachusetts College of Art + Design
March 16–May 19, 2007

BOSTON, MA: Massachusetts College of Art + Design presents the MFA 2007 Thesis Shows I, II, III; featuring the work of graduating Masters of Fine Arts students from various disciplines and diverse backgrounds. The exhibitions, on view in the Bakalar and Paine Galleries from April 6–May 19, 2007, as well as a live installation performance at Pozen Center on March 16 and 17, showcase an array of media including painting, sculpture, photography, installation, film, video, and performance.

Live Installation Performance
March 16 and 17, 2007
8:00 pm, 8:45 pm, 9:30 reservations recommended, call 617-628-3175
$10.00 Admission, Free to Mass Art Students and Faculty
Performance by:

Nicole Pierce is a performance artist who creates environments that combine dance and new media. Her work originates from her autobiography and looks into the psychological landscapes of memory and realms. Her installations happen in real time and incorporate real people.

Thesis Show I
April 6–16, 2007
Reception: Thursday, April 12, 6:00–8:00 pm
Exhibition includes work by:

Kevin Buchholz is a photographer who works with a keen interest in the world around him. He uses photography, whether it is landscape, portraiture, or staged studio "experiments" as a method to explore, understand, and comment on his environment and our place in contemporary society.

Caitlyn Cedarstrom is interested in conveying a corporeal response to that which is visceral through her painting. Her imagery is reactive and driven by constant internal re-evaluation of what emerges on canvas. Her paintings are an examination of the force behind and within the psyche. 

Michael Garrett utilizes his artistic work to explore and mine his ambivalent relationship to Appalachian culture. By creating images that are at once personal and universal he appropriates art history, mythology, and self-portraiture hoping to reconcile the relationship of the individual to the world.

 Katrine Hildebrandt is currently examining one of the most common yet disregarded elements of everyday life: dust. Before the invention of the microscope dust was the smallest thing people could see and touch. This innovation revealed a world below as vast and as beautiful as the heavens above. Dust exists in an in-between world of the seen and unseen, conscious and unconscious. For Hildenbrandt, dust serves as a link that connects her inner spiritual life to the outer world and is a reminder of our impermanence on the planet.

Paige Largay is a photographer who has lived in the Boston area since 2002. Her current work explores the interiors of a Cape Cod cottage where she spent her summers as a young girl. The photographs oscillate between the fine line of reality and abstraction, speaking to the frailty of memory, and the emotional potency of spaces from her past. 

Alex DeMaria's work deals with language. He sees our linguistic grasp on the world as based on a few assumptions about time, light, energy and gravity and tries to point out the precariousness of our understanding.

Erik Schubert’s (b. Omaha Nebraska) work explores contemporary sales/business. He creates a singular portrait of the intimate relations of the sale in our contemporary environment. Through the examination of packaged ideologies, Schubert creates an overlap of the artifice present within our vernacular creation.

Thesis Show II
April 21–May 1, 2007
Reception:  Thursday, April 26, 6:00-8:00 pm
Exhibition includes work by:

Juan Jose Barboza-Gubo’s work reflects his view into the catholic religion. The painting process is important for his artistic creation. His life, religion, stories and most intimate feelings are represented through layering and images from different times, complete and incomplete and his memories.

Brian Doan is a contemporary and documentary photographer. His photographs largely focus on the psychological relationship among different groups of Vietnamese-Americans. 
 
Jerel Dye looks to prehistoric human ritual for inspiration in his performances. Using ancient materials in conjunction with computer code and the science of evolution, he explores what it means to be biologically identical as our most ancient ancestors living within the technologically vibrant world of today.

Kate Goyette points to the relativity of existence and the ways in which humanity gives meaning to life, specifically when life transforms to death. This deconstruction of the self and the self in the world utilizes concepts surrounding language that support relational instances among religion, philosophy, and psychology. These inquiries culminate in two-dimensional works that include drawing, printmaking, and painting.

Allison Leigh Holt uses her artistic practice to explore perception and consciousness, both subjectively and objectively. Integrating video, sound and physical elements, she produces multimedia installations that draw from her memory, dreams and current life, as well as the stories of others. Her work is motivated by philosophical curiosity and is informed by science fiction.

Alison Judd's work explores ideas relating to rituals in religious practice. She works from memories of specific events. Through painting she evokes the emotion of those experiences, while at the same time indulging in formal elements of paint like color, light, form and space.

Olan Netrangsi is a humanistic person. He is interested in human beings and different characteristics in each individual. He is perceptive and sensitive to surroundings and people around himself. There is no wonder that his works, be it time-based media or installation art, reflect interesting aspects of human life.

