Deerfield Arts Bank - Close to Home - Grand Opening

Bryan Higgins

South Deerfield, MA. There's a lot of creativity brewing CLOSE TO HOME, the first exhibition for the newest art center in the Pioneer Valley, the Deerfield Arts Bank. This is the creation of artist Jane Trigere who has transformed the former BOA building into a center which will offer exhibitions, art classes and musical entertainment. This first exhibition (curated by me) will feature mostly Deerfield artists including: Candace Bradbury-Carlin, Bryan Higgins, Alicia Renadette, Kerry St. Laurent, Jane Trigere & Marcia Rossi Wise. This "Close to Home" exhibition will take us on a textural and spiritual journeys through various media including impressionistic painting of water (Marcia R. Wise), reuse of fiber history (Alicia Renadette & Jane Trigere), recycled materials (Candace Bradbury-Carlin) and multi-media constructions (Bryan Higgins).

Artists Reception & Grand Opening will be: Sunday, April 6, 2:00 - 4:00 PM

There will be several special events, music and art classes in the coming months. Check our website for further details. 

www.deerfieldartsbank.com

Our first special event after the opening will be the traveling Art Salon on April 17 @ 6:30 PM highlighting various talent in the Pioneer Valley. 








Trigere and Rooney launch The Deerfield Arts Bank in South Deerfield so "Close to Home" with the hopes of engaging all of the talented artists and members of our extended community. Come join us in this exciting new adventure and be part of what happens next.

Gallery Hours, Wed, Thurs, Fri. & Sunday 1 - 4 PM.

Heaven & Enlightenment

In my hour of darkness

I've been honored to be offered two solo exhibits early this year, one in the Incubator Project Space at UMASS which will be featuring Beneath the Surface. This body of work documents a visitation from a turtle on a beautiful mountain lake during a meditation retreat. This experience during a time of family illness helped me get past the darkness & sadness of this time and inspired me to think beyond myself and create for the greater good.

That's why I started the Amherst Biennial, to help the artists in the Pioneer Valley receive the attention they deserve. This is documentation of this experience that enlightened me.

Beneath the Surface
Incubator Project Space, Hampden Gallery, UMASS -
Artist's Reception - Sunday, Feb. 13, 2 - 4 PM
Feb. 23 - March 13

xhttps://www.umass.edu/events/exhibition-terry-rooney-beneath-surface

The second exhibition, A Piece of Heaven, is the result of interviewing people over a two year period, to capture their "heaven on earth."

Both exhibitions will feature my monoprints from over a 15 year period, from conventional printmaking to non-toxic. Beneath the Surface were created at Zea Mays studio, (a non-toxic print studio in Florence, MA) '10 - '12 and A Piece of Heaven capturing heaven on earth, printed at Top Press Studio at Arts & Industry Building in the late nineties.

A Piece of Heaven
Amherst Town Hall
4 Boltwood Walk
Amherst, MA
March 3 - May 30
Reception, May 1th, 5 - 8 PM
Thursday Evening

Arts Centers Blossoming in the Valley

It had been my hope, while I was Chair of the Amherst Public Arts Commission to re-utilize a decommission school (East St. School) to make the Amherst Arts Center. While gathering a group of knowledgeable and influential people to help me plan this arts center, it became apparent (to me) that in order to make this happen, I would have to give up my own artwork,  as well as significant personal & family time and devoted myself completely to this endeavor which would have involved constant fundraising. After a lot of soul searching, I realized that at this stage of my life that it was more than I cared to sacrifice. So I was so pleased to hear that a new arts center is being created in a former bank building in South Deerfield, by an entrepreneurial spirit, Fiber Artist, Jane Trigere. She has three goals for the Deerfield Arts Bank - have fun, build community and pay the bills. She has asked me to "mentor" her and help organize some exhibits. The first exhibit will highlight artists from Deerfield during the month of April. Later this Spring a call for art from artists in the Pioneer Valley will be posted. If you would like to be consider for either of these exhibits send 3 low res jpegs to terryrooneyart@gmail.com directly or links to your websites for consideration of our exhibition committee.

This Arts Center is still evolving, there will be art classes, art supply store, performances and many wonderful events to enrich the cultural life of the Pioneer Valley. 

http://www.recorder.com/home/9111560-95/deerfield-arts-bank-to-open-in-former-bank-of-america

Also more good news on the Arts Center front is that the Northampton Center for the Arts has found a new home at 33 Hawley St, Northampton. http://nohoarts.org/

Reflections & Results

Terry in home studio, Brooklyn '72

This has been an incredible year for me on so many levels. I've had the opportunity to revisit past loves, reflect on our histories and experience the loss of a dear friend. On top of this, dealing with the health care system for two family members with some success and some neglect. All of which, because of legal issues, I can not rehash here. But these times have also brought forth moments of grace, such as my mother-in-law receiving a book of Pushkin's poetry (in Russian), saying she has been looking for this poetry, all her life. And then reciting this poem in Russian to me from memory at 91 years old.

