Art Ramble 2016 Artist Bios
Paul Angiolillo
Word Processors (2014)
Hardwoods, stains, approx. 7’ x 5’
Artist Statement: I enjoy looking for unusual pieces of wood and carving them into whimsical (and I hope also evocative and engaging) sculptures. For this piece, Word Processors, I salvaged two hardwood logs, rounded and tapered their ends, and — voilá—a celebration of the pencil: that simple and familiar object. A remnant board became an eraser, to accompany them. (An historical aside: the Thoreau family’s business in Concord was manufacturing pencils.) It seems worth paying tribute to such a practical, mobile, energy-efficient, and inexpensive implement (for writing about nature too!), and at the same time celebrating the warm, abundant, all-natural material from which it’s made: wood.
Paul Angiolillo carves large outdoor sculptures and fashions smaller art works and functional objects. Often whimsical, they tend to celebrate the natural world: its flora, fauna, and abstract forms. Angiolillo studied with Joseph Wheelwright in Boston. He exhibits in several galleries in New England, the Fuller Craft Museum gift shop, and solo and group shows where they’ll take him. Residing in Watertown MA, he can be reached at pangiolillo@gmail.com, 617-924-1656, or paulangiolillo.com
Pete Cormier
Three Sisters Dancing (2015-2016)
Beech wood, aluminum, stone, monofilament, twine, 6’ X 10’ X 5’
Artist Statement: Three Sisters Dancing explores the liminal space that exists between art and nature by celebrating the art form that springs from our deepest embodied memories: dance. Three Sisters Dancing honors these harvested beech tree limbs by re-purposing them for aesthetic purposes as dancers. Listen to the grateful souls of these strong and supple limbs as the suspended chimes move in the gentle breeze.
Pete is a nature artist, educator and community arts practitioner. As a nature artist, he tries to create functional art pieces out of materials found in nature. Some of his pieces include wind chimes, benches, trellises and other free-standing structures. Pete’s art is informed by the liminal zone construct, which is a boundary or threshold area between 2 realities. He is interested in nature art that straddles the boundaries and spaces that exist between art & nature, between reality & fantasy and between the life one chooses to live & the life one dreams of living.
Liz Sibley Fletcher
Symbiosis (2016)
Clay and wire, each fish is 3’ x 7’ x 1.5’
Artist Statement: 'Symbiosis' means living well together. Why do these fish swim among the trees? To show us they depend on the forest for a good life! Forested watersheds are fine filters, cleaning the rainwater as it runs into ponds and streams, so fish can be healthy. This school of fish floating in the trees makes a lively connection between forests, water, and fish. Can you find them all along the trail to Brister’s Spring?
Since graduating from Mass. College of Art in 1970, Liz Fletcher has worked in clay as a sculptor, potter, and teacher. She is an exhibiting member of the NH Art Association and the League of NH Craftsmen, showing her work around New England and as far as Georgia, Texas, and the state of Washington. Living in the woods, Fletcher became concerned about human impacts on the land. After getting a Masters degree in Resource Management at Antioch New England, she assisted the Nashua River Watershed Association with open space planning, coordinating their Greenway program to protect the rivers of the region. In recent years her environmental work is mainly local with the Mason Conservation Commission.
Liz Sibley Fletcher
Brister Freeman Comes Home (2016)
Clay, 10’ X 6’
Artist Statement: Brister Freeman, who once owned part of this parkland, strides home carrying the meaty payment for his work in the local packing plant. His sturdy figure acts a trail marker pointing the way to his former home near Brister's Spring - a reminder of the people who lived here. African Americans have been a vital part of New England’s life since colonial times. In 2008 the Mason Historical Society commissioned me to create the life-size statue of Bode, an enslaved African who was Mason’s first colonial inhabitant. Thanks to a grant from NH Charitable Foundation, Bode was cast in bronze. He sits in the center of Mason where he tended cattle alone in the wilderness nearly three centuries ago.
Chris Frost
Amanitus (2016)
Glazed ceramic, various pieces each 6’ X 3’
Artist Statement: The strength of artwork, Amanitus is rooted in contradictions. Physically, these bright, colorfull mushrooms grab our attention as they contrast with the greens and browns of their surroundings. Contextually, the mushrooms (based on the species amanita muscaria) speak more of fantasy rather than natural reality. Cultural depictions of these toadstools revolve around images of gnomes and fairies, images appearing in traditional fairytales and classics, such as, Alice in Wonderland and Disney’s Fantasia. The mushrooms appear almost as candy, yet in reality they are listed as poisonous. Amanitus is a group effort! The ceramic mushrooms were created by many; the artist, his family, as well as, students and residents of Concord. Many of the mushrooms have the initials of their creators carved into the base of the mushroom.
