MUTO a wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.

Local artist Eli Cedrone (who I wrote about back in January) let me know about a new painting that is on display.

"Amuse Bouche" show's Eli's view of a certain restaurant on Newbury St. Guess who the waiter serving the Cosmo is? Yep, you got it. This is the coolest way one of my jobs has ever been immortalized!

The 27" x 31", oil on canvas "Amuse Bouche" is available at at Wynne Falconer Gallery in Chatham.

Wynne Falconer Gallery
492 Main Street
Chatham, MA 02633
508-945-2867

Fusco & Four, producers of the Boston International Fine Arts Show, have put together a n all-new show for us design addicts.

Starting today and running through Sunday, AD 20/21, short for "Art and Design of the 20th and 21st Centuries", brings together "40 select fine art galleries and design exhibitors from the United States and Europe showcasing 108 years of furniture, glass, ceramics, decorative arts, jewelry, paintings, sculpture, prints and photography." The various periods of that length of time - among them Art Nouveau, Art Deco, and Mid Century Modern - will be on display.

Tonight from 5:30 to 9:00 there will be a Gala Preview, where you can "enjoy a catered event, festive music, and of course, the first choice of a dazzling array of fine art and design. Tickets for this are $100 to $250, withe proceeds going to benefit the Boston Architectural College.

Tickets for Friday through Sunday are $15, with children under 12 getting in for free. As my work schedule is a bit crazy as of late, I won't be able to attend until Sunday, but I'll be sure to let you know what I think.

AD 20/21
The Cyclorama
At The Boston Center for The Arts
539 Tremont Street
Boston, MA

Every year, the Art Complex Museum in Duxbury holds the Winter Juried Show, a highly competitive show that attracts a number of very talented artists. This year, Autrefois, a painting by Eli Cedrone (whom I wrote about last month) was one of 100 works chosen from a field of over 500 entries.

The initial reception was last Saturday, but the show is open to the public until April 13. Plenty of time to get down to the South Shore, don't you think?

Art Complex Museum
Alden Street,
189 Duxbury, MA 02043
781-934-2731, ext 4

The same night I met Carol Scalzo of Benedetto Imports, I was able to meet local artist Eli Cedrone (the two friends were dining together).

Through the use of varied color and texture, Eli’s “work increasingly bridges abstraction and realism. Abstraction is transformed into suggestions of person, place and human pathos. The figures in my work exist both in representational and tactile, painterly worlds. I’m constantly striving for a way to articulate this unique visual synthesis; from the monolithic to the corporeal.”

Her work is very often of public places such as restaurants, parks, or even on the sidewalk; it’s the energy that you can feel in certain places that she is trying to capture. The night that I met her, Eli kept leaving her table to take photos of the people drinking and socializing at the bar.

Eli’s work is currently on display that the Copley Society of Art on Newbury St.

Throughout the city this week, various restaurants and bars will be giving up their wall space for Artweek. Over a dozen artists will be featured in seven events, at a different location each night (the first event was last night, sorry!). Live and DJ'd music will provide a soundtrack to the visual stimuli. For a full schedule of events, go to the Artweek Boston site.

Do you have a blank wall that could use a little art? How about custom art? Too expensive, you say? Not so with Artsetera, a new Boston-based site.

According to Artsetera's own Warren, "Artsetera is a very unique concept in that we allow the visitor to create sets of canvas wrap squares (12" x 12" x 1.5") that they can then see in a room setting and even change the wall color to match their home decor. Sets can range from 1 to 9 and customers can even rotate the squares to make a unique impression." Sets start at only $60.

All of the paintings are designed by Lincoln-based artist Amy Goodwin (who owns the first production Flatpak house!). The designs are sent to China, where the paintings are made, in a "painting factory" (Amy has a good description and photo gallery of it).

I haven't seen any of Artsetera's paintings in person, but it sounds like the attention to quality is there. Again, Warren: "We use a proprietary painting process to produce uniquely brilliant works of art. Each picture style is custom designed and hand painted in oil on canvas. We then use a proprietary process to digitize the image. The original artist then computer-enhances and colorizes the painting. Finally, the images are applied to high-quality cotton canvas and hand-brushed over for a textured, layered, unique look."

To sum it up, Artsetera seems to be good quality, customized art, at a reasonable price.

