The Myth Makers are pleased to announce their current project:

Wood as Muse with guest curators Donna Dodson and Andy Moerlein

Jason Middlebrook

Art Complex Museum, 189 Alden St, Duxbury, MA 02332

May 7th – September 3rd 2017

Opening Reception: Sunday May 21st 1:30p-3:30p Curator's talk at 2p : Andy Moerlein & Donna Dodson will lead a walk through of the exhibition and introduce the artists present who will each make brief remarks followed by a film screening of Night and Day, the collaborative film and sculpture project by Pat Keck and Peter Anthony at 2:30p. Free and Open to the Public. Pat Keck's creations blend perfectly with Peter Anthony's story about his uncle. Together they tell this coming out story, uniquely and eloquently, about a man who would have been forgotten.

Vanessa German

Artist Talk: Pat Keck Thursday May 25th 10:30a coffee reception, 11am artist talk followed by a film screening of Night and Day, the collaborative film and sculpture project by Pat Keck and Peter Anthony at 11:30a. Free and Open to the Public. 

Pat Keck and Peter Anthony

Artist Talk: Amy Archambault Saturday June 24^th 2pm. Free and Open to the Public. 

Amy Archambault

Artist Talk and Workshop: Mike Wright Saturday July 15^th 1:30p

Mike Wright

This summer the Art Complex Museum presents an exhibit of eleven sculptors who make art using wood. The work selected is a broad overview of both the medium of wood and contemporary approaches to art making. This exhibition brings an unmistakable attention to art of the moment without overlooking the curators’ respect for the craft of an object.

Breon Dunigan

“Making art with wood is not an arbitrary decision. For the artists in this show, wood is their muse and a source of their inspiration. Each artist has an affection for wood that comes from a very personal place. In fine art, the mastery of materials and craft must serve the aesthetics of the work. We selected contemporary art for this exhibition that speaks through wood as its medium. We placed several different approaches to using wood in juxtaposition, bringing individual voices into focus. We see wood, as a medium, in the true sense of the word — ‘an intervening substance or agency for transmitting or producing an effect.’ Each artist in the show approaches wood from a conceptual framework that yields surprising and divergent results.” Guest Curators: Donna Dodson and Andy Moerlein.

Jennifer Maestre

Featuring: Amy Archambault, Thomas Beale, Donna Dodson, Breon Dunigan, Vanessa German, Pat Keck, Jennifer Maestre, Jason Middlebrook, Andy Moerlein, Martin Ulman and Mike Wright.

Wood as Muse features eleven very different sculptors whose connection is wood. With three to eight pieces from each artist this is a deep introduction to the concept and the participants. This selection of artists is diverse in their approaches, yet they are delightfully connected by the artistry and craft of working with this iconic medium. Several of the artists are regionally based and familiar, all of the artists have national and many have international reputations.

Martin Ulman

Amy Archambault’s work addresses wood as a consumer product, using store lumber in playful contraptions. Furniture parts and upholstery become trophy heads with a designer’s attitude in Breon Dunigan’s work. Working with pencils as medium, Jennifer Maestre confounds our perceptions of this commonplace object. As she says, she uses “what is normally a tool to create art into the art itself.” Vanessa German, Mike Wright and Martin Ulman all use discovered wood product that they repurpose. In their art the original use or story the object contains is rebirthed into a new plot.

Andy Moerlein

For the lover of woodcarving and rich grain, this show does not disappoint. Jason Middlebrook, trained as a painter, uses exquisite slab wood as his canvas, layering patterns and colors in conversation with the vivid wood grain. Donna Dodson, Thomas Beale and Andy Moerlein similarly reveal wood’s natural colors yet each of these artists engage art making from a very different personal vocabulary. Dodson’s political feminism is not obscured by her lush wood choices, Beale’s swelling forms belie the many fragmentary parts of their creation, and Moerlein’s surface treatments confound the viewer with suggestions of stone and landscape.

Thomas Beale

Many of these artists flirt with story telling, but Pat Keck finds inspiration in carousel and cigar store figures, puppets and dummies. Her wood carved figures are vital. They will surprise and start a conversation with you. This show has much to offer. It should not be missed.