The Alchemy of Art and Play
Please join us for the opening reception on Saturday January 27 from 3-6PM. Exhibition Dates: January 26 - February 11, 2024. Gallery Hours: Fridays 6-8PM, Saturdays 12-5PM, and Sundays 12-5PM.
Claudia Fiks is a back at Piano Craft Gallery once again, this time as organizer of “The Alchemy of Play.” This exhibition illuminates the dynamic interplay between art and play, showcasing how artists leverage experimentation with various mediums and a playful mindset to transform those materials into captivating and thought-provoking masterpieces.
Through interaction with toys or engagement in imaginary games, children and all individuals repurpose objects, infuse new meanings, and extract functionality to reinvent ordinary items, breathing fresh life into overlooked or even the common daily life objects. This process imbues creations with whimsy and resourcefulness, inviting viewers to actively engage, question, and interpret the artwork, establishing a profound connection to the artist’s creative process. The bold and dynamic fusion of art and play empowers artists to liberate themselves from constraints, encouraging the exploration of unconventional mediums and techniques. This intersection celebrates curiosity, spontaneity, and joy, resulting in works infused with vitality. Ultimately, the celebration of imagination and ingenuity at the crossroads of art and play exemplifies the transformative impact achieved through playful exploration and experimentation in the realm of creative expression. This exhibition seeks to convey the universal essence of imagination as a driving force for exploration, understanding, and creation. Whether in the playful realms of childhood or the studios of artists, the power of imagination to reshape, reinterpret, and redefine the world remains a common thread, weaving together the joyous pursuit of understanding and expression.
Jurors:
Sage Brousseau is a Boston-area artist and educator with a decade of experience in museum education. In her current role as Senior Art Educator for Boston Children’s museum, she is dedicated to fostering community while providing access to art and art making for families and children, as well as developing curatorial projects that make space for local artists to share their work with young audiences. In her photographic practice, Sage explores story, place, and identity as the foundation of personal history. Her recent projects investigate traces of memory and contemplate emotion and loss through the lens of shared female experience. Her photography is exhibited regularly in local and regional venues including a 2021 solo exhibition of her series What’s Left Behind at The Griffin Museum of Photography. In 2021, she was also a Photolucida Critical Mass finalist. Sage received her M.Ed. from Lesley University and her BFA from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
Laura Petrovich-Cheney’s work is a collaboration between textiles, woodworking and fine art. Her recent sculptures inspire a dialogue between individual and environmental concerns, drawing inspiration from feminism and traditional women's arts such as needlework, weaving and quilting. Laura repurposes discarded materials to create her sculptures, searching for traces of personal histories, identity, and humanity. She exhibits her work in solo and group shows nationally, some venues including The Toledo Museum of Art, Berea College, the International Quilt Museum, Fuller Craft Museum, the James A Michener Museum and most recently, the Boston Children's Museum. Laura received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Park Service, Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, and the Clark Hulings Fund for Visual Artists. She attended residencies at Society of Arts and Crafts, The Arctic Circle, Vermont Studio Center and Haystack Mountain School of Craft. In 2017, she received the New Jersey State Council on the Arts Fellowship in Sculpture, followed by the Artist Fellowship in Crafts from the Massachusetts Cultural Council in 2021. She holds a BA in Fine Arts and English Literature from Dickinson College, an MS degree in Fashion Design from Drexel University, and an MFA in Studio Arts from Moore College of Art and Design.
