Climate Equity: A Better Future for All

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This catalog is an accompaniment to the exhibit organized and presented by Unbound Visual Arts, Inc. Edited and produced by Unbound Visual Arts Exhibit Assistants: Shuxian Zhang, Jessica Hernandez, Mila Roemer, Natalie Schweikhart.

Exhibit Coordinator: John Quatrale

UVA MISSION STATEMENT Unbound Visual Arts (UVA) is a unique Allston-Brighton (MA) based non-profit art organization. We serve the Greater Boston community with impactful educational programs and exhibits to encourage learning, engagement, and change.

UVA Board of Directors & Council of Advisors Louise Bonar, Tsun-Ming Chmielinski, Francis Gardino, Marcie Laden, Madeline Lee, Jeanne Lin, Susan Loomis-Wing, Brenda Gael McSweeney, Andrea Newman, Ira-Ilana Papadopoulou, John Quatrale, Ruth Rieffanaugh, Diane Sheridan, Karen Smigliani, Jennifer Turpin

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Unbound Visual Arts Inc. 43 N. Beacon St. Arthaus Gallery Allston, MA 02134 UnboundVisualArts.org info@UnboundVisualArts.org 617-657-4278

Artists: Nancer Ballard, Mary Barton-Lech, Gwen Cory, Nancy Crasco, Samantha Fein, Elizabeth Lapides Pauline Lim, Elisandra Lopes, Chelsea Martel-White, Michael McLaughlin, Alex Miklowski, Shelby Myerhoff, Brenda Gael McSweeney, Matthew Okazaki, Katha Seidman, Diana Stelin Copyright 2023 Unbound Visual Arts, Inc. Nothing in this catalog may be reproduced in any manner without permission, except for exhibit and art reviews or other educational purposes.

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Curator’s Statement These days, most of us probably have already heard the term “climate change” a million times — we are all well aware of what it means and what things should be done to save the environment — but what about “climate equity”?

Environmental equity means both protection from environmental hazards as well as access to environmental benefits for all, regardless of income, race, and other characteristics. Climate change has affected the poorest population around the world most drastically, creating “climate refugees”.

According to Mercy Corps “nearly 70% of all new displacements in the first six months of last year were the result of weather-related disasters, with a total of 9.8 million people around the world driven from their homes by shocks like drought, hurricanes, and landslides — around 50,000 people every day”, and “if sea levels continue to rise without intervention, many of those living near the ocean — about 40 percent of the world’s population — will be at risk of losing their homes”.

The good news is that many people are actively seeking a solution. For instance, the Equity Fund is investing in the leadership in Black, Latinx, AAPI, and indigenous communities bearing the brunt of climate change. By engaging voters in these communities, they are getting climate and clean energy policy solutions that reflect communities' priorities and advancing racial, economic, and environmental justice.

Here at UVA, we also want to do our parts. In “Climate Equity: A Better Future For All," we are aiming to address the long-ignored issue of climate equity, and let more people know that not everyone is provided the resources to “go green”. We want our audience to know that the environmental crisis is not only about sustainability, but also resources and power. The participating artists are lending their voices to the unheard to tell the story that has been lingering outside the public’s sight.

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Curator’s Biography Jingyi Wang is a freelance illustrator and aspiring art administrator. She earned her bachelor's degree in studio art with a minor in art history from Indiana University Bloomington in 2019 and her master’s degree in creative practice leadership from Northeastern University in 2022.

Jingyi has previously worked in both public and private art spaces, including the Grunwald gallery, X Museum, and the National Art Museum of China. Her main interest is to help emerging artists and local artists to reach a larger audience. She wants to use her work to shine a light on issues that have long been ignored, and bring the historically marginalized population into public sight. She wants to use art as a way to make improvements in our society as well as let more people see how art can make changes in their lives.

Biografía del curador Jingyi Wang es una ilustradora independiente y aspirante a administradora de arte. Obtuvo su licenciatura en arte de estudio con especialización en historia del arte de la Universidad de Indiana Bloomington en 2019 y su maestría en liderazgo de práctica creativa de la Universidad Northeastern en 2022.

