Piecing Together History
photo credit: Emily Zollo
New England's own renown artist Shelly Reed’s display of A Curious Nature is coming to Fitchburg Art Museum with a grand opening on Sunday, March 12th from 2 to 5. Come join us to walk through the vastly open layout of "A Curious Nature", with larger than life paintings that leave a sense of variability and power lurking around the corner.
The artist, Shelly Reed, fantastically crafted the grand scaled pieces gathered together to form the puzzle-like gallery on display. Hung panel artwork on both paper and canvas show Reed’s raw talent and the beautiful use of appropriation from older artists and paintings as she re formats the art in her own way to make it unique- something like art’s version of a musical mashup. Her artwork captures “movement caught in the moment” with the brilliantly talented use of tonal shift as she uses only black and white paint. The absence of color leads to an open ended experience for audiences to view the artwork and allows the freedom to interpret, in your own mind, as you craft your own opinion without being told what to think.
That freedom will carry you through the exhibit as eloquent and beautiful paintings show a sense of fear with a possible wonderful outcome on display. The collaboration of art with art history appeals to a vast audience and adds a deeper level of meaning as art history can show the history of previous cultures both politically and economically. When Shelly met with a class of students at Fitchburg State, she talked about how she usually starts with a particular image and the rest of the painting is not entirely planned. She appreciates how not going over the top with planning will allow the narrative to grow. She believes it “creates a balance not one that stays even but can move you into different feelings.” Her use of appropriation of the 1920's art is pieced together and changed from the traditional sense they were once used in by her use of panels and the entire room with the larger scale paintings.
As you experience every layer of the work it truly makes it more interesting and is extremely worthy of multiple visits to fully appreciate and take in the attention to detail that Shelly pours into her art. This is a perfect opportunity to view this incredible display which will only be here for a short amount of time so come check it out for yourself and experience the gallery and the rest of what the Fitchburg Art Museum has to offer.
