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POSITIONS AND PROPS:

A Loosening Line

October 6- November 6
Artist Reception: Friday, October 8, 5-8pm

Friday, October 22 at 5:30:  Informal gallery talk with Artists Roberley Bell and Sandy Litchfield and Loretta Yarlow, 
Director of the University Museum of Contemporary Art.   This event is free.



works by Roberley Bell and Sandy Litchfield


Positions and Props brings together the sculpture of Roberley Bell with paintings of Sandy Litchfield. Recognizing a shared formal language, these two artists have engaged an ongoing conversation about landscape. This exhibition pairs unexpected colors and distinctive compositions in both painting and sculpture, suggesting the ordinary (and extraordinary) nature of being in place.   See Art New England's piece on this exhibition: https://artnewengland.com/positions-and-props-a-loosening-line/

ARTISTS’ STATEMENT
When we first met four years ago, we were excited to discover our overlapping interests in creative placemaking, walking and mapping. As artists working in academia, we’ve both taught courses that bridge art, architecture, design and writing. And although we work in different media, we also saw a clear connection in our sensibility to form, color, and visual expression.

Our conversations, which often took place walking along local trails, extended beyond our own studio practice, drawing broad connections between literature, travel, bookmaking, local ecology and other artists. The ideas for this exhibition simmered slowly during these pandemic outdoor walks. Afterwards we’d follow up with haiku texts, snapshots of landscape drawings and other studio experiments. This became a way to distill the unpredictable world around us in our separate studio practice. Over time, it was as if the logic just appeared by itself­– a painting and a sculpture in proximate space, each recognizing a part of itself in the other. 

ROBERLEY BELL and SANDY LITCHFIELD



A.P.E.'s programming is made possible in part by sustained support from the Massachusetts Cultural Council and The Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts.