A friend with whom I worked on the Wendemuth Meadow project has been studying for a Master of Fine Arts degree at the Mass College of Art and Design for the past two years, and she’s almost done with her program! Her thesis work and that of her classmates is now on display in three of the galleries at the college; the show’s opening was tonight. Of course I had to be there, so I took the afternoon off from work and drove in to Boston. Not wanting to drive in city traffic around rush hour, I parked at Riverside and took the Green Line to the Fenway stop, then walked through the Fens to Huntington Avenue.

Mass College of Art repurposed their current space over the years; here I’m about to enter the exhibit, which was displayed in three galleries:

Ann paints in oils, and her work is prominently featured on this side of the Sandra and David Bakalar Gallery.  At the right of the photo, she’s talking to a visitor:

I kind of like her work, which can be classified as abstract:

Here is her Artist’s Statement:

This series of paintings is about the workings of nature; about how living things respond to pressure through adaptation and evolution.  I paint about how the struggle for survival drives creativity and about what happens when adaptation is not possible.

As I paint, I reflect on the analogies between my process and that of nature: I invent elements — then subject them to selection and transformation.  The relationship between forms is akin to an organism’s evolution to fit to its environment.

The paintings represent a stage of development.  The elements rest in their current state, and some have died away to become part of the “geology” of the piece, leaving their outlines underneath the newer layers.

In art, as well as nature, there is more than one solution to any problem.  The myriad of species on our planet shows that life is about creative answers and open possibilities, a reality I reflect in my paintings.

This is a talented group of artists, and there was quite a crowd of friends and family, perhaps even potential patrons!

As this was the opening reception, there was a nice spread of snacks and desserts for the guests, and before I headed back home, I grabbed some treats for the road. Many years ago, I worked in this area at the Harvard School of Public Health, but as I walked down Longwood Ave to the T stop on Chapel Street, I marveled at how many changes there had been over the past thirty years. I do suppose it’s for the better, and certainly the Mass College of Art has flourished here.  Congratulations to the 2015 graduates!