Free/Cheap Museums!

I'm trying to take advantage of the museums in and around Boston, and I've compiled a list of museums that you can visit for free or cheap! If you know of any other deals, please list them in the comments!

Children's Museum, Boston, MA: $1.00 admission every Friday between 5-9pm. Adults unaccompanied by children must present a photo I.D. (license, passport)

DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park, Lincoln, MA: Free for Bank of America customers every first full weekend of the month. Next free weekend is December 5-6. Bring a BOA credit or debit card and an I.D.

Harvard Art Museum/ Fogg, Cambridge, MA: Free from 4:30-5pm daily, free every Saturday from 10am-noon.

Harvard Museum of Natural History, Cambridge, MA: Free for Massachusetts residents (you must recite your zip code) Wednesdays from 3pm-5pm and Sundays 9am-noon.

Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, MA: Free every Thursday from 5pm-9pm

Isabella Stuart Gardener Museum, Boston, MA: Like the woman herself, the discounts are weird and crazy
-$5.00 passes available at your local library.
-Free on your birthday (with I.D.) If your birthday falls on Monday when the museum is closed it is free the Sunday before or Tuesday after your birthday.
-Free for people named Isabella.
-$2 off for wearing Red Sox paraphernalia.

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA: Free all day Wednesday, November 11, free every Wednesday from 4pm-9:45pm

The MFA, ICA, and Isabella Stuart Gardener are always free for MassArt students!!! This may also apply to the Harvard Museums-call ahead.

Massachusetts Cultural Council Blog Mention

I was mentioned today on the Mass Cultural Council art blog in an open studios press release! Check it out here! http://artsake.massculturalcouncil.org/blog/artsake/

People, Place, & Horses

Below is the press release for an upcoming 4-person show that I am in at the Distillery Gallery in Southie. Unfortunately, it opens the same night as my show at Gulu-Gulu, so I will be in Salem, but swing by the Distillery if you'd like to see my newest paintings!

9/15/09
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
The Distillery Gallery Presents:
"People, Places & Horses"
featuring works by Aimee Belanger, Monica Nydam, Nick Ward, and David Wooddell
October 1 - October 22, 2009
Opening Reception: October 1, 6-9pm
free and open to the public
516 E 2nd St., first floor
contact: Scott Chasse, gallery director
(978) 270-1904 / scottchasse@gmail.com
www.distilleryboston.com
Hours of operation: Mon-Sat, 9-5

The Distillery Gallery presents "People, Places & Horses," a straight-forward exhibit of four Boston-based painters individually consistent in their chosen subject matter.

People:
Nick Ward's close-up portraits reveal exaggerated elements of facial characteristics mixed with sparse use of text or vivid color as a backdrop. Each work is an uncontrived study of texture and form punctuated by the suggestion of everyday routine.

David Wooddell exhibits a clear appreciation of his predecessors and a mature, diligent work ethic by painting live models in a modernist manner. The focus of his rich, heavy-bodied figure studies balances between the subject and the individual brush stroke, resulting in luminous portrayals of the human form.

Places:
Aimee Belanger blurs the lines between imagination and reality with landscapes based on photographs, memories, and dreams. Her juxtaposition of stark architectural elements with colorful organic settings results in imagery of places that may or may not exist.

and Horses:
Monica Nydam's "Horse Series" entertains the viewer with painterly renditions of snapshots involving the subject. While some pieces use thick linear brush strokes to create "pixelated" visions of the mare or stallion, others involve hints of distortion or motion. Each work shares a candid, stolen-moment quality with the next.

Please join us on October 1 from 6-9 pm for the opening reception.

The Distillery Gallery is located on the first floor of The Distillery artist's building in South Boston. This unique public display space is committed to featuring Distillery based artists, Boston artists, and invited guests. For more information about the gallery and The Distillery, please visit www.distilleryboston.com.

Gulu-Gulu Cafe Show Opening October 1st!