Jingyi ha trabajado anteriormente en espacios de arte públicos y privados, incluida la galería Grunwald, el Museo X y el Museo Nacional de Arte de China. Su principal interés es ayudar a artistas emergentes y artistas locales a llegar a un público más amplio. Ella quiere usar su trabajo para arrojar luz sobre temas que han sido ignorados durante mucho tiempo y traer a la vista pública a la población 6

históricamente marginada. Ella quiere usar el arte como una forma de hacer mejoras en nuestra sociedad, así como permitir que más personas vean cómo el arte puede hacer cambios en sus vidas.

Artwork

Nancer Ballard, Bartering the World, Multi-media assemblage, 13” x 11” Elizabeth Lapides, Coal Ash, Digital photograph, 20” x 24”

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Chelsea Martel-White, Benson Park- Dried-Up Fountain, Gouache on watercolor paper, 9” x 11”

Brenda Gael McSweeney, HabibouSKPR, Digital photograph, 16” x 12”

Chelsea Martel-White, Hilldale Cemetery, Gouache on watercolor paper, 10” x 13” Nancy Crasco, Greenhouse Gas: CO2, Fiber, 42” x 51”

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Mary Barton-Lech, Imminent, Mixed media (acrylic paint & fabric) on canvas, 16" x 12" Elisandra Lopes, Living Green?How?, Color pencils, 11” x 14”

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Alex Miklowski, Northampton Greenhouse, 35mm photograph on photo paper, 11" x 8.5"

Gwen Cory, Hot Blue Earth, Oil on Canvas, roughly 48" x roughly 24"

Matthew Okazaki, Untitled_Stoop, Digital photograph, 20” x 16”

Pauline Lim, Nothing to Be Done (Flood), Mixed media on canvas panel, 20” x 24”

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Chelsea Martel-White, Putnam Rd and Pearl St in Reading, Gouache on watercolor paper, 9” x 11”

Michael McLaughlin, Rivka in Autumn, mixed media, 50” x 38”

Nancy Crasco, Plovers' Plight, Fiber, 48" x 24"

Nancy Crasco, Quahogs, Fiber, 48" x 24"

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Nancy Crasco, The Right Whale, Fiber, 48" x 24"

Chelsea Martel-White, Saints Mary and Joseph Parish, Salem, NH, Gouache on watercolor paper, 9” x 11”

Michael McLaughlin， Washer-Dryer-Driveway， Mixed media， 20” x 28”

Gwen Cory, Tree Energy, Oil On Canvas, roughly 24"x roughly 36"

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Pauline Lim, You Are My Refuge, Watercolor, collage, ink on paper, 11” x 14”

Diana Stelin, Sahara - plein-air, Sahara and Pollution, 15’’ x 20’’

Shelby Meyerhoff, Zoomorphic #27 (Ocean Waves), Photograph, Archival Pigment Print, 22” x 27"

Samantha Fein, La Mamá, Limited edition glicee print on cold press watercolor paper, 22" x 18"

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Samantha Fein， Miriam ink, Gouache, and pencil on paper 19" x 15"

Katha Seidman, Metamorphosis, Mixed media, 39”W x 28”D x 78”H

Katha Seidman, Tide Pool, Oil and plaster on panel, 30" x 40"

Art in this exhibit may be purchased by visiting the gallery or going to the Unbound Visual Arts online art Shop (link below)

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Artist Statements and Biographies 1. Nancer Ballard: As an environmental lawyer, writer and artist, I am drawn to exploring and expressing the multiplicity of interconnected facets of man-made climate change and their impacts on our oceans, earth, weather and atmosphere, plants and animals, people, and the future of our world. “Bartering the World” is an assemblage drawn from a collection of articles recovered after severe floods or washed up on the beach during extraordinary weather events. The articles selected for this piece, including, among other things: old photographs, a child’s shoe, a broken birthday candle, a butterfly’s wing, pieces of a construction equipment toy, and a railroad tie nail signify the breadth of people and circumstances who have or will suffer incalculable loss as a result of human-induced climate change. This piece is designed to be used by children and adults to imagine the historical and future lives and stories of individual people who have been or will be displaced or significantly affected by climate change. Together, stories and artifacts can help to “make real” a subject that can seem too large and abstract to engage ongoing, embodied concern.

