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‘Jacuzzi Jazz #2’ by Caryl Bryer Fallert-Gentry on view at the New England Quilt Museum. (Photo courtesy NEQM)
Artist Kat O’Connor talks on her work at Worcester Art Museum on Sunday. (Photo courtesy WAM)
A ‘Metal Mania’ arrangement by Margot Stage. (Photo courtesy ALL)
‘The Hoosic River Runs Through It’ by Margot Stage in ‘Metal Mania” in the Greenwald Gallery. (Photo courtesy ALL0)
Artist Margot Stage is mad about metal — the odd, often rusted, and discarded stuff that she finds on her walks on city streets and sidewalks, on beaches, beside railroads and on woodland trails.
These pieces speak to her as an artist, and she has turned them into works of art that she showcases in “Metal Mania – Sculpture and Prints with found metal objects.” It is on view July 20 through Aug. 14 in the Greenwald Gallery at the Arts League of Lowell, 307 Market St., Lowell, with a reception from 3 to 5 p.m. on Sunday.
“I picked up my first piece of metal around 20 years ago and have been accumulating it ever since,” said Stage, who lived in Westford for many years but now lives in Eastham on Cape Cod.
“I find the random shapes, deteriorated edges and rusted holes irresistible,” she said. “Some metal pieces are obviously car parts, or flattened tin cans, or folding screening. Others have been transformed by time and weather into totally abstract forms.”
A 2019 artist residency at The Studios at MASS MoCA (Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art) in North Adams proved to be the “perfect opportunity” for Stage to take her road metal collection and discover what she could create with her treasures.
A body of work quickly emerged, made entirely without welding.
“I use wire, pop rivets, gravity and glue to assemble the pieces into sculptural forms,” she said. “It’s an exploration of what fits together, what calls to be suspended or hung. The material itself — the individual pieces — dictate the direction. There are often delightful surprises, and sometimes crashing frustrations that need to be solved.”
“Metal Mania” raises several questions, Stage said.
“Can we recognize beauty in deterioration and decay? Can we appreciate the marks that time and natural elements make on materials, as well as on ourselves? And can we bear witness to obsolescence and endless change?” she asks.
The gallery is open noon to 4 p.m., Wednesday through Sunday. Call 978-221-5018 or visit artsleagueoflowell.org for info.
ARTIST TALK: Join Worcester artist Kat O’Connor, whose work is currently on view at the Worcester Art Museum, for a talk and reception at the WAM on Sunday. It takes place 2-3 p.m. in the Conference Room and will be followed with a reception in the cafe. Admission is free but reservations are required at https://6230a.blackbaudhosting.com/6230a/Artist-Talk-Kat-OConnor.
NEW AT THE QUILT: Wrap yourself up in two new shows opening this week and running through Oct. 1 at the New England Quilt Museum, 18 Shattuck St., Lowell. “Reflections of Light,” featuring recent works by iconic quilt artist Caryl Bryer Fallert-Gentry, is a riot of complex designs, luminous colors and illusions of light, depth and motion. Fifty of her extraordinary quilts, many of them recent works, are on view. … Barbara Brackman’s “Hospital Sketches,” featuring 14 applique quilts inspired by Civil War health care workers, is also on view at the NEQM. Visit neqm.org or call 978-452-4207 for details.
REMEMBERING BUFFALO: Pamela Wamala remembers those lost in the Buffalo supermarket shooting tragedy in her lobby exhibition “Buffalo Remembrance Portraits,” on view through Aug. 15 in the Gates Block Studios, 307 Market St., Lowell. “Usually, this kind of creative work would be personal, not work I would share with others,” she writes in her Facebook post. “When I thought more deeply about sharing these paintings, it seemed important. Due to the significant and hard conversations I have been having with others about challenges we face in our country, I choose to show these pieces.” The lobby exhibit is on view 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday; 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturdays; and noon to 4 p.m. Sundays.
MUSEUM NEWS: The Whistler House Museum of Art, 243 Dutton St., Lowell, has reopened and welcomes visitors 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday. The restored kitchen, Whistler etchings and other galleries and rooms filled with art are open to visitors. Call 978-452-7641 or visit whistlerhouse.org for info.
Nancye Tuttle’s email address is nancyedt@verizon.net.
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