This Sunday I will be hanging a solo show at the Gulu-Gulu Cafe in Salem, MA. The show opens on October 1st and will be up for six weeks. The show will include work from the past year and a half as well as some newer paintings. I'm really lucky to be showing during Salem's ultra-spooky Halloween season, so hopefully lots of people will be in the area to check it out!

The logistics:
Gulu-Gulu Cafe
247 Essex Street, Salem, MA
Dates of the show: Sunday Sept 26, 2009 – Sunday Nov 15, 2009
Opening reception: Thursday, October 1, 2009, 7pm
Gulu-Gulu Artist Site: http://www.gulu-gulu.com/artists.asp

I hope you Greater Boston/North Shore folks can make it to the opening! Robin Sellin will be playing music starting at 8 (check him out at http://www.myspace.com/robinsellin) and they have delicious food and fancy European beers, so you can make a night out of it. If not, and you happen to be in the area some time soon, drop by for a Krusovice and check it out!

Google Photo Album

The ol' website is up and running, but the albums are being difficult, so in the meantime you can view some of my paintings here: http://picasaweb.google.com/aimeebelanger/Paintings# Nothing too new, just some images to check out!

Friends of Chautauqua, Tempe, AZ

Below is the press release for Friends of Chautauqua, a show that Matthew Mosher and I are currently in. For this show, Mosher and I had a Christo&Jean Claude/Ray Johnson-esque mail art exchange. His participation was involuntary, but I think the results were quite satisfactory:

Gallery View

Title: You Have Just Completed A Work of Art by Aimee Belanger

It should be also noted that this piece is for sale, and I believe it's been listed at $10,000. Please contact me for details. The opening is from 7-9 tonight in Tempe, AZ for any of you who want to fly out last minute.

The press release:

Who
The ASU Chautauqua Student Art Organization.

What
The Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts hosts The Friends of Chautauqua Show that includes artwork created by friends, colleagues and former classmates of School of Art graduate artists. Nic Wiesinger, ASU Chautauqua Student Art Organization founder, feels that the exhibition highlights the indelible connection that School of Art graduates have to the larger national art scene.

The exhibition introduces the greater Phoenix area to new and upcoming works by artists from around the country. The showcase emphasizes the diverse range of art influences within the graduate body and includes paintings, drawings, sculpture, metals, wood, video, photography and conceptual installation.

Experience The Friends of Chautauqua Show and see works by: Thaddeus Erdahl, Alexis Winslow, Jordan Schulman, Katherine Behar, Marianne Kim, Karin Stothart, Kent Perdue, Paco Velez, Dave Smellie, Keith Laber, Julia Westerbeke, Nidaa Aboulhosn, Christopher Arslain, Ben Moore, Aimee Belanger, Robert Brown, Ben Murray, Herb Vincent Peterson, Eliza Campbell Kiser, William Pariso, Michael Stadler

Where
ASU Herberger Institute School of Art, Step Gallery, Tempe Center Ste. 174, Tempe. The gallery is on the northeast corner of 10th Street and University Drive (located just north of the ASU Art Museum Ceramics Research Center).

When
Sept. 8–18; Artist’s reception, Monday Sept. 14, 2009 7–9 p.m.
Gallery hours: Monday–Thursday noon–5 p.m. and Friday noon–3 p.m. Closed weekends and major holidays.

Cost
Free

Public Contact
Nic Weisinger
ASU Herberger Institute
School of Art
Chautauqua Student Art Organization founder
317.490.7346
nickwiesinger@yahoo.com

The School of Art is a division of Herberger College of the Arts at Arizona State University. Its printmaking, photography and art education programs are nationally ranked in the top 10, and its Master of Fine Arts program is ranked eighth among public institutions by U.S.News & World Report. The school includes four student galleries for solo and group shows by graduate and undergraduate art and photography students: Gallery 100, Harry Wood, Northlight, and Step. To learn more about the School of Art, visit art.asu.edu.

