From the Publisher – July 2022

One of the most important missions of Art New England is to convey the connectivity and the energy of art. How many times a day are we talking about our shared experience of some form of art, with friends, family, and colleagues. We talk about music, film, television—incessantly. We recommend books we’re reading, fashion trends we’re into, furniture we’re eyeing for the new apartment. We are always discussing art. Always jazzed by it. Why? It’s downright joyous. It makes us happy—and in this issue we want to remind you that it’s already summer and it’s time to have fun. Summer, more than any other season, and I’m not sure exactly why, offers more license to joy.

We begin our Summer of Joy Issue (the phrase has lingered since last year) with the cover, Under a White Sky, 2014, by Wolf Kahn—one of my favorite artists. I’m seeing giant rays of sunshine causing a cluster of trees to burst out dancing, dancing the Can Can, with utter abandon. The leaves, like skirts, flaring up, branches flailing like arms, lost in the sun’s music. As you’ll read in Cynthia Close’s piece on the Wolf Kahn Foundation (page 30), it was Kahn’s “intuitive sense of color celebrating the essence of nature’s light and structures that has carved out [Kahn’s] unique place in the art world….” It’s just pure joy.

In addition to encouraging joy, this issue is about connecting to art and encouraging you to take action: read more, visit more galleries and artist studios, sign up for a summer (or fall or winter) workshop and learn a craft, attend a poetry reading or a music concert, if you like musicals, see a play. If you like plays, see a musical. Do something new.

ANE also wants you to be more aware of great work being done across the region, work that improves our ability to teach, to learn, and to connect. Congratulations on your 30th, Artists For Humanity (page 26)! You’ll meet (and re-meet) many arts organizations this issue, several of which are highlighted in the Summer of Joy feature (page 32). Who can forget Haus of Glitter’s Jess Brown’s joyful image that opened the feature last year? She conveyed an exuberance and a confidence that we wanted to get close to again. We thought you would, too, and we’ll share an update on Haus of Glitter as well.

Publishing an art magazine is like going to your favorite class every day with many different teachers. Here, the teachers are the writers who deliver these incredible stories and interviews. They’re the artists who make the work, every day, despite all odds, driven by joy and a commitment to fearlessness. Publishing ANE is never dull nor repetitive. It’s a never-ending class on humanities, on how only the arts make us human, compassionate, and self-aware. Speaking of publishing, what are you reading this summer? Nicola Alexander shares her picks on page 48. ANE’s staff shares theirs on the masthead. Get thee to your local bookstore!

Now get out and explore. Take time off—go to Maine, my God, there is so much going on there (p. 52), take The Art Drive tour (p. 60) and visit DATMA along the way, meditate to poetry in the Lakes Gallery gardens (p. 61), listen to classical music in Manchester, VT, (p. 36), dance with Jess and friends in Providence. There’s no reason to leave New England this summer. This issue is really just a beautiful roadmap. And take home a piece of art from your trips. Support the sources of all this joy.

We’re still a joy-deprived nation. So hold onto every second this summer, dance in the sunshine like Kahn’s Can Can trees. Make new friends. Keeping in mind that we continue to stand with Ukraine, we believe in a woman’s right to choose, that Biden was elected freely and fairly, and in universal background checks before purchasing a gun.

Enjoy the issue,

Tim Montgomery
Publisher

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