True North Gallery | Art, Gifts & Furnishings from and Inspired by the Far North

By Belinda Recio | Published: March 11, 2013

From Saturday, April 13 through Friday, May 24, 2013, True North Gallery presents “The Painted Story: New Work by Brian Brogan.”

The paintings that North Shore artist Brian Brogan creates look more like art you would find in Santa Fe, New Mexico than New England. His large acrylic canvases have a bold palpable presence and an iconography that is both personal and archetypal. His art is inspired by dreams, visions, and indigenous traditions that celebrate humanity’s connection to the natural world. Animals, people, spirit creatures, mystical landscapes, and ritual healings are rendered in a pulsating and vibrant palette. Brogan’s use of color enlivens his paintings with the kind of shamanic energy found in the yarn paintings of the Huichol people of Mexico. The characters and places are a part of Brogan’s developing personal cosmology, and yet there is something universal about them as well. His figures—birds, bees, deer, dogs, rabbits, and human forms (often adorned in indigenous garb or depicted in a transformational state partway between man and beast)—feel ancient and familiar. They call to mind the Yei spirits of the Navajo, and the Kachina spirits of Pueblo cosmology.

It’s no surprise that Brogan’s work is influenced by indigenous traditions from around the world. He spent more than two decades traveling and living in more than twenty countries. While living in the Far East, Brogan developed an interest in eastern philosophy, and studied Qi Gong and Feng Shui, two ancient Chinese practices related to energy and balance. Both of these disciplines continue to inform his art and life. Another influence on Brogan’s development as a visual artist was poetry. “Poetry opened me to Spirit, and Spirit lead me to painting. It was a fluid transition,” he explains.

Painting is a spiritual path for Brogan. His work is shaped by liminal states of consciousness in which he is receptive to ideas and imagery not as accessible in a rational, waking state. “When I paint, it’s all about balance,” Brogan reflects, “I try to hold the tension lightly, like when meditating. I’m here, but I’m also somewhere else.” For Brogan, both the process of painting and the paintings themselves are related to healing. He sees the work as an unfolding story about communal reciprocity between humanity, nature, and spirit.

“Brogan’s paintings invite the viewer to experience the world from the animistic perspective of his painted stories,” comments Belinda Recio, owner of True North Gallery. “People, animals, spirits, and the land are all alive and interconnected. When viewers engage the work,” Recio continues, “they become a part of the story, which opens the door to reconnecting with the more-than-human world.”

All work is for sale. Directions to the gallery are available on True North’s website: www.truenorthgallery.net/directions.html

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True North Holiday Open House

By Belinda Recio | Published: November 27, 2012

Please Join us for our Holiday Open House
Saturday & Sunday, December 1 & 2
Noon to 5PM

Refreshments & Special Pricing

Holiday Gifts, Thymes Candles, Ornaments, Jewelry, Chandler 4 Corners Pillows & Rugs, Pottery, Lapland Bracelets, Plush Polar Bears & More!

Featured Art:
Talismanic Animals from Lands of Snow & Sand: Yup’ik & Zuni Animal Carvings

A Storybook North : The Art of Jackie Morris. Allie High, Seth Fitts, Richard Metzger & Germaine Arnaktauyok

True North Gallery www.truenorthgallery.net
25 Woodbury Street (RT 22), South Hamilton, MA 01982 • 978.468.1962

Directions and maps are available on our website: www.truenorthgallery.net/directions.html
Note: Extra parking is available around the corner, on Partridgeberry Lane.

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New Work from the Northwest Coast

By Belinda Recio | Published: September 17, 2012

Orca and Salmon by Delmar Joseph

On Saturday, September 22nd we will be featuring new work by Squamish artist, Delmar Joseph.

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Two New Shows at True North Gallery

By Belinda Recio | Published: August 23, 2012

From Saturday, September 15 through Saturday, November 3, 2012, True North Gallery presents two new shows: “Delicate Balance: Gold Leaf Photography by Mark Thayer” and “Equine in Wire: Sculpture by Helen Weatherall.”

