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January 17, 2010 to February 21, 2010
EXTINCT!... Endangered Species and Habitats

Artists' Reception: Saturday, January 23, 2010 from 2 – 4 PM (Snow: January 24)

Gallery Slide Talks: Saturday, January 30 from 2 - 4 PM (Snow: check our website) Details below.

Wildlife Program: Saturday, February 6 at 8:00 AM and at 11:00 AM (Snow: check our website) Details below.

Compelling artworks focus attention on endangered species and their shrinking habitats, in exhibit EXTINCT! and related educational events. EXTINCT! is collaboration by the Brush Gallery & Artists Studios (A Brush With History, Inc.), Lowell and SMFA/School of the Museum of Fine Arts , Boston , in partnership with Tufts University .

CURATED BY:
SMFA faculty Erica H. Adams and MFA candidate John Guy Petruzzi

GALLERY SLIDE TALKS: Art Meets Science
Saturday, January 30, 2010 from 2 – 4 PM (Snow: check our website).
Lectures and presentations by:

Acclaimed science writer Deborah Cramer (Smithsonian Ocean: Our Water, Our World) For author information and book reviews, click here.

Photographer Constance Sawyer (SMFA student) whose work with scientists at Salton Sea helped to create work in EXTINCT!

Ecologist and bird expert Sabrina Hepburn, an ecologist with TRC Environmental, Lowell, MA

Curators Erica H. Adams (SMFA Faculty) and John Guy Petruzzi (MFA student) will introduce Cramer, Sawyer and Hepburn. 

WILDLIFE PROGRAM:
Saturday, February 6, 2010, the Massachusetts Audubon Society and the Lowell Parks and Conservation Trust invite you to two events:

• 8:00 AM to 10:00 AM, join them for their 3rd Annual Winter Wildlife Tracking Event (click here for complete information) just inside the entrance to the Lowell Cemetary, off Lawrence Street (across from 1025 Lawrence St). Off-street parking available. Click here for directions.
• 11:00 AM to 12:30 PM, you're invited to meet a variety of native wildlife up close and personal, right at the Brush Gallery and Artists Studios!

Co-curated by SMFA faculty Erica H. Adams and MFA candidate John Guy Petruzzi, EXTINCT!... Endangered Species and Habitats features works in video, painting, animation, large scale drawing and collage by SMFA students: Ani Avanian, Rachel Grobstein, Christine Haag, Louisa Hudson, Vanessa Lee, Shen Shen Luo, Paige Mazurek, John Guy Petruzzi, Irene Pizzolante, Ivette Salom, Constance Sawyer, Sam Schreiber, Emily Somma, Tim Stark, Mark Tang, George Tsalikis and Biying Zhang and SMFA faculty: Erica H. Adams (Painting), Erika Adams (Prints) and Erica Daborn (Drawing). SMFA curators: Erica H. Adams addresses climate change and an economic meltdown in deceptively beautiful paintings and a large-scale collage while John Guy Petruzzi, a 21st century Audubon, questions the decline of bio-diversity and how it reflects upon humanity.

ABOUT THE GALLERY SLIDE TALKS:

Fascinating lecture/presentations blend art and science on Saturday January 30, 2010 from 2-4 pm (Snow: check our website). EXTINCT! speakers are:

