Nan Salky and Helen Murphy: Order and Chaos
New England Visionary Artists Museum Wing
Neatly organized in adjacent showrooms this mother daughter duo show very different types of work. Nan Salky, formerly a Psychotherapist, presents occultist imagery, beasts of the woods in pencil and paint, on wooden panels while her daughter Helen Murphy, a nurse, presents formal, tightly organized abstract designs on paper.
Mary Dunn: Absence and Fondness
Gallery Three
Mary Dunn, a poet, artist, & spiritual speaker, was part of the Anchor House of Artists at its 1997 inception. Here, in this art center's early years she spent afternoons silently producing innocent flower watercolors, indigenous mask renderings & mandalas that were slightly off kilter but served their meditative ends. In 2010, Mary died of pancreatic cancer, discovered only weeks before. Her poems & art at her apartment were disposed of but rescued by a friend who gifted them fondly to us.
Leilah M. Cohen (1998-2020): Sanctuary
New England Visionary Artists Museum Wing
That art is only incidental to the artist who created it is this venue's spirit. Case in point: before her tragic death, Leilah lived naturally. She farmed, journaled & drew. She danced, movement was part of her being. Now, her mother shares with others who knew her & those who never met her the creative traces of her short life & seeks to provide a deeper understanding and awareness to the community on the difficult topic of suicide, & how that leaves those of us who lose our loved ones.
Vincent Frano: Spirits We Are
New England Visionary Artists Museum Wing
Vincent Frano presents painted plaques and banners using handmade paints applied in a careful & prayerful approach to image making. They use mediums prepared with glass tools, combining powdered minerals in binders of solution of egg white, clove oil, and wine. Inks are also made from foraged materials. They describe their images as autobiographical works on identity & reclaiming humanity in a world that labels difference as madness.
Yaning Xing: Glass Factory
The Bumpus Gallery
Yaning Xing, MFA candidate in Umass Amherst, works across the mediums of painting, drawing, and installation. Born in China's Shiyan, Hubei, formerly a booming factory town, her work offers a window into the lives of those conscripted by Chinese modernity, communities like her own whose ways of life have been forever changed by the relentless logic of capitalist restructuring. Shown here, a swing made of a window and handmade glass chain. Large prints with social relevance in this exhibit too.