Irina Rozovsky's photographs are about the essence of being alive and in the world. Her pictures portray a here-and-now urgency that is manifested through people, animals, clouds, light and colors.  She points her camera at subjects that do not immediately seem related but are connected by an emotional thread. Irina does not want to show us anything we didn't already know. Instead, she aims for her photos to feel familiar and inviting, so that looking at them is like going back to a place you grew up in and haven't been to since—sad and uplifting at the same time.

Christopher G. Watts worked for 15 years as a professional glassblower, glass designer, and teacher before branching into his present body of conceptually driven sculpture. Often employing blown glass as a primary material in his pieces, his work addresses the ideas of stored memory and the way in which objects or materials are signified though the fulfillment of its usage in both ordinary and extraordinary human events.

Thesis Show III
May 8–19, 2007
Reception: Thursday, May 10, 6:00–8:00 pm
Exhibition includes work by:

Natalie Collins is an artist and filmmaker originally from Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Her recent work retells contemporary fairytales existent in American politics and popular culture. She weaves new narratives in which heroes are always super and Prince Charming need not apply.

Olivia Lundberg’s exaggerated and imaginative paintings seem to be rooted in the familiar and uncomfortable setting of sexuality. With a distinctive sense for the abnormal, Lundberg’s characters interact in a psychological landscape of fragmented body parts, genitals and awkward hands. Her paintings combine to produce a clever and sometimes unsettling reflection on perversion and power.

As a former East German, Dana Mueller photographs to recall events associated with the Second World War that have defined German identity of the post-war period. The syntax of these black and white images resembles that of archival photographs frequently used as historical evidence yet, her approach seeks to challenge stereotypes and to look closely at the complexity of any national identity.

Sculptor, Adrienne Vodraska addresses the human body in terms of gender, definitions of masculinity and femininity and sexuality. Working with clay and fabric, Vodraska is inspired by androgyny, ambiguity and duality.  

Katie Westgate is a new media designer and artist. Extending the concepts of awareness and meditation digitally, her work explores how connection to ambient information fosters an exchange between inside and outside the self, transforming existence in a space to experiencing it.  Westgate employs a dynamic range of installation, sound design, animation and video to softly and beautifully connect us to ourselves and space."

Gallery Hours: Mon.–Fri., 10:00 am–6:00 pm; Sat., 11:00 am–5:00 pm
Bakalar and Paine Galleries, Massachusetts College of Art + Design, 621 Huntington Ave., Boston
617-879-7333, www.massart.edu, public transportation via T Green (E): Longwood, handicapped accessible.
Free and open to the public.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 21, 2007   

Colleges of the Fenway:
Boston Immersion Alternative Spring Break
Youth Empowerment in Roxbury and Mission Hill
March 4–9, 2007

BOSTON: The Colleges of the Fenway (COF) are pleased to announce the first Boston Immersion Alternative Spring Break. This program, organized by the COF Civic Engagement Committee, offers students from participating institutions an opportunity to spend their spring breaks staying in Boston to learn about, connect with, and take positive action in the community. Fourteen students from Emmanuel College, Massachusetts College of Art + Design and Simmons College will be working before, during, and after the week to meet with, learn from, and partner with city and community leaders, organizations, and programs.

The focus of the trip is Youth Empowerment in Roxbury and Mission Hill. Along with this focus on the positive potential and power of youth in the neighborhoods surrounding the COF, the students will also learn about the history and demographics of Boston, Roxbury, and Mission Hill; the assets and challenges in the community; college access and the importance of education; and how to work with the community to take action and move forward.

As one answer to Mayor Menino’s call for increased involvement among institutions of higher education in the city, these students are spending the week—as well as committing time before and after to program—exploring the question: “How can we, as college students, be active participants using our interests and skills as partners with other civic-minded members of our community?”

Throughout the week, groups of students will be partnering and working each afternoon with Sociedad Latina and Roxbury Youth Programs. This daily volunteering will be coupled with city explorations, panels, discussions, and meetings with city and community leaders and organizations. Invited guests include: Mayor Thomas Menino, Representatives Gloria Fox, Byron Rushing, and Jeffrey Sanchez, City Councilor Mike Ross, Robert Lewis Jr. and Marta Rivera from the Boston Center for Youth and Families (BCYF), Sam Williams from Roxbury Youth Programs, Dini Paulino-Rodriguez and the Youth Community Organizers from Sociedad Latina, and Candelaria Silva from ACT Roxbury. Students will also meet with and present what they have been learning about the local community to their college presidents and deans.

