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

NATURAL WORLD: A BRICKBOTTOM ARTISTS' ASSOCIATION MEMBERS' EXHIBITION Franklin W. Liu Brickbottom Gallery 1 Fitchburg Street Somerville, Massachusetts Through May 16 A broad-themed, group exhibit showcasing the works of 25 artists, “Natural World” yields a cornucopia of topics and images from bucolic landscapes to an installation piece raising communal concerns; artworks range from seeking ethereal, personal meaning in life to a sobering call for existential, societal accountability. The Brickbottom Artists’ Association (BAA) was founded in 1984 by a group of Massachusetts-based artists who acquired two solid brick buildings in disrepair. Architectural re-designs to this 1920s historic facility of A&P stores turned them into 150 condominium-spaces serving now as a vibrant artist community. David Tonnesen, a founding, resident-artist, exemplifies the intrinsic value of this community: that a resonant sharing of ideas between resident-artists leads to unexpected collaborations, expands aesthetic vocabulary, and injects a vital, redirected focus enriching individuals’ work. In this process, Tonnesen, in three separate collaborations with Josh Wisdumb, has altered the scale of his own sculptures from large back to small, thus retracing his own genesis as a jewelry-designer. Tonnesen’s award winning, 6’x 45’x 24’ stainless steel, abstract “Cod Fish,” appears to writhe near Boston Harbor’s south piers on the premises of Legal Sea Food’s corporate headquarters, who commissioned this kinetic work in 2003. Perhaps it was another corporate art-commission request of Wisdumb’s striking illustrations, noticed in the same year by New Balance, that led Wisdumb to customize a limited edition artist-pattern sneaker line. Tonnesen’s huge, multifaceted sculpture stands in contrast with Wisdumb’s intricate, fragmented lines. Yet, the illustrations are chiseled as if by a sculptor, becoming a bridge of commonality linking the two artists; compelling each artist to reexamine the impact of his own work; asking the question do strong, stand-alone surface-patterns destroy form or enhance it? And how do diametric visual elements coexist as one? Read the entire article in our magazine pages...