Wild Apples

Tom Chambers: Aground Last night, we launched the 8th and last issue of Wild Apples, a Journal of Nature, Art and Inquiry. Started 5 years ago by Linda Hoffman, Kathryn Liebowitz, Susan Edwards Richmond and Sophie Wadsworth, this exquisite journal has inspired, captured and transported both its readers and contributors for many seasons. I've had the privilege of contributing as a writer and artist to several issues, and the honor of being on the Board of Advisors. Treat yourself to exceptional beauty and wisdom by purchasing a copy of Wild Apples. Both the new issue and back issues are available at www.wildapples.org

Fibrous Forms at Lesley University

Fibrous Forms

Works by David Crane and Margot Stage

now until November 6, 2011

Lesley University's Marran Gallery

located on the University Quad, between Mellen and Everett Streets in Cambridge, MA

The gallery is accessible 24/7

Popham beach art 2

The beach offered lots of seaweed this year so that became the material we worked with to create our installation. The spirals led down to the high tide line, in anticipation of the water's hand in the evolution of the piece.

Slowly, each high tide broke and moved a bit of the seaweed line... we imagine that eventually it will all be erased.

Popham Beach art 1

Rope is what caught me eye on Popham Beach, Maine this September. All colors and lengths of rope ripped from lobster pots, knotted and tangled up with large clumps of seaweed. I couldn't stop myself from collecting, then did "rope laundry", using this half-submerged log as a drying rack. A bit of art in itself....though all the rope came home with me. Eventually, there will be another incarnation.

Another view at Fruitlands

Matt Rasmussen, a young man who is working at Fruitlands Museum this summer took these photos of my sculpture Falling. Not only a great photographer, Matt is also studying chemistry at Bowdoin College. Thanks for the great images, Matt!

When you visit Fruitlands, be sure to follow the Sculpture walk map far enough to enter Alicia Dwyer's Dryad Grove. It's enchanting!

Marriage

My son got married last month! Nick and Megan asked me to create an artwork that would hang in the sanctuary of the beautiful First Parish Church in Bedford, Massachusetts.

The size of the piece was limited to 5' x 3' so that it could also hang in their attic apartment in Somerville, a place with limited vertical wall space.

Here's the piece in progress in my studio.

I decided to also create an installation from birch branches that I cut from downed trees near Alewife in Cambridge -- "marrying" my current 2-D and 3-D art directions and filling the sanctuary space a bit more fully.

As I wrote for the wedding program: Marriage is a fiber art installation created by Margot Stage (aka Nick's Mom). The fabric trees represent Megan and Nick, while the surrounding white birch symbolizes their families and friends who support and celebrate their union.

It was a beautiful ceremony, shining with love, and filled with blessings for Megan and Nick!

Northeast Prize Show 2011

I'm thrilled that my piece Waters of March # 3 was accepted by juror Theodore Stebbins for the Northeast Prize show. Stebbins is curator of American Art at Harvard University's Fogg Museum, and selected 111 pieces from over 700 submissions. He wrote about the show, "I was, truthfully, amazed at the quality overall. I found more honesty, more love of art, more beauty than I had a week before among the five hundred booths at the Chicago Art Fair." High praise, indeed!

Northeast Prize Show 2011 can be seen through June 16th at the Cambridge Art Association's two galleries. Kathryn Schultz Gallery at 25 Lowell Street and University Place Gallery at 124 Mt. Auburn St. www.cambridgeart.org for more information. My piece is at the University Place Gallery.

Enjoy!

Art in Nature at Fruitlands Museum

From now until mid-November you can visit the fabulous Fruitlands Museum in Harvard, MA and enjoy this outdoor sculpture show on their 210-acre landscape. I'm thrilled to have 2 pieces in this exhibit -- Falling and Pod Veils.

It was a cold and windy day in March when David and I installed Falling.

Fruitlands curator Mike Volmar helped me install Pod Veils -- we were both on extension ladders leaning against the pine bough, so no photos of that act!

Here's a link to an article about Art in Nature in the Metrowest Daily News. And when you visit the show, don't forget to vote for your favorite sculptures!

http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/arts/x511177534/Accentuating-the-excellent-at-Fruitlands-Museum