The week will culminate with a “Boston at Night” event, hosted at Massachusetts College of Art + Design, providing a chance for city youth and college students to get know one another, share their talents, have fun, and see how exciting college can be.  This “Boston at Night,” suggested by and organized in partnership with BCYF, is part of a series of safe social events around the city.

The Boston Immersion Alternative Spring Break is one of many steps to engaging in the community for these students, some of whom have grown up in Boston and Roxbury and some of whom come from around the country. The group and the institutions they represent will continue to connect with, learn about, and partner with the city and the local neighborhoods year round.

This program is funded by the Scott/Ross Center for Community Service and the Alumnae Association of Simmons College, the Office of the President and the MassArt Activities Council of Massachusetts College of Art + Design, and the Jean Yawkey Center for Community Leadership of Emmanuel College.

For more information, please contact:
Sandy Weisman, Co-Director, Center for Art and Community Partnerships at Massachusetts College of Art + Design, 617-879-7527, sandy.weisman@massart.edu

Susie Flug, Associate Director, Scott/Ross Center for Community Service at Simmons College, 617-521-2477, flug@simmons.edu

Formed in the spring of 1996, Colleges of the Fenway is a collaborative effort of six neighboring Boston-based colleges in the Fenway area. This collaboration was created to add value to student academic and social life while seeking innovative methods of investing in new services and containing the costs of higher education. Collectively, the colleges represent 10,000 undergraduate students, comprising 16% of the total Boston population of undergraduates attending four-year colleges, more than 800 full-time faculty and 2,500 course offerings.

Contact: Sondra Grace: 617-879-7674

Pat Cross: 317-266-3020

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 12, 2007

Print to Production to Print
Redcats USA selects MassArt student designer

Boston, MA: MassArt will host a special fashion show on Thursday, January 18, 2007 as a finale to the Redcats USA Design Competition.; Judges from Redcats USA will select a designer for their Chadwick's catalog from students in the fashion design program at MassArt. The evening will start at 6:00 p.m. with a fashion parade and end with a Chadwick's designer and scholarship awards. In the Trustees Room, Tower Building at MassArt, each of the thirty competing participants will present their storyboard with fabrics and prints along with a designed garment to the MassArt community, family and friends - and the Redcats USA judges.

The Print to Production to Print started with original fabrics designed in the new computer lab at MassArt. Chosen prints and designs will go into production for presentation in the Chadwick's Catalog. MassArt students were challenged to design a complete ensemble for the Chadwick's customer. Chadwick's head designer Yvonne Goss and MassArt professor Renee Harding guided the students through board presentations, the selection of a fabric story and constructing the chosen silhouette style including accessories. Students embraced the Chadwick's wardrobe philosophy and designed looks that they would want to wear. They considered the challenges of designing for an established line with customer demographics and production price points.

Redcats USA, a multi-channel leader in men's and women's apparel and lifestyles home shopping, has nine well-known brands in its portfolio: Chadwick's, metrostyle(, Woman Within, Jessica London, Roaman's, La Redoute USA, KingSize, BrylaneHome and BrylaneHome Kitchen. Redcats USA offers a wide range of value and quality driven merchandise categories, including missy apparel, men's and women's plus-size apparel, and home and lifestyle products.

Redcats USA is a division of Redcats Group, a global leader in Home Shopping for apparel and home furnishing. Drawing on a multichannel network combining catalogues, e-commerce and stores, Redcats generated 4.4 billion euros of sales in 2005 with 17 brands in 26 countries and a staff of 20,000 associates. International sales account for 52% of the total. Redcats is a PPR Company. For any further information: www.redcats.com.

Redcats USA's corporate office is located in New York City. They also have merchandising, fulfillment and customer contact center operations in West Bridgewater and Taunton, Massachusetts; Indianapolis and Plainfield, Indiana; and San Antonio and El Paso, Texas. The Design Studio and buying office for Chadwick's, Jessica London and metrostyle(tm) catalogs are located in West Bridgewater.

Massachusetts College of Art + Design, founded in 1873, is recognized as one of the premier colleges of art and design in the United States. A public independent college, MassArt is known for providing broad access to a high quality professional arts education, accompanied by a strong general education in the liberal arts. The college offers a comprehensive range of baccalaureate and graduate degree, continuing education, and K-12 programs, taught by outstanding faculty and designed to encourage individual creativity. The college is a leader in the art and design professions, and influences the direction of the arts nationally through the accomplishments of its graduates and the creative activities of its faculty and staff. A major cultural force in Boston, MassArt presents public programs of innovative exhibitions, lectures, and events.