Delicate Balance: Gold Leaf Photography by Mark Thayer
When most mountain bikers are negotiating rocky trails or steep descents, they probably don’t notice a particularly perfect pitch pine sprout or milkweed pod. But when Hamilton, Massachusetts photographer Mark Thayer bikes on the trails throughout Essex County, he not only notices the botanical world he is peddling through, he often stops to collect specimens. The seed pods, stems, leaves, and other plant materials then travel home with him, to his studio, where they become the subjects of his photographs.

Thayer photographs his botanical specimens against neutral backgrounds that he colors by blending different color temperatures of light. His dramatic close-up digital photographs of plant forms are un-manipulated, except for color correction. According to Belinda Recio, owner of True North Gallery, “Through Thayer’s lens, the botanical specimens appear enlivened and possess a numinous quality. We can sense their power. These seeds, pollen spores, and dormant stems aren’t just detritus that nature left behind. Each is a potential forest or meadow, embodying the perpetuation of life itself.”

The ability of a seed or stem to burst forth with new life is what inspired Thayer to start adding gold leaf to his photographs. For Thayer, the symbolism of gold—power, wealth, and resilience—is a perfect reflection of the potential contained within these plant materials. But there is a secondary meaning behind the bursts, orbits, and other patterns of gold leaf that Thayer juxtaposes against his plant images. For him, the gold isn’t just a representation of the plant’s latent abilities, or “wealth,” it is also a reminder to think about our values and what matters most to us.

“As the demands we make on the natural world increase,” Thayer explains, “we find ourselves struggling to find a balance between serving the needs of our species and respecting the needs of so many others. Finding this balance often comes down to a decision about how we define wealth.”

“Thayer’s photographs are provocative in the best possible way,” Recio comments. “They invite us to consider not only the profound potential and beauty of plant forms, but also our place in the world.”

Equine in Wire: Sculpture by Helen Weatherall
Opening at the same time as “Delicate Balance” is Helen Weatherall’s “Equine in Wire.” Weatherall’s wire sculptures of prancing, rearing, and reclining horses reflect the power and grace of her subjects. Weatherall—who lives in Ipswich, Massachusetts—was born with a love of horses that time has only intensified. At present she is retraining an off-the-track thoroughbred named Sally Slew who is both her mount and primary muse. Weatherall’s wire sculptures celebrate the horse in its unbridled and untethered state: A filly primed to race, an Andalusian stallion spinning on its haunches, or a foal learning about legs and gravity. In Weatherall’s work we see the horse as spirit expressed in muscle and motion.

The flexibility and fluidity of wire make it a perfect medium for the horse, whose movements, Weatherall reflects, “can be as subtle as shivering away a fly or as brazen as a kick.” Her sculptures, composed entirely of hand-shaped wire mounted on hardwood bases, capture the kinetic quality of the equine form. Weatherall’s horses give the impression that, if you were to look away, they might buck or gallop off before you return your gaze.

“Working in wire is like drawing in 3-D,” the artist explains. “Wire enables me to describe form as much by what isn’t there as by what is.” According to Belinda Recio, owner of True North Gallery, “Weatherall’s use of negative space invites the viewer to participate in the full realization of her horses, which in turn interiorizes them in our minds. Her wire stallions, mares, and colts have a pure, primal essence that evokes the archetypal horse in our psyches. Through lyrical line and gestural empathy, these sculptures connect our hearts to the horse.”

All work in both shows is for sale. Both shows run from Saturday, September 15 through Saturday, November 3, 2012. The opening reception is Saturday, September 15, from 3 to 6 PM.

Directions on True North’s website: www.truenorthgallery.net/directions.html

True North Gallery is open Wednesday through Saturday 12 to 5 PM and other times by chance or appointment. For additional information call (978) 468-1962 or email gallerydirector@truenorthgallery.net.