Bio: Nancer Ballard is a writer, visual/book artist, environmental lawyer, and currently is an Affiliated Scholar at the Brandeis University Women’s Studies Research Center.

She has worked as an environmental lawyer for over thirty years and has written numerous articles and creative writing pieces on environmental justice and climate change issues. Her recent art work has been exhibited at the Attleboro Arts Museum, Zullo Gallery, Brandeis University, Boston City Hall and her poetry is included in an ongoing outdoor exhibition at the former Medfield Hospital site. She leads The Heroine’s Journey and Beyond Project, a website-blog-multimedia project that explores and documents life-affirming alternatives to the Hero’s Journey.

2. Mary Barton-Lech:

I am interested in the intersection of the built and natural environments. Climate change is all about the human/natural relationship. We are not just hearing about it now, we are seeing it. I fear the impact we have on the planet, and yet I still have faith in the resilience of nature.

This piece holds both fear and optimism for me. Is there a storm coming, or just some dramatic clouds passing by? Will the shelter protect us, or will nature raise the bar?

Bio: Education Massachusetts College of Art, BFA, 1982 Endicott College, MEd, Arts & Learning, 2006 Employment Visual Arts Teacher for the Billerica Public Schools, 2001-2021 Exhibitions Endicott College 2007, 2012 Belmont Gallery of Art 2010, 2012 Danforth Art Museum 2011 Montserrat College of Art 2016, 2017, 2018, 2020 15

3. Gwen Cory: Painting for me is freedom. My creative process is about observing nature and intuitively painting expressive, bold, and moving colorscapes. Sometimes I like to start with very little reference in mind, play with color, paint thickness, shape relationships and watch my paintings spontaneously evolve. Other times, I take photographs and visualize what I want to paint. My paintings reflect love of and concern for the environment. Trees are important to us and the earth. One of my series explores our relationship to the trees around us; from the intimate and personal single tree to the grand, large scale woodland. Today we are experiencing global warming and its effects on just about everything. Forests play an important role in regulating carbon dioxide. I believe the tree is the best technology for fighting climate change.

Bio: I grew up in rural New Jersey. I spent part of my time with both sets of grandparents, one lived on a dairy farm and one had horses and many apple trees. My grandmother with the horses was an artist. We would paint together on the weekends and it’s here where I developed my passion for art and nature. After graduating from Rhode Island School of Design, I moved to Boston to work as a designer and illustrator. Even though I was working in the creative field, I realized that I needed a space where I could create my own personal artwork.

Painting for me is freedom. I enjoy working in my studio in Lowell, surrounded by color and many fellow artists.

4. Nancy Crasco: GREENHOUSE GAS CARBON DIOXIDE (CO2): According to the US Environmental Protection Agency, carbon dioxide (CO2) is the primary greenhouse gas emitted through human activities. The main human activity that emits CO2 is the combustion of fossil fuels (coal, natural gas, and oil) for energy and transportation.

QUAHOG: The current evolution of some species calls our attention to climate change. “Clam shells, like trees, have rings that mark the passage of time. The size and shape of those rings also offer a road map of climate conditions during those passing years. One new study of shell rings, for instance, suggests that humans have reversed the way the ocean and the atmosphere naturally interact.” (Kelly Kasulis, The Boston Globe, January 15, 2017) THE RIGHT WHALE: The North Atlantic Right Whale is one of the most endangered marine species, with under 400 remaining of which 100 are breeding females. Three factors contribute to the decline: climate change, vessel strikes and entanglements in fishing gear. Climate change drives the decline because the whales have followed their food source into areas which are frequented by commercial vessels.

PIPING PLOVER: The current endangerment of some species calls our attention to climate change. The breeding habitat of the piping plover, which is within sixteen feet of the North Atlantic coastline, has been affected by changes in water levels due to ocean warming and shoreline development.

Bio: A graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design, Nancy Crasco has been creating works in fiber since 1968 and has been actively exhibiting them nationally and internationally since 1975. Her inspiration is often taken from the intricacies of nature, and the effects that modern society has on the ecology of the earth. Nancy is a founding, active member of the Quilters’ Connection, as well as a member of the Studio Art Quilters Association and the Surface Design Association.

