Lauren Whearty Reviews Eleanor Conover's Swarthmore College Solo Show

I have had the privilege of writing for Artblog on occasion. In December 2022 I wrote a review for Eleanor Conover’s solo show at Swarthmore College’s List Gallery

You can find the review here

Gallery view of Eleanor Conover’s show “Side Angle Tide” at Swarthmore’s List Gallery. Image courtesy of List Gallery.

Do or Don't Do It Yourself: A Paint by Number Show - Curated by Kirstin Lamb

Do or Don’t Do It Yourself: A Paint by Number Show

February 23rd - March 30th, 2023

Dorrance H Hamilton Gallery, Salve Regina University, Newport CT

Kate Bae, Jenny Brown, Katie Commodore, Teresa Cox, Marjorie Hellman, Lori Larusso, Ghost of A Dream, Will Hutnick, Jodie Mim Goodnough, Karl LaRocca, J Myszka Lewis, Jerry Mischak, Kristen Schiele, Jen Shepard, Michelle Weinberg, Lauren Whearty, Jamie Vasta, Visiting Adjunct Curator Kirstin Lamb

Opening Reception February 23rd 5-7pm

The Dorrance H. Hamilton Gallery is pleased to announce the opening of our group show “Do or Don’t Do It Yourself: A Paint by Number Show”. An opening reception with short conversations with several of the included artists is scheduled for Thursday, February 23rd, at 5:30 p.m. If anyone can make it, why is it art? Why should an artist be interested? At once an emblem of mindless conformity, leisure time, the machine age and the possibilities of collaboration with the machine, the paint by number continues to inspire artists, despite its purported bad reputation. The form of paint by number democratizes painting, heralding the moment when you too, could be a painter. This show gathers a range of artists working with painting, sculpture, textiles, and drawing and looks at the leisure activity and hard-edged readymade as it has influenced a range of contemporary American artist’s aesthetics. What is possible now that we can use computers to generate patterns once done by hand? What does a paint by number become in the digital age? What does it symbolize? Why would an artist want to use that symbolism and aesthetic? As a curator and an artist, I find myself gravitating to work that I feel is in some way influenced by the paint by number, either its high color and hard edges or its readymade order-from-the-internet art objects. One can get photographs printed as canvases of number gridded textiles, plans for embroideries, paintings and more, thanks to the advancements in printing, graphics and 3d printing.

Some of the artists in this show were initially uncomfortable with the idea of being included in a show about Paint by Number aesthetics.  As an artist and curator, I love the art form, and use it in my work, but I can understand the hesitation. I am not judging the work as less than, or without skill.  I am looking for evidence of the machine, the aesthetic of the edges of the form. We have easy access to photo processing programs in our computers and phones and that changes our visual lexicon, the high color and sharp edges spend a greater time in our field of view.

This is at once a celebration of a democratic art form and a salutation to that form in many different conceptual and painterly art practices.

The Dorrance H. Hamilton Gallery is located in the Antone Academic Center on the campus of Salve Regina. It is handicap accessible with parking along Lawrence Avenue and Leroy Avenue. Its exhibits are open to the public Tuesdays and Thursdays from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Wednesdays and Fridays from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; and Saturdays and Sundays from Noon to 4 p.m. The gallery is closed on Mondays.

For the run of this show, the gallery will also be closed for Salve Regina’s Spring Break, Saturday March 11 th – Sunday March 19 th , please be aware of these hours.

The exhibition was also revied by Salve Today - Please check it out!

Underdonk - So Nice To See You Again + Review in Two Coats of Paint

The exhibition was also reviewed on Two Coats of Paint!


So Nice to See You Again

Organized by Leonora Loeb + Keisha Prioleau-Martin 

October 30th – November 21st

Saturdays + Sundays 1-6pm

Opening Reception Friday, October 29th, 6-8 pm 

Closing Reception, Sunday November 21, 4-6 pm

Julia Blume

Madeline Donahue

Kathleen Granados 

Alison Owen

Alfredo Plot 

Giancarlo Montes Santangelo

Logan t. Sibrel

Wendy Small

Lauryn Welch

Lauren Whearty  

 

Nice to See You Again is a show dedicated to our shared longing to be embraced by the outdoors while simultaneously craving the warmth of the indoors. This year our outdoor spaces have taken on a new significance, and as we see another winter approaching we want one last backyard barbecue! We need one more hour of direct sunlight on our studio cactus! These works play with ideas of inside and outside and greet us after a long journey.

Golden Foundation Residency - Virtual Studio Visit

Please check out this video, generously put together by the Golden Foundation Residency in lieu of a public open studio event to share our work with the public. I’m so grateful for the time that I got to spend with all of the professionals at Golden, and my two fellow residents, Rabia Ajaz, and Ursula Gullow.