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ART THAT CELEBRATES THE SPIRIT OF THE RABBIT

By Belinda Recio | Published: March 22, 2012

" Judgment" by Nakisha VanderHoeven

From March 31, 2012, through May 26, 2012, True North Gallery presents “Rabbit! Rabbit! Art Inspired by Arctic Hares, Snowshoe Hares, and Magical, Mythical Rabbits,” a group exhibition featuring the work of Germaine Arnaktauyok, Juliana Boyd, Cathy DeLeRee, Tallmadge Doyle, Nancy Dudley, Catherine Hyde, Lynne Klemmer, Jess Lawrence, Kennan Masters, Wendy Morgan, Jackie Morris, Kristiana Pärn, Pits Qimirpiq, Patricia Reed, Nakisha VanderHoeven, Sarah Seabury Ward, and Nicholas Wilson.

“Rabbits and hares play important roles in the mythology of nearly every culture,” explains Belinda Recio, owner of True North Gallery. “They are archetypal symbols of fertility, regeneration, and ingenuity. They are associated with magic because we see them mostly at dawn and dusk—those border times when our eyes can play tricks on us. And, in many cultures, rabbits are trickster figures because people perceive them as paradoxical creatures—courageous, yet timid; clever, yet foolish; innocent, yet amorous Rabbits really engage our imaginations, and this is reflected in all the great art in Rabbit! Rabbit!”

The show, which takes its name from the folk belief that saying “Rabbit! Rabbit!” at the start of every month brings good luck, includes a variety of rabbit-inspired art by artists from far and wide. Inuit artist Pits Qimirpiq from Cape Dorset, Canada, has two stone sculptures in the show, both depicting dancing hares. Qimirpiq is known for his sense of humor and playfulness, which are reflected in the way he balances his hares in joyful, dancing poses.

"Night and Day" by Germaine Arnaktauyok

Another piece from the far North is “Night and Day,” a striking aquatint etching by renowned Inuit artist Germaine Arnaktauyok. The etching is inspired by an Inuit legend relating to the creation of darkness and light. Arnaktauyok presents the raven, which represents day, with the light of the early sun behind it, and an arctic hare, which represents night, with a dark, starry background.

From a much warmer part of the world are rabbit fetish carvings by Zuni artists in New Mexico. Zuni artists carve little stone animals, known as “fetishes.” Each fetish animal has qualities (or “medicine”) that the owner admires and desires, such as the owl’s vision or the bear’s strength. For the Zuni, rabbit medicine is about reminding us that we need to face our fears and outwit those things that “prey” on us by using the talents we possess.

The show includes two watercolors by Jackie Morris, the well-known Welsh children’s book illustrator and author. “Over the Trees” and “Jackalope” both honor a mythical horned hare as he leaps through the night sky. A second piece that locates the hare in the heavens is “Lepus the Hare” by Tallmadge Doyle, a printmaker from Oregon. Created as part of Doyle’s “Celestial Menagerie” series, “Lepus” depicts the constellation of the same name, located just south of Orion.

"The Secret Field" by Catherine Hyde

Another UK artist, Catherine Hyde, has several pieces in the show. Hyde is well known for her intellectual and symbolic paintings, charged with atmospheric and iconic images. Hyde uses the archetypical hare as an emblem of wildness, fertility and the interconnectedness of life and landscape.

Local artists are represented in the show as well. There is a luminous cast glass rabbit called “Arctic Moon” by Sarah Seabury Ward of Newburyport. The sculpture calls to mind the icy landscape of arctic hares as well as the cross-cultural association between hares and the moon.

Lexington artist Lynne Klemmer has two paintings in the show, both from her “Inuit Influences” series. “Packing Doll: Hare” depicts an Inuit “packing doll,” which is a soft sculpture of an animal—in this case a hare—wearing a parka and carrying its young. The packing dolls reflect the way a child is “packed” in a mother’s amauti— a special parka devised with a pouch for carrying an infant or young child. Klemmer’s other panting, “Inuit Influences: color studies, Hare” was inspired by a hare sculpture created by Inuit artist Mark Kadyulik in 1959. Both paintings reflect Klemmer’s expressionist style as well as her deep appreciation for Inuit art.