On the upside, my sources on the Amherst Public Arts Commission have confirmed we have reached our fundraising goal to make the Portal a permanent installation in Kendrick Park, Amherst. It feels to good to make the dream of bringing permanent public art in one of our town's parks, a reality. Thanks to all our supporters for making this happen. We will have a commemoration probably in Spring. Stay tuned.

A Piece of Heaven

A question I'm asked frequently is "What is my artwork about?" Many things, though my main focus for years has been house/home as an extension of the woman's body. One of my 3-D constructions that caught the attention of viewers years ago was a house construction with the earth superimposed on it, with a slice of heaven (clouds) and another house on the top of it. Having a stable home is my piece of heaven. I wanted to find out what other people's heaven on earth was, so for two years I asked everyone I met what was their heaven on earth. The responses ranged from the sublime to the ridiculous, from having a baby to an empty bladder, from chocolate to a long organism. Their answers opened a window into their souls, and let me live vicariously. I would like to invite viewers of this blog to tell me what their heavens are, as recent events are leading me back to this work and could use some inspiration. The last time I exhibited this work was back in 1999 at Hampshire College and it's time to revisit this body of work and see what the new millennium brings forth.

Times They Are A Changing

Anita Licis Ribak photograph opening night  Shedding Light

As I've been transitioning back to the studio while juggling care-giving, my time seems limited to pursue large productions like the Amherst Biennial.  So I'm stepping aside as Chair of the Amherst Public Arts Commission after almost 9 years at the helm of this town's commission. It's time to pass the baton onto new talent.

It has been a great ride and one that has helped me grow as an organizer, producer and artist. It all started with Shedding Light. Erika Zekos's created this huge ephemeral public art installation by lighting up a tobacco shed for Amherst's 250th anniversary. This site-specific installation on the Swartz Family Farm in 2009, opened the door for bigger public arts installations and exhibits. In 2009, http://sheddinglightamherst.blogspot.com/  I produced & curated Pioneer Women which travelled from the Pioneer Valley to Tabla Rasa Gallery in New York City. City. http://www.tablarasagallery.com/html/pioneer_women.html
The following year looking to include the talented men in the valley and New York City artists I created Pioneer Women & Wonderland taking over a former warehouse at Paper City Studios in Holyoke, MA.

Mo Gareau Ringey, Detail from Mosaic  Frig

http://papercitystudios.wordpress.com/pioneer-women/

This was a warm-up for the Fall's big event, the first Amherst Biennial: Art in Expected and Unexpected Places.  <www.amherstbiennial.com>  in 2010 which had fourteen sites ranging from storefronts, a decommissioned school, galleries and art in expected and unexpected places. This first Biennial brought "Art in the Park", Matt Johnson's welded sculpture The Portal to Kendrick Park, Amherst. This has been a dream of mine for years, to bring public art in Amherst's parks. (more on this later)

My goals for the second Amherst Biennial was to have all three colleges in Amherst participate, assemble more prestigious sites and continue promoting the quality of artwork created in the Pioneer Valley. This time around, we indeed had all three colleges (Amherst College, Hampshire College & UMASS) participating as well as the Directors/ Curators of the Mead Art Museum, Elizabeth Barker & Loretta Yarlow, University Museum of Contemporary Art as my co-curators. We also had five museums and four galleries for more than 20 sites this time around. This was done on a shoes-string budget and a small crew of volunteers. As some of you may know, who have produced huge productions such as this, it takes over your life and can take a toll on many areas of our lives. So I'm stepping back from these huge art productions for the time being to reassess my work and life and see how I can move forward.

Terry Rooney, Liberty with Snake Tatoo, 2013 (detail)

Presently, I'm looking a various options for future exhibitions for my work as well as possibly expanding this Biennial to include all of Western MA. especially the Berkshires. You can check for updates at this site in the future for further developments. <www.wemabiennial.com> . Also I will continue to list the accomplishments of the Amherst Biennial artists as time allows on this site. www.amherstbiennial.com  So stay tuned to see what's the next chapter is... in my brilliant career!

Chesterwood - Contemporary Sculpture

The Housatonic, Rick Brown & Laura Brown at Chesterwood

While exploring the local arts scene in the Berkshires this Summer, I was pleasantly surprised to see two wonderful site specific sculptures at Chesterwood, summer estate of sculptor, Daniel Chester French who created the Lincoln Memorial in D.C.. Besides providing tours of this lovely estate and studio of French's, it also hosts contemporary sculptures all over the landscape and woodland trails. The first sculpture which caught my attention was created by a husband and wife team, Rick & Laura Brown. This dynamic duo ask Chesterwood to take down a dead pine tree, which they created this impressive sculpture on site within a week. They utilized the remains of the trunk and top of this tree as bookends to this "fanned" slices in the middle of the tree. Wow, this blew this away.

There were some other interesting sculptures down the woodland path at this sculpture park and the one that caught my eye was this parade of small painted flags by two artists, whose name escapes me at this moment that were like the flags that mark where utilities wires are but to me they were a miniature parade of munchkins in the woods. It was a delightful splash of color in the earth-tones of the forest floor.


These artworks gives me ideas for future Biennials.......WEMA Biennial  '15