Media Contact:
Ryan Peter Miller
Gallery Coordinator
ASU Herberger Institute School of Art
480.965.2062
rpmille2@asu.edu

BEG BORROW STEAL Globe Review

In the interest of keeping everything in one place (and for those of you who may have missed it) this is the link to Cate McQuaid's Globe write up about Beg Borrow Steal.

Hooray for Vanessa Irzyk, Brian Willmont, and Lily Morris for getting a solid shout out (and for making fantastic work!)

BEG BORROW STEAL Globe Mention!

BEG BORROW STEAL was selected as one of the Cate McQuaid's picks for the 'Arts: the week ahead' section of the Boston Globe. Awesome! Scroll down to 'Galleries' to read her little write up. In other related news, we've got 93 confirmed guests on Facebook and rumor has it Narragansett Brewery will be hooking us up with tall boys. This should be a blast. SEE YOU THERE!

BEG BORROW STEAL

Just in case you've been under a Boston art rock, my friend/roommate/fellow artist Aaron Segal is putting together a truly epic show called BEG BORROW STEAL. I will have a piece in the show (which I will post a picture of after the opening...it's top secret!) and I want you all to come out for the opening, which is going to be an all out Art-tastic throw down. Boston best be ready.

PRESS RELEASE:

BEG BORROW STEAL
An Unauthorized Use of the LaMontagne Gallery

On View: August 15th - 29th
Opening Reception: Saturday, August 15th, 6 -8 PM

In these trying economic times, continuity often demands a hit to ones pride, or a duck from moral standards. BEG BORROW STEAL assembles the work of a variety of emerging artists who embrace theft and appropriation as key elements in their creative process. No artist works in a vacuum, all are reliant on imagery and concepts taken from outside sources. From the constant flow of contemporary pop culture, to the long history of artistic creation, to the inflated production of the economy, these artists depend on a constant exchange of ideas, materials, and conceptual stimuli to fuel their work. Several pieces found in BEG BORROW STEAL incorporate donated or cannibalized resources: a grandmother’s excess yarn, a friend’s vacation photographs, or trash left along the side of a street. BEG BORROW STEAL artists recycle pre-existing aesthetics from various sources including, classic cartoons, country western stars, or a pair of jeans. Conceptually these artists thrive on what has preceded them, as wells as that which surrounds them. The artists of BEG BORROW STEAL employ consumption as a means of making, and in doing so participate in the complexly of the current social and economic condition.

BEG BORROW STEAL is a group show of 28 young artists, juried and curated by Aaron M. Segal, a MassART graduate. Aaron is currently the art preparator of the LaMontagne Gallery. His objective for the show was to organize a group of peers, who may at this point in their careers still have limited access to commercial galleries, and give them the opportunity to show in one of Boston's best. In the spirit of the show, the LaMontagne Gallery has been begged borrowed and stolen while Russell LaMontagne is on vacation, hopefully he won't mind.

Contributing Artists:
Aimee Belanger, Octavia Bennet, Brian Butler, Michelle Carter, Cydney Cnossen, Corey Corcoran, Ryan Crowley, Alexander DeMaria, Hilary Doyle, Terrence Gaidamovcio, GJYD, Jes Hughes, Vanessa Irzyk, Victoria Jacob, Alex Jacobson, Ian Jeffrey, Michelle Livingston, Melissa McGorty, Matthew Mosher, Monica Nydam, Destiny Palmer, Chloe Reison, Jeremy Roby, Rachel Salamone, Camden Segal, John Skibo, Catherine Stack, Wayne Stoke, Noelle Teague, Jena Thomas, Christopher Wawrinofsky, Alison Wilder, Wilmont, Amy Yoshitsu, Michael Zachary


Founded in 2007, LaMontagne Gallery is a 2,300 square foot exhibition space located in South Boston on East Second Street. Russell LaMontagne was previously Co-Founder of LFL Gallery in New York City.