“Packing Doll: Hare” by Lynne Klemmer

There’s much more. But then, whenever rabbits are concerned, there usually is. Visit True North from March 31, 2012, through May 26, 2012 to see Rabbit! Rabbit! as well as their usual collection of art, gifts, and furnishings from and inspired by the far North.

True North Gallery is open Wednesday through Saturday 12 to 5 and Sundays by chance and appointment. They will be open on Sunday, April 1, 2012. For additional information call (978) 468-1962 or email gallerydirector@truenorthgallery.net.

"Arctic Moon" by Sarah Seabury Ward

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Tallmadge Doyle at True North

By Belinda Recio | Published: March 4, 2012

The Raven by Tallmadge Doyle

We are pleased to announce that we have new work by Oregon printmaker Tallmadge Doyle. “Aquila the Eagle” and “The Raven” are part of Doyle’s Celestial Menagerie series.

Doyle is drawn to constellations because “they are an expression of a desire to order the chaos of the night sky. For farmers who wanted an agricultural calendar, for shepherds who needed a nightly clock, for navigators and explorers dividing the sky into recognizable groupings, constellations were a practical necessity.”

For Doyle, the constellation figures are “symbolic, celestial allegories in which humans can honor and recognize sacred animals, deities, and moral tales.”

We also have several truly spectacular prints from her Celestial Mapping Series.

Born in New York City, Tallmadge Doyle currently resides in Eugene, Oregon where she has lived and worked since 1989. She received her BFA in drawing from the Cleveland Art Institute and her MFA in printmaking from the University of Oregon where she has taught Printmaking as an Adjunct Professor since 1997.
Her work is included in numerous public and private collections including the Portland Art Museum’s Gilkey Print Collection, the Oregon State University Art About Agriculture Collection, the City of Seattle Portable Works Collection, and the Cleveland Art Association Collection.

Aquilla the Eagle by Tallmadge Doyle

Celestial Mapping III by Tallmadge Doyle

Celestial Mapping II by Tallmadge Doyle

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Stone Animals of the Heart

By Belinda Recio | Published: February 9, 2012

Zuni artist Terrence Martza carved this beautifully inlaid Wolf in streamstone with an unusual turquoise heartline.

Zuni fetish carvings make great Valentine’s gifts!

The Zuni people of the American Southwest carve little stone animals, known as “fetishes.” Archaeological sites show that the Zuni were using fetishes as early as C.E. 650. The first fetishes were found objects—stones, shells, or even bits of wood—that had the shapes of animals. Later, hunters started carving to enhance the animal form. They also started wrapping tiny stones, shells, and beads onto the fetish, as a gift to the animal spirit within the stone.

Each fetish animal has qualities (or “medicine”) that you might associate with the person to whom you gift it. For example, you might chose an animal with attributes that your gift recipient admires and desires, such as the owl’s vision or bear’s strength. Or, your sweetheart or close friend might currently “need” a particular medicine, such as the puma’s ability to leap into action or the freedom of the horse.

Zuni artist Kyle Mahooty carved this turquoise horse.

A Word About “Power Objects”

In ancient times, our ancestors perceived everything as alive with spirit, including objects that most of us now perceive as inanimate, such as stones, feathers, and shells. Because everything seemed animate and had the potential to possess power, early humans created “power objects” to help them interact with the world—to protect themselves from negative forces and to attract positive forces.

But power objects aren’t just relics from the past—they are still used today. Known by names such as talismans, amulets, fetishes, and charms, power objects are natural or cultural items that are imbued with symbolic meaning and power by the person or culture that uses them. The power behind such an object is the faith of the person interacting with it, whether that faith be in a statue of a saint, a Zuni bear fetish, or a lucky stone found on a beach. The power of the human spirit works through the object. If an object comforts us or gives us hope, that comfort or hope can change the way we act, which can potentially change the outcome of a particular situation.