• Acclaimed science writer Deborah Cramer is currently a visiting scholar at MIT’s Earth System Initiative. Her two books, Great Waters: An Atlantic Passage (W.W. Norton 2001) and Smithsonian Ocean: Our Water Our World (2008) are now being adapted for use in schools.  Nobel Prize winner Al Gore wrote of Great Waters, “I urge everyone to read this book, pass on its teachings, and act on its message”.  Cramer's lectured about her writing and the sea on both sides of the Atlantic, at science and maritime museums, major environmental and teachers' organizations and, university degree programs for oceanography and journalism.
• Photographer Constance Sawyer (SMFA student) worked with scientists at Salton Sea to create her photographs in this exhibit.   
• Ecologist and bird expert Sabrina Hepburn is an ecologist with TRC Environmental, Lowell, MA.  As a birder and naturalist, she's traveled extensively in the U.S. and abroad.  Hepburn studied ecology in Costa Rica and Panama in a graduate program run by the Organization for Tropical Studies and Smithsonian Institute.  Hepburn earned her B.A. in Biology (Dartmouth College) and an M.S. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology (University of Michigan).  As a volunteer, she's led nature trips for Brookline Bird Club (MA), New Canaan Nature Center (CT) and  U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.   
• Curators Erica H. Adams (SMFA Faculty) and John Guy Petruzzi (MFA student) will introduce Cramer, Sawyer and Hepburn. Adams curated Residue: Reflections on Aging and Mortality (2006) in Boston and writes a column for Fjoezzz quarterly, the Netherlands www.modernglas.nl  Her nationally exhibited art work is in private collections; Polaroid International Collection and, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Website: www.smfa.edu/faculty
  Petruzzi receives his MFA, 2011. Currently, his paintings are in The Next Generation III, an invitational exhibit that honors nine of Boston's graduate students; the exhibit is at at Emerson College through 2/2010. Website: www.johnguypetruzzi.com

February 28 to March 27, 2010
VISUAL VOICES IV: Primary Colors

Artists' Reception: Saturday, March 6, 2010, 1 - 3 pm.
Click here to see pictures from the reception.

Private Preview Party on Friday, March 5, 7-9 PM - A special celebration of Lowell's art teachers and an event to raise much needed funds for art supplies for Lowell's public schools.

VISUAL VOICES IV is a multi-gallery, city-wide exhibition featuring artwork by the elementary, middle school and high school students of Lowell and is organized by Brush resident artist and art teacher, Lolita Demers. Three galleries are hosting exhibitions during the VISUAL VOICES IV event:

• PRIMARY COLORS: Artwork by Lowell’s Elementary School Students
  Brush Gallery & Artists Studios, 256 Market St, Lowell, MA, www.thebrush.org
  Opening Reception: Saturday, March 6, 2010, 1 - 3 PM. Performance: 1:30 PM
  
  
• SECONDARY COLORS: Artwork by Lowell’s Middle School Students
  ALL Arts Gallery, 246 Market St, Lowell, MA, www.artsleagueoflowell.org
  Opening Reception: Saturday, March 6, 2010, 1:45 - 3:45 PM. Performance: 2:00 PM
  
  
• FULL SPECTRUM: Artwork by Lowell’s High School Students
  Whistler House Museum of Art, 243 Worthen St, Lowell, MA, www.whistlerhouse.org
  Opening Reception: Saturday, March 6, 2010, 2 - 4 PM. Performance: 2:30 PM

Nelson Lor, Elementary School	Kenneth Hong, Middle School	Michael Sam, High School

Special thanks to the Greater Lowell Community Foundation and the Lowell Cultural Council for supporting this city-wide kids' art event!

April 4 to June 6, 2010
TEA, SWORDS AND STITCHES: A Contemporary Interpretation of Classic Kimono Design

Curated and organized by Cynthia Hughes and Glenn Szegedy

Exhibition Features Displays of Classic Japanese Kimonos, Swords, Embroidery, Netsuke, and Soari Weaving. Click here to see the exhibition on-line.

Time honored traditional Japanese arts arrive in Lowell with a contemporary twist as twelve regional artists share their unique interpretations of the classic Japanese kimono and accoutrements.

Participating Artists: Beth Anderson, Christine Celozzi, Lynne Chantler, Deirdre Grunwald, Marlene Housner, Cynthia Hughes, Susan Krantz, Ann Lee/Sonja Lee-Austin, Diane Montenegro, Sarah Saulson, Margot Stage, Diane Zacaroli Spera, Glenn Szegedy

Event times are as follows:

Opening Reception: Saturday, April 10, 2-4 p.m., The Brush will host the opening of Tea, Swords and Stitches.

