Gloucester Daily Times
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Published: August 04, 2006        
 
Maps inspire artist taking part in New Arts Festival
By Seeing seARTS
Gloucester Daily Times

Editor's Note: Times Editor Dom Nicastro recently caught up with East Gloucester artist Elizabeth McLindon for a question-and-answer session. McLindon is one of the artists featured in next week's Gloucester New Arts Festival.

Nicastro: What are you trying to communicate with the artwork shown at the Gloucester New Arts Festival?

McLindon: I have wanted to explore the theme of mapping for years, so the 2006 GNAF was a perfect opportunity to do so. In this work, I have considered maps, memory, nostalgia and personal history. I worked to create a sense of place where the personal meets the world.

There is a theory that in descriptive writing, the more specific and individual one can be the more universal its appeal. If this theory holds true in visual art, I've created a sense of intimacy with mementos, souvenirs and keepsakes. The pieces are narrative and autobiographical with old and new maps of the cities and towns where I have lived. I've had some of the items incorporated for more than 40 years and combined their preciousness with the utilitarianism of maps. Considering any map, how many sets of eyes have spent minutes or hours studying the lines, words, numbers and legends that have rolled off the printing press? What about the itineraries and plans associated with the maps?

Nicastro: What's the best possible reaction you could overhear from a viewer looking at your work?

McLindon: I might answer this question, "Wow! I want to buy that!" No, really, just kidding. That's the seARTS effect of bringing the mind-set of artists into the world of making a living from their work. Such a concept. But seriously, if a viewer drawn into these works notices hidden details, pentimentos and repeating patterns and motifs of the series, that is a great response. And if a viewer relates to them on a personal level regarding their own memories and experiences, they are successful.

Nicastro: What's your most memorable piece of art?

McLindon: My participation in the International Shadow Project, marking the 40th anniversary of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, rates up there in my memory. I was part of a group of artists who went around Manhattan at 3 a.m. on Hiroshima Day in 1985 with white tempera paint mixed with soap. We had each created a life-size human figure out of vinyl sheeting that we laid down on the streets and rolled the washable paint mixture over leaving a shadow of the figure in ashen white to call attention to the day, the loss of life and the threat of nuclear weapons at that time in our world.

To put it into context, it was before the Berlin Wall came down, and the Cold War was still on. I was part of the Wall Street crew, which was particularly salient. The next rain washed away any trace of the shadows, making the project a momentary conceptual event to raise consciousness.

Nicastro: Why is the environment present in most of your work?

McLindon: The environment has always been a great influence, feeding my process and, in that, adding texture and color, if that's not too literal. Geopolitically, the idea of recycling is raised in that I am using found objects and old materials, saving them from the rubbish heap. Although the environment has aged and oxidized them, they will not in return pollute the environment. I see beauty in that.

Nicastro: What is the appeal of time to you?

McLindon: As it relates to memory, time can bend things. Over time, one can remember events of the past as having happened quite differently from reality. We each have our own memories of events, and personal experience is subjective. The passage of time seems to magnify this. As it relates to the materials I choose, I am attracted to things that have history, that have a memory of their own, that have been around the block a couple of times. It's like spice in a good recipe, like expert color mixing. As it relates to aging, I see the tatters, dirt and fading as the wisdom of a lifetime.

Nicastro: Is an artist ever satisfied with his or her own work?

McLindon: Satisfied? I don't know if I'd use that word. Perhaps momentarily, but studio work is a process. One thing leads to another as in research and experimentation. The investigation is lifelong. Once completed, I try not to go back into works, but there are stories about artists who have gone into museums and private homes to change works that have been sold. Frank Lloyd Wright went back to Falling Water to move the furniture back the way he intended it without the permission of the homeowner!

Nicastro: What is your next big project?

McLindon: As part of seARTS Partner with an Artist program, I am with working with three businesses to produce work that will be exhibited at those businesses in October. The theme is recycling, reuse and the good that it does for the community. It will bring to light the creativity involved in reuse over refuse.

Nicastro: You've had a lot of involvement in Gloucester art projects and events. What is it that makes Gloucester such a wonderful venue for an artist to grow?

McLindon: The art historical richness that is Gloucester has great depth. Today, realists and abstractionists, traditional, contemporary and post-modernist artists coexist in Gloucester expressing respect and support for one another. That is unique in the art world, very unique. And the burgeoning energy (wrought by years of very hard work on the part of many) around re-establishing Cape Ann as a destination for artists and art collectors, is exciting.

I have to mention the light, too. I've lived in Provincetown and Sedona, Ariz., both places that have a particular kind of light that attracts artists. Gloucester has that kind of light as well.

Nicastro: How do you see Gloucester's arts community shaping up over the next 10 years?

McLindon: I see a critical mass in the current movement reached in the near term. We will establish a permanent multidisciplinary arts center for the city, which means ownership of a space. It will have gallery, performance, meeting and studio space. The need is there, and the will is there. It's like my work - using history to create the future.


"Seeing seARTS" is an occasional feature highlighting work by Society for the Encouragement of the Arts members and those who participate in seARTS events. seARTS is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to re-establish Cape Ann as a world-class center for working artists, establishing a creative economy in balance with its character of Cape Ann as a maritime community.

Elizabeth McLindon

Age: 48

Hometown: Schenectady, N.Y.

Current residence: East Gloucester

Art discipline: Mixed media (including additive and reductive sculpture, painting, printing, textiles, murals)

Biography: Has a bachelor's degree in textile design and an MFA in sculpture and has lived in Buffalo, N.Y., Dublin, New York City, Boston, Cape Cod. Her academic background in two- and three-dimensional work has coalesced into a unique mixed media. Having worked in reductive and additive sculpture, relief, textiles, drawing, pastels, oil and acrylic paint and installation, she has shown her work nationally and internationally. She has been awarded a Partner with an Artist Grant from seARTS for Fall 2006, is an artist participant in Pathways for Children's Chairs for Children benefit project and has been an artist-in-residence at Henry Street Settlement on the Lower East Side of New York City, the oldest settlement house in the country. She is vice president of the Rocky Neck Art Colony and a member of seARTS.

If you go

What: Second annual Gloucester New Arts Festival

When: Aug. 11 through Aug. 13

Where: Friday: 7 p.m., opening performance at City Hall; 9 p.m., Multimedia event @ Cape Ann YMCA; Saturday: All-day outdoor installation/site work/performance; 8 p.m., performance works at Cape Pond Ice; Sunday: 1 p.m., discussion forum at Cape Ann Historical Museum; 2 p.m., installation and performance @ Cape Ann YMCA; 4 p.m., final performance event at West End Theatre.

Upcoming seARTS events

Aug. 10-27: A Place of Her Own, Gloucester Stage Company, 267 E. Main St. An exhibition of paintings of women in their personal settings, to run in parallel with Israel Horovitz's new play, "The Secret of Mme. Bonnard's Bath." Opening reception: Aug. 10, Gloucester Stage Company, 10 p.m. Collaboration between the Gloucester Stage, The Rocky Neck Art Colony and seARTS.

Aug. 11-13: Gloucester New Arts Festival.

Aug. 14: Helen Epstein speaks on Joe Papp at 7 p.m. at the West End Theater, free, but $5 donation appreciated

Aug. 16: Artists on Artists talk with Ruth Mordecai and Shaun McNiff, 7 p.m. Bryan Gallery on Rocky Neck, free

Aug. 20: Artists on Artists talk with Israel Horowitz at the Gloucester Stage Company, cost TBA.

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