Climate Crisis Activism Pop- Up with Michaela Nielsen 4/27 and 4/28 1 -5pm
honeyjones
Young Blood
January 10 - January 31, 2021
Well it’s already January 15th. Sorry this message is late. When I first announced that honeyjones was seeking work from young artists, it was done in the spirit of supporting the hopefulness, enthusiasm and energy often attributed to youth. I wanted to offer an outlet for those especially who are growing into independence during in a pandemic. I think I was asking really for a show of courage; an awareness that in this time, we still need art, we still need youth in their own time, not as conformed and validated adults who may seem to have something figured out. The four artists represented here have given us a lens into their worlds at a specific point in time, not only through their art, but with their words. Well done, artists, for taking the statements seriously!
We have no less than four portraits, two of which are self-portraits; one as commentary on modern society, one reflection on the transition of youth into adulthood, and two soulful visions of others. Transitions of and reflections on human conditions but also abstracted images of our collective condition through time and space are on display here...making tracks, connecting lines and following signs..Where are we going ? How are we connected ? Which lines connect us ?
The artists here have all offered something they have worked on just prior to or during the pandemic, with the exception of Mary, whose portrait of the single father was painted a few years ago from a live model, a single father who had trouble staying awake for the sitting..and whose image is poignant company for Holden’s two portraits, one very close and one distanced, and both slightly unresolved. Rebecca’s responses to a fracturing social structure during Covid-19 are immediately resonant to the viewer while still being playful, continuous, and hopeful. And within Paige's panels, for the love of triangles myself, I can interpret or at least appreciate the need for identity and triplessence (?), and to give meaning to a space while not being bound to it...and a connection to the natural below, above and beyond.
These artists are self-aware, appreciate the small things and the beginning moment of taking a chance to pay and play it forward. No time like the present, Young Blood. Bon courage!
Thank you -
Julie
exhibition is open
Wednesdays 2 - 6pm
Thursdays and Fridays 4 - 7pm Saturdays and Sundays 1 - 5pm
through the month of January
please contact julie@honeyjonesstudio.com
or (617) 661-5613 to arrange a private showing
Paige Eckensberger
This collection of paintings come from a continuing body of work titled Through Space. These pieces have been formed using lines, shapes, and colors through a reactionary process. Shapes interact with each other, responding to the other elements in the piece, either in sync or in opposition to each other. These newer pieces represent another step in the visual and material evolution of this body of work. Through these paintings, a variation on my style has emerged as I have started working with a new surface: wood panels.
The simplicity of the artwork is realized through the tension between the abstract shapes and the detailed patterning of the wood grain. While placing shapes and lines on the panels, there is a decision of opacity. Which shapes will allow the grain to still be visible? Which will cover it completely? Overlapping shapes and lines, cutting through both transparent and opaque shapes, create worlds of layers. By transplanting my geometric forms onto this panel surface, the work is grounded. The triple resonances of shape, movement through space, and wood remind me that everything, including art, has roots in nature.
Paige Eckensberger graduated from Bard College in 2019 with a Bachelors of Arts in Studio Art. As an artist, she finds inspiration going to museums and galleries to see work by abstract artists including some of her favorites; Al Held, Leon Polk Smith, Hilma af Klint and Josef and Anni Albers. Paige is currently available for commissions and freelance work. More of her artwork can be found here:
Panel 3
Panel 1
Panel 2
Covid Isolation
Rebecca Anne Nagle
Fascinated with communication and how it affects the interactions we experience not only as individuals but also on a global level, the challenge for dissection and reflection of the many formats in which communication is expressed is explored. Symbols, GIFs, and information bombardment have created a frenetic society.
In “Covid Isolation” and “Lost in Translation” I wanted to emulate that energy by creating grids of circles or loops of morse code lines that are juxtaposed by energetic scribbles or various marks. Individually, they are different, like each of us coping with the anxiety of current life. Together, there is uniformity, that we all may find hope and strength and hear one another in this very noisy culture.
