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

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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Iceland Color—Where Fire and Ice Collide: Landscapes by Kimberly Collins Jermain

By Belinda Recio | Published: April 27, 2011

From April 17, 2011 through June 18, 2011, True North Gallery presents “Iceland Color—Where Fire and Ice Collide: Landscapes by Kimberly Collins Jermain.”

On April 1, 2010, Essex, Massachusetts artist Kimberly Collins Jermain embarked on a grant-funded journey to paint and draw the color relationships that occur within the unique geothermal conditions of the Icelandic landscape. The volcano known as Fimmvörðuháls had erupted less than two weeks before Collins Jermain arrived in Iceland. But the relatively insignificant eruption of Fimmvörðuháls on March 20th turned out to be a warning of what was to come. On April 14th, just two weeks after Collins Jermain arrived, a second volcano—Eyjafjallajökull—erupted, creating an unforgettable ash cloud that led to the closure of most of Europe’s airspace for nearly a week.

While the rest of the world waited for the ash plume to dissipate, Collins Jermain was busy creating artwork that captured the colors of the land and light during the extraordinary geothermal activity. An exhibit of the work Collins Jermain produced during her travels, “Iceland Color—Where Fire and Ice Collide,” opens at True North Gallery on Sunday, April 17, 2011, almost one year to the day after Eyjafjallajökull erupted.

For over twenty-five years, Collins Jermain’s work has focused on the intriguing light and color relationships found in nature. The effects of weather and temperature on color are of particular interest to the artist, so Iceland was a perfect location for her. The work in “Iceland Color—Where Fire and Ice Collide” includes paintings and pastels of eruptions, lava fields, glaciers, smoking hillsides, colored sands, lonely roadways, and the Icelandic sea and sky. According to Collins Jermain, her experience painting from nature showed her that “stunning color effects are the result of clear air, light, humidity and temperature differentials. These are well known characteristics of the Icelandic landscape.”

Prior to her trip to Iceland, Collins Jermain spent time on the Pacific island of Palau, where she produced a body of work that included pastels of coral reefs created underwater. Like Palau, Iceland provided Collins Jermain with rare color conditions specific to exotic locations. But Collins Jermain finds all color of interest, including that found much closer to home. You can sometimes find her underwater off Coffin’s Beach in Gloucester, Massachusetts, wearing a wetsuit as she braves the frigid temperatures of the North Atlantic sea in order to capture—with pastels—the local color of swaying rockweed, algae, and granite.

Collins Jermain’s compositions have a simple structure that results in a distillation of color and form. Her landscapes shift between realism and abstraction, which evokes the viewer’s own memories of color, light, and nature. “Iceland Color—Where Fire and Ice Collide” reflects Collins Jermain’s deep sensitivity to color and landscape. This is a very unique opportunity for people to vicariously experience the interplay between color, light, and geothermal activity that occurred in Iceland last year. At the same time, Collins Jermain’s work is an invitation to reconnect with our own personal memories and experiences of color.

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Sylvia Taylor at True North

By Belinda Recio | Published: January 21, 2011

"Little Revolution" by Sylvia Taylor

We are pleased to announce that we are representing Sylvia Taylor. Sylvia currently works as a full-time studio artist, dividing her time between New York State where she is originally from, and Cork, Ireland, where she has been awarded permanent Artist’s Residency status. Sylvia’s work is exhibited internationally and her prints are in many private and public collections.

The imagery in Sylvia’s relief prints is both playful and somber, with narratives that have an undercurrent of longing, uncertainty and ambiguity. Her creatures inhabit a nebulous region between night and day, human and animal, past and present.

Artist Statement: “For the last several years I’ve used images of animals or objects with animal-like qualities in my work. Often autobiographical, the creatures in my relief prints explore the pathos, humor and humanity of existence. On one level I find animals to be perfect alter egos, and on another level I am simply moved by their beauty and strangeness. My recent work has a non-linear narrative quality with little creatures enacting their humble dramas, always alluding to the metaphorical journey of life.” —Sylvia Taylor

"A Blessing and a Curse" by Sylvia Taylor

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Where Else Could We Go? Juliana Boyd’s Felted Fauna of the Far North

By Belinda Recio | Published: November 12, 2010

From November 20, 2010 until January 29, 2011, True North Gallery presents “Juliana Boyd’s Felted Fauna of the Far North.”