Chris Frost is a sculptor living and working in Somerville, MA. His work has been exhibited and collected in museums and art institutions throughout the New England area. His indoor and outdoor sculpture is part of many private and corporate collections. Visit www.christopherfrost.org
Beka Goedde
Ceremony; My Hero; Point-Up; and Smoke (2015)
Acrylic, oil, gold leaf, pigment and wood stain on cedar, 4" x 6" x 96"
Artist Statement: Beka Goedde’s tall, totem-like figures are here installed as a group of four. Goedde is concerned with the way all things living and inert are in a constant state of motion. These sculptures will inevitably become slowly transformed by the elements over time while outdoors.
Beka Goedde is a sculptor and printmaker who has recently exhibited work at Soloway (Brooklyn, NY), Inside Out Art Museum (Beijing, China), Deborah Berke Partners (NY, NY), SHOW ROOM (Brooklyn, NY), Habersham Mills (Atlanta, GA), and Helen Day Art Center (Stowe, VT), among other venues. Goedde received an MFA in Sculpture from Bard College, and holds a BA from Barnard College in Behavioral Neuroscience and Philosophy. Goedde has been awarded residencies at Yaddo, JTHAR, Millay Colony, and PS122. Goedde was the recipient of a 2015 Brooklyn Arts Council grant to produce a large outdoor public work, Fictitious Force, 2015-16, in partnership with NYC Parks & Recreation. bekagoedde.com
Ellen Gorman and Amanda Mastroianni
OUTSIDE IN (2016)
Dance, nature art, music.
Collaboration w/Nature Artist and musician Peter Comier, 10 min
Artist Statement: OUTSIDE IN is an interactive dance piece inspired by nature. This choreographic piece comes from the idea that we breathe nature into ourselves and as it informs our intentions we are transformed. Being in nature feeds our inner being, which then allows us to create from an authentic place.
Ellen Gorman holds a BFA in Dance from Adelphi University. She has choreographed, produced and directed shows widely throughout the USA. Gorman lives in western Mass.
Gisela Griffith
Secrets of Nature Birch Bark Icons (2015-2016)
Birch bark, copper or 23K gold leaf, 7" x 24"
Artist Statement: We do not tell a birch tree it should be more like an elm. We face it with no agenda, only an appreciation that becomes participation: “I love looking at this birch” becomes “I am this birch” and then “I and this birch are opening to a mystery that transcends and holds us both.” -David Richo. A secret of nature is found on the forest floor in the litterfall that defies nature’s cycle of decay and makes its distinction known.
Born in Germany, Gisela Griffith immigrated with her family to the United States when she was three years old and spent her formative years in Chicago. She received her Bachelor of Arts in Art History at the University of south Florida and later studied Studio Arts at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston in 2002. Griffith exhibits her work in the Boston area. She works in mixed media and traditional artist materials. Her current body of work addresses religiosity in the format of assemblage. Griffith lives in Boston and works in her studio at the Boston Center for the Arts
Lisa Link
Word Wrap (2015)
Digital print on weatherproof vinyl, (20) 32x10" prints
Artist Statement: Word Wrap, is a multi-lingual series of text/image prints wrapped around trees with stories, quotes, ideas, and observations on the theme of "endurance.” I began the series in 2015 in Boston in collaboration with Blanca Bonilla. We interviewed Boston community members about their thoughts on "endurance" and then designed a unique banner inspired by each chosen quote. I am thrilled to continue this public art project in Concord, MA.
After earning her MFA in photography, Lisa Link taught at a non-profit community development corporation, Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild, in Pittsburgh, PA where she collaborated on public art projects that included billboards, community gardens, and transit bus posters. Her solo exhibit on women’s healthcare, “Warnings,” toured nationally for over ten years. A full-time web designer, parent of Boston public school graduates and licensed Zumba instructor, Link is passionate about art and design that engage people to be active producers and critics of media rather than passive consumers.
Madeleine Lord
Applause (2011-2016)
Welded scrap steel, 5'h
Artist Statement: Fabricated with auditorium chair seat springs and barrel hoops. The legs came first, then the gesture. Bravo Brava to all the hikers!