Cape Ann based artist, Rebecca Anne Nagle, is a newly developing artist attending the Montserrat College of Art as a painting major. A professional figure skater, she has always been a very physical person creating marks and patterns on thick sheets of ice with the subtlety of body weight and various pressures through the blades on her feet. That physicality often gets transferred onto canvas. Movement provides a template for edgy and abstract mark making, repetition, and exploration of color theory. Interested in exploring social and political commentary, pieces are created when there is a forge between the integrity of the subject matter and the goal of exuding empathy. Repetition, grids, and integrating various mixed media make the surfaces dance in pursuit of bringing depth to the work.
Lost In Translation
Self-Portrait, framed 23 x 31 monotype
Mary C. Sullivan
In a world where darkness and hopelessness seem to surround us, I choose to focus my attention on small beautiful things: an old stone wall, the face of a good friend, or a brilliant sunrise lighting up the sky above a highway. Perhaps this approach appears naive. How can something small and commonplace be of any value in the face of the giant injustices around us? I would argue that in times like these, small beautiful things are the only things that are valuable, true, and real.
My goal as an artist is to find that golden thread of hope, beauty, and light that runs through our day to day lives, and paint it boldly enough so that everyone might see its strength. I paint in oil, acrylic, and watercolor. Though my style is representational and fairly detailed, the specificity of my paintings is not photo-realistic. Rather, I seek to evoke a particular feeling. The crumbling dampness of a canal in Venice or the startling luminescence of sunlight after a storm become a conversation on the canvas or paper: light, color, and the viscosity of paint combine to tell a story of a singular moment. Much of my work is painted from life, with the aim of capturing the freshness and immediacy of a real lived experience.
The Single Father
Mary Sullivan is a painter from Gloucester, MA. She has a BA in Art History from Tufts University and a MAT in Art Education from Tufts and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts. She works primarily in oils, with a focus on portraits and landscapes.
I am a current student at Montserrat College of Art studying towards a BFA in Painting and a minor in Art History. At 21 years old, I’ve been painting since my senior year of high school - and drawing ever since I was a child. I find a lot of solace in creating and working, and my process is something I hold close to myself. Painting is a form of catharsis, and it has become the most major facet within my life. I also make music, put on installations and I’m a founder member of an art collective called “Industry”. I was born and raised in Maine, and I transferred to Montserrat during my sophomore year of college.
Thomas by the Shore 22 x 30 monotype
My work primarily deals with the figure and its interaction within space; my studies with observation are concerned with how my sight ultimately affects the work. I consider the ebb & flow that comes with every medium’s process, determining the best way to push my understanding of it. As an observational artist when I approach a piece of work I am mainly looking to understand and re-evaluate. My work is always in a flux with no particular attention to certain parts, rather an attention to the whole picture frame is taken. The paintings build an attention to surface, its history and change is analogous to how I perceive people as my perception is a constant struggle. As I have worked and learned, that there is a necessity to remain responsive and to be open to natural outcomes - be it through color, shape and moments of specificity. As long as I remain conscious of this, a visual statement is reached - that is what leads to breakthroughs and ultimately deeper, more understood work. Lately I’ve been considering the potential of time and place within the context of a picture. Addressing that potential will be a major responsibility for me if I want to portray my fears and anxieties into my figure / landscape work. My depictions of loved ones and friends will hopefully bring across a sense of transitioning from boyhood to manhood. Painting, prints, photos that I am interested in have a personal connection... a deep sense of realization, and a “point” that gives it that divergence from the natural world. Upon this realization I found that my up-brining in Maine could be a point of divergence for me. It’s potential for stark, quiet, bold paintings led me to see that the past has to influence my current and future work. The adventures of the past are now tinged with nostalgia as I face the reality of the future - what it means for me, and to those I love.
