John R. Stomberg, Virginia Rice Kelsey 1961s Director of the Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth, is our special guest curator for two exhibitions featured in our named galleries, January 24-March 31. He will be hosting a panel talk with the three artists from the exhibition, From the Heart: Sachiko Akiyama, Chris Chou, and Kayla Mohammadi on Friday, February 24, from 5-6PM, following the discussion please join us for the opening reception, 6-8PM.
From the Heart: Sachiko Akiyama, Chris Chou, Kayla Mohammadi | Clifford B. West Gallery and E.N. Wennberg Gallery | The topics of the paintings and sculpture in this exhibition, where they exist, follow distantly in importance compared with the artists’ push for more intangible responses to form, color, rhythm and texture. When we see a person, place, or thing in this exhibition, these exist as vehicles for the poetic goals of the artists. The works appeal to the heart, which is a shorthand explanation of emotions that we feel absolutely but recognize in a manner different than the way we process other information. This may seem an unsurprising framework for an exhibition, but art as practiced by Akiyama, Chou, and Mohammadi stands out today for its faith in our emotional intelligence and our desire to connect directly with one another through art. The three artists met at Boston University where they each earned a Master of Fine Arts degree. Since then, they have pursued different paths while maintaining a serious commitment to their studio practice.
John R. Stomberg will return for a separate event to be held on Saturday, March 11 at 2 pm, where he will host a conversation with the artist Tom Fels, discussing the work in his exhibition: Cyanotypes, Drawings, and Watercolors.