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Working from a studio in her home in Brighton, Massachusetts, Nancy has extensive teaching experience in both public and private education, and facilitates printmaking workshops and lectures on fiber arts. She teaches for the Mosesian Center for the Arts in Watertown and the Cambridge Art Association, andalso participates in exhibits and member activities. Contact with members of the Rhode Island School of Design Alumni Association keep her in touch with artists in Boston and beyond. In addition to her work with fiber, she uses the gelatin plate process to create small works on paper, enjoys reading and swimming, and takes frequent walks along the Charles River. She loves to travel and visit with her adult children who live outside of New England.

5. Samantha Fein: Bio: She holds a Master of Fine Arts from the Mount Royal School of Art at the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA). She received her B.A. from Sarah Lawrence College with academic concentrations in the Visual Arts, Spanish, and the Social Sciences. As an undergraduate she studied abroad at universities in Cuba and Argentina.

Her artwork has been exhibited at The American Visionary Art Museum (Baltimore, MD), Smack Mellon (Brooklyn, NY), and Hillyer Art Space (Washington, D.C.). She has been awarded residencies to the Vermont Studio Center, MASS MoCA, and was the James Rosenquist artist in residence at North Dakota State University.

Prior to graduate school, she spent a year as a Fulbright Scholar in the Philippines and completed ethnographic research on the substance use behavior of high-risk juvenile populations.

Born and raised in Tucson, Arizona, she lives in the Boston area. In addition to her creative practice, she works as an educator and grassroots organizer. In 2021, she completed an Access to Power Fellowship to support her ongoing work in disability justice.

6. Michael McLaughlin： Depicting the urban landscape and the impact of human occupancy.

Bio：Born in 1957 in Everett. Studied painting at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Mass Art and Salem State University. BFA in Fine Arts, 1980. I have exhibited my work at the Beacon Gallery, Boston, the Van Ward Gallery in Algonquin, ME. and Salem State University.

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7. Elizabeth Lapides： I focus on the myth of human dominance over nature, our journey from sustainable land practices to the environment under capitalism and how it has affected our quality of life both physically and mentally. Through sculpture and photography, I dramatically express the breakdown of what consumer capitalism is doing to the environment in a way that explores hopelessness, wonder, terror, perversion, and the sublime.

Bio: Elizabeth LaPides is an East coast raised, California based artist who focuses on climate change and its science-fiction history of visuals and metaphors. Elizabeth has been passionate about art from an early age with her involvement in the family gallery and extensive contemporary art collection. Her own practice started with photography and travel around the world, including time spent deep in the Amazonian jungle documenting fungi. During her undergraduate studies Elizabeth discovered sculpture and installation leading to her first large scale project of building a small house, gardens, and a barn. Her research about climate change began during her undergrad and has continued into her graduate work. Inspired by the visual language of science fiction, science reports, and nature Elizabeth creates work that captures the psychological and emotional effects of the changing environment.

8. Pauline Lim: I am a fear-driven person. I am always freaking out about the fact that we all have to die, so a lot of my paintings have to do with the frustration of being trapped in a mortal existence. The increasing aches and pains of aging underscore this dilemma to me every day, and make me seek out color and beauty, as well as the relief of laughter alongside the recognition of despair.

Lately I have been obsessed with Old Master paintings, so I’ll start on a painting with the intention of emulating Holbein or Vermeer, but then I get dissatisfied with the overall effect—“this looks like bad hotel art!”— and start adding three-dimensional items to the surface. Mosaic techniques satisfy my compulsion to always be busy. I try to pick activities that are fun, restful or refreshing, and that also satisfy my need to always be productive. I’m sure it comes from my driven, expectation-laden upbringing. Being Korean, my parents wanted me to be a Nobel-Prize-winning doctor. I graduated from Harvard, where I majored in studio art, so I’ve always felt sheepish that I wasn’t some successful superstar. I’ll never live up to their expectations, so I’m compensating by creating as fast as I can.

