March 23 through June 16, 2013
Artist Reception: Saturday, March 30, 2013 from 3-4:30 pm
Works by Laura Christensen on view in
Regional Artists Gallery
Described as delicate visual
mash-ups, Laura Christensen’s work is created with subtly
detailed painting or carefully cut fragments mixed with old snapshots and
photographic portraits. These new composites tell mysterious stories that express
personal reflections and light-hearted fictions.
In one of the series of
Christensen’s work, 1970’s color snapshots became substrates for new collages
incorporating bits of art history. “Janson’s History of Art was the first victim of my Xacto knife,” states the
artist. Other art books followed. “Now,
elements of paintings from many artists, including Giotto, Ellsworth
Kelly, Jacques Louis David, and Grandma Moses, interact
with the characters and places in the photographs. A few parts are cut
from science books to create such scenes as a baby shark peering over a woman’s
shoulder and a microscopic view of blood dancing with a cat,” the artist
explains.
 |
| Here,Then,Today and Far Away, 2011 |
Another
series incorporates photographs from the late 19th and early 20th
centuries. “These I have altered, not with cut out collage bits, but by
painting miniature images onto each photograph. In Here, Then, Today and Far Away, I painted a swarm of colorful
flitting butterflies. I also crafted the cherry wood box and silk curtains to
set the stage,” states Christensen. In As
Long As Breath Holds, a picture of water gushing from a dam was painted
directly onto an antique tintype portrait. Below it rests a part from the score
of Water Music, an early composition
by John Cage.
From
the Midwest, Christensen’s experiences gradually expanded to include the
metropolitan buzz of New York City, the Rocky
Mountains, New England woods, fifteenth-century
Italian frescoes, and telemark skiing. She has studied German, Economics, and
Art History, in addition to accomplishing the M.F.A. in drawing. Her artwork has
been exhibited both in the United
States and internationally. Regionally, both The Art Center of the
Capital Region and Kidspace at MASS MoCA have featured her work. Within the
last several years Christensen was awarded an Artists’ Resource Trust (A.R.T.) Grant, a fund of the Berkshire
Taconic Community Foundation and an Individual
Artist Grant, a fund of the Cultural Council of Northern Berkshire, a local
agency supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council. Currently, her artwork can be found at Hudsons in the MASS MoCA campus and in the exhibit, Some Assembly Required, at the Albany
International
Airport.
About the Museum
The Bennington Museum, located at 75 Main Street (Route 9), Bennington has the largest public collection of Grandma
Moses paintings in the world as well as the largest collection of 19th
century Bennington
pottery. In the other nine galleries, the museum presents a 1924 Wasp
Touring Car, one of only twenty produced, military artifacts, one of the
earliest ‘stars and stripes’ in existence, fine and decorative arts and
more. On view November 24 through December 30 is Festival of Trees –
Around the World. The museum is open Thursday
through Tuesday, 10 am to 5 pm. Regular admission is $10 for adults, $9
for seniors and students over 18. Admission is never charged for
younger
students or to visit the museum shop. Visit the museum’s website www.benningtonmuseum.org
or call 802-447-1571 for more
information.
Images:
Here,Then,Today and
Far Away, 2011
Laura Christensen
6” x 15” x 3” inches
Oil paint, antique photographs, antique paper, cherry wood, and silk
Laura Christensen
6” x 15” x 3” inches
Oil paint, antique photographs, antique paper, cherry wood, and silk