Madeleine Lord has been welding sculptures from found steel for over 20 years. She hopes all the Ramblers that pass by will notice the characteristics of the sylvan location where the work is placed, as it is there to engage but also bring into focus the particular spot. Applause is at the entry of a long corridor of pine, and Gracious in a dell, where white bracket fungus march up a fallen tree in the background, like an inlaid door to a private room.
Madeleine Lord
Gracious (2011-2016)
Welded scrap steel, 5'h
Artist Statement: Fabricated from a single enamel coated stove crushed for the metal bin. Seive head, fan parts for the hat. Stroll in the woods with attitude.
Tammy Rose
Transcendental Ghosts of Fairyland Pond (2016)
Theater, 20 Minutes
Artist Statement: On the shores of Fairyland Pond, time seems to play games with history and rules of the modern world. Come witness a scene of time falling away as Henry David Thoreau meets a modern artist and they pay homage to the history of the ghosts of humans and stories that surround them.
“This romantic spot may be called a suburb of Walden, as it is only separated by the width of a country road from Walden Woods. Fairyland has a pretty pond, embowered in trees, and a delicious spring, cool and clear enough to have been patronized by the fairies. It has always been a favorite haunt for the children of the village, and many of the school children have often used it as a play and picnic ground. Some thirty years ago (ca.1880’s), the pupils of a well-known school used to hold fairy masques and costume parties there, and if a way-farer had strayed in, he would have been surprised to find himself in the center of a fairy ring or gypsy carnival.
—Mrs. William H. Forbes (1911) quoted in THE STORY OF CONCORD as Told by Concord Writers.
Tammy Rose is an award winning NYC Playwright who has had her work performed in NYC and at the Thoreau Society Annual Gathering in both 2014 and 2016. Her work often deals with ghosts, Transcendental and otherwise. She was a Semi-Finalist in the Samuel French Play Competition and won the International Unchained Love Competition. Her Visual Art Studio is located in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, where she is a member of the Java Collective. When she is not wandering around Fairyland Pond, she can be found swimming in Walden Pond.
Kitt Shaffer
Tower of Animals (2011-2016)
High fire stoneware with glaze, approximately 30”
Artist Statement: This whimsical tower of unique animals evokes nursery rhymes and fables, and should produce smiles from those who encounter the work in the midst of the forest.
Kitt Shaffer is an artist with studio space in Somerville and in Monterosso Calabro (southern Italy). She works in ceramics as well as drawing with pastels, colored pencil and watercolor and painting in oils on board and canvas. Her ceramic works are figurative and functional. Shaffer particularly enjoys decorative painting and textures. Her garden in North Cambridge contains many imaginary animals in ceramics. Her drawings and paintings are mostly landscapes, with focus on Italy, where she spends a month each summer. She has shown in juried shows in the New England area as well as in Pizzo Calabro.
Margot Stage
Black Lives Mattered (2016)
Knotted rope and fabric, approximately 30' x 2'
Artist Statement: In the woods above Brister’s Spring, a tapestry made from knotted fabrics, ropes and twines winds and wraps among the trees. You will notice a line of black knots highlighted among the whites. When I toured the Town Forest, I was moved by the stories I was told about Brister Freeman, the freed slave who made his home in the forest and struggled to be a free, black man in Concord. This site-specific installation, Black Lives Mattered, pays tribute to the knots that were, and continue to be, tied and untied in the racial history of our nation.
Margot Stage is a visual artist whose work often explores memory and legacy. She is directly inspired by materials -- fiber and fabric, discarded building debris, found objects, and nature’s bounty. Stage’s work has been selected for exhibition in galleries, museums, educational institutions and corporations throughout the United States and is held in the collections of Enterprise Bank, The Jeanne D’Arc Credit Union and many private individuals. She lives with her artist husband in Westford, Massachusetts and works out of Western Avenue Studios in Lowell.
Margot Stage
Damsels and Dragons (2015)
Brass screening, brass and copper wire, copper ribbon, plasti-dip, sizes vary between 8" x 12" to 14" x 18"
Artist Statement: Dragons & Damsels is a magical display of these common creatures, made from brass screening and copper ribbon that catch and reflect sunlight. The Dragons & Damsels add to the allure of Fairyland Pond and its history as a place of imaginative play. I was told that Henry David Thoreau would take the Alcott and Emerson children to Fairyland Pond where they would create and enact dramatic stories. Let your imagination run wild in the company of bigger-than-life dragonflies and damselflies!