Netsuke Lecture: Saturday, April 24 2-4 p.m., “Now and Then: Similarities and Differences between Today’s Netsuke and Earlier Netsuke” presented by Jeffrey Klotz, Chairman of the New York International Netsuke

Iaido Sword Demonstration: Saturday, May 1, 2 p.m., presented by Sensei Alex Markauskas

Embroidery and Saori Weaving Demonstrations : Saturday, May 1, 12-4 p.m., presented by the members of the Japanese Embroiderers Guild and Stacey Piwinski

Tea Ceremony: Saturday, May 15, 2 p.m., performed by Kaji Aso Studios from Boston. Click here to see pictures from this event and from the exhibition opening.

“The kimono, at first glance, appears quite simple in design, but, as with most things Japanese, the simplicity is only on the surface,” says co-curator and contributor Glenn Szegedy.  “The exploration of design, construction and style of the kimono and other things Japanese continue to amaze and intrigue.”

This fascinating exhibition is free to the general public and will showcase the delicate techniques of silk thread weaving, silk painting, hand painting, quilting and embellishing fabrics.  Additionally, scheduled special events include demonstrations in iaido sword use, Japanese embroidery, and saori weaving as well as a lecture on netsuke sculpture.

Co-curator Cindy Hughes, who has contributed a piece to the show (shown above), personally selected the individual embroidery pieces from The Merrimack Valley chapter of the Embroiderers' Guild of America. 

"This work is so incredible," says Hughes. "I am in awe of the beauty and detail that goes into each piece.  These artists have been perfecting this craft for years and it shows."  

Complementing an exhibition of netsuke, which are small, intricate Japanese sculptures, the Brush is proud to welcome Jeffrey Klotz, president of the New York Chapter of the International Netsuke Society. Klotz will present his lecture on this impressive art form which has simple origins in wardrobe functionality.

In conjunction with the display of Japanese swords, iaido sensei Alex Markauskas will demonstrate his mastery of iaido katas, exciting, choreographed swordsmanship.

A traditional Japanese tea ceremony rounds out The Brush's exploration of Japanese art, where guests can see the beautiful kimono donned in this classic context. 

Special thanks to the Lowell Cultural Council for supporting this exhibition and related educational programming.

Part of the Brush's Building Community Through Culture Exhibition Series

June 13 to August 6, 2010
ARTISTS at the BRUSH EXHIBITION: Fluidity

Opening Reception: Thursday, June 17, 2010 5 - 8 PM

Fluidity is the harmony of elements moving together through time and space.  Steve Noroian, Brush Artist

Share the “Fluidity” of inspiration as it flows through the hearts, minds, and hands of our Brush Gallery Artists Studios. The theme for this year’s annual show is a reflection of the fluid relationships between Artists in our welcoming open studio setting. Part of being an Artist at the Brush is sharing common goals to nurture education of the public and of each other. Promoting both the Brush Art Gallery institution, and our fellow Brush Artists' work, creates uniquely fluid camaraderie among the Artists, the Brush institution, and the work produced here.

Click here to see pictures from the opening.

August 10 to September 11, 2010
ART QUILTS LOWELL 2010

September 19 to October 24, 2010
CHILDREN'S BOOK ILLUSTRATORS EXHIBITION

Curated and organized by Will Winslow

Opening Reception: Saturday, October 2, 12 - 2 pm. Click here to see pictures from the reception.

Meet the Illustrators: Saturday, October 2, 1 - 4 pm. Meet and talk with the illustrators, who will be on hand to sign their books

Special Reception for David Macaulay: Friday, October 1, 6 - 8 pm. Please join us in welcoming David Macaulay, Caldecott Medal winner (among many other awards) and a MacArthur Genius Fellow. Tickets are only $10.00 and a large portion of the proceeds will support the Brush's new Alice Giavis Memorial Art Scholarship. Click here to purchase tickets conveniently and securely on-line.

Please note: due to circumstances beyond our control, Chris Van Allsburg cannot participate in this exhibition. We are sorry for any inconvenience

This exhibition features current, award winning illustrators of children's books. These famous illustrators are:

• Christopher Bing (Casey at the Bat, Lincoln Shot)
  A renowned illustrator and political cartoonist, Christopher Bing's first book for children, Casey at the Bat, was a 2001 Caldecott Honor Book. His second, The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere, was named 2002 School Library Journal Best Book of the Year and an American Library Association Notable Children's Book. Lincoln Shot: A President's Life Remembered (2008) is also a grand work of Bing's. In addition to these books, Bing's political cartoons have appeared in the Boston Globe, Wall Street Journal and other publications. Mr. Bing lives with his wife and three children in Lexington, Massachusetts, in a house directly on the Freedom Trail, the route Paul Revere rode on that fateful night.
  