Figs and Ginger, the husband and wife team of Elijah and Rhonda Wyman, are leaving the city behind. After being part of Boston's indie design scene for several years, they are taking off as of Christmas Eve for the hills of Asheville, NC. Luckily, the the Internet reaches even Appalachia, so you'll still be able to browse their online catalog for great handmade jewelry.

The pinkcomma gallery is hosting a one-night-only show-and-sale exhibition this Friday, December 7th from 5:00 to 10:00 pm.

Design Nearby will feature local print designers working in and on a variety of media (paper, canvas, wood, t-shirts, etc.). etcetera media, who I recently wrote about, will be there.

Curated by Kelly Smith and Ann Karash (who held the successful Wares and Wears market last year), Design Nearby is intended to be the first in a series of Design Nearby events.

It's a great way to get a unique gift for the holidays, and a great excuse to share some holiday cheer.

pinkcomma gallery
81B Wareham Street
Boston, MA 02118
617-426-4466

I had the pleasure of meeting Scott Hanning a few weeks ago. Scott is a local photographer whose work currently hangs in the CW Quinn showroom. Scott says, "My work fits somewhere between photography and other art forms. I blur the photos, de-emphasizing the subject matter, which achieves a painterly effect."

Scott's photography is part of a group showing (along with other local artists) tonight for this month's Jamaica Plain First Thursday event. The event will take place from 6:00 to 8:00 along Centre and South Streets.

Next Tuesday, December 4, DWR on Tremont Street will be hosting an auction to benefit Artists for Humanity, a Boston-based non-profit.

"DWR Boston is excited to introduce Artists for Humanity's latest venture, a 'green' furniture line using junk mail to create tabletops and wall art. As part of the project, the Boston Studio challenged the participating teens to incorporate re-claimed DWR catalogs into their design. Artists for Humanity (AFH) partners these talented inner city kids with design professional mentors and encourages them to conceptualize, create and market individually assigned projects. The Studio is taking part in its first ever AFH design challenge and auction. The results will be unveiled during this inspiring event. Select pieces will be auctioned the same night, and 100% of the proceeds will benefit Artists For Humanity."

RSVP to boston@dwr.com by November 30.

Design Within Reach
519 Tremont Street
Boston, MA 02116
617-451-7801

Joe Varnum has been my friend since I first moved to Massachusetts over 20 years ago. After serving in the Navy and working in technology, he recognized his creative side and went back to school; he is currently in the Graphic Design/Photography program and UMass Lowell.

The Lowell Friends of Photography are a "group of students, alumni, and faculty at UMass Lowell who share a common respect for the photographic arts." They have created a 2008 calendar of the group's photos, and one of Joe's photographs, "Home", is there for July. Congratulation, Joe!

Karen J Jones's paintings are being featured this month at Urban Living Studio.

Trained at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Jones uses both pastels and acrylics to "create a serenity and solitude so difficult to find in today's rapidly changing world.

'Pastels give me the soft, slightly out-of-focus look that I'm so attracted to and acrylics have a brilliance and vibrancy in color that looks and feels like oils.'"

A wine and cheese reception will be held in her honor on Thursday, November 8, from 6-8pm.

Urban Living Studio
58 Clarendon Street
Boston, MA 02116

The opening reception of sculptor Wayne Strattman's “Buck Roger’s Fantasies”, a collection of illuminated, sci-fi themed sculpture, is being displayed at SOWA Gallery in the South End throughout November.

I want a ray gun!


SOWA Gallery
450 Harrison Ave #224
Boston MA 02118

You can tell that you've been at it for more than a year when you start repeating yourself. This weekend, spend an autumn day (the weather's supposed to be great) walking around New England's largest artist community, seeing great art, and meeting the artists themselves.

The 28th annual Fort Point Open Studios opens the doors to over 200 artists, from painters to a furniture maker.

There are probably a few people in Boston that aren't interested in watching the Red Sox playoff game tonight. Would you maybe prefer something a little more artistic? If so, Gallery Anthony Curtis is where you want to be.

Tonight, from 5:00 to 8:00, Gallery Anthony Curtis is having a reception for two new concurrent solo exhibitions: Andrew Tavarelli: Floating Worlds; and Katherine D. Crone: Boxed Memeory.