Andrea Thompson
The Wise Silence (2016)
Red oak, 5 elements, 2’ to 5’ diameter
Artist Statement: A series of large spheres, created with the traditional carpentry method of steam-bending wood, reside among the trees in a playful homage to Ralph Waldo Emerson. His writings address our longing for a sense of belonging in the universe, a place among the absolute, even while the experiences of daily life are disparate and mundane: “We live in succession, in division, in parts, in particles. Meantime within man is the soul of the whole; the wise silence; the universal beauty, to which every part and particle is equally related....” (The Over-Soul, 1841). A classical, abstract form, the sphere symbolizes purity, unity, and mathematical perfection; but here, they are rendered in humble materials and pieced together by human hands. They may evoke planetary orbs, or atomic models; or simply stand as a harmonious intersection of natural materials and human intention.
Andrea Thompson first came to the Boston area as a student at MIT, studying astronomy and physics. She continued at MassArt to become a graphic designer, and eventually took a sabbatical from the design world to become a sculptor. Over the past decade, Thompson has created site-specific installations in locations around New England and as far away as Japan, the Netherlands, and the Arctic Circle. She is interested in the way an art installation can reframe visitors’ perception of a place: by using familiar elements in an unexpected way, by highlighting a history that is usually hidden, or simply by being a pleasant disruption of the hustle and bustle of daily life.
William Turville
Indoors/outdoors (2016)
Wood (found, natural, manufactured, altered); found objects (altered); wire, approximately 12’ in diameter and 12’ high
Artist Statement: Since Neolithic times, Concord has been the site of camps and dwellings. Most of the dwellings, over this long history, were not what we see today from the last few hundred years, but were more “primitive” (but actually sophisticated) dwellings, environmentally-sensitively designed and handmade from local or found materials. Can I make a dwelling or create a space that might remind us of those dwellings and/or traditional place-making? Can I give us a sense of a barely “civilized” woodland experience in this contemporary high-tech age? Would my knowledge of simple techniques for building an artful vision of a yurt, a widely used simple portable dwelling unit, located in these woods, enable me to create this place or feeling? Can I use both natural and traditional wood and also use other appropriate recycled materials or objects, much as a contemporary bird will make its nest out of its favorite traditional found materials plus picking up man-made trash such as wire, thread, ribbon, plastic materials, and other objects whatever works today to do this place-making task? Lie down in this “yurt” to see up through the top of the yurt, not through an enclosure, but through the twig/branch open “forest canopy roof” into the natural canopy above. Are you still in this century?
Personally and collaboratively, often with unusual materials, objects and techniques, William Turville creates expressive, unique, specific and idiosyncratic sculpture and installations inspired by his personal relationships with people, places and causes. His work is inspired by his immediate experience in a specific environment and desire to create a change or develop a message regarding this experience. He is also inspired by controversial or timely subjects, often related to environmental causes or social justice. Turville will use nearly any material or medium or combination of mediums to achieve this, working mostly on three-dimensional pieces and installations at various scales. As a sculptor and architect, his work ranges from temporary festival sculpture and installations for community art organizations to commissioned work for institutions and corporations and unique work for themed shows, causes and charities. A Pratt Institute graduate, Turville has also studied at Mass. College of Art and The DeCordova Museum and has had several residencies at the Vermont Studio Center. His architecture and sculpture studio is located in Arlington, MA and he teaches sculpture to children at local community art centers in the Boston area and as a guest artist at local schools.
Sophie Wadsworth
Untitled (2016)
Words and more, durational
Artist Statement: By rambling here, I am befriending this place more deeply. I've spent many happy hours here with friends, tracking otter, fox and others. These stories and “lines” that we read in the leaves and along Fairyland’s pond edge are still with me (hello, mink!) and blend into my writing.
Whatever I've borrowed from stars
dissolves with my skin.
Silver pours down the trees
* * *
Forever becoming
something else
yet you are yourself,
exactly.
* * *
Walk with me
Sophie Wadsworth’s poetry has not, until now, appeared in a forest. Her poetry and essays have appeared in various periodicals, including the Massachusetts Audubon magazine, Sanctuary. Her award-winning collection of poems, Letters from Siberia, was published in 2004. Recipient of fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Massachusetts Cultural Council, Wadsworth has been honored to teach writing and poetry at Harvard Medical School and the University of Massachusetts, Lowell. She serves as Executive Director at The Nature Connection (Concord, MA), a non-profit organization that brings therapeutic animal and nature programs to at-risk youth, elders, and others in need of healing throughout Greater Boston. She lives with her family in Stow, Massachusetts.
