artscope magazine: May/June 2009 Welcome Statement: Brian Goslow, managing editor Letters to the Editor ARTSWorcester's BIENNIAL 2009 GRIDWORK: Further explorations into the urban landscape featuring new work by Robert Maloney and Sean Thomas BEN ARONSON - LIGHT AND GEOMETRY: The Urban Signature RADKA DONNELL: THE WORK OF TOUCH DOROTHY SIMPSON KRAUSE: LOSING GROUND NATURAL WORLD: A BRICKBOTTOM ARTISTS' ASSOCIATION MEMBERS' EXHIBITION JOE FIG: IN THE PAINTER'S STUDIO POINT OF VIEW: OUTDOOR SCULPTURE GALLERY-BY-THE-FALLS THE SIXTH SENSE: CONTEMPORARY JEWELRY FROM KOREA Featured Artist: Dominique Boutaud FéLIX DE LA CONCHA: PRIVATE PORTRAITS/PUBLIC CONVERSATIONS 2009 PORTLAND MUSEUM OF ART BIENNIAL SCULPTURES IN LOVE WITH ARCHITECTURE JESSICA GONACHA at YES Gallery and Studio THE BRIGHT & SHINING LIGHT OF IRREVERENCE: RICHARD SAJA AND THE HISTORICALLY INACCURATE SCHOOL WHERE HISTORY AND CONTEMPORARY MEET BRATTLEBORO-WEST ARTS PREMIER GROUP EXHIBITION SCOTT PRIOR (ongoing) and LARRY PRESTON / GREG GILLESPIE and LEONEL GóNGORA ANDIAMO! Art on the Hill Destination: Federal Hill, Providence’s Little Italy THIRD ANNUAL CONFERENCE OF ENCAUSTIC PAINTING AXIOM CENTER FOR NEW AND EXPERIMENTAL MEDIA CAPSULE PREVIEWS

SCOTT PRIOR (ongoing) and LARRY PRESTON / GREG GILLESPIE and LEONEL GóNGORA Greg Morell William Baczek Fine Arts 36 Main Street Northampton, Massachusetts;/br> Through May 17 R. Michelson Galleries 132 Main Street Northampton, Massachusetts;/br> Through July 31 For the lover of meticulously rendered, precious paintings that celebrate the artist’s consummate skill, a sojourn to William Baczek Fine Arts should be marked on the calendar. Each month, the gallery’s two immaculate white rooms host works of exceptional painterly finesse. At the center point of departure is the gallery’s premier artist, Northampton’s Scott Prior. His early work represents a pinnacle of artistic achievement that became the measure of the Valley style, and lies at the center of all things Baczek. Prior’s magnificent large-scale tableaus are neo-realist in nature but infused with a relaxed contemporary romanticism. His current work is more typified by experiments with qualities of light sourced by the sun, the moon and refracted from windows or twilight snow. Thirty still-life paintings by Larry Preston are on view at William Baczek through May 17. While Preston’s work heavily references the Dutch Masters of the 16th and 17th centuries, he surprises with subjects of present-day banality. Instead of fine silver, we might see aluminum baking pans, their sheen no less elegant than their less disposable counterpart’s; in addition to pears and lemons there are precariously stacked donuts, more Claesz than Thiebaud. Baczek’s annual “Landscape” exhibition follows from May 29 through June 14. The venerable R. Michelson Gallery is housed in a majestic, neoclassical, former bank that exudes a museumlike aura. Now in its 30th year, the high vaulted space is a repository of the Leonard Baskin Legacy in books, paintings and magnificent bronzes. The gallery also serves as a comprehensive showcase of the plethora of book illustrators that make their home in the Pioneer Valley. In the gallery’s balconies and niches, a spectrum of diverse talent is represented. Read the entire article in our magazine pages...