CONVERGENCE: BOSTON SCULPTORS GALLERY EXHIBITS AT THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE PLAZA

Wednesday, May 1, 2013 – Thursday, October 31, 2013

BOSTON, MA: The Boston Sculptors Gallery is pleased to announce its first outdoor exhibition of monumental, site-specific artworks, co-sponsored by The First Church of Christ, Scientist. In a convergence of imagination and civic pride, over two dozen art installations from Boston Sculptors Gallery members will be displayed on The Christian Science Plaza from Wednesday, May 1 to Thursday, October 31, 2013. Join us for our grand opening on Saturday, May 4, from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. and again for the catalog launch on Thursday, June 6, from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. A complete schedule of events can be found on the Convergence website, including images and artist information.

Each sculpture will speak to its architectural surroundings, activate the site that inspired it, and create a unique destination for the Boston community to see contemporary art. Following on the heels of the newly built Contemporary Wing at the Museum of Fine Arts and as a celebration of the newly designated statewide Fenway Cultural District (established March 20, 2012 by the Massachusetts Cultural Council), this exhibition carries forth the vision to draw attention to visual art of the moment and promote its prominent place in the life of the city. We invite the public to enter, look, think, hope, dream, and be a part of the experience.

Participating artists include: Gillian Christy, Murray Dewart, Donna Dodson, Rosalyn Driscoll, Laura Evans, Sally S. Fine, Chris Frost, Peter DeCamp Haines, Jim Henderson, Michelle Lougee, Nancy Winship Milliken, Andy Moerlein, Eric Sealine, George Sherwood, Margaret Swan, Marilu Swett, Leslie Wilcox, Joseph Wheelwright, and Andy Zimmermann.

Boston Sculptors Gallery was founded in 1992 by 18 prominent Boston-area artists to present and promote innovative, challenging sculpture and installations. It is the only sculptors’ organization in the country that maintains its own exhibition space. In twenty years the cooperative has held over 227 art shows and supported the work of 58 sculptors with work in 48 U.S. states and 36 foreign countries. Gallery members have received numerous honors including 81 residencies, 315 awards or fellowships, and 134 grants. Members have taught in 70 settings, generated 169 permanent public art works and 308 temporary public artworks, and are included in 1,100 private and public collections. Boston Sculptors Gallery articulates, challenges, and promotes the role of sculpture in the public sphere, in communities, and in the lives of individuals.

The Christian Science Plaza is a 14-acre pedestrian refuge amid the busy traffic patterns of Boston’s urban environment and attracts thousands of visitors each year from all over the world. In the heart of the Plaza sits The Original Mother Church, built in 1894, and its domed extension, built in 1906. The Plaza also includes an arboretum of linden, oak, and honey locust trees, a 686-foot-long reflecting pool, the children’s fountain, and the world-famous Mapparium™, the most popular exhibit at The Mary Baker Eddy Library. The Plaza has been influenced over the past two centuries by several architects, including Chester Lindsay Churchill in the 1930s and the firm of I.M. Pei & Partners and Araldo A. Cossutta, Associated Architects, in the 1970s and is a designated Boston Landmarks Property.

The Fenway Cultural District, the first Boston-based Massachusetts-wide Cultural District, is comprised of more than 40 cultural and academic institutions, community organizations and private residents and is managed by the Fenway Alliance, a consortium of 22 institutions. The owner of the Christian Science Plaza, The First Church of Christ, Scientist, has always been active within the Boston community and was a founding member of The Fenway Alliance, the group responsible for the creation and organization of this cultural district.

VISITOR INFORMATION: The Christian Science Plaza is located at the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue and Huntington Avenue, in Boston, MA. Admission to this outdoor exhibition is free, and open to the public from Wednesday, May 1, 2013 to Thursday, October 31, 2013. Exhibition catalogs will be available for purchase after June 6, 2013, from the shops at The Mary Baker Eddy Library, 200 Massachusetts Avenue, Boston and The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 465 Huntington Avenue, Boston.

PUBLICITY PHOTOS: High-resolution images to publicize the exhibition will be made available to the media in late May, 2013. Please contact Boston Sculptors Gallery at (617) 482-7781 Wed-Sun 12p-6p or BostonSculptors@yahoo.com for further information.

Gillian Christy, The Space Within, Buds

Murray Dewart, Golden Bow

Donna Dodson, Tiger Mother (maquette)

Rosalyn Driscoll, Canyon

Laura Evans, Bag Lunch

Sally S. Fine, Minoan Reflection

  

Chris Frost, Grotto

Peter DeCamp Haines, Reclining Blade

Jim Henderson, Three Bronze Trees

Michelle Lougee, Green Coral

Myth Makers (Dodson & Moerlein), Poised

Nancy Winship Milliken, The Lighthouse

Andy Moerlein, Impossible

Eric Sealine, Arabesque

George Sherwood, Wave Cloud

Margaret Swan, Templum

Marilu Swett, Water form

Leslie Wilcox, Sentinel, maquette

Joseph Wheelwright, Loving Stones

Andy Zimmermann, Liminal Bloom

Tiger Mothers

For Convergence: the Boston Sculptors Gallery 20th anniversary exhibition on the Christian Science Plaza, I made a proposal to create a Tiger Mother figure. This figure was inspired in part by the book 'Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother' by Amy Chua. In the book she talks about raising two daughters, one in a traditional way, and one in a more laid back manner. Since The First Church of Christ Scientist invited me to make two figures for Convergence, that would be installed at  each end of the stone seat ring near the fountain, I wanted to site them facing one another on the plaza, or standing guard like sentinels, facing forward, in the open, since sculpture is best viewed in the round. Taking inspiration from the book, one figure would be a white tiger with black stripes, and one would be a white tiger with red stripes, symbolizing the two themes about mothering, tradition and love. Tiger Mothers embody the idea that one has to be a different parent to each one of one's kids, because each child is unique.

The stripes were painted on with spray paint, since this was an urban setting. After I painted the striped, I realized they also symbolized stretch marks, and the tribe of women mothers. The stripes also reference the scientific word "streak" for a group of tigers. On the cheeks of each figure, I inscribed the Chinese characters for Tiger and Mother, since in the wild, when scientists identify tigers, they describe their markings as caligraphy. I thought I would paint the Tiger character on the right cheek of each figure, and the Mother character on the left cheek of each one, since you would read left to right, and facing the Tiger Mother figures, the Tiger character would be on the left, and the Mother character would be on the right.

As to the proportions of my figures, as you can see below, the Tiger Mother, maquette is a wood sculpture, that has a very warm , maternal feeling. I used this as a model for the larger creations in styrofoam that were covered in cement.

The bases were made out of wood, approx 4'x4'. The bases were painted to match the sculptures, one black, one red. The black and white tiger was mounted on the red base, and the red and white tiger was mounted on the black base, since tradition and love are intertwined with mother hood, which these sentinels imply. In two dimensions, the red tiger has black stripes and the black tiger has red stripes, but the sculptures posed more challenges to resolve.

Inspired by the Mother Church, Tiger Mothers, stood guard opposite one another at the Children’s fountain on the Christian Science Plaza from May-October 2013. Fierce and protective as wild animals, but loving, warm and human, these sentinels are a tribute to Amy Chua’s recent book, The Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother.