Swept Away: Translucence, Transparence, Transcendence in Contemporary Encaustic was curated by Michael Giaquinto for the Cape Cod Museum of Art and ran May 18-June 23, 2013. The exhibition then traveled to the Hunterdon Art Museum in Clinton, New Jersey, where it opened remained on view May 18-September 7, 2014. Catalogs for both venues are available.
Swept Away was conceived to consider the most salient quality of pigmented wax: the way it holds and refracts light. In its first incarnation at CCMoA, thirty one artists showed a total of 41 painting, prints and sculptures that express a range of aesthetic sensibilities while maintaining or expressing luminosity. In its second incarnation at the Hunterdon Art Museum the same group of artists, minus two, show 34 works.
Thanks to the Cape Cod Museum of art and its curator, Michael Giaquinto, for allowing the show to travel. Thanks, also, to Marjorie Frankel Nathanson and Rosemary Maravetz, director and exhibitions coordinator, respectively, of the Hunterdon for accepting the show and mounting it in a way that allows us to consider the subject and artwork anew. Whereas the large rectangular gallery of the CCMoA was illuminated by an enormous skylight, the layout and lighting of the Hunterdon offer more intimate viewing. Here are some installation views of both exhibitions, posted chronologically.
-- Joanne Mattera
-- Joanne Mattera
At the Cape Cod Museum of Art, 2013
Swept Away, which originated at the Cape Cod Museum of Art, was scheduled to coincide with the International Encaustic Conference that takes place in Provincetown each year
Paintings by Elise Wagner above three by Tracey Adams, two by Cherie Mittenthal, Lorraine Glessner, two by Toby Sisson
Mittenthal, Glessner and Sisson; after the doorway: Lynn Basa, Karen Freedman, Anne Cavanaugh, Lynda Ray, two by Howard Hersh, Joanne Mattera
Basa, Freedman, Cavanaugh, Ray, Hersh, Mattera . . .
. . . with closer views of these works below
From a different perspective
Closer views of Hersh . . .
. . . and Ray, Hersh, Mattera . . .
. . . continuing along the next wall with David A. Clark and Nancy Natale
Clark, Natale, Laura Moriarty . . .
. . . with closer views of Moriarty's prints and sculptures
Clark, Natale, Moriarty; Dawna Bemis, Michael Billie
After Billie: Sara Mast, two by Paula Roland, two by Jane Guthridge, Milisa Galazzi, two by Donna Hamil Talman, two by Lisa Pressman . . .
. . . and the same works from a different perspective
Guthridge, Galazzi
Most visible: Natale on back wall, Galazzi in foreground
Angled view including, from foreground: Jane Allen Nodine, Lorrie Fredette, Binnie Birstein
Continuing around the gallery: Pressman, Birstein, Fredette, Nodine; Gregory Wright, two by Cecile Chong, Two by Linda Cordner
Closer views of Nodine, Wright, Chong
(Stitched image has altered the perspective)
Wright, Chong, Cordner; two by Marybeth Rothman, two by Elena De La Ville
Different perspective of same artists
Long view of two walls
Back to the beginning with views of work by Catherine Nash, Wagner and Adams, Mittenthal, Glessner, Sisson
For information about the specific works, and to read the essays about the exhibition, a catalog is available for viewing on line. Click here
. . . . . . . .
At The Hunterdon Art Museum, 2014
"We are delighted to devote our main gallery to an exploration of encaustic, a medium that is vital to discussions of contemporary art while also having a place in the history of art."
--Marjorie Frankel Nathanson, Executive Director
The Hunterdon Art Museum is located in a former grist mill situated on a branch of the Raritan River in Clinton, New Jersey
Entry to the museum
The second-floor gallery is reached by elevator or the wooden stairs you see here. Paintings by Gregory Wright, left, and Nancy Natale
We're going to work our way clockwise around the room . . .
. . . starting with Natale's work and . . .
. . . moving to Dawna Bemis and Elise Wagner
Bemis and Wagner, with David A. Clark around the corner
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Clark and Elena De La Ville
Panorama of a large corner of the gallery with Clark, De La Ville, two by Jane Guthridge, Lorraine Glessner and Toby Sisson
View from the top of the stairs showing Glessner, Sisson and Lynda Ray; Laura Moriarty sculpture and prints in the foreground
Continuing around the gallery: Ray, two by Howard Hersh, Marybeth Rothman, Catherine Nash
Hersh, Rothman, Nash
Rothman, Nash, two by Cecile Chong
Continuing clockwise from Chong (whose work you do not see in this photo): two by Cherie Mittenthal, Sara Mast, Tracey Adams scrolls, Binnie Birstein
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Corner view with Adams, Birstein, Nodine
Continuing around the perimeter of the gallery: Birstein, Nodine, two by Lisa Pressman, two by Linda Cordner
Cordner, Joanne Mattera, two by Karen Freedman, Milisa Galazzi, Paula Roland
Panorama of a long wall (which reads as a corner because of the angle at which I shot the two photos): Birstein, Nodine, Pressman, Cordner, Mattera, Freedman, Galazzi
Around the corner from Paula Roland's illuminated work: Lynn Basa and Gregory Wright
Another view of the installation, with stairs at left and a small painting by Toby Sisson at right
Panorama of the inside wall: Donna Hamil Talman, Lorrie Fredette, Laura Moriarty . . .
. . . with a detail of Fredette installation
Talman at right; Lisa Pressman in the distance
For information about the specific works, and to read the essays about the exhibition, a catalog is available for viewing on line.
