About Past Exhibitions

Art Show 2011 - "Color!"
The Russell J. Children's Center
Main Gallery
December 7-18

Since its inception in the fall of 1978, the Children’s Center has strived to provide the Northeastern University community with high quality child care. With a professional staff of educated and experienced teachers and help from college student assistants, the children gain valuable social skills and develop their intellectual and physical abilities through engaging, hands-on projects and activities. The Center fosters children’s natural love of learning.

Exhibiting the children’s work in an annual art show is a long standing Children’s Center tradition. The art show gives the NU community the opportunity to glimpse how children view themselves and their world. Art is crucial element in children’s development. It allows children to express their emotions and demonstrate their knowledge. Most importantly, the art show validates that the children’s hard work is to be respected and can be appreciated by an audience.

Neal Rantoul: 30 years
Oct 20 - Dec. 5
Gallery talk on November 3rd at 12pm in Gallery 360 

This exhibition shows some of the work made by Northeastern photography professor Neal Rantoul over the past thirty years while teaching at Northeastern. He is retiring this coming January, but will continue to photograph.

“As a career artist and teacher for over 40 years it gives me great pleasure to be able to show this work at my vocational home, Northeastern. Making pictures and teaching have been my prevailing concerns my whole adult life. I am proud of both and honored that I am able to give you at least a glimpse of what I have made.”

The Witness Project
by Robin Masi and Ken Field
Aug. 22-Sept. 12

The Witness Project is a site-specific installation that portrays the spiritual aftermath of Ground Zero, NYC through the physicality of the site's perimeter. The large-scale charcoal drawings represent the remaining architecture of the buildings that surrounded the site where the twin towers fell.  Original music and interviews with neighbors, rescue workers and a priest bring the auditory experience of New Yorkers who lived through the events. The recycled garments represent, in a small way, those who were lost or performed respite for the rescue workers. The final component, Transfiguration, is an interactive piece where one can offer a prayer or remembrance for those who were lost. All of the elements are in place to help the viewers process and reflect upon some of the larger questions that are central to the events of 9/11/2001 and today.

Color In Freedom: Journey Along the Underground Railroad
By Joseph Holston
June 16th to August 18th

Holston captures the spiritual and emotional essence of a journey which is an essential part of his own history. During this very personal undertaking, he could almost feel the slaves’ dread of capture, degradation of enslavement, terror of escape and exhilaration of freedom. His strong sense of connection to this subject deepened his commitment to honor their lives and stories.

In every canvas, light or the contrast between light and dark represents hope. As Holston worked his way through the movements toward freedom, his color palette and mood evolved from drab to bright. Eventually, Holston was able to express freedom with more generous splashes of vibrant joyous colors.

To Holston, Color in Freedom is like a great jazz or symphonic score. Music is integral to his art, and the two mediums intertwine so completely that he sees, hears and feels them simultaneously. Each influences the other, helping to define what unfolds on the canvas.

American Patterns
By Andrew Woodward
May 14th to June 12th
Reception May 17th from 6-8pm

Andrew Woodward’s exhibition, “American Patterns”, features America though local fauna and through the eyes of the artist.  Centered on his landmark series, “Fifty State Animals,” the exhibition also includes works of regional nature and architectural intrigue.

In, “Fifty State Animals,” official state animal symbols unite upon fifty vibrant patterned backgrounds. Together, they create a harmony of icons celebrating American history and culture.   Woodward’s nature works and architectural investigations are inspired from his daily surroundings. The subjects are painted upon vibrant patterns and his lens for inspiration is unlimited.

Originally from Denver, CO, the artist graduated from Kenyon College in 1998. He has lived and worked in Boston, MA since 1999. His works have been displayed in solo and group exhibitions across the country and are in numerous private and public collections nationally and internationally.

2011 Art + Design Student Exhibition
April 16th to May 9th

The visual arts are central to human expression and communication.  As digital technologies transform and expand artistic practice, production, and dissemination, the ability to understand and use visual language becomes an ever more essential part of our daily life.

The art on display in this annual exhibit, curated by the members of the faculty, features the best student work in the Department of Art + Design and represents work of students in the Art, Graphic Design, and Digital Art majors.

What is contained:
The Book as Subject and Object

Deborah Davidson    Laura Davidson   Jesseca Ferguson
Peter Madden   Amanda Nelsen   Rosamond Purcell

There is something profound about the object of a book, which has remained unchanged for centuries.  The book as a container of ideas, narrative, images, and text is ever compelling for artists, designers, writers, and for those who critique and understand culture.  The significance of the book is emphasized in light of our rapidly changing media technology.

As subject, object or both, the book is what unifies the six artists in this exhibit.  It is still an essential part of what they value as a society, contributing to the ongoing conversation and concern about the fate of the book and of reading, itself.

