The Marion Art Center opened their latest show on September 28 featuring artists Pam Hoss and Kim Barry. Getting to know the artists and being able to learn more about what inspires these two highly accomplished artists was a treat and more meaningful, as we could hear it all from their lips to our ears via video.
During exhibit receptions, we get to be up close to some of the most amazing artists the local area has ever seen. But being able to ask the artist questions during these joyful events can be challenging. Everyone wants a bit of their time in a room filled to overflowing with laughter and chat. Now the MAC has given us nearly unlimited access to the artists through video clips available on their website.
So come with me if you will for a few moments and read what they said. Afterwards, visit the MAC website and see the full, four-minute clips for yourself. And last but not least, once you’ve acquainted yourself with the artists and their works, go to the MAC and immerse yourself in the wonder of it all.
Kim Barry is a sculptor, potter and painter. At the behest of her mother, also an artist, she attended a painters’ workshop. She found herself in a new and exciting medium – wet-on-wet painting, building up layers of color and texture that make the images come alive.
Barry said in the MAC’s printed interview, “My use of paint is visceral; I have an appetite for color and enjoy manipulation of the paint that grabs the eye and stirs the unconscious. When I’m painting, I am compelled to articulate a fierce passion for life, female strength and fecundity.”
In Barry’s video, which was taken at her Hatch Street Studio, we find the artist speaking her truth. “I was (and still am) a wood and stone carver, but after attending the painting workshop, I became obsessed with oil. I love the feel and even the smell of the paint.” She said that her paintings are inspired by nature, shells, peppers and such. “I pose them,” often in dancer-like positions.
In preparing for this exhibit, Barry, whose familiarity with the gallery spaces is intimate (her mother exhibited here, and her daughter was in MAC theatrical productions), painted several smaller works that she calls emotional-scapes.
Sharing the exhibit with Hoss has been a great experience for Barry, not only because of her deep appreciation for Hoss’s work but also because Hoss is one of Barry’s former instructors.
Yes, Hoss had a 30-year career as a drawing instructor at the University of Massachusetts, and she was a young, single woman raising a child. In her video interview, she’s very forthcoming regarding her early years as an artist and mother. She shared that drawing was affordable and using herself as a model necessary. “I couldn’t pay a model.”
Hoss, also in her video, speaks about being one of 10 children, and although she doesn’t elaborate on that point, she did say that receiving a bunch of old photos inspired her to reexamine her youthful image, eventually bringing her into her later years with a new purpose, painting portraits of female senior citizens which she said, “looked like me.”
Hoss and her husband are dedicated gardeners. Her models at this stage in her career are the flowers in her gardens. You’ll find lush, velvety floral portraits and nearly life-sized portraits that demonstrate Hoss’ command of visual art, perfected facial structures and tender sentiments for flowers.
To experience the virtual interviews, visit marionartcenter.org. The gallery is open Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm.
By Marilou Newell