Thursday October 18, 2018
6:30pm, presentations begin at 7:30pm
$5 – $10 Sliding scale admission fee

Parking is free after 5pm at all UMass parking lots.

This month’s ArtSalon will be at the UMCA in the Fine Arts Center Lobby at UMass.
Food will be provided by Jakes at the Mill. Open cash bar.

Presenting Artists: Naomi Darling, Bibiana Medkova, Procheta Olson Mukherjee, Gary Orlinsky, and Darrell Petit. 

A brief Q&A period with the artists follows the presentations.

Naomi Darling, is founding principal of Naomi Darling Architecture and Five College Assistant Professor of Sustainable Architecture with a background in environmental and structural engineering, climate change science, ceramics, and sculpture. Naomi brings and integrative approach to every project that draws upon her diverse background. Each project is a collaboration with the client, the site, and the larger context, translating ideas into built form. She holds a BSE from Princeton Univ. and a MA in Architecture from Yale University. http://www.naomidarling.com/

Bibiana Medkova is a multi-disciplinary artist who works in installation and new media. Their work has been shown at Benaki Museum, Athens Greece (2015) and the Satellite Art Show, Miami FL (2016 & 2017); their work has been included in projects that have been exhibited at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York NY (2017), MoMA PS1, Queens NY (2015) and Petzel Gallery, New York NY (2017) and has been reviewed in the Hyperallergic, ArtFCity and Feature Shoot. Bibiana is an MFA candidate at University of Massachusetts – Amherst, founder of Pickled Press and co-editor of Fotofobia.  https://bibiana.co/

Procheta Mukherjee Olson is a practicing artist, whose works range from miniature oil paintings to pen and ink drawings that explore the irregular and fluid terrains of multicultural exchanges in India. Although drawing heavily from Mughal and Persian painting traditions, their narratives are wrought with allegories of postcolonial history, politics, and the visual and material culture of the nation in the age of globalization. Her process is constantly informed by her curatorial and academic pursuits as well as her experiences traveling back and forth between the two countries she calls home. http://www.prochetaolson.com/

Gary Orlinsky is a sculptor who lives and works in Leverett, Massachusetts. He is a well-known public artist, whose site-specific installations have been shown in museums, parks and gardens throughout the United States—such as the Berkshire Museum, Acton Arboretum, Boston Children’s Museum, the Atrium at Dartmouth College, the Evanston Art Center near Chicago, and Forest Hills Cemetery in Boston. During the off-season he works on smaller scale assemblages and private commissions. He has led workshops at the Chautauqua Institute, for American University in Corciano, Italy, the Smith College Museum of Art, and other sites and institutions. He currently teaches sculpture at Assumption College in Worcester and in the Commonwealth College Honor’s Program at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. http://gary-orlinsky.squarespace.com/

Darrell Petit was born in Canada but studied urban planning at Brown University, the Hochschule der Künste, Berlin, as well as the Institute for Architecture and Urban Studies of NYC. Petit has lectured at Yale University, Brown University, New York University, the University of Pennsylvania and the Kyoto City University of the Arts in Japan, among other institutions around the world. Working on site-specific projects as well as other sculptural pieces, Petit has used a broad range of stone in various forms. His works are in museums and collections around the world. https://darrellpetit.com/

This program is supported in part by The Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts and Fierst, Kane and Bloomberg.

6 PM | The event starts with a mixer at Project Art. Refreshments will be provided by The Old Creamery 

PROJECT ART, 54 Main Street, where you can view GrowlerFest, a celebration of unique ceramic vessels to hold beer – Growlers!

7 PM | The ArtSalon presentations will begin across from Project Art at the CUMMINGTON COMMUNIY CENTER. $5 – $10 Sliding scale admission fee

Presenting Artists:  Cynthia Atwood | Lyn Horton | Alexandra Jelleberg | Peggy Klineman | Mara Superior

A brief Q+A with the presenters will follow the presentations.

Cynthia Atwood received a BA in Painting and Printmaking from the University of Kansas and a MFA in Visual Arts/Sculpture from Vermont College of Fine Arts. Cynthia creates objects about the body with sensuous humor and some provocation. She is interested in the unrecognizable, the repressed, and the mystery of our associative, psychological state in regards to our perception of what is beneath our skin? Her work is an exaggerated reference to the body. It reflects the paradox of intelligence opposing bestiality, the body couture. https://www.cynthiaatwood.com/

Lyn Horton received her formal artistic education with BFA and MFA degrees at the California Institute of the Arts in Valencia, CA. She worked as an assistant to Sol Le Wit and as editor, co-author and executive assistant to Edwin Schlossberg. Her art has been in solo and in group shows throughout the United States and including in Vientiane, Cambodia. Aside from creating art, Horton wrote for nearly all the Jazz Music Publications on creative improvised music, more generally known as avant-garde jazz. http://lynhorton.net/

Alexandra Jelleberg grew up and attended college in North Dakota where she received BAs degrees in both painting and ceramics. She continued her studies in ceramics at Newcastle Maine and art history at Arizona State University. She is currently an artist-in-residence at Project Art, where she also works as program director for events and studio happenings as well as gallery associate at Ferrin Contemporary. http://www.alexandrajelleberg.com/

Peggy Klineman was born in Pittsburgh, PA. She received her MFA degree in ceramics from the Rochester Institute of Technology and BA degree from the University of Arizona. While living and working as a designer in NY, she studied painting at Cooper Union and at the Art Student League of New York. She now lives and works in Worthington, MA.Klineman has exhibited her work widely throughout the Northeast. https://peggyklineman.com/home.html

Mara Superior grew up in New York City and studied at The Pratt Institute and the Hartford Art School, received a BFA from the University of Connecticut and an MFA from the University of Massachusetts. Mara was one of the founding partners of Pinch Pottery / Ferrin Gallery in Northampton, Ma. Mara lives and works in western Massachusetts with her husband, artist Roy Superior. She exhibits throughout the United States and is represented by Ferrin Gallery. Her work can be found in many public and private collections including the White House Collection of American Craft, the Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, the Museum of Arts and Design in NYC and the LA County Museum of Art. http://www.marasuperior.com/

This program is supported in part by the Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts, by and Fierst, Kane and Bloomberg, and by an anonymous donor to support artist honoraria.

