Exhibition and Events Announcement

EXTINCT!... Endangered Species and Habitats

Compelling artworks focus attention on endangered species and their shrinking habitats, in exhibit EXTINCT! and related educational events. EXTINCT! is collaboration by the Brush Gallery & Artists Studios (A Brush With History, Inc.), Lowell and SMFA/School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, in partnership with Tufts University.



EXHIBITION DATES:
January 17 through February 21, 2010

ARTISTS RECEPTION:
Saturday, January 23, 2010 from 2 – 4 PM (Snow: January 24)


LOCATION:

Brush Gallery & Artists Studios, 256 Market Street, Lowell, MA 01852

CURATED BY:
SMFA faculty Erica H. Adams and MFA candidate John Guy Petruzzi

GALLERY SLIDE TALKS: Art Meets Science

Saturday, January 30, 2010 from 2 – 4 PM (Snow: check our website).
Lectures and presentations by:

Acclaimed science writer Deborah Cramer (Smithsonian Ocean: Our Water, Our World) For author information and book reviews, click here.

Photographer Constance Sawyer (SMFA student) whose work with scientists at Salton Sea helped to create work in EXTINCT!

Ecologist and bird expert Sabrina Hepburn, an ecologist with TRC Environmental, Lowell, MA

Curators Erica H. Adams (SMFA Faculty) and John Guy Petruzzi (MFA student) will introduce Cramer, Sawyer and Hepburn. 

 

WILDLIFE PROGRAM:
Saturday, February 6, 2010, the Massachusetts Audubon Society and the Lowell Parks and Conservation Trust invite you to two events:

  • 8:00 AM to 10:00 AM, join them for their 3rd Annual Winter Wildlife Tracking Event (click here for complete information) just inside the entrance to the Lowell Cemetary, off Lawrence Street (across from 1025 Lawrence St). Off-street parking available. Click here for directions.
  • 11:00 AM to 12:30 PM, you're invited to meet a variety of native wildlife up close and personal, right at the Brush Gallery and Artists Studios!






ABOUT THE EXHIBITION:

Newest of series Art of Nature, EXTINCT! inaugurates the Brush Gallery’s Student Curator program. This captivating exhibit highlights endangered species and their environments. Student Curator John Guy Petruzzi blends Audubon with science fiction for disturbingly beautiful paintings: Widows of the Fen (pictured above), Grallistrix and Xenicus’ Path. Petruzzi was one of nine graduate students chosen to exhibit in Boston The Next Generation III, at Emerson College, 12/2009 - 2/2010. 

Co-curated by SMFA faculty Erica H. Adams and MFA candidate John Guy Petruzzi, EXTINCT!... Endangered Species and Habitats features works in video, painting, animation, large scale drawing and collage by SMFA students: Ani Avanian, Rachel Grobstein, Christine Haag, Louisa Hudson, Vanessa Lee, Shen Shen Luo, Paige Mazurek, John Guy Petruzzi, Irene Pizzolante, Ivette Salom, Constance Sawyer, Sam Schreiber, Emily Somma, Tim Stark, Mark Tang, George Tsalikis and Biying Zhang and SMFA faculty: Erica H. Adams (Painting), Erika Adams (Prints) and Erica Daborn (Drawing). SMFA curators: Erica H. Adams addresses climate change and an economic meltdown in deceptively beautiful paintings and a large-scale collage while John Guy Petruzzi, a 21st century Audubon, questions the decline of bio-diversity and how it reflects upon humanity.



ABOUT THE GALLERY SLIDE TALKS:


Fascinating lecture/presentations blend art and science on Saturday Deborah CramerJanuary 30, 2010 from 2-4 pm (Snow: check our website). EXTINCT! speakers are:

  • Acclaimed science writer Deborah Cramer is currently a visiting scholar at MIT’s Earth System Initiative. Her two books, Great Waters: An Atlantic Passage (W.W. Norton 2001) and Smithsonian Ocean: Our Water Our World (2008) are now being adapted for use in schools.  Nobel Prize winner Al Gore wrote of Great Waters, “I urge everyone to read this book, pass on its teachings, and act on its message”.  Cramer's lectured about her writing and the sea on both sides of the Atlantic, at science and maritime museums, major environmental and teachers' organizations and, university degree programs for oceanography and journalism.
  • Photographer Constance Sawyer (SMFA student) worked with scientists at Salton Sea to create her photographs in this exhibit  
  • Ecologist and bird expert Sabrina Hepburn is an ecologist with TRC Environmental, Lowell, MA.  As a birder and naturalist, she's traveled extensively in the U.S. and abroad.  Hepburn studied ecology in Costa Rica and Panama in a graduate program run by the Organization forSmithsonian Ocean Tropical Studies and Smithsonian Institute.  Hepburn earned her B.A. in Biology (Dartmouth College) and an M.S. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology (University of Michigan).  As a volunteer, she's led nature trips for Brookline Bird Club (MA), New Canaan Nature Center (CT) and  U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.   
  • Curators Erica H. Adams (SMFA Faculty) and John Guy Petruzzi (MFA student) will introduce Cramer, Sawyer and Hepburn. Adams curated Residue: Reflections on Aging and Mortality (2006) in Boston and writes a column for Fjoezzz quarterly, the Netherlands www.modernglas.nl  Her nationally exhibited art work is in private collections; Polaroid International Collection and, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Website: www.smfa.edu/faculty
    Petruzzi receives his MFA, 2011. Currently, his paintings are in The Next Generation III, an invitational exhibit that honors nine of Boston's graduate students; the exhibit is at at Emerson College through 2/2010. Website: www.johnguypetruzzi.com


ABOUT THE BRUSH GALLERY & ARTISTS STUDIOS:

The Brush Gallery & Artists Studios (A Brush With History Inc.) is a non-profit service, educational, and membership organization which provides studio and exhibition facilities for artists along side its programs to educate the general public about the artistic process. Located in the National Historical Park, it's next to the Visitor Center at 256 Market Street. Hours are Wed to Sat 11 – 4 PM; Sun 12 – 4 P.M. Free admission, free parking, and wheelchair accessible. For more information go to our website www.thebrush.org or, call (978)459-7819

The Brush Gallery’s Art of Nature Program is a series of ecologically-themed exhibitions that utilize art to focus attention on the environment, recycling, animal rights, conservation, waste-management and more.

The Brush Gallery’s Student Curator Program provides students from regional art schools and universities with valuable experience planning, curating and organizing exhibitions and related educational events for professional galleries.

Become a Brush member and enjoy a variety of benefits: www.thebrush.org/membership.htm

Directions to the Brush Gallery & Artists Studios: www.thebrush.org/directions.htm

Generous support for EXTINCT!  has been provided by the Theodore Edson Parker Foundation, the Nathaniel and Elizabeth P. Stevens Foundation and the Lowell National Historical Park. We are also grateful to the Massachusetts Audubon Society and the Lowell Parks and Conservation Trust for their encouragement and support.



The Brush Art Gallery & Studios
256 Market St., Lowell, MA 01852
978-459-7819
info@thebrush.org

Click here for directions
HOURS:
Hours:
April 1 to December 31: Tues-Sat 11am-4pm, Sun 12 noon - 4pm
January 1 to March 31: Wed-Sun 12 noon - 4pm

Mass Cultural Council
We are grateful that many of our programs are supported by the
Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency.