Today is

Pamela Hoss

"As a Boston artist, the figure has been my main studio engagement for the past 25 years. Through the use of mirrors, I have often used myself as a vehicle for expression. Observing myself in motion has helped to bring forth thoughts and feelings that have become meaningful to the content of my work. This reliance on acting — the physical participation, accompanied by music, costumes and props — is a way of getting my mind into action, until ideas emerge and take their own direction.

Pamela Hoss
Basket of Eggs
Acrylic paint on paper
67 x 42 inches
2006

 

"Recently the creative process has given me a rebirth of freedom, similar to the freedom I felt in childhood, to play, discover, pretend, be spontaneous, and have fun.

"In my current work, after experiencing the loss of parents and homestead, I found myself flooded with memories of childhood and family. Surrounded by photographs and mementoes from the past, I find myself recalling visual and emotional impressions of the life I once had; the clothes I wore, the color of my hair, the dolls I cared for, my nine siblings, the games we played, and the farm where we were raised have all become more vivid. Scanning old snapshots and adding them to the paintings, along with cutouts from earlier drawings and paintings, have all played a significant role in this new work.

 

Pamela Hoss
Dancing in the Hall
Acrylic paint on paper
66 x 65 inches
2006

"The older I get, the more acutely aware I am of a sense of time, of times past, of time spent, of time honored, of timeworn, of timelessness. I rejoice in the painting process because it has allowed me to capture the essence of the past through a collage of memories and dreams, helping to commemorate my origins."

 

Anne Leone

"Artists and writers often use the image of water as a metaphor for life, birth and purity. In my paintings, I use the human form suspended in water as a way to investigate states of being. The possibilities of meaning are endless. Released from the corporeal bounds of gravity in the coruscating light and murky, shadowy water, the figures are physically involved with their surroundings. This reaction can be visually poetic: the embodiment of isolation or serenity; confidence or fear; distress or joy.

Anne Leone
Swimmers I

"Most recently, I have composed images of multiple figures moving through the water; the choreographed poses of these figures in motion create relationships between the swimmers. On the other hand, the individuals move in their own direction to explore their surroundings for themselves.

"Paintings can be enjoyed for color, dynamism, and texture, but ultimately, in my work, it is the mood, the depth and the sense of light that guides the viewer to an evocative and contemplative place."

 

Anne Leone
Swimmers II

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Laurie Kaplowitz

"I am a figurative painter; I’m firmly committed to realism; and it is the dawn of the 21st century. Those three facts pose this dilemma: how, as an artist striving to be relevant in today’s world, does
one express issues as old as the human race, with a centuries’ old technique and style, in a manner
and context appropriate and engaging to a contemporary audience.

Laurie Kaplowitz
Observatory

"My response to that dilemma is my strong conviction that although the world around us has changed, and thus our reactions to it, in fact we human beings are essentially the same biological bundles of flesh and bones and blood that we were tens of thousands of years ago. It seems to me in a post-modern world in which the ancient cycles of nature — birth, death, regeneration — have been all but interrupted, rejected, and replaced by unnatural intervention at many different stages, painting the figure is an affirmative act of the utmost reverence, relevance, and devotion.

"The figure has been absolutely central to my work in imagery and narrative. In this body of work the viewer is placed amid the drama unfolding on the canvas. It's an almost impossible space, I realize that; it hovers somewhere between the actual world and the painted world. The paintings, simply put, are about making pictures — through paint and through discreet "framing" in mirrors, windows and various lenses (cameras, binoculars, eye glasses, and magnifying glasses). I would say the overarching concept is vision — how we (artist and viewer alike) first create and then process images as we gaze about us in this world. The result of our scrutiny is an ever expanding and contracting sphere of reference.

"The figures in my paintings are compressed into an interior space, and they have been deliberately made aware and watchful of actions that are happening beyond this circumscribed zone. We live in a world in which we are bombarded by news of events — both momentous and life changing as well as quotidian and mundane — coming at us from every direction. This can be comforting as well and anxiety producing.

Laurie Kaplowitz
Lustre

"Titian was reported to have said that the reason he used so many layers of glazes in his portraits was because of the infinite layers to the human identity. These paintings are constructed with many layers of glazing, and I like to recall this quote when I think of my painting process. Painting a form once is not enough. It has to be painted and repainted, again and again, each time sinking it back into space, so that upon viewing, the image floats to the surface and resonates in its fullest and richest form.

"To some degree I can compare myself to a novelist (the only other art form that moves me as much as painting). I often hear or read about authors explaining that they create these characters on the page and then they sit back and watch what the characters will do. I experienced a similar sensation in making these paintings. The figures often would take on a life and will of their own telling me what needed to be done with them."

 

Stacy Latt Savage

"My sculptures are visual dialogues between the observed and the invented. Naturalistic figurative elements work in partnership with expressive abstract elements to create figures that embody a specific tone or residue. In essence, they are portraits of feelings.

 

Stacy Latt Savage
Waiting
hydrocal and steel
52" h x 21" w x 28" d

"I draw from my own history to identify the direction for each figure. My goal is to transform my personal experiences into artwork that communicates universally. It is this desire for direct
communication that keeps the figure — a frame of reference we all share — central to my work.

"I believe that when one encounters a figure, the connection is immediate and unavoidable. The complexity of human emotion has led me to explore the symbolic potential of pattern. The thickets, entanglements or structures constructed within each form are intended to emote or expose the drama and tension that lies within every individual."

 

Stacy Latt Savage
Entangled
bronze
40" h x 11" w x 12" d