Amy
Solomon’s “Eye Glue”
Opens at
Brookline Art Center Gallery
By Susie
Davidson
Advocate
Correspondent
BROOKLINE -
Broken windowpanes, dried flowers and broken plates are revitalized in the
provocative series of drawings and paintings of Amy Solomon’s “Eye
Glue” exhibit, now at the Brookline Art Center Gallery.
The
paintings are created from glass and glue; some include plates, flowers and
other “found stuff,” according to the description. Wallpaper,
magazines and colored pencils comprise the drawings. Together, the artist feels
they evoke "both a dangerous and a meditative environment.”
Solomon,
who teaches art at Solomon Schecter, has taught at the JCC in Newton and is
active with her family in the Kehillath Israel community. She has worked on
this project since the spring of 2001. It runs through July 3 at the 86
Monmouth St. gallery, just off Beacon Street in the St. Mary’s area of
Brookline. It’s her third show, and the Mass College of Art grad is both
excited and pensive about the components of this installation.
“Formally,”
she says, “they are about trying to create a balance. Emotionally they
are about deterioration and endless upkeep. They are also about walls, which I
am always thinking about. Walls I grew up with. The crazy crooked lead filled ones
I live with. The layers, the people that have looked and lived with them
before. Barriers, apparent and not.”
Born in Brooklyn, Solomon’s family soon moved to Far Rockaway, where her Russian immigrant grandparents lived. She was very influenced both by its beach and its multicultural community. Subsequent moves to Rhode Island and Massachusetts continued to foster her artistic interest, with Rhode Island was a major culture shock. “I stuck myself inside staring at the print wallpaper and cracks in the walls, with my Yiddish speaking grandmother as my most constant companion.”
When the
family moved north again, she ended up at the Palfrey Street School in
Watertown. “It was an experimental, open curriculum type school. To get
there, you had to take a bus from Harvard Square, which was much more Bohemian
in those days. I developed a serious interest in the arts and began figure
drawing at age 16.”
Solomon
graduated from Mass Art, and worked out of a North End studio. “Once
again I was living in a community of immigrants, and noticed how the immediate
surroundings seemed to echo those of my past,” she says. “I became
a collector of objects which recalled these memories and began incorporating
these into my art. This initiated a move toward less painting and more towards
what is usually referred to as mixed media; in any case it introduced a broader
spectrum of materials influencing my work.”
Her work
has been shown in New York and Boston area galleries; her solo show
“Bare” premiered at the Kingston Gallery in 1998. In this
collection, bare canvas, rather than paint, was often used as the backdrop for
her many combinations of materials. With this new exhibit, Solomon continues
her innovative artistic journey.
For
information on the Brookline Arts Center exhibit and the work of this unique
artist, please call 617-723-5616, email tal@galaxy.net, or visit
http://homepage.mac.com/solostudio/amypage2.html.
Be sure
also to click to the paintings (bottom of the page)..that page has my artist
statement.
Sincerely,
Amy Solomon
617-723-5616
tal@galaxy.net
I was born
in Brooklyn, NY in 1963. Soon the family moved to Far Rockaway where I was
heavily influenced by two things: the beach, and the melting pot of different
cultures. Prominent in this was the presence of my immigrant grandparents who
were Russian Jews. My grandfather came to this country as a young man and
taught himself to read and write English. They lived only a few blocks away in
Far Rockaway.
The whole
family, including my grandparents, moved to Rhode Island in the mid-seventies
when I was 10 years old
Eye Glue
June 6,
2002 6-8 pm
Brookline
Art Center Gallery
86
Monmouth Street, Brookline
MA
The show
runs until July 3rd. The gallery is open Monday-Friday 9:30-4:30.
I teach art
classes at Solomon Schecter and have taught at the Jewish Community Center in
Newton. We are also involved with the KI community in Brookline.
My recent
involvement with teaching children at the Jewish Community Center and Solomon
Schecter schools has surely in turn influenced me, and it remains to be seen
where this will take me in my next series of work.
Amy S.
Glad I met
you today. I am very excited both about my show and the new gallery at the
Brookline Arts Center. This is our third show and we have not been reviewed
yet. It's a great space and we would like to get the word out. We did speak to Jacob Horowitz at the
Jewish Advocate and he has my press packet for this show.
Here is my
web site
<http://homepage.mac.com/solostudio/amypage2.html>
Be sure
also to click to the paintings (bottom of the page)..that page has my artist
statement.
Sincerely,
Amy Solomon
617-723-5616
tal@galaxy.net
Amy
Solomon
Reception:Thursday
June 6, 2002 Exhibit: June 5-July 3, 2002