  Bing's work has been praised for meticulous research that informs his finely detailed drawings. His dramatic illustrations are rich with historical detail. The book also includes historic materials – cards, maps and coins – that bring the story alive. Bing admires Longfellow and his poetry but is not shy about pointing out the historical inaccuracies: "Longfellow got it wrong," says Bing, "but he was a writer dramatizing events and taking artistic license. The challenge was how to balance that artistic license with the historic reality of the events."

• David Macaulay (Cathedral, The Way Things Work)
  David Macaulay is an author and illustrator. Now a resident of Norwich, Vermont, he is an alumnus and faculty member at the Rhode Island School of Design.
  
  David Macaulay is also a board member of the National Children's Book and Literacy Alliance, a national not-for-profit that actively advocates for literacy, literature, and libraries.
  
  Macaulay is the author of several books on architecture and design. His first book, Cathedral (1973), was a history, extensively illustrated with pen-and-ink drawings, of the construction of a fictitious but typical Gothic cathedral. This was followed by a series of books of the same type: City (1974), on the construction of Verbonia, a fictitious but typical Roman city; Pyramid (1975), on the building of monuments to the Egyptian Pharaohs; Castle (1977), on the construction of Aberwyvern castle, a fictitious but typical Medieval Castle; Mill (1983), on the evolution of New England mills; and Mosque (2003). Other books in this series are Underground (1976), which describes the building foundations and support structures (such as water and sewer pipes) that underlie a typical city intersection, and Unbuilding (1980), which describes the hypothetical dismantling of the Empire State Building in preparation for re-erection in the Middle East.
  
  Macaulay has illustrated a number of other books, including the popular The Way Things Work (1988, text by Neil Ardley) which was expanded and rereleased as The New Way Things Work (1998). These works remain his most commercially successful. He has also written a number of children's fiction books.

• Kelly Murphy (Fiona's Luck)
  Kelly Murphy is an award-winning illustrator and animator working predominantly with traditional and mixed media. Born and raised in southeastern Massachusetts, USA, she studied illustration at the Rhode Island School of Design. Since earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1999, Kelly has been actively freelancing across the various fields of editorial illustration, picture books and poster illustration as well as character design for both the film and toy industry. An accomplished children's book author and illustrator, Kelly's books have been published by america's leading publishing houses and her tenth children book is already due to be available in the Fall of 2009.
  
  Kelly's work has been featured in curated shows, gallery exhibitions and international magazines specialized in illustration. On the side of these numerous and versatile creative achievements, she has been engaging in a lasting involvement with art and has been a member of the illustration faculty at the Montserrat College of Art in Massachusetts, USA since 2002, the Massachusetts College of Art and Design since Fall 2008 and the Rhode Island School of Design since Spring of 2009.

• Matt Tavares (Zachary's Ball),
  Matt Tavares was born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1975. He grew up in Winchester, a suburb just outside of Boston. 
  
  Matt wrote and illustrated his first picture book, Sebastian's Ball, as his senior thesis at Bates College. Three years later, after much revision, Sebastian's Ball became Zachary's Ball, his first published picture book. Zachary's Ball went on to win an Oppenheim Gold Seal Award, a Massachusetts Book Award Honor, and was named one of Yankee Magazine's 40 Classic New England Children's Books.
  
  Since then, Matt has published eight more books, all with Candlewick Press: he was the author-illustrator of Henry Aaron's Dream, Mudball and Oliver's Game, and the illustrator of The Gingerbread Pirates, written by Kristin Kladstrup, 'Twas the Night Before Christmas, attributed to Anonymous, Jack and the Beanstalk, written by E. Nesbit, Iron Hans: A Grimms' Fairy Tale, retold by Stephen Mitchell, and Lady Liberty: A Biography, written by Doreen Rappaport.
  