From the press release:

Peripatetic by nature, Andrew Tavarelli's work is linked to his global travels and his fascination with foreign lands and cultures. In his current Floating Worlds series, Tavarelli creates an unexpected meeting place for two pop art forms belonging to different cultures and eras: ukiyo-e woodblock prints of 18th and 19th century Japan and Art Deco designs of 20th century Europe and America. Both idealized art forms promoted attitudes and life styles deemed desirable and sophisticated and were saturated with social politics. On his canvas, Tavarelli also seamlessly mixed in imagery from medieval heraldry, Mexican street signs, and Spanish Civil War and Cuban travel posters to create bedazzling visual wonders. Through these powerful images, Tavarelli celebrates and questions the ideas of beauty and masculinity, explores the complexity of gender and social relations in our time, contrast the eastern and western ideals and, above all, pursues his own ideas of visual power and beauty. In his words: "I believe that, in our attempts to make sense of things that are not of our culture, we are forced to look more deeply into our own and into ourselves. Our appreciation for the new and different refreshes our view of the familiar and opens up avenues for exploration."

New York artist Katherine D. Crone creates 3D works that are abstract visual journals. Her approach combines digital photography, the art of book-binding and fiber sculpturing together to capture a fleeting moment in life. The ephemeral images are preserved in book forms and rendered in photographs with a sculptural dimension. Her subject matter is quotidian: light and shadows, water and reflections, architectural detail and panoramic landscapes, images found in her native Long Island and places she encountered during her travels in Japan. Influenced by her academic training in fiber art at Yale, a vigorous Bauhaus design philosophy, and her strong interest in Japanese art, Katherine’s work is minimal and modern, yet it possess a quality that is nostalgic, meditative and transcending. In her word: "Even though each piece may have a personal "back story" for me, the viewer's reaction is what validates my intent."

The exhibitions run through November 3.

Gallery Anthony Curtis
186 South Street
Boston, MA 02111
617.988.8119

This Thursday, stop by the Urban Living Studio for a wine & cheese reception for the painter Hector Ledesma.

Born and raised in the Dominican Republic, Hector Ledesma is an accomplished painter with international recognition. He lives and works now in Boston and still travels frequently between his international shows and shows in the United States.

Hector Ledesma:
"My work is rooted in my never-ending curiosity of the world – the earth itself and everything that influences it. Visually exploring the current psychological state of the human being, human images and references to technology juxtapose to address contemporary cultural issues. The work creates a balance of beauty and awareness, even when observing the ecological disruption or political despair. I acknowledge the power of the formal structure of the world while exploring the beauty inherent
in the human experience."

Urban Living Studio
58 Clarendon St
Boston, MA 02116

For 21 years now, the United South End Artists have been opening their doors on the third weekend in September for their annual Open Studios.

This year, you will have the chance to meet over 250 USEA artists "working in a range of media...oils, watercolors, photography, sculpture, mixed media, fiber arts, ceramics, jewelry, wood, glass, and metal as well as other visual and performance arts."

Rug maker Linda Garriott emailed me to let me know she'll be in the group space at 460 Harrison Ave on both Saturday and Sunday, September 15 and 16. Be sure to stop by and say hi to her!

Seeing as I'm back in school, I'm up on such happenings as the MFA's College Night. On Thursday, September 27, from 7 to midnight, the MFA is inviting every college student in the city to come, mingle and enjoy great art and music:

"The MFA is free for college students every day of the year. But tonight, we're throwing a party just for you. Show us your college ID, and we'll give you a DJ dance party, $2 pizza slices, MFA Mobile wallpaper, Thurston Moore on his "Trees outside the Academy" tour, and, of course, ART (lucky you—it's also opening night of "Walk This Way," our kickin' exhibition of shoes on display throughout the Museum)."

For those that don't know, Thurston Moore is the uber-talented lead singer of the seminal alternative/indie/noise rock group Sonic Youth - one of the coolest bands ever. Not that I wasn't before, but I am SO glad to back in school to catch this.

Last week, I was visiting my friends at Motley Home. While there, I met D. Tillery. He's from Providence, but was spending the day in Boston searching for custom contemporary furniture. He let me know that he is part of the Steel Yard, a collaborative of metalworking sculptors.

As Mr. Custom Steel, he makes custom steel, well, anything. From his website: "Anything is possible. Any metal, mixed media, architectural installations, custom furniture, sculpture, prototypes, your designs or mine." The work that he shows on his website is as varied as that description. His work has been shown in various cities around the country. It's quite creative, with each piece showcasing his unique ability with some metal and a blowtorch.