Collaboration with industry is a focus of the MassArt education.

For more information:
Sondra Grace, Professor, MassArt Fashion Design
sgrace@massart.edu
617-879-7674

Pat Cross, VP of Corporate PR Communications, Redcats USA
pat.cross@redcatusa.com
317-266-3020

Renee Harding, Assistant Professor, MassArt Fashion Design
rharding@massart.edu
617-879-7675

Darlene Gillan-Duggan, Director, MassArt Communications
dgillan@massart.edu
617-879-7050

Contact:
Darlene Gillan-Duggan
Director of Communications
617-879-7050 / dgillan@massart.edu

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
December 14, 2006

Shoot the Family
January 15-March 10, 2007
Sandra and David Bakalar Gallery, Massachusetts College of Art + Design
Opening Reception: February 6, 5-7 p.m.
Snow date: February 7, 5-7 p.m.

BOSTON, MA: Massachusetts College of Art + Design presents Shoot the Family, an exhibition that explores the undercurrents of contemporary domestic life, focusing on artists' portrayals of members of their own families.  The exhibition presents approximately 50 works made in the last fifteen years by sixteen artists active in North America, Europe, and Asia.  These artists use their relatives and partners as subjects, revealing that family matters are never simply personal, but inevitably encompass broader historical, social, and economic considerations.

Shoot the Family is organized and circulated by iCI, New York, and curated by Ralph Rugoff, director of the CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts, San Francisco.  The exhibition tours through February 2008.

Rather than drawing on extroverted, upbeat notions of the everyday, many recent artists exploring domesticity have turned to more complex reflections on who we are at home in the private space of family life. Perhaps as a reaction to the rise of design and "life-style" oriented art in the 1990s, some of the artists in Shoot the Family approach familial domesticity in terms of the psychological ambiguities and desires that erupt at the seams where memory and fantasy meet.  Presenting scenarios of emotional closeness as well as failed connection, they expose suppressed ambivalence and conflict, fantasy and eroticism.  The works presented in Shoot the Family shed light on the formation of each individual's physical, cultural, and sexual identity, on the nucleus that has shaped and influenced each artist, or in some cases, the values and traits that they have passed along to their own families.  At the same time, the family is linked to a nexus of issues including the impact of war and financial hardship, the power of gender and ethnic stereotypes, and the effect of changing marital and generational roles.

Works like Egyptian artist Yasser Aggour's Tea Party (Family Portrait), 1999, address persistent ethnic stereotypes, as his family is depicted laughing at the kitchen table, wearing black stockings over their heads as if they were terrorists.  A more melancholy look at the impact of cultural identity on the family is seen in the video work of Albanian expatriate Adrian Paci. In A Real Game, 1999, Paci looks to a different generation, his daughter, to discuss her family's past, specifically their assimilation in and immigration to a foreign country.  Here, the hardships of war are enmeshed in the concerns of cultural identity.

Mitch Epstein's Family Business series, 1999-2003, serves as documentation of a period when his parents' family-owned business was going bankrupt.  Including portraits of not only his parents, but also the relevant buildings and people outside his family, the series takes on the issue of financial hardship, revealing the emotional conflicts that arise as a result.  Traction, 1999, by Darren Almond, touches a different type of hardship resulting from a life of intense physical labor.  In this video projection triptych, the artist's mother listens and watches as Almond's father discusses the numerous injuries he has sustained in his career as a construction worker.

Momme, 1995, by Janine Antoni, seems at first glance to be a simple portrait of the artist's mother. Upon further inspection, however, a pregnant bulge and an extra foot become apparent, and the viewer soon realizes that the artist is hiding under her mother's dress.  This unquestionably Freudian image suggests that one is eternally seeking the safety and/or comfort of the mother.

Rather than resulting from objective observation, much of the art in this exhibition is marked by a strong sense of triangulation: these works focus, in other words, on the charged relationships between the people taking the pictures and those portrayed.  Shedding light on the way pictures are informed by the invisible relationships that structure their production, this work raises questions about voyeuristic mechanisms of photography and video, while calling attention to the role of emotional and psychological transference in the making of images. Emotionally incisive, conceptually diverse, and visually inventive, these artworks transform that most familiar artifact-the family photograph-into an illuminating investigation of contemporary culture.

Publication
The exhibition is accompanied by a fully-illustrated 64-page book, published by iCI and distributed by D.A.P. It includes a foreword by Judith Olch Richards, executive director of iCI; an essay by curator Ralph Rugoff, and a short story by Lynne Tillman.

