October 4, 2022 Submitted by Hingham Public Library
Two new exhibits are on display in the Hingham Public Library's two art galleries through Oct. 27.
The community is invited to join a reception for artists Maureen Spinale and Morgan Russell on Thursday, Oct. 6, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.
Spinale's "A Call to the Woods" exhibit in the Dolphin Gallery, sponsored by the North River Arts Society, reflects her love for woodlands ("What would our world be without them?") Her rambling through the woods has taught her many lessons -- to be still, to listen, to be present, and "to see with my eyes and with my heart." Spinale notes that there are many links between trees and human health: "much needed for reflection on who we are." She spent a great deal of time as a child playing in Alabama's woods and creeks, and her love of drawing and painting began early in her childhood. She now lives in the Boston area.
Her father was the creative soul in the family, and Spinale believes that the artist in him was passed on to her. There began her love affair with trees and the woodlands. She found refuge in those woods with the loss of her father, and today she is a painter of trees: "I’m just passing along what I have been given with my sight, my listening, and presence as I’ve walked through these woodlands." For more information, visit https://www.maureenspinale.com/about.
The Clemens Gallery is featuring "The Memory Underground" exhibit by Hingham artist Morgan Russell.
In 1991, he spent six weeks in Paris and central Italy participating in the Parsons School of Design Summer Study Abroad program after previously earning a BA in Fine Arts from St. Michael’s College in Colchester, VT. This experience strengthened Russell's resolve to continue his studies in New York City, where he attended the National Academy School and the Art Students League throughout the 1990s.
Since about 2002, Morgan’s work has moved from a concentrated realism to an increasing interest in abstraction as it is manifested through nature. As a New York City resident from 1991 until 2006, Russell exhibited in various venues in that area, including Rutgers University Art Library in New Brunswick, NJ, and the Capla Kesting gallery in Brooklyn.
Three years after returning to Hingham, he was chosen by curators of New York’s Chelsea Art Museum to be included in the group exhibition, "Four Artists in Concert" in June 2009. Russell has also shown his work locally since his return to the Boston area starting in 2008, including the Dolphin Gallery, the Narrows Center for the Arts in Fall River, as part of the MGH Cancer Center Illuminations program, and at Hingham Community Center.
He was the recipient of the inaugural Lillian Orlowsky and William Freed Foundation grant from the Provincetown Art Association and Museum in 2010, and in 2011 exhibited new work there at the grant recipient two-person show.
For further information about Russell's work and accomplishments, Spinale's art, and upcoming library programs, visit hinghamlibrary.org.
This is Morgan Russell, my paintings are up at the Clemens gallery at the Hingham library. Apparently the library sent you some outdated press, it’s from my application which is three years old. This show is called Beachtown Metaphysics and here is an updated write, up whether you use it or not just to set the record straight. (The image they sent is old as well, I have one from the show if you’re interested.) Thank you!
Beachtown Metaphysics (show title)
Morgan is a Welsh word for the edge of the sea and for me this makes a great deal of poetic sense. As much as artists are observers I’ve always had a feeling of doing so from the periphery. I remember a summer vacation when I was four years old at a beach on Cape Cod standing waist deep in the bay. The sun was high and there must have been a good deal of humidity in the still, warm air. The light was bouncing off the water and most everything else and there was all this brightness and vague forms and masses dissolving into a magical distance at the edges of my sight. I imagined mysterious places and uncharted lands.