Hope you will come visit these little stone “animals of the heart”! — Belinda Recio

Zuni artist Burt Awelagte carved this sodalite Bear.

Special pricing on Saturday, February 11th, from 11Am to 5PM!

True North Gallery

25 Woodbury Street

South Hamilton, MA 01982

978-468-1962

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Nunataks in the Mist: Impressions of The Kenai Fjords by Amy E. Stein

By Belinda Recio | Published: September 10, 2011

Harris Bay by Amy Stein

Last summer, artist Amy Stein, from Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, embarked on a sea kayaking trip through Kenai Fjords National Park in Alaska. The Kenai Fjords are coastal mountain fjords located on the southeastern Kenai Peninsula. Covered by glaciers as recently as 85 years ago, the spectacular 669,983-acre park is home to hundreds of species of wildlife, including humpback whales, harbor seals, sea lions, sea otters, orcas, bald eagles, puffins, and other northern fauna.

Stein returned from her journey with lasting impressions she has been turning into paintings. Twelve of these paintings comprise “Nunataks in the Mist: Impressions of The Kenai Fjords by Amy E. Stein,” which opens at True North Gallery in Hamilton, Massachusetts, on Saturday, September 17th.

For the past fourteen years, Stein has been painting and showing impressionistic landscapes in oil. She is particularly interested in the concept of “spirit of place,” which refers to the unique and essential aspects of a place. Throughout history, artists, writers, architects, environmentalists, and others have been inspired by “spirit of place” to paint, write, build, worship in, and protect special places. The spirit of a place can help explain why a particular landscape or environmental setting moves us, and why we feel attached to those places.

Stein has experienced the “spirit of place” as both muse and catalyst. The unique qualities of a place—from its aesthetic presentation to the emotional states it evokes—have inspired Stein to try to capture those qualities in paintings. Her paintings, in turn, then act as a catalyst for environmental awareness by connecting people to those places and their special qualities.

Named after isolated mountain peaks known as nunataks— an Eskimo word meaning “lonely peaks,” the paintings in “Nunataks in the Mist” reflect Stein’s deep sensitivity to the land. “The fjords offer a challenging palette of colors and ever-changing light,” explained Belinda Recio, owner of True North Gallery. “Stein skillfully captured the physical attributes of the fjords in all their nuance and majesty. But her paintings go one step further—they ‘take you there’ because they embody something more than just the visual beauty of the fjords. They are imbued with the soul of the place.”

Not many people have seen the Kenai Fjords from a distance, let alone from the intimate vantage point of a sea kayak. Stein’s paintings offer us a rare opportunity to experience the fjords and their beaches, lagoons, glaciers, and bays through the eyes of someone who clearly felt the spirit of place.

September 17 through November 5, 2011

Opening Reception Saturday, September 17, from 3 to 6 PM

All works are available for purchase.

Resurrection Bay Seal by Amy Stein

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The Inua in the Stone: Inuit Carvings from the Canadian Arctic

By Belinda Recio | Published: September 8, 2011

From September 17 through November 5, 2011, True North Gallery presents “The Inua in the Stone: Inuit Carvings from the Canadian Arctic.” This show features sculptures carved from serpentine, basalt, dolomite, argillite, and steatite, and represents the work of artists from communities such as Cape Dorset, Sanikiluaq, Inukjuak, Iqaluit, Pangnirtung, Gjoa Haven, and Igloolik. Subjects range from naturalistic arctic wildlife to mythological pieces, such as transformations, in which animals and shamans are depicted as changing into one another.

In Inuit mythology, an inua is a spirit or soul that exists in people, animals, plants, landscapes, waterways, and all other matter. From this animistic perspective in which everything and everyone shares the mystery of a soul, stones are no exception—they each have their own inua, too.

