Still Life
I lift my brush to catch the light
Which passes quickly from cloud to cloud
A purple color melts in April greens
Objects wait for colors to describe their shapes.
– Marsha Solomon 2015
Marsha Solomon was one of many artists who answered this year’s open call at the Islip Art Museum to ‘think inside the box’ by creating works in an enclosure of some form that engages only one viewer at a time. “For a painter used to making wall-sized abstractions, this proved quite a challenge,” said Marsha Solomon, whose work can be seen in the opening photo. “I thought that pairing a poem was key, since it would correspond to this intimate, one-on-one experience of looking. I wrote the poem on a small curtain that covers the front of the box. Then when the viewer lifts the curtain, they see a small still life painting (as written about in the poem) as well as the arrangement of the actual objects I used to create the composition.”
The works selected reflect a wide variety of concerns and opinions, from relationships, ecology, aging, feminism, science, politics, and “just plain wonder,” according to the museum. “It was fun for me to work in three dimensions,” said Marsha. “This is actually my first sculptural work, and it also functions as a small-scale installation. I think part of the reason the museum asked for work like this was to get artists to think differently. It certainly had that effect on me!”
Artists featured include: Olga Alexander, Berges Alvarez, Renee Andolina, Holly Black, Jackie Branson, James Battistelli, Kate Collyer, Monica Chulewicz, Ana Paula Cordeiro, Margaret DeLima, Krystle L. DiNicola, JoAnne Dumas, Anna Fredericks, Lauren Goldstein, Adel Gorgy, Crista Grauer, Carol J. Hansen, Bernard Hallstein, Ellen Hanauer, Lori Horowitz, Lorena Kalaja, Julianna Kirk, Janet Lust Ganes, David Lee Moneypenny, Eric Murphy, Lesley Obrock, Linda Rettich, Meredith Rose, Neva Setlow, Sally Shore, Rosemary Sloggatt, Dinah Maxwell Smith, Marsha Solomon, Mark Strodl, Hisayasu Takashio, Shira Toren, Gerald Walsh, Ching Wen Tsai, Leigh Yardley, and Tmima Z.
Private Viewing: For Your Eyes Only
Islip Art Museum
Curated by Eileen Palmer
June 19 – September 11, 2016
Curated By Eileen Palmer
June 19 – September 11, 2016
