Past ARLIS/NE Programs - Notes:
Boston Center for the Arts, Boston, MA - September 19, 1997
Boston Center for the Arts

"First" Fall Meeting, Boston Center for the Arts, Sept. 19, 1997 ARLIS/NE held its first fall meeting on September 19 in Boston's South End. The theme of the days program, organized by Ann Whiteside and Stephen Nonack, was the production and documentation of contemporary art. The morning session at the Mills Gallery in the Boston Center for the Arts complex began with coffee and a brief business meeting. Stephen Nonack introduced the morning program.

Carole Anne Meehan, director of the Mills Gallery spoke about the Boston Center for the Arts and the work of the two featured speakers, artists Laura Baring-Gould and Sheila Gallagher. Laura showed slides from her recent exhibits: remarkable installations at the Chapel Gallery in Newton and at the Mills Gallery which played on the themes presented by the space. She admitted that documenting the process of creating her art was next to impossible, and that slides were a poor representation of work that was deeply emotional in content.

The temporary nature of Sheila Gallagher's work is an integral part of its attraction, and also poses a crisis in properly documenting it; the artist works with flowers and other "living" materials that die or otherwise decompose. During the lively discussion that followed these presentations the chapter members shared thoughts on how art librarians might be more active in gathering a record of the work of the artists of our time, particularly those working in new media. Carole Anne invited those interested to visit the Cyclorama next door where a collaborative project by Jen Chase and Jun Hoshino--using the space as a gigantic camera obscura--was installed.

After lunch, the group gathered at an artists building on East Berkeley Street for a sneak preview of the Boston Open Studios, a program sponsored by the city of Boston. Sarah Hutt of the Mayor's office is also a working artist who gave a history of the building, acquired by the city as living and studio space for artists. She spoke about her own work, and then conducted us through the building to visit other artists: Leslie Wilcox, who does sculptural work with wire mesh; landscape painter Conley Harris who also talked about artists materials and preparing the canvas. In Michael Gurans studio we learned about his printmaking from his wife, Alicia Kennedy, editor of Assemblage: a Critical Journal of Architecture and Design Culture, published by MIT Press.

It was a splendid day in Boston, and an interesting and provocative program.

Stephen Nonack