  Matt's books have won several awards, including three Parents' Choice Gold Awards, a Parents' Choice Silver Honor, two Oppenheim Gold Seal Awards, and an International Reading Association Children's Book Award, as well as starred reviews in Publisher's Weekly, The Horn Book Magazine, School Library Journal, Booklist, and Kirkus Reviews. His illustrations have been exhibited at the Museum of American Illustration at the Society of Illustrators, and at the Brandywine River Museum.
  
  Matt lives in Ogunquit, Maine with his wife, Sarah, and their two daughters.

• David Wiesner (Tuesday, The Three Pigs, Flotsam)
  David Wiesner has illustrated more than twenty award-winning books for young readers. Two of the picture books he both wrote and illustrated became instant classics when they won the prestigious Caldecott Medal: Tuesday in 1992 and The Three Pigs in 2002. Two of his other titles, Sector 7 and Free Fall, are Caldecott Honor Books. An exhibit of Wiesner's original artwork, "Seeing the Story," toured the United States in 2000 and 2001. Among his many honors, Wiesner holds the Japan Picture Book Award for Tuesday, the Prix Sorcières (the French equivalent of the Caldecott Medal) for The Three Pigs, and a 2004 IBBY Honour Book nomination for illustration, also for The Three Pigs. Flotsam, his most recent work, was a New York Times bestseller and was recently named winner of the 2007 Caldecott Medal, making Wiesner only the second person in the award’s long history to have won three times.
  
  He is one of the most original and imaginative children’s book illustrators working today. Specializing in wildly fanciful images with few words, his books appeal to a wide range of audiences and ages.
  
  Wiesner lives with his wife and their son and daughter in the Philadelphia area, where he continues to create dreamlike and inventive images for books.
  

In conjunction with this exhibition will be shown artwork by Lowell school children which has been inspired by the participating illustrators.

Special thanks to the Lowell National Historical Park and the Lowell Cultural Council for supporting this exhibition and related educational programming.

October 31 to December 5, 2010
3 GENERATIONS ROMANCE THE STONES: The Artwork and Poetry of Three Generations of Women

Organized by Carol Boileau

Opening Reception: Saturday, November 6, 2 - 4 PM

We are all attracted to the natural beauty of stones. How many times have we slipped a pretty stone into our pockets, admired a craggy cliff, wondered about the boulder beneath our feet? There's something extraordinary about the geological world around us. We have been fascinated by stones throughout history. They have been collected and have served many purposes, from utilitarian to decorative. Their stability and enduring qualities are associated with longevity and immortality.

Three generations of women celebrate the beauty of the ordinary stone with extraordinary paintings, photography and poetry. Carol Boileau, her daughters Colleen Brandon and Tracy Phillips and her granddaughter Caitlin Downey pay tribute not only to stones themselves, but to what they represent: a family of strong women who are enduring and smoothed by time.

On her many trips to the American Southwest, Carol Boileau sketches and paints its tawny landscapes, loves the beauty of its stones and is impressed by their shapes and juxtapositions. Like her mother, painter Colleen Brandon has always been captivated by rocks, particularly those gleaming and polished by the ocean. Tracy Phillips, a portrait photographer at heart, has turned her camera to the rocks of the New Hampshire seacoast, capturing their multiple facets of reflected light and their signs of age and permanence. Poetess granddaughter Caitlin Downey’s generational interpretation of the archetypal images of stone and water seems only appropriate for her gallery debut.

December 11, 2010 to January 29, 2011
BRUSH GALLERY JURIED MEMBERS' EXHIBITION


Juror: James Veatch, MFA, Chairman, UMass Lowell Art Department

Best in Show Award: $200.00

Organized by Eileen Byrne

Opening Reception: Saturday, December 11, 2 - 4 PM

This year the Brush is collaborating with the New England Sculptors Association (NESA) to host a beautiful 2D and 3D exhibition. See paintings, drawings, pastels, quilts, photography and more. See sculpture in a range of media: bronze, wood, stone, metals and ceramics.