» May 2 - 26, 2007

Opening Reception: Friday, May 4, 5:30–7:30

 

Gallery talks: Saturday, May 19, 1-3 pm

SoWa Art Walk: May 19-20, 11 am - 6 pm

Gallery I

Laurie Alpert

Sacred Fragments

Laurie Alpert: "Sacred Sounds," polyester plate lithograph , 12" x 11 x 10", 2006.

Alpert’s prints and artist’s book are inspired by her 2006 trip to Israel. While there, she was struck by the seductive allure of the Dead Sea Scrolls at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. She was drawn to the shapes of the fragments, as well as the beauty of the decayed sheets of leather on which they were written. What intrigues Alpert about the scrolls’ content is how the text is both biblical and cultural. In “Sacred Fragments,” she continues her passion for turning prints into artist’s books. The linear quality of music, which informed her previous work, has now morphed into the linear quality of the Dead Sea Scolls.

Gallery II

Vivian Pratt

The Aura of the Multiple

Vivian Pratt: "Untitled 11," carved wood, 12" x 12" x 4"; rapid prototype 3D print, 11" x 11" x 3", 2006.

Pratt is displaying wood carvings as well as their 3D rapid prototype reproductions, playing this traditional medium against cyber-sculpture. Pratt’s carvings in found roots and driftwood result in fantasy creatures, part human, part animal, with allusions to dragons and gods. Then—using a 3D scanner made by Polhemus, Maya software and a 3D rapid prototype printer— the wood sculptures are scanned, modified and “printed” as 3D reproductions. The original and duplicate face each other, seeming to challenge and dance around each other—a metaphor for the struggle of the old against the new.

Vivian Pratt's exhibition is sponsored by Polhemus, maker of the FastSCAN 3D scanner, and is part of the Fifth Boston Cyberarts Festival, April 20 - May 6.