Artist Residencies, Artist in Residency probram

Marion Lane, a New York painter and sculptor with impressive professional and exhibition experience, is the first of four artists to be awarded a Rocky Neck Art Colony Residency. On Wednesday, May 28 at 7 pm Lane will give a presentation of her work at the Bryan Gallery, 56 Rocky Neck Ave., Gloucester. The public is invited to attend. On Wednesday, June 18, Lane will give a second presentation at the Avery Mann Gallery, 77 Rocky Neck Ave. where she will speak about her experience and show work she completed during her residency.

Marion Lane’s painting and sculpture shows a deep understanding of 20th century artistic genres. Her work has transitioned from abstract expressionism to minimalism. Her primary interest has been on feminist issues, which she addresses in metal relief sculptures and draped mixed media pieces. Her professional career includes positions as an adjunct college professor, teaching studio and art appreciation as well as work in the field of art therapy at the Manhattan Psychiatric Center in New York.

When asked what she could bring to Rocky Neck, Lane replied “My work would be of interest to your community. It is work that has a history and has gone through a process of evolution and change based on my life experience and changes in the art world.”

Rocky Neck artists in residency are selected because they demonstrated high-level accomplishment, originality, and seriousness of purpose. One artist was selected for each of three one-month residency terms, beginning May 27, 2008. A fourth professional artist/teacher was selected for a one-week teaching residency beginning June 22. The program includes prime studio/gallery/living space in Rocky Neck, opportunities to lecture and show work, and access to the rich cultural community of Rocky Neck and Cape Ann.

These events are funded by the Rocky Neck Art Colony (RNAC) in partnership with seARTS through a grant from the Massachusetts Cultural Council (MCC) John and Abigail Adams Fund.

Distinguished Artist/Teacher in Residence: Sue Miller (June 22-27)

Summer squares"\ 2000-2002 Acrylic and mixed media on linen 18" x 18" by Sue Miller

Rider II 1983-1988 Acrylic and wood on canvas
50" x 66" by Sue Miller

Sue Miller, an artist whose work “traverses a thin line between abstraction and visionary landscape” (from Gallery & Studio, April 2001, by Andrew Margolis), has been selected as the Distinguished Artist/Teacher in residence at the Rocky Neck Art Colony from June 22-27, 2008.

Miller has been represented by Allan Stone Gallery in New York City for the past 29 years and by Nielsen Gallery in Boston. She lives and teaches in Boston.

June 22, 3 pm: Introductory lecture and slide presentation Cape Ann Museum. Open to the public.

Click here for information about Studio Visits and Critique Groups

This event is funded by the Rocky Neck Art Colony (RNAC) in partnership with the Cape Ann Museum, and in part by seARTS through a grant from the Massachusetts Cultral Council (MCC) John and Abigail Adams Fund. Corporate support has been provided by the Hershey Frame Company of Rockport MA.

Third Artist in Residence, Mark Lavatelli, July 8 - August 7, 2008

Mark Lavatelli, an encaustic painter with an impressive resume of one-person exhibitions, awards and grants, and academic credentials, will be the third artist in residence for the Rocky Neck Art Colony. He will give a presentation about his work on Wednesday, July 9, at 7 pm at the Bryan Gallery. On Wednesday, August 6, Lavatelli will show work he has completed during his residency at a Gallery talk at 7 pm in the Avery Mann Gallery, 77 Rocky Neck Ave.

Lavatelli said that "The Rocky Neck Art Colony residency would provide an opportunity for me to develop further my practice of encaustic painting through the time and space to work in a visually stimulating environment, contacts with other creative people, and through exposure of my work to a new audience."

In two previous residencies, one at the Saltonstall Foundation near Ithaca, NY in 2001 and one at the Wurlitzer Foundation in 2004, Lavatelli made new work that led to exhibitions and acknowledgment of a high level of accomplishment.

"What I look forward to," said Lavatelli, "is the process of assimilating aspects of nature and expressing them in the wide variety of techniques that the hot-wax encaustic medium offers. ... I am also poised to create a series of encaustic monotypes possibly based on rocks and water."

This event is funded by the Rocky Neck Art Colony (RNAC) in partnership with seARTS through a grant from the Massachusetts Cultural Council (MCC) John and Abigail Adams Fund.

Fourth Artist in Residency, Ben Shattuck, September 9 - October 9, 2008

Ben Shattuck, an emerging artist and recent graduate from Cornell University's School of Fine Arts, will be the fourth artist in residence for the Rocky Neck Art Colony's 2008 Artist in Residency Program. He will give a presentation about his work on Wednesday, September 10, at 7 pm at the Bryan Gallery. On Wednesday, October 8, Shattuck will show work he has completed during his residency at a Gallery talk at 7 pm in the Avery Mann Gallery, 77 Rocky Neck Ave.

Shattuck's expressive and sometimes humorous oil paintings revolve around the cultural and natural history of New England. The New England landscape with its windtorn trees, salt marshes and cold, stormy seas, influence the heart of both the New England towns and of his landscapes. "I'm also interested in the link between formal New England History and that which becomes exaggerated, fantasized, but somehow just as true: the Salem Witch trials as both fantasy and fact; [and] the distortion of historic figures that radiates from nostalgia specific to New England," said Shattuck.

In Shattuck's 2007 solo exhibition New England: Fantasy Love, at the Tjaden Gallery, Cornell University, Shattuck combined technical skill with excitement, imagination and history to create his fantasy interpretation of historic New England. A review of the show by The Cornell Daily Sun says that "the exhibit really does evoke a sense of place, and, not to mention, person. Shattuck’s new paintings brag technical skill and teem with excitement and imagination. Where is this New England Shattuck paints? I want to go there."

“If you were to get a package of New England in the mail — if you were to order New England — you would get a little box of nostalgia, a little box of history, a little box of haunted houses,” remarked Shattuck. “And you can collect these things into something that feels like a sense of home. But how do you describe that?”

Shattuck's work is about process: processes of growth and identity and interaction between artist and viewer.

This event is funded by the Rocky Neck Art Colony (RNAC) in partnership with seARTS through a grant from the Massachusetts Cultural Council (MCC) John and Abigail Adams Fund.

About the Artist in Residency Program

The Artist in Residence program was established in 2005. It reflects principles stated in our By-Laws to

Acknowledge the importance of the traditions upon which the Rocky Neck Art Colony was founded and work to keep them vital in the context of contemporary culture.
Provide opportunities for educational and professional development in the arts, which might include lectures, workshops, exhibitions, scholarships and residencies.

Created by the Rocky Neck Art Colony, this special oneweek program is designed to offer ARTISTS ADVANCED CRITIQUES AND STUDIO VISITS facilitated by painter Sue Miller. Please go to rockyneckartcolony.org or www.rockyneckartcolony.org/critique.pdf seARTS.org (Residencies or programs) for the scheduleof events. Critique groups will take place on Rocky Neck The week will begin with a lecture by Sue Miller of her work at the Cape Ann Museum June 22nd, 2008 at 3:00pm. This lecture is a partnership among the Rocky Neck Art Colony, seARTS and the Cape Ann Museum. This lecture is sponsored by the Hershey Frame Shop of Rockport,MA

This program is funded by the Rocky Neck Art Colony, seARTS and the Cape Ann Museum and in part by the John and Abigail Adams Art Program fro the Massachusetts Cultural Council.

Funding for the Rocky Neck Art Colony Residency Program is in part from the Society for the Encouragement of the Arts made possible by The Massachusetts Cultural Council John and Abigail Adams Arts Program.