This exhibition is presented by the Northeastern University Humanities Center’s Artists and Practitioners in Residence Program and Gallery 360. Deborah Davidson is an Artist in Residence with the Humanities Center’s APRP Program from March 15th – 17th, 2011.  

Rick Berry — Seeing in the Dark

Massachusetts based artist, Rick Berry, is internationally recognized for his unique and powerful “expressionist figurative” works.  Executed without models, photography or preliminary drawing, his process is one of discovery in the medium. Berry’s paintings blend mythic and visionary themes with a strong social vision. The human body is the lyrical evocation of anything from emotional narratives to evolutionary conjectures.
Self taught, Berry began his career in comics as a teen. He has produced hundreds of covers for books, comics and worked in film before transitioning to creating gallery art. His work is exhibited nationally and in Europe, and can also be found in private collections throughout the world.

"The Russell J. Call Children's Center at Northeastern University Art Show 2010 - "Art and Music"

Since its inception in the fall of 1978, the Children’s Center has strived to provide Northeastern University and its community with high quality child care. With a professional staff of educated and experienced teachers and help from college student assistants, the children gain valuable social skills and develop their intellectual and physical abilities through engaging, hands-on projects and activities. The Center fosters children’s natural love of learning. Art and music aren’t only activities that children enjoy; they are also valuable mediums through which children express themselves. Exhibiting the children’s work in an annual art show is a long standing Children’s Center tradition. Most importantly, this art show demonstrates that a child’s hard work is to be respected and can be appreciated by an audience. The art show gives the NU community the opportunity to glimpse at how children view themselves and their world.

"Roger Marino"

A self-taught artist, Roger Marino has painted as an avocation for the past few years. Rarely employing canvas, he creates his richly colored art on household objects, such as stools, ottomans, and cigar boxes. Marino renders his bright abstracts and strong geometric patterns in acrylic paints finished with an epoxy coat, and describes his process as intuitive.Careful viewers will note a reference to his alma mater in his favorite piece, The Ascent of the Husky, which in-cludes paw prints similar to those of Northeastern’s mascot. Marino founded information-storage giant EMC. It’s fitting that someone so successful in high technology would be drawn to abstract art, which origi-nated in part as a response to rapid advances in technology and science.

"Joy of Joyblins"
October 12 –November 8, 2010

The themes and style of Liang’s creative work started to take shape during his high school years. Liang’s friends found them to be quite fantastic, even bizarre. Little did they know that his creatures were drawn from his dreams where they moved freely in space, full of joy, their forms changing at will. Since then, Liang has continued to believe in this magical world and has drawn much of his artistic inspiration from it. More recently, some people have found evil monsters in his drawings and concluded that his artwork should be read as a satiric commentary on the dark side of contemporary Chinese society. Liang makes no such claims, preferring to see his artistic creatures as “Joyblins” who live in a harmonious magical world of eternal joy that he has named “The Abode of Ultimate Happiness.”

Double Vision: David Tonnesen and Josh Wisdumb – A Collaboration
August 27 –October 6, 2010

Although elements of each artist’s styles is mirrored in the pieces, their process for creating the works is not “previsioned,” said Tonnesen. The two discuss what they generally want to do and let the process take over; occasionally Wisdumb starts with a painting and hands it off to Tonnesen or Tonnesen folds a sheet of copper for Wisdumb to react to and transform.

Shades of greatness
May 17 – July 23, 2010

Major League Baseball Hall of Famers like Joe Morgan, Willie Mays and Reggie Jackson might not have plaques in Cooperstown were it not for their baseball ancestors who played in the Negro Leagues between 1920 and 1960.
Now, members of the Northeastern and greater Boston communities have a chance to discover Negro League stars such as Satchel Paige, Buck O’Neil and James “Cool Papa” Bell, and celebrate Negro League baseball’s place in American history.

The exhibition — Shades of Greatness: The Art of Negro League Baseball — includes 35 paintings, photographs, etchings, three-dimensional installations and signs created by local and national artists.

Marking Time
April 20 –May 11, 2010

Painter, photographer, and printmaker Dorothy Braudy explores both the freezing of a moment via photography and the deep meditation on that moment allowed by painting. "Marking Time" features boldly colored paintings, based on black-and-white family snapshots, that present a vibrant visual memoir both historical and reimagined.

Cartooning for Peace / Dessins pour la Paix
April 12 - April 20

The 86 editorial cartoons that make up this exhibit were drawn by members of the international organization, Cartooning for Peace. The organization grew out of a United Nation symposium, "Unlearning Intolerance," held in October 2006 in reaction to the violent outcry over cartoon depictions of the prophet Muhammad published in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten.

The symposium’s goal to promote mutual understanding and respect among people of different faiths and cultures, using the editorial cartoon as a universal language, became the goal of Cartooning for Peace. The Cartooning for Peace Foundation was officially established in Paris in May 2008.

