July2009

Three artists from three different places working in three different mediums have come together to exhibit their work at the DeBlois Gallery. The show, aptly called "Summer Trio" features paintings by Bren Bataclan of Cambridge, Massachusetts; collages by Joseph Muscat of West Toronto, Ontario and ceramics by Betsy Cameron Fine of Cumberland, Rhode Island.

Bataclan's playful, whimsical paintings are a continuation of the work he began as the initiator of "The Smile Boston Project". Some of the goals of that project were "to bring art to people who typically do not visit galleries and museums" while encouraging "more smiles around the globe". Recently featured on nationally broadcast CBS Evening News, Bataclan's work has found its way to over 32 countries and half of the United States.

Muscat builds his collages using an industrial tar paper which he tears, glues, seals and paints in acrylic. In describing his work, Muscat states "Each work is symbolically a metaphor for restoration, be it one's life, a relationship or our stressed out planet".

Completing the "trio", Betsy Fine exhibited her ceramic sculptures. Her work is characterized by its complexity of shape, texture and glazing. She describes her work as having "a free flowing rustic yet refined style".

Celebrating their 25th year, the DeBlois Gallery is a co-operative, non-profit gallery which features contemporary artwork in a wide variety of mediums.

Bren Bataclan

Artist's Statement

In the summer of 2003, Bren Bataclan began his street art installation, “The Smile Boston Project.” The project involves the artist leaving his cartoon inspired paintings for people to take for “free” all over Boston (park benches, trains, schools, malls, etc.). Attached to each painting is a note saying, “This painting is yours if you promise to smile at random people more often.” Bren has since gone worldwide with his “Smile Boston Project” and has begun to exhibit his paintings across the country.

Goals:

- To bring art to people who typically do not visit art galleries and museums.

- Give paintings to folks who may not be able to afford original artwork.

- Just to see more smiles around the globe.

In a nutshell... I’ve always been a big fan of graffiti but I never had the guts to spray paint a wall. And so, I use different cities across the country and around the world as my exhibit spaces.

Betsy Cameron Fine

Artist's Statement

Betsy has returned to ceramic sculpture with new found energy and excitement. In the Spring of 2006 she decided to unpack her tools and share her experiences of life, emotion and inner strength with the world through her art. Her work has a free flowing rustic yet refined style. The unique hand construction is the vision of the artist manifested through clay. The complexity of the shape, texture and glazes of the sculpture allow for their limitless beauty and expression.

Joseph Muscat

Fragments Series

Acrylic on tar-paper collages

2006 - 2008

Artist's Statement

I build collages using an industrial tar paper which I hand tear, glue, seal and paint in acrylic. These collage paintings which I’ve been producing since 2002 and which evolved from my earlier canvas paintings, are no longer confined to a specific or designated shape or space but grow in fluid and sometimes open-ended assemblages. Although the material is non-archival it has an excellent record for longevity and preservation.

I arrived at this mode of mixed-media painting partly by accident while rebuilding my studio after a terrible fire, and partly by design while reminiscing some childhood memories of my father restoring broken sculptures, fine china vases and other objets d’art. I was inspired then and became inspired once again by my recollection of boxes filled with fragments of pottery or faience arriving at our house and leaving several weeks later completely reassembled and wholesome with hardly an indication of their previous injured state.

Each collage grows and expands in an amorphous, spontaneous and often non-orderly way; sometimes it grows like a crystal, sometimes like an organism finding its way to a state of visual equilibrium. The subject matter and the title are synthetically evoked by the finished work. Each work is symbolically a metaphor for restoration, be it one’s life, a relationship or our stressed out planet.

Fragments #9
Red Sky at Night
Acrylic on tar paper
7 x 9 in.

Fragments #58
Wayward Bound
Acrylic on tar paper
7 x 9 in.

Fragments #39
Prevailing Winds
Acrylic on tar paper
16 x 18 in.