GALLERY HOURS: WEDNESDAY - SATURDAY, 12 - 6 PM, TUESDAY BY APPOINTMENT
ph- (617) 464 4640 url- www.lamontagnegallery.com email- lamontagnegallery@gmail.com

Re-Paint Opening

So the reception for Re-Paint was last night, and it was pretty great. Thanks to everyone who came out to see the show, and to those who hung out afterward for that lively discussion about the local gallery system.
Gallery 263, if you haven't seen it, is a quaint little storefront located at the corner of Pearl Street and Putnam Avenue in Cambridge, MA. It was founded when co-director Annie Newbold decided to turn her former studio space into a warm, inviting, new gallery space. The show was juried by Annie, Jed Speare (director of Studio Soto), and newcomer Laura Francis. It was Laura's curatorial debut, and judging by the incredible turnout, and the generally positive response to the work, it was a success.The show was fairly diverse and featured both new and locally established artists. Obviously, there was some work that I liked more than others, but for the most part, I was impressed with the selection, and found quite a few of the pieces to be astonishingly good. And if anyone wants to get me a present, I'll take about $500 cash, because there was more than one painting that I was sad to leave behind.

The show is open until August 1st, so stop by if you're in the area!

Gallery 263

Re-Paint!

My camera wasn't working, so I asked Matthew Mosher to take pictures with his iPhone. A little blurry, but as you can see, the place was packed!
Aaron Segal's Quantum of Solace

Picture of my completed and framed alteration:

And the 'before' photo for comparison

I didn't want to post photos of any other work without the artists' permission, but you can see more at Gallery 263's website

Repaint @ Gallery 263

I was just notified that I got into Gallery 263's first juried show, Repaint! The concept was pretty cool: find an old painting at a thrift store or yardsale and paint/collage/whatever over half of it, leaving the other part untouched. My roommate Aaron Segal will also be in the show (see the painting 'Quantum of Solace' on his site-awesome). The show will be up from July 9- August 1, and I'll let you know when I get more details about the opening. Gallery 263 is located at 263 Pearl St, Cambridge, MA and is open Thursday-Sunday from 11am-6:30pm or by appointment.

Before:

After:

The pinks/reds in this scan came out funny, but this image had the best detail of the gabillion photos I took. I'll post more pictures later!

The Distillery

I am so happy to be back in Boston (seriously...I can't contain myself) and that is partially because I was able to move back into my studio at the Distillery. I love working there, my artist neighbors are great, and it's awesome just to have a space that's solely for work (my attempts to paint at home never quite work out). The first week I moved in was Open Studios (sorry, I didn't get pictures of this one) and I'm finally settling in to painting. I am working on a new painting-you may recognize the image from the wall painting below, and I'm in the 'I hate this and nothing's working' stage. It's still very excited about the piece, and I'll let you know when I pull out of it. These pictures were taken with my iSight camera, so sorry for the quality. I also don't have Photoshop, so if you can, you know, hook a girl up.

getting muddy

when things were still crisp and new

thumbs up for painting!

DISPARITION

So, it's been a while, but I'm ready to get this bloggin ball rollin (ugh...I almost made a bad pun about 'blogrolls'...sorry, guys). Ahem...Onto the news:

I am currently in a group show called 'Disparition' curated by my friend and fellow Glasgow School of Art alum, Alex Jacobson. The show is in Portland, ME at Zero Station, which is definitely one of the coolest gallery spaces I've ever seen. I can't do it much justice, but in short, it's crisp, modern, bright, and beautiful. The show features works influenced by collage and includes two artists from Maine, four from Scotland, my roommate Jon Skibo, and me. I showed a new and improved version of Buckface, and I was also asked to do a wall painting, which I only had 24 hours to complete. It was definitely stressful, but a good exercise, and while it's (obviously) not as finished as I'd like it to be, I was generally pleased with the results. Pictures below. Disparition will be on view at Zero Station, 222 Anderson Street, Portland, ME, until next week.

Looking classy for the opening

Buckface detail

Buckface in all his antlered glory

detail of wall painting

When we were in Memphis, you said Sunday is like a ghost town, acrylic on wall
the gallery

Setting up and taping off the night before

Zero Station