Artists in the Exhibition
Yasser Aggour, Darren Almond, Janine Antoni, Richard Billingham, Miguel Calderon, Mitch Epstein, Hai Bo, Lyle Ashton Harris, Ari Marcopoulos, Malerie Marder, Jonathan Monk, Anneè Olofsson, Adrian Paci, Chris Verene, Gillian Wearing, Zhang Huan

Shoot the Family is a traveling exhibition organized and circulated by Independent Curators International (iCI), New York and curated by Ralph Rugoff. The exhibition, tour and publication are made possible, in part, by a grant from The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, with additional support from the iCI Exhibition Partners and the iCI independents.

About iCI
Celebrating its 30th anniversary in 2005, iCI is a dynamic non-profit organization committed to enhancing the understanding and appreciation of contemporary art through its innovative traveling exhibitions and publications. iCI brings challenging artworks to a wide range of museums, giving diverse audiences in the United States and abroad the opportunity to experience new art.

Gallery Hours: Monday-Friday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m.; Saturday, 11 a.m.-5 p.m.
Free and open to the public. Handicapped accessible.
Address: 621 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MBTA: Green "E" line.
Information: 617-879-7333 or www.massart.edu

• Business 101 course for artists: giving them a view into how the business world operates, including familiarity with the cultural aspects of working in a corporation, and the basics of organizational behavior, marketing, and finance.
• Workshops that bring together business people and artists to discuss real world business issues and creative problem-solving through case studies.
• Development of partnerships with companies who will assist in developing the program, including providing input from executives for the artist/business workshops, considering artists who go through the Business 101 course as prospective employees, and creating internships or residency programs for artists.
• Job search coaching for artists that includes resume writing, interviewing, presentation and networking.

The first phase of the Creative Continuum project began in fall 2005, when members of MassArt, Art Services Coalition and Fort Point Cultural Coalition received an MCC Adams Program grant to research specific needs of both artists and businesses. Bentley College joined the partnership last fall and will collaborate with the other partners to develop the business education component of the project.

"The arts play a critical role in the cultural and economic life of Massachusetts, but the needs of individual artists are often overlooked," says Katherine Sloan, president of MassArt. "This project is designed to strengthen the capacity of Greater Boston's visual artists to make a sustainable living, while providing area companies with a pool of creative, innovative employees who can help them maintain a competitive edge. This project's pioneering partnership, representing education, arts, and business sectors, underscores the value that new synergies may hold to move our region forward creatively and economically."

"The program is a natural for Bentley given the contributions Arts & Sciences make in our business curriculum" says Robert D. Galliers, Bentley's Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs. "We look forward to partnering with faculty from MassArt to develop a business course that working artists will find meaningful and productive. Making a contribution to the state's creative economy strikes us not only as an opportunity, but a privilege."

Galliers adds, "One of the program's most distinctive features is a series of workshops where executives will bring to the table business problems with which they are currently grappling. Through these sessions artists will learn a great deal about the dynamics of business, and executives will learn a great deal about the innovative ways artists approach problem-solving."

Bentley is a national leader in business education. Centered on education and research in business and related professions, Bentley blends the breadth and technological strength of a university with the values and student focus of a small college. Our undergraduate curriculum combines business study with a strong foundation in the arts and sciences. A broad array of offerings at the McCallum Graduate School emphasize the impact of technology on business practice, including MBA and Master of Science programs, PhD programs in accountancy and in business, and selected executive programs. Enrolling approximately 4,000 full-time undergraduate, 250 adult part-time undergraduate, and 1,270 graduate students, Bentley is located in Waltham, Mass., minutes west of Boston.

Massachusetts College of Art + Design is a public, free-standing college of art and design. The college's professional baccalaureate and graduate degree programs enable students to contribute to the New England economy as fine artists, designers, and art educators, and to engage creatively in the well being of their society. Continuing education classes, exhibitions, and cultural programs fulfill the college's public purpose of providing access to the arts for the citizens of the Commonwealth.

Boston's Arts Services Coalition, including the Arts and Business Council of Greater Boston, Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts of Massachusetts, and the UrbanArts Institute at Massachusetts College of Art + Design is a consortium of non-profit organizations which serve artists, arts institutions and arts communities in the Greater Boston area.

The Fort Point Cultural Coalition is a group of non-profit arts organizations and other neighborhood volunteers whose mission is to preserve, promote and expand the cultural community in the Fort Point Channel area of Boston. The Coalition's goals are to secure affordable live/work space for artists and affordable facilities for the arts organizations in our membership, to encourage collaboration in our community, and to raise the visibility of Fort Point as New England's largest and most established arts community.

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