Pauline Lim was born in Clarinda, Iowa and graduated cum laude 1984 from Phillips Academy, Andover, MA. She graduated A.B. magna cum laude from Harvard College, 1988. She now lives and works at the Brickbottom Artists Building in Somerville, MA. Pauline participated in the UVA Healthful and Song Cycles exhibitions at the Honan-Allston Library Art Gallery in 2014 and 2015, the Olympic SPIRIT exhibition at Boston City Hall's Scollay Square Gallery in 2015 and Temptation of the Mind and Body at the Harvard Ed Portal in 2016. Her UVA solo exhibition: "Why Can't it Last Forever? was at the Athan's Café Art Gallery in Brighton.

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9. Elisandra Lopes: Capturing the simplicity, color and texture is everything for me. As an Illustrator/Designer these three components have always been what I look for when I create new artwork. It’s my inspiration. This artwork represents how not everyone has access to living green and that they need assistance for a better life so they can live green and help climate change. This artwork symbolizes how this population is impacted daily especially now by Covid-19, and the lack of support they might get and not be able to eat a healthy diet and depend on unhealthy ones such as fast food and consume more plastic since they have no other option in their lives at the moment. Creating this artwork reminded me again how a lot of people do not have access to healthy living style and be able to live green and help the planet due to socioeconomic status, race, gender and how it is not easy to decide between surviving in the moment and saving the planet.

Bio: I am a Cape Verdean/Black artist whose work draws influence from everyday life, mental health, environment, and nature. I work mostly with colored pencils, watercolor, and digital art as well while having the heart for making collages. I immigrated from Cabo Verde in 2007 to the United States of America to pursue a better education and health services. After a rough journey facing financial issues, inequality and abuse of power from dominant groups, I continued and finished my education. In 2016, I earned my BFA in Illustration from Lesley University College of Art & Design. I plan to have more of my work displayed online and in gallery exhibitions. I already had some of my art pieces displayed in galleries such as the artwork related to immigration were displayed in the Crossing/Borders Exhibition at Parker’s Gallery in University Hall, Cambridge, MA. I recently became the first woman in my family to graduate Lesley University Graduate School of Arts & Social Sciences and earned my master in clinical mental health counseling and art therapy and do freelance illustration and design work on the side.

10. Alex Miklowski: There are many layers to all the problems we face regarding climate change.

How we tend to ourselves, our bodies and minds, and those of our neighbors, reflects in how we tend the Earth. This is why we must return the lands we live on to their original stewards - Indigenous communities worldwide.

Bio: Alex is a multimedia artist, musician, and filmmaker who lives with disabilities. Originally from Warsaw, Poland, she grew up in New Jersey and currently lives and works in Boston, MA. She performs music as REKLAMA, co-edits a submission-based art zine called FYD, and has a black cat named Doomsday Ramone.

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11. Chelsea Martel-White: Bio: Born and raised in rural Maine, there is one thing Chelsea has always been known for in every setting of life: making art. She graduated from Gordon College in Wenham in 2012 with a bachelor's degree in visual arts after picking up a "knack" for illustration and painting in acrylic in high school, and has since tried virtually every medium of 2D art-making she could find, from oils and oil pastels to collage, watercolor pencils, and "painting" with artist-grade markers. While her classic interests surround animals and fantasy, she loves the beauty of ordinary outdoor spaces and buildings, and has always felt a deep, nagging "tug" to try to portray them; this was largely fostered by life in the North Shore area. She has a deep admiration for plein air masters like James Gurney and Brian Keeler and looks to them for inspiration.

When the pandemic struck, she left her full-time employment and discovered gouache, which opened up the possibilities of painting in public areas with relative convenience and effectiveness. With the world in crisis, this avenue became a form of catharsis and escapism which was otherwise restricted by quarantine. And once she started, she was hooked; she anticipates continuing down this path and furthering her development in plein air, as well as her old favorite loves of fantasy, illustration and animal portraiture. Currently, Chelsea is actively working to integrate herself into the creative scene of the Greater Boston Area, as well as southern New Hampshire, where she resides with her partner and their highly-opinionated tabby cat, Therru.