2010 Art + Design Student Exhibition
March 25-April 8, 2010
The visual arts are central to human expression and communication. As digital technologies transform and expand artistic practice, production, and dissemination, the ability to understand and use visual language becomes an ever more essential part of our daily life.

This annual exhibit features some of the best student work from all levels within the Department of Art + Design. The pieces here range from foundation work in Studio Arts to projects from the Graphic Design and Digital Art programs.

Welcome to Our World: International Art, Artifacts, and Photo Exhibit
February 22 - March 20, 2010
This annual ISSI Carnevale exhibit features art, artifacts, calligraphy, and photographs that reflect the home countries of our international student community. Student leaders join others to provide a glimpse into the multifaceted dimensions of their own personal collection of treasures.

NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENT OF ART + DESIGN ANNUAL FACULTY EXHIBITION
January 25 - February 15, 2010
The Annual Faculty Exhibition recognizes the artistic and academic excellence of Northeastern University’s celebrated Art + Design faculty. Exhibited work will include painting, photography, print, graphic design, installation, sculpture, and video.

INTERNAL JOURNEY: Jamaica, Sudan, Boston
Artworks by two artists from African American Master Artists in Residence Program (AAMARP), Kofi Kayiga and Khalid Kodi
January 7 - January 18, 2010
The African American Master Artists in Residence Program (AAMARP) is a center of excellence in multicultural visual and performing arts dedicated to creating an enriching cultural environment for a diverse community through exhibitions, concerts, performances, lectures and workshops. Founded in 1977 by Dana Chandler, AAMARP today provides studio spaces for artists whose works has made an invaluable contribution to Northeastern University and to the vitality of the African American art scene in Boston and throughout the nation.  It remains a prominent center for discussion of the African Diaspora’s cultural growth and development.  AAMARP is an adjunct of the Department of African American Studies at Northeastern University.

ALL ABOUT US
The Russell J. Call Children's Center
Northeastern University 
December 11, 2009 - January 4, 2010
Since its inception in the fall of 1978, the Children’s Center has strived to provide the Northeastern University community with high quality child care. This year’s exhibit continues a long standing tradition of exhibiting the children’s artwork that allows the rest of the Northeastern community to glimpse into the children’s world. Realizing that preschool age children’s thinking is egocentric, the focus of this year’s art show is “All about Us”. To explore this concept, the classes talked about their bodies, feelings, families and homes. The art projects seen here were used as a way to teach children to work together, develop imagination, and increase their literacy skills. Pieces exhibited in this show use many mediums through which children can express themselves. Most importantly, the exhibit validates that children’s art is to be respected and can be appreciated by an audience.

Is Everything Black and White?
Selected works from the Arthur Goldberg Collection
October 14 - December 4, 2009
Superrealism, with a Twist

Many of the works in “Is Everything Black and White?” are from the school of Superrealism, in which the artist seeks to create a work with the appearance and impact of a photograph.

Arthur Goldberg found himself drawn to the Superrealists because their aesthetic reflected an element of artistic skill that he valued highly from his earliest years as a collector:  the ability of the artist to make an object come to life by drawing. Some of the works here are drawn so finely and with such mastery, says Goldberg, that the viewer needs a magnifying glass to truly appreciate the artist’s precision.

But Goldberg also appreciates the unexpected element, so he frequently chooses Superrealist works with a touch of surrealism. “All that you see,” he says, “is not all that you get.”

Installations by Tim Murdoch
August 21–October 8, 2009
Touch, Tim Murdoch’s first interactive installation, includes many motorized wooden fingers that tap on glass. The motion and sound capture the audience’s attention and draw them into the artwork. Who’s That is a piece that engages the audience directly. It is composed of a series of mirrors mounted to springs and attached to the wall. At the back of each is a vibrating motor connected to a proximity sensor. When a person walks near the mirrors shake, blurring the images reflected. Tubes unlike the other two installations, is still and directs the viewer through its placement in the space. It consists of modular wooden tubes that are cut and twisted to fit the particularities of the location where it is displayed. The history of the previous site is carried forward to the next site keeping the sculpture in a continuous state of change. Tubes was altered to fit the unique qualities of Gallery 360's space.

Runners at the Corners
July 14–August 12, 2009
In this exhibit, Boston resident and artist Ian Kennelly shows a love of baseball through drawings and gouache paintings. Although Kennelly has been a Red Sox fan since he moved here more than 19 years ago, expressing his affection for the sport on canvas proved difficult when he initially started working on the series.
Many people, especially in Boston, have a special fondness toward baseball that Kennelly wanted to express in this series. Although Kennelly has completed this series, he said he continues to look for the essence of the baseball experience and there is no finality to it.
Right: Armchair Bat & Ball, Ian Kennelly. Photograph by Brian Bresnahan

Jessica Scranton’s Sudan
June 4–July 9, 2009
International photographer Jessica Scranton shoots for magazines,  designers,  public health and non-governmental organizations. This exhibit features photographs she took in Sudan focused on the children at Akon School of Girls, a school established with the help of My Sister’s Keeper, a non-profit organization in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Scranton's photographs invite us into the real lives of Sudanese girls. Sudanese children face severe obstacles just to attend school, however, they are also like any other  children who know how to laugh and have fun. Through her photographs, Scranton shares  “ positive and human light on people living in Sudan.”

