Go Big

/GO BIG

A Juried Members' Exhibition

ArtsWorcester West Gallery

November 3 - December 18, 2022

Large-scale works induce drama and can provoke oversized reactions. For this competitive exhibition juried by Nancy Burns, Stoddard Associate Curator of Prints, Drawings and Photographs at Worcester Art Museum, we invited members to think big.

ArtsWorcester exhibitions are sustained in part by the generous support of the C. Jean and Myles McDonough Charitable Foundation.

 

/JUROR'S STATEMENT

Nancy Burns

Stoddard Associate Curator of Prints, Drawings and Photographs at Worcester Art Museum

"Go Big represents a cross-section of contemporary practice across the greater Worcester region. Various media are represented, including printmaking, drawing, fiber arts, painting, and sculpture. The 13 selected works represent an array of aesthetic approaches from abstraction to figuration with an emphasis on works that require technical finesse and a deliberate approach."

/EXHIBITED WORKS


Jakob Fioole

We Will Be Here, For Ever and Ever

oil on linen

43″ x 59″

$9,000 (sold)

2020

We will be here, for ever and ever. The title and painting itself relate to many people who for whatever reason left home and came to America, like myself. Today’s world is filled with stories about generations starting over and all the experiences, good and bad, that come with that. I am fascinated by this complex process that is always in motion. An observer myself, I invite viewers to take in this painting and construct their own story. Who are these characters and what are they trying to do? Is this place being built or deconstructed? What is going on?

@jakobfioole






Donna Gordon

4 Rescue Horses Outside Laramie, Wyoming

lithograph

29″ x 41″

2021

I was doing a residency at Brush Creek Arts in Saratoga, Wyoming in 2019. On my way home I stopped At Deerwood Ranch, an ecosanctuary for wild horses. We drove out onto the range and got out to be with the horses, who ranged from lying down, to racing in a pack. Two years later, I was able to make this lithograph that’s part of my Double Vision series.

@donnagordon8994






George Hancin

Sylvan Road Late Summer Afternoon

oil on board

18″ x 86″

2022

The painting was done on four ply wood panells in early September over a course of two weeks. Each panel was painted on location about the same time of day, trying to catch a moment of time and light of a wide sretch of place. I think we humans tend to observe life in a wide visual experience. I try to capture that experience of observing life and place; a feeling of a particular moment.

@hancingeorge






Obiamaka Igwenagu

Chroma in the Sunset

oil paint

48″ x 36″

2022

My work focuses on the expression of freedom and individuality while exploring the concept of identity. The intensity of the image is pushed out by the vibrancy of each hue created by the brush strokes, which also reflects the richness that I want to convey. The abundance of beauty was created to capture the emotion felt at that very moment gazing at the sunset. The effort of painting this image on a larger scale allowed me to mitigate the challenges faced in order to arrive towards a unique sense of creativity.

@obiamaka.i, @o.amaka.i






Michelle Mullet

Gold Tooth

acrylic, spray paint on wood panel

48″ x 24″

2021

My grandmother had a golden tooth and I loved it. I thought it would be fun to amplify that image and pay tribute to her in meaningful and playful way. This painting is just pure joy in the form of a giant, golden tooth.

@michellemulletart






Christopher Nicholson

5

oil on board

73″ x 21.5″

2022

This is an assembly of five separate pieces that combine to make a single one. I seek to convey a sense of movement and the passage of time.

@cnicholsonart1






John Pagano

4=1

acrylic polymer on ascetate

55″ x 51″

2022

the idea of mixing colors in a new way has always intrigued me. Ascetate provides this when I paint on the front and back of the material, mixing one over the other, or sometimes one under the other.

@pagano4063






Kara Patrowicz

Playtime

wool felting

45″ x 50″

2021

“Playtime” is a fiber artwork created through needle felting with wool, and some details are needle felted with yarn. It’s a scene of my son playing and drawing on our messy living room floor, with my knees and hand emerging at the bottom of the composition. While making this piece, I was thinking about explorative play and creating, and watching it unfold from a mother’s viewpoint. This is the first large-scale fiber artwork that I have created, since I previously worked on a smaller scale. It inspired me to create larger pieces since its completion.

@kara.patrowicz






Erin Reid

Daggers

oil on canvas

36″ x 48″

2021

@erinreidart






Joan Ryan

Fore Fathers at the Wall

oil

45″ x 44″

2020

This painting reflects on the history of immigration, politics of borders of borders and American history

@jryan789






Amy Singer

Smith River Rocks

16 small watercolors glued onto canvas

24” x 36”

2020

I was tantalized by these compressed rocks along a riverbank in Oregon. I made small watercolor images working from my photo so I could study and engage in each contour and crevice.






Pamela Tarbell

Bee Vibration

acrylic on canvas

72″ x 93″

2000

Sound vibrations like color vibrations as feeling that resonate with all of us sometime unconscious or conscious.

@pamelatarbell






Trevor Toney

Sassafras with Orange Ombré

sassafrass veneer, baltic birch plywood, acrylic paint

24″ x 36″ x 2″

2022

$9,000

My paintings are constructed with Baltic birch plywood and then veneered. I do this in a way that allows me to add color, mediums and finishes to create different sheens, opacities and compositions that interact with the color and grain of the veneer. I view the veneer as a main character and not just a surface for supporting other materials. I think of my pieces as a collaboration between the wood and my artistic expression and choose pieces of veneer that speak to my sensibilities and often join veneer in various ways to highlight parts that are especially interesting.

@TrevorToneyinColor





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