12. Shelby Meyerhoff: In my Zoomorphics series, I explore our interconnection as human beings with all living things, and with the natural world on which we depend. Water is one of the most essential resources for sustaining life, and also one of the most threatened in the face of climate change. Injustice already shapes who has access to water around the world and in the United States. The current inequities will only become more profound unless there is radical systemic change. As long as racism, classism, nationalism, and other injustices shape power dynamics at every level, the human right to water will be disproportionately denied to marginalized communities. Profound social, legal, economic, and infrastructural changes, led by marginalized communities, are needed to ensure equitable access to water. A shift in collective thinking about water and its role in our world is also needed. The primary purpose of water is the sustenance of human life. Access to safe, clean water must be universally recognized as a right for all people.

Bio: Shelby Meyerhoff is a multidisciplinary artist based in Winchester, Massachusetts. Her recent exhibits include solo shows at the Griffin Museum of Photography (MA) and the Concord Free Public Library (MA), and a two-person show at the Hopkins Center for the Arts (MN).

Photographs from her Zoomorphics series have also been exhibited at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (GA), the Attleboro Arts Museum (MA), the Mattatuck Museum (CT), and the LH Horton Jr.

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Gallery at San Joaquin Delta College (CA). Her work has been featured in Harvard Magazine, Fraction Magazine, A Photo Editor, What Will You Remember?, and UU World.

Meyerhoff has studied visual arts at the Griffin Museum, the New England School of Photography, and MassArt. She holds a B.A. in the Comparative Study of Religion from Harvard College and a M.Div. from Harvard Divinity School.

She lives near the Middlesex Fells, a 2,575-acre nature reservation, and draws much of her inspiration from the plants, animals, and other species found in her local area. Before becoming a fine artist, Meyerhoff worked in nonprofit communications, promoting environmental initiatives.

She is also an educator, with a focus on arts and nature programming. Meyerhoff has taught children from preschool to 8th grade, through the Arlington Center for the Arts, the Umbrella Arts Center, the Concord Free Public Library, and other programs. She enjoys sharing Zoomorphics with viewers of all ages.

13. Brenda Gael McSweeney: Brenda began her photography in West Africa in the 70s. She was excited to be selected as the official photographer for the UN Secretary General’s drought emergency mission to Burkina Faso. She is now Curator of the “Women’s Causes around the World, Year Round" permanent photo exhibition at the Women’s Studies Research Center, Brandeis University. Her work on Women of Vision has been selected by UNESCO Paris for their cultural project: “Women Figures in African History: an e-learning tool” for African youth. Her Burkina photo essay was published in an e-book called Gender Perspectives in Case Studies across Continents.

Bio: a founding member of Unbound Visual Arts, is UNESCO/Unitwin Director at Boston University’s Women’s, Gender, & Sexuality Studies Program where she teaches Gender & International Development, and is Resident Scholar at the Women's Studies Research Center (WSRC, where Research, Art & Activism Converge) at Brandeis University, both in Massachusetts, USA. She served with the United Nations for 30 years in executive positions including in West Africa and the Caribbean; in Europe heading the UN Volunteers programme; then in India as the Representative of the United Nations System and the UN Development Programme. The Government of India with the UN System designated gender equality as the UN area focus. Brenda holds her Ph.D. from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. She was the recipient of a Fulbright in Paris and awards from the Governments of Germany, Jamaica and Burkina Faso, as well as two honorary doctorates. Her research and photography focus on female education and empowerment in Burkina Faso, and a gender perspective on livelihoods in West Bengal, India (see related papers and photographs at The Global Network of UNESCO Chairs on Gender and at brendamcsweeney.com).

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14. Matthew Okazaki: What are you? The question I have been asked my whole life. They ask because to them, I am both foreign and familiar. I am close, but not quite; I am other, but not so other. I talk about race. They say, you’re not really a minority; you’re white just like us. Privileged like us too. I eat shrimp chips. They say, oh that stinks; that’s so Asian. They make fun of my eyes, my culture and my customs. Sometimes they say it’s cool to be Japanese, sometimes they say my people bombed Pearl Harbor. But they didn’t.

