Fri 8/21 @ 5-9PM
There’s never a bad month to drop by 78th Street Studios on Third Friday. Whether it’s slow or packed with openings/closings/special events, you’ll always find an open studio door with an artist who’ll be glad to chat with you about their work.
This Third Friday though, there’s a new show at HEDGE Gallery, where you’ll always see beautifully installed work by some of the area’s most interesting artists. It features two well-known artists, who’ve already exhibited at the gallery extensively.
Liz Maugans’ has titled her show of print-based collages I Am an Old Woman Playlist, while Rebecca Cross’s group of self-portraits is titles A Library of Shelves. Both artists explore what it means to be an older woman with an accumulation of of past experiences and memories.
Maugans’ work, we’re told, is “rooted in the musical and emotional residue of a life lived.” Her practice involves layering literal bits and pieces of her past life, some dating back to college, to created her layered collages that mingle past and present to visually explore where she’s at in her life now. “This series serves as both a declaration and a disruption, pushing against the social invisibility assigned to women as they age,” says the show’s statement. “It centers resilience, authority, and the emotional dualities of caregiving, grief, and reinvention.”
A Library of Selves is as a chronological story, formed with dyed silk fabrics on wooden boards with figures surfacing during the artist’s improvisatory process. Cross draws upon Japanese wabi sabi, which explores the beauty in impermanence and imperfections. “These faces, which the artist refers to as ‘The Furies’ and later as ‘Goddesses,’ capture various psychic and emotional states,” says the show statement. :The work asks a central question: Is it radical to paint a portrait by an old woman of her many selves?’”
After you’ve checked out this show, mosey on down to Gallery 202, for new show featuring work by seven artists inspired by their travels to Morocco. Artists include Leslye Discont Arian, Marjorie Falk, Rosalyn Gholston, Jennifer Joseph, Jill Milenski, Karen Miraldi and Natalie Rich.
Downstairs on the first floor, it’s the last chance to see Changing Direction by photographer Barney Taxel at Gallery + where he looks at what the area around the Opportunity Corridor looked like before the Corridor cut a swath through it. There’s also a closing just a short walk down the hall at E11even2 Gallery where you can see Perception Check, featuring work inspired by Dungeons & Dragons. And on the Ramp level, at Understory, it’s the last opportunity to check out Darkness, featuring work by six artists who make visible things we typically keep hidden.
Third Friday is free and open to all, including well-behaved kids and dogs.