When you walk through the doors of the Marion Art Center at any given point in time you are bound to find something unexpected, surprising, thought-provoking, and exquisitely beautiful. No small feat for a petite building with limited gallery space. But once again that is exactly what is happening right now as the MAC’s galleries host the 2020 Winter Members Show, now through February 15.
Gracing the walls will be perennial favorites such as works from Anne T. Converse, Sharlie Sudduth, Peter Stone, Sarah Brown, Russell Saunders, Diana Parsons, Tom Geagan, and Alice Shire, to name a few of the more than 50 artists who participated in this year’s show.
Two new members have added their works to the stunning display. John Magnan and Diane Kelley have only been MAC members for a relatively short period of time, but already they are making an impact by way of their chosen artistic expressions.
Magnan is a woodcarver whose use of electric carving tools to find the inner messages deep within wood boggles the eye, followed by the heart and mind. The three pieces Magnan brought to the MAC show represent more than 25 years of expertise in sculpting and in woodcarving.
“I retired and took up sculpting,” he said. His love of natural materials and the challenges of finding that hidden “something” deep within a log can be seen in the three pieces now on display.
Located on the first-floor gallery are two smaller works: Diorama, and a self-portrait titled ‘Fibonacci Blindfolded’.
Diorama came out of an opportunity Magnan received when invited to participate in an exhibition at the Philadelphia Athenium. Artists were asked to use books located there as a source of creative inspiration. Magnan selected an “old architectural” book.
“It’s about a dozen individual pieces,” Magnan said of the completed work, intricately carved pages of a book that was then glued into a cover with a majestic Greek Revival entranceway. One can almost imagine shrinking to Lilliputian size and walking into the book’s pages.
Opposite this piece is ‘Fibonacci Blindfolded’. The self-portrait is layers of purple heartwood and maple with a studded band around the eyes and skull representing a blindfold.
Magnan is a retired career mathematician with the federal government.
“I’m a lifelong wood carver,” said Magnan. “When I retired, I studied at the Maryland Institute in the first postbaccalaureate program that allowed you to pursue a degree in a non-related field.”
After completing that program, he was accepted into the master of fine arts program at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth where he studied sculpting earning an MFA.
“I’ve been here ever since,” he said with a chuckle.
Standing more than five feet tall in the second-floor gallery is Magnan’s third offering titled Artemis. It rests on pillar also carved by the artist. Artemis is a daughter of Zeus, and as the story goes, the goddess of the hunt, animals, the moon, and the entire wilderness. Magnan’s take is otherworldly. The lattice-like trunk appears as stars in the sky suspended for eternity.
One more word on Magnan: there will be a solo showing of his installation Thor’s Hammer at the MAC from February 21 through March 28.
“It’s social commentary using the imagery of Marvel Comics,” he said.
Also on the second floor is the whimsical yet breathtaking installation of Kelley’s mixed media works of art. Here we find a combination of elements depicting human features in a “tree trunk” made of paper-mâché “bark” over PVC conduit like slices of tree branches stacked to make a small sentry.
The larger piece, titled ‘Mother Earth Vessel’, has a delicate face peering out inviting all to stop for a moment and notice the pampas grasses currently adorning the top of her head.
“At Christmas time I placed willows and lights there,” Kelley said, making this piece changeable according to the season. She said that it first graced a table at the Rotch-Jones-Duff House in New Bedford during the holiday season.
Kelley, a gifted interior designer who has given classes at the MAC in the past, enjoys working with a variety of natural and manmade materials. Her ‘Celebration Sentry’ could easily become a lifeguard in the summer or a nutcracker in December. Its eyes were cleverly crafted from black beans and pistachio shells. She said she has been very encouraged by the public’s response to her works and was eager, as many other artists were, to receive feedback. Kelley plans to continue working with a wide selection of materials to achieve something new as she explores the depths of her creativity.
A third piece by Kelley titled ‘Elegant Earth Angel’ is a delicate combination of dried grasses, leaves, and flower heads. It seemed at any moment it would gently flutter its grass wings and rise into the heavens.
Whether you are drawn to photography, watercolor, pastels, oils, acrylics, or the use of assorted materials, there is something for everyone at the 2020 Winter Members Show at the Marion Art Center.
By Marilou Newell
