From the Publisher – November 2024
Hope and Change
“One voice can change a room, and if one voice can change a room, then it can change a city, and if it can change a city, it can change a state, and if it can change a state, it can change a nation, and if it can change a nation, it can change the world. Your voice can change the world.”
— Barack Obama
Yes, it can. And so can your art. Art is an extension of our voice. Art changes the world every day. It heals, argues, questions. It conveys passion and love, fear and rage. It speaks for us when we lose our words. Art rocks like Stevie Nicks singing her women’s rights anthem “The Lighthouse” on Saturday Night Live earlier this month. It celebrates like Maya Angelou’s “Phenomenal Woman” which I re-read recently. It connects us through amazing conversations like those I had with artists, writers and colleagues at Inner Space Fine Arts where we honored Art New England’s 45th anniversary—empowered by Elise Freda’s latest work. Her metallic florals reminding us of the strength beneath our fragility.
I am proud of Art New England’s 45th year. I may not have accomplished all that I planned yet several projects were launched. The blog, Portfolio, returned (send ideas); we welcomed new writers; and created two workshops at next year’s TransCultural Exchange Conference, themed “Avenues of Daring,” taking place March 7-9 in Cambridge, MA. I’ll be hosting the workshop “Catching an Editor’s Eye: The Art of Attracting Written Coverage of Your Work and Exhibitions.” And inspired by Shanta Lee’s brilliant piece in the March/April 2024 issue, “The Metaphysics of Art,” we created “To Know, To Will, To Dare: The Spell Work of Creating Art” moderated by Lux Heljardóttir, who was featured in Lee’s article. We’ve also planned our first Ground Breaking Women panel (based on our current editorial series) for mid-March 2025 at AVA Gallery and Arts Center in Lebanon, NH. The podcast and YouTube channel (send videos, let’s talk) are also in the works. We hope to see you at all of these events. Guests joined us at Inner Space Fine Arts from New York, New Hampshire, Maine, Rhode Island, and the Berkshires. It’s all about engagement and making connections. The exchange of ideas, listening to one another. And to the art…
I am also proud of this issue and the artists and writers who make all of Art New England’s issues possible. In this last chapter of 2024, B. Amore visits the studio of another phenomenal woman Donna Dodson; Cynthia Close continues our Ground Breaking Women series with Sam Talbot-Kelly of Vermont’s Mad River Valley Arts and AVA Gallery’s Shari Boraz; Autumn Duke shares the incredible mission of Danielle Festa’s Aplomb Gallery; Loren King highlights filmmaker Jenni Olson; Shanta Lee interviews artist Damon Honeycutt whose commitment to multiple artistic callings, including martial arts, takes us to another level of extraordinary. Chris Volpe updates on the exciting collaborations happening at UNH Museum of Art; Susan Saccoccia walks us through the O’Keeffe and Moore exhibition at the MFA; we have two fascinating book reviews courtesy of Carl Little and Jack Curtis; and much more. Peppered throughout you’ll also learn of a few holiday festivities that will help us tune into the meaning of the season—to share good will and to spread kindness in the hope of peace. To find joy.
On the eve of the greatest political change since, well, 2016, I am losing sleep. I’m challenged to find the joy. My head aches. I’m anxious. All I know is that change is coming. I hold space and respect for all political (and artistic) opinions, and I will be the first to say there has never been enough gap-bridging in politics. Yet if we have any hope of that gap, that gaping hole, ever being filled, we need a leader who listens and responds to the softest and the loudest of voices. We need a phenomenal woman. And we need more people to believe that their voice—and their art—can change the world.
If we are so fortunate to achieve that, can you imagine the art that will reflect this moment? We can’t wait to write about it. And yet if we are not so fortunate, Art New England will tell this story, too. Only louder. Will democracy prevail? I do not know. Will art? Oh, yes.
Thank you all for this 45th year. Thank you to my amazing Art New England team. Onward.
In gratitude,
Rita A. Fucillo
Publisher
ON THE COVER: Jessica Scriver, Vectors
of Decisions Made (detail), 2024, acrylic on
panel, 36 x 48″. From her Every Which Way
series. Courtesy of the artist.