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Community Corner

Opening Reception for Lighting the Night: The Lantern As Art

Art that Lights the Night at True North Gallery

To help bring a little light back into the increasingly long nights that precede the winter solstice, True North Gallery has put together a group exhibition of lanterns, candle holders, and oil lamps, created by artists near and far. The show presents work in clay, stone, metal, concrete, glass, and mixed media.

Highlights of the show include “Acorn” by Hamilton artist Sue Kassirer. Wheel-thrown and hand carved from clay, the acorn-shaped lantern sits on its beautifully textured dark brown cap, which holds the candle. Cut away from of the top of the lantern—comprised of the green seed of the acorn—are tree trunks and tiny oak leaves. When lit from within, it casts a spectacular pattern of forest-like shadows.

Oregon artist Grayson Malone created her oil lamp, “Saigon” with concrete and weathered metal. Despite the use of industrial materials, Grayson’s Asian-inspired lamp evokes the ceremonial form and feeling of an ancient, abandoned temple. Using similar materials, Grayson created a series of elegantly rustic “Zen Cowboy Oil Lamps” also featured in the show.

Susan Zalkind, a nationally recognized alabaster carver from Arizona, has three lanterns in the show, all carved from a translucent alabaster that she collects herself in the Southwest. Zalkind’s candle lanterns, with their smooth organic shapes and visually intriguing mineral veins, are breathtakingly beautiful when illuminated.

“Fire, Water, Metal and Strength” by Seattle blacksmith Steve Howell, is expertly forged from iron, with the Japanese characters for “fire,” “water,” “metal,” and “strength” cut out of each of its four sides, reflecting the elements and qualities a blacksmith requires. Another metal lantern, “Lighting the Path to Freedom: The Underground Railroad,” by Hamilton artist Jeffrey Bird, depicts a striding figure carrying a lantern that holds a candle. Bird, who specializes in the use of salvaged materials in his art, created “Lighting the Path to Freedom” as a memorial to the valiant volunteers and courageous travelers who, in order to avoid detection, followed a path to freedom illuminated only by a shielded lantern.

“Ancient Illumination I,” by New York artist Elissa Bromberg, is a stoneware lantern sculpted with recesses and crevices, and glazed with black and brown oxides. The resulting form simulates the texture and patina of volcanic rock, and when illuminated, it kindles a powerful image of primordial fire.

There will be many other “ways to light the night” at this early winter exhibition at True North Gallery. The show runs from Saturday, November 16, 2013 until Saturday, January 11, 2014, with an opening reception on Saturday, November 16, 2013, from 3 to 6 PM. All work is for sale, and further information about the gallery is available at www.truenorthgallery.net 

True North Gallery, on 25 Woodbury Street, in South Hamilton, Massachusetts, is open Wednesday through Saturday, noon to 5PM, with extended hours during the holidays. For further information: (978) 468-1962. 




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