Brian White Show until October 7th

Our current show is of the latest work of Brian White. For those of you who don't know Brian's work, he is a local artist who burst upon the scene 4 years ago with a show that featured full scale women's dresses made out of sea shells. That show, his first ever, resulted in two museums getting his work, something almost unheard of in the art world.
The show that is now going on has a marvelously diverse collection of things in it. Among the items on exhibit is a full scale wedding ensemble of dress, veil and shoes all out of shells. This piece is scheduled to be on display at the Peabody-Essex Museum in 2008. There are two lobster men's shell shirts, an American flag out of antique mirror glass, a wedding dress in a big blue Tiffany box and a suite of English pear sculptures the artist took from a old book of botanical prints.
It is hard to adequately describe the scope and diversity of such a show, suffice it to say that those who see it will go away knowing why Brian White is such a popular attraction in these parts.

T. Allen Lawson August Show

As a gallery owner, I’ve always felt that art is more than just a noun. Art informs our daily lives in many ways, and colors the unique path we each follow. Art is a process. It is how we choose to live and at its best, art can be who we are.

Really good painters are often eloquent explaining how art permeates the process of what they do. Tim Lawson is one such artist. Talk to him for a time and it becomes clear that while he always starts with an exquisite sensibility to the existing natural world, his art is not complete until he finishes a delicate dialog with the myriad creative elements that serve to connect him to his work. He works slowly, meticulously, and this creative dance can, and occasionally does, take years.

“I start with the recognition that if the painting is high key, it’s the darker areas that become important. Or if the scene is dark, it’s the lighter areas that matter. That’s my jumping off point.” Lawson goes on from there to demonstrate how design elements change with each successive drawing or thumbnail sketch of a scene, and how color, texture and hue get amended as he paints.

A tree loses a branch on one side; it grows back on the other. Certain windows in a house disappear. Shadows lengthen and darken and move slightly left. The white trim on a seaside cottage at dusk begins to glow in the gloom. A moon that once rose in the sky over a Maine lake finds itself hovering over a riverbank in Missouri. Tim Lawson slowly and carefully amends the existing environment and, when he is finally done, we are treated to a transcendent new world brought into being by his considerable talent.

Finally, there is a unique aspect of Tim Lawson’s work that deserves special mention. Because he does his own matting, framing and gilding to complement each particular piece, be it painting drawing or pastel, the harmonic emphasis that each frame gives to a Lawson work is pitch perfect. No commercial framer could ever have such intimate knowledge of what the artist is trying to say. Lawson’s skill in presenting his art is unrivaled.

What you are about to see will give you much pleasure. Enjoy the art.

John Ames