Juliana Boyd draws inspiration for her fiber art from her passion for textiles and her love of animals. In “Where Else Could We Could? Felted Fauna of the Far North,” Boyd uses a combination of surface design techniques, such as appliqué and needle felting, to create wool “paintings” of wolves, polar bears, caribou, arctic hares, and arctic foxes. Boyd’s exquisite renderings of these animals are so richly detailed that it’s hard to believe they were created with nothing but un-spun wool fiber. And then there’s the furniture, which is as much a part of Boyd’s compositions as her animals. The northern fauna are not pres

ented in literal landscapes of tundra and ice, but in wingbacks, chaises, and even gilded Louis Quatorze chairs. The upholstery, as well as the backgrounds, rely on patterns and textures that call to mind the muted minimalism of the tundra, the melting sea ice, and the vastness of frozen glaciers.

The animals seem unnervingly at home in Boyd’s over-stuffed chairs, upholstered cushions, and sofas draped with blankets. These pieces suggest a narrative in which we ran out to pick up a few groceries, and came home to find a caribou on our sofa or a wolf in our favorite chair. The animals’ expressions are both feral and familiar, as they appear to ask, “Where else could we go?”

We know that climate change, oil exploitation, pollution, and hunting are threatening the survival of the polar bear, arctic caribou, wolves, and other inhabitants of the arctic. By using furniture as a metaphor for both home and habitat, Boyd’s work asks us to put ourselves in their place, as she puts them in ours.

Opening Reception: Saturday, November 20, from 4 until 7PM

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

True North Gallery is open Wednesday through Saturday 12 to 5PM and Sundays by chance and appointment. We will have extended hours during the winter holidays, starting on Sunday, November 21. For additional information call (978) 468-1962 or email gallerydirector@truenorthgallery.net

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Dancing Bears, Shaman Bears & Drumming Bears: Inuit Polar Bear Sculptures

By Belinda Recio | Published: November 9, 2010

From November 20, 2010 until January 29, 2011, True North Gallery presents “Dancing Bears, Shaman Bears & Drumming Bears: Inuit Polar Bear Sculptures.”

The Inuit call him Nanuq—their word for “polar bear,”—as well as Pisugtooq, “the great wanderer,” and Tornarssuk, “the one who gives power.” They regard the great white bear as kin, teacher, and the master of the animals. The Inuit even claim that they learned how to hunt seals and build igloos from Nanuq. So it’s not surprising that so many Inuit artists choose the polar bear as the subject for their carvings.

In “Dancing Bears, Shaman Bears & Drumming Bears: Inuit Polar Bear Sculptures,” True North Gallery presents a collection of stone polar bear carvings by Canadian Inuit artists from the arctic communities of Cape Dorset, Igloolik, Arviat, Gjoa Haven, Akulivik, Kimmirut, and Iqaluit. True to the name of the show, the bears are depicted in a variety of poses and roles. The dancing bears seem to gracefully defy gravity as they balance on one foot or wave their limbs in the air. Some Inuit artists assert that the dancing bears represent a shamanic transformation between a bear and a human. Others claim that the dancing reflects a state of celebratory joy. The Inuit believe that after death people return as animals, and those lucky enough to return as the great white bear at the top of the food chain dance to celebrate their good fortune.

There are several ways that Inuit artists represent a “shaman bear,” which is a shaman that has transformed into a bear. Shaman bears are sometimes depicted as having short, thick necks (in contrast to the polar bear’s long neck), which represent the last remaining sign of human identity. Artists also depict shaman bears by carving them in shaman coats, which look like hooded parkas; or by carving them holding drums, which are associated with shamans.

One of the most interesting pieces in the show is a bear drummer by Louie Makkituq from Gjoa Haven. The bear is wearing an amauti (a special Inuit parka designed to carry a baby), and there is a cub in the amauti, on the bear’s back. From both human and polar bear perspectives, this is a female because only Inuit women wear the amauti, and only female bears carry cubs. Therefore, Makkituq’s carving depicts a female bear shaman, or shaman mother. Pieces like this are hard to find.

In addition to dancing, drumming, and transforming into shamans, the show also includes walking bears, sitting bears, wrestling bears, and bears looking up at the north sky. All works are for sale and True North donates 5% of profits to the NRDC to support their conservation efforts up North.

Opening Reception: Saturday, November 20, from 4 until 7 PM

Note: This is the same reception time as “Where Else Could We Go? Juliana Boyd’s Felted Fauna of the Far North.”

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

True North Gallery is open Wednesday through Saturday 12 to 5PM and Sundays by chance and appointment. We will have extended hours during the winter holidays. For additional information call (978) 468-1962 or email gallerydirector@truenorthgallery.net.

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