I can be half-white, and I can be half-Japanese. Which half I am is determined not by me, but by my surroundings. I am the half that is convenient for you; predicated by the context in which we are in. Being foreign to both, I feel comfortable in neither. The reclamation of my identity lies in the in-between, in the blur between both. The border becomes territory; this is where I stake my ground.

Bio: Matthew Okazaki is an artist, architect, and educator based out of Boston, Massachusetts. He runs the design practice Field Office LLC, and is a partner at Architecture for Public Benefit, an architecture firm serving mission-driven organizations in the local Boston area. His work has been exhibited both locally and nationally.

Okazaki holds a Master of Architecture from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design with commendation and a Bachelor of Science in Applied Mathematics from UCLA. He currently teaches architecture and design studios at Northeastern and Tufts University, and has held previous teaching positions at Brandeis University and Harvard University’s Design Discovery.

15. Katha Seidman： Katha Seidman’s work begins with space: landscape space; architectural space; spaces to walk into or to pass through. Seidman designs arenas that contain ephemeral journeys through unexpected times and places.

In her hanging constructions, Seidman uses plaster to articulate the substructure of painted seascapes, rock structures or city walls. Then, she might cut holes or use zippers to expose regions beyond the surface. Or she might encase the whole image in a wire grid, a cage that tries to trap the fleeting moment. Each layer reveals another space to explore.

Seidman often places found objects in front of the painted surface, juxtaposing the real with the imaginary. She chooses objects because they evoke memories. A stone pockmarked with ridges echoes waves sweeping the sand at low tide. A smooth glass globe caresses the palms of her hands, and she remembers cool, rounded beach stones under her feet. Watch gears evoke stars glittering in the night sky. As a component of Seidman’s unfolding space, each object combines with each opening to deepen the narrative contained within the piece.

Bio: Katha Seidman, received her MFA from Milton Avery Graduate School for the Arts, Bard College, NY. She received a Fifth Year Certificate and diploma at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. She also received an Emmy Award for John and Abigail Adams and has Emmy Nominations for Desperate Crossing and Witch Hunt.

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16. Diana Stelin: This is a piece based on a recent trip to Morocco. What touched me to the core was the pristine beauty and serenity of the sand dunes. The desert is growing at an alarming pace of 10% + a year, encroaching into more and more of the populated areas. However, what was jarring was the effect of these immaculate piles of sand erasing human consumption, human signs of life. This timeless dreamlike barren land was almost welcomed because outside of these stunning dunes, moved only by the shadows passing through them, there's garbage everywhere.

Roads and roads of stunning landscapes are littered with bright blue plastic bags. Storks, so revered in the country, are eating garbage out of those bags. Stark white ibises shine against the plastic, consuming toxins from the water. Hundreds of stray cats are intertwined in the slums of each city, fighting for what's laying in the streets for hours or days on end. It's all interconnected - the land we don't value, the toxic cheap food presented in bright blue bags, the cultural mindset of only caring for what's inside the homes, not outside. Can this population wake up and see the damage? Can larger companies invest in proper disposal of plastic? Can the government regulate waste management on a much higher scale? This stunning painting of the dunes, complete with sand from the Sahara, melted wax, gold leaf, and paper will also feature bright plastic bags, beckoning for attention at the base of the desert. To be completed February 15.

Bio: Diana's life of creative exploration began when she was 13.

Her family relocated from Moldova to Bloomfield, New Jersey and she enrolled in an art class. Through her difficult teenage years, she found solace in expressing herself through creating art.

Her BFA degree at Cornell University was followed by a MS at Boston University, where she continued to develop a unique free-flowing painting style. After graduation, she managed the world-renowned DTR Modern Galleries. She subsequently founded The Plein-Air Art Academy, and received a Best of Boston Award for kids' art classes.

She published a highly acclaimed novel about the importance of art for our psyche, and in recent years has presented a TedX talk on using creativity to fight burnout, appeared as a guest on multiple podcasts, wrote a children’s book, founded a clothing line based on her art, and exhibited her work at the 2022 Venice Biennale.

She lives in the Boston area but her pieces are in corporate and private collections worldwide, and she uses her expertise in her proprietary flow processes as a consultant in creative corporate workshops and talks.

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