The work in “The Inua in the Stone” highlights Inuit artists’ ability to create carvings that feel as if they embody a spirit, or inua. The show is also about the stones themselves—their colors and patterns, their hardness or softness, and the way they seem to yield to the artists’ shaping or rebelliously resist, forcing collaborative compromise between carver and stone. And finally, the work asks us to think about the mysterious relationship between the animate and that which we often perceive as inanimate.

Featured in the show is a large dancing musk ox by master carver Pitseolak Qimirpiq from Cape Dorset. Carved from serpentine, the musk ox sports the characteristically shaggy coat and curved horns of his species, but stands upright, balancing on only one hoof. The carving is both formidable and graceful. The weight of the musk ox—and the large stone from which it was carved—is evident, and yet its dancing pose adds movement and fluidity. The carving embodies humor as well, in the very notion of a dancing 600-pound musk ox. Its endearingly large hoofs, textured coat, handsome snout, and friskiness all work together to coax both the form and spirit of a musk ox out of a massive chunk of dark grey-green serpentine the artist dug out of the arctic landscape.

Also included in the show are three striking polar bear carvings by Esa Kripanik. Kripanik is a master carver from Igloolik, and is known for working with a hard, white arctic stone very similar to marble, into which carves surface drawings of other animals. The three polar bear carvings have etchings of seals and other arctic animals on their bodies. All three pieces embody the power and incomparable charisma of “Nanuq,” as well as the importance of his relationship to the other animals (etched on the surfaces) with which he shares his world.

Another distinctive piece in the show is a large shaman bear by Philip Kamekpakeytuq from Gjoa Haven. The bear is carved with wide, open arms, as if ready to embrace—or consume—whomever or whatever looks at him. The carving tapers down dramatically toward its base, as if it were rising out of a genie’s lamp. Carved out of a dark, smoky dolomite and clad in a shaman’s coat, Kamekpakeytuq’s bear radiates an ancient and dusky spirit.

In his book, Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy, religious scholar Mircea Eliade described an Inuit shamanic initiation practice in which the shaman goes to a quiet place and rubs two stones together while waiting for a spiritual experience. This ritual speaks poetically to the work in “The Inua in the Stone.” For the Inuit carvers, just like the shaman initiate, working with stones is a way to invite the spirits to join us.

The Inua in the Stone: Inuit Carvings from the Canadian Arctic, September 17 through November 5, 2011

All works are available for purchase.

True North Gallery is open Wednesday through Saturday 12 to 5 PM and Sundays by chance or appointment.

True North Gallery• 25 Woodbury Street• South Hamilton, MA 01982

For additional information call (978) 468-1962 or email gallerydirector@truenorthgallery.net

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Animalia Borealis: Prayer Flags for the North Wind

By Belinda Recio | Published: July 14, 2011

As a result of the generous support of the Hamilton-Wenham Cultural Council, “Art Grows Here”—a community art event in Hamilton and Wenham—will celebrate its second annual tour of outdoor art installations July 15-24, 2011. Once again, residents and visitors alike will be able to follow the Art Grows Here Map (available at True North) by foot, bike or car to find art in both communities.

This year True North Gallery is proud to be participating as “Site 15,” where you will find “Animalia Borealis: Prayer Flags for the North Wind.”

Inspired by the Tibetan Buddhist prayer flag tradition, “Animalia Borealis” is an installation of 12 art flags informed by and dedicated to the fauna and cultures of the circumpolar North. Each flag represents a specfic arctic animal and culture. We’re hoping you will stop by the see the installation and get to know some arctic animals from the perspectives of the indigenous cultures that share their world.

“Animalia Borealis” will be on display in front of the garden adjacent to our parking area. You may visit it any time from July 15-24, 2011, even if the gallery isn’t open.

We will have extended hours in the gallery on opening weekend:

Saturday and Sunday, July 16th and 17th we will be open from 10AM until 5PM.

After this weekend, will resume regular summer hours, which are Wednesday through Saturday, Noon to 5PM and other times by chance or appointment.

For further information about the Art Grows Here tour, visit: www.artgrowshere.com

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