Opening Reception:
Thursday, April 26, 5-7 p.m.
Simmons University presents Natural Force, an exhibition of the National Association of Women Artists, Massachusetts Chapter, on view from April 23-June 1, juried by gallery director B. Lynch. A reception will be held on Thursday April 26 from 5-7 PM. The gallery is closed May 18 and 28.
The National Association of Women Artists, founded in 1889, has a venerable history. Historically, women artists were rarely given critical attention or exhibition opportunities. Consequently, the association promoted women artists as its mission. Included in their exhibitions have been prominent artists such as Louise Nevelson, Polly Thayer Starr and Mary Cassatt. The Trustman Art Gallery, situated in an undergraduate women’s college, is a contextually meaningful setting for the group. The Massachusetts chapter dates from 2013 and is a vigorous promoter of contemporary women artists.
The nineteen artists featured in the show work in a variety of materials and approaches reacting to Nature: its beauty, terrible power, and its increasing vulnerability because of human endeavor. As members of the planet, we are living in the only environment we have. The closed system’s precarious balance reverberates more strongly as the strain increases.
These artists give us a taste of both the sublime and dangerous condition of an earth that is wobbling on its balance point due to stress. They remind us of everyday beauty, the extraordinary power of nature to wreak havoc, the way humans are both coldly indifferent to the fate of our ecosystem, or find nature’s charms alluring.
Trustman Art Gallery hours are 10 AM – 4:30 PM, Monday, Tuesday, and Friday, 10 AM – 7 PM on Wednesday and Thursday. The gallery is free, open to the public and wheelchair accessible. For more information, contact Kyle Mendelsohn at (617) 521-2268 or find us on Instagram.