Andrew Neumann
In conjunction with the  Boston Cyberarts Festival
April 10-May 29, 2009
Andrew Neumann is a Boston-based artist who works in a variety of media, including sculpture, electronic/interactive music, and film and video installation. In 2004 he received a Guggenheim Fellowship. He has had solo shows at bitforms Gallery in New York City, the DeCordova Museum, Howard Yezerski Gallery, and the Boston Cyberarts Festivals in 2003 and 2005.

Art + Design Student Exhibit
April 1-5, 2009
The Northeastern University Department of Art + Design displays a collection of artwork by students enrolled in the department's program. This exhibit features students works in different artistic genres and media. The exhibit opens with a gallery reception on April 1 and is followed by the Faux Arts Ball.

Welcome to Our World: International Art, Artifacts, and Photographs
March 16-March 28, 2009
Northeastern University’s International Student & Scholar Institute celebrates ISSI Carnevale with an eclectic, artistic showcase of masks, wood carvings, ceramics, gems, textiles, and a special photograph exhibit from Beijing. Collected from the countries of Northeastern's international student community, the personal treasures reflect history, heritage, and home.

Kala India! Indian Art Past and Present
February 18-28, 2009
Northeastern's International Student & Scholar Institute and the Indian graduate student group Sanskriti jointly present an exhibit of India art: textiles, crafts, silk prints, sculture, and more-a colorful interweaving of cultural, historical, spiritual, and philosophical elements.

Against the Wall

January 23-February 17, 2009
Northeastern University faculty from the Art + Design Department display their artistic creations in Gallery 360, as part of the Against the Wall exhibit. Their works include a diverse collection of paintings, photography, sculpture, and mixed media.

Legacy Mixed Media Exhibit
January 12-19, 2009
The African-American Master Artists in Residence at Northeastern are 13 visual artists who work in different media, have widely differing styles, and come to their art from different backgrounds. But all are storytellers who seek to relate  part of the ever-evolving narrative, that of the African diaspora. From Ralph Beach’s watercolors of the Lost Boys of Sudan and Gloretta Baynes’s digital collage depicting a 19th century writing system in Cameroon, to the oils by Keith Washington of American landscapes that contain a tragic, sinister history, and L’Merchie Frazier’s documentation—in mixed media—of 19th century African-American businesswomen, these works convey and celebrate the cultural and historical richness of the African experience.

Art in Ireland
December 15, 2008 -January 9, 2009
A group of Northeastern students, led by art professor Mira Cantor, traveled abroad last summer to create art for Art in Ireland. The students who travelled to Ireland are: Katherine Coleman, Jaclyn Cunningham, Jaime Klein, Sean McDermott, Meredith McKelvey, Meg Lynch, Marc Pellegrino, Loraine Peone, Clara Rice, Nicholle Richard, Alex Turnwall, Michael Viera, Christina Voll, Zohar Weinstein, and Maggie Wilson.

Art NU: Fifth Annual Staff & Faculty Art Exhibit
November 17-December 12, 2008
Art NU, winner of the 2005 President's Aspiration Award, presented the Fifth Annual Staff & Faculty Art Exhibit. The exhibit featured paintings, photography, and other creative works by Northeastern faculty, staff and administrators. The annual event is sponsored by the Office of the Provost.

A Diary of Healing
October 30-November 14, 2008
When Mary Ann Nilan was diagnosed with breast cancer, she chose to have her story documented. A Diary of Healing is the candid chronicle of her personal journey. The series of 48 sequential photographs by artist Christopher Capozziello communicates the stark reality of a life-threatening illness. The exhibit was sponsored by Colleges Against Cancer, the Pre-Med Association, the Student Nursing Association, the Society of Women Engineers, Lambda Kappa Sigma, Sigma Phi Epsilon, and the Health Science Society.

Wild Ones
October 9-24, 2008
Wild Ones, the inaugural exhibition at Gallery 360, brought to roaring life an array of imaginative and mechanistic art pieces by Michael Ulman, AS '00. His tactile metal work may appear to be an unconventional homage to the race car or motorcycle—icons of speed, power, and masculinity. Closer examination reveals just how unconventional his pieces truly are. Each work—which can take years to complete—is constructed of found objects that Ulman uncovers, cleans, polishes, and welds into place.