The ArtSalon is a dynamic social evening of engaging presentations by established and emerging artists in the Pioneer Valley. The ArtSalon provides an opportunity for artists and designers of all mediums to present their work and ideas in a format called Pecha Kucha (pronounced peh-chak-cha) of 20 slides x 20 seconds each. Come meet and join the artists, creators, critics, and collectors in a friendly, social gathering of conversations about the arts in our community. 

Contact: valleyartsalon@gmail.com or visit www.theartsalon.com for more information

Artists from the Pioneer Valley Present Their Work: Juliet Bacchas, Roberley Bell, Jacin Giordano, Chris Page, Sondra Peron, and John Simpson.  

Thursday May 24th, 2018, at the Mass Life Building, 9th Floor.

6:30pm, Presentations begin at 7pm, $5 – $10 Sliding scale admission fee

Contact: valleyartsalon@gmail.com or visit www.theartsalon.com for more information

Juliet Bacchas was a child of the Jamaican countryside, and set her sights high and made it through four years of college. In her second year she was honored to receive a bronze medal form the Jamaican Cultural Development Commission(JCDC). In 2000, Juliet received a silver medal, again from the JCDC. She also received the William Aiken Cash Award in her final year, which helped pay tuition. At graduation she was the first recipient of the Cecil Baugh award of Excellence. She said, “It was an honor to have my medal placed around my neck personally from the Master Potter of Jamaica himself……Cecil Baugh. I will cherish this honor always”. https://julietrosepotterystudio.com/

Roberley Bell spent her childhood in Latin America and Southeast Asia, before returning to the United States to attend the University of Massachusetts and State University of New York at Alfred from where she holds an MFA. Bell is the recipient of many grants and fellowships including the Senior Scholar Fulbright to Turkey which spawned a series of projects in public spaces. She continues to receive residency awards both nationally and internationally. Bell has completed public projects in Lincoln and Cambridge, Mass, in Pittsburgh, Chicago, Baltimore, New York, Kaliningrad in Russia, Salzburg in Austria, and in Istanbul, Turkey. She lives in a rural community in Upstate New York and teaches in the School of Photography at Rochester Institute of Technology. Roberley will shortly move to the Pioneer Valley, which she considers her second home. http://www.roberleybell.com/

Jacin Giordano works in Easthampton, Massachusetts. He received his BFA in painting from the Maryland Institute College of Art and his MFA from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Giordano has exhibited in galleries, museums, and art fairs throughout the United States and internationally including deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, Perez Art Museum Miami, The Bass Museum of Art, Harn Museum, The Frost Museum at FIU, Fondation Villa Datris, Frieze Fair, The Armory Fair, Zona Maco, and Art Basel. Although his work sometimes blurs the line between painting and sculpture, Jacin primarily identifies his work through the lens of painting where he is continually interested in deconstructing and reconfiguring the physical possibilities of paint. His work is the result of experimentation and a constant exploration of material, texture and process.

http://jacingiordano.com/

Chris Page is a contemporary artist working in the Amherst–Northampton area of Western Massachusetts creating paintings and photographic sequences in response to walking the land.He is having a dialog between nature and the practice of painting for over forty years. Influenced by the large-scale paintings of the New York art scene including Abstract Expressionism and Minimalism, Chris has long been engaged in painting large canvases that navigate and between abstraction and landscape, trying to share his experiences of being in nature. Recently he has added photography as part of his practice. Chris has exhibited widely in museums, galleries and alternative spaces around New England and in Brooklyn, NY and Santa Fe, NM. http://chris-page-art.com/

Sondra Peron grew up in Connecticut and resides in Northampton, Massachusetts. She is currently on the faculty at Springfield Technical Community College where she teaches photography as well as conducting independent studies with advanced students, and academic advising. Peron has produced a significant body of work using vintage cameras, most notably the Brownie Hawkeye manufactured by Kodak from the late 1940s to early 1960s. Her photography has been exhibited in solo, two-person and group shows throughout New England, Maryland, Tennessee, and China. https://sondraperon.com/

John Simpson works as a professional artist since 1988. He apprenticed the renowned artists Gregory Gillespie, Robert Mallary, Shimon Okshteyn and master Kalsang Lodoe Oshoe as well as master conservator Emil Schnorr (Springfield Museums). He is teaching assistant at UMASS Amherst Commonwealth Honors College. He collaborated in special exhibits at the Springfield Museums for the last 25 years, including Kathmandu, Ancient Egypt, the GWVS Museum Art Discovery Center, In the Land of Castles and Kings, Timbuktu and painted the murals inside the Dr. Seuss Museum. John has painted the murals on 31 Elm St. in Court Square, created a moveable Tibetan Buddhist temple and Buddha Shakyamuni statue for the Smithsonian National Folklife Festival in 2000 and is working with MGM Resorts and MGM Springfield Founding member of City Mosaic, along with Evan Plotkin and Mike Cass, Founding member of Springfield Central Cultural District.