SUFFOLK
THREE VISUAL ARTS venues within blocks of one another have really grasped the benefits of working together to organize concurrent exhibitions on related themes.
It's the sort of strategy that will help arts groups survive and perhaps even thrive through tough times.
The fourth such collaboration among the Suffolk Museum, Red Thread Studio and Shooting Star Gallery is related to books. These collaborations tend to create buzz among local arts fans.
Red Thread is displaying illustrations created using various printing methods, from block prints to monotypes. Shooting Star is featuring text-based art, which has been a fine-art trend for decades.
The Suffolk Museum organized a show of artists' books. Mostly that means artist-made books that experiment with pages and binding and storytelling in surprising, moving or funny ways. All three shows feature regional and national artists.
More than 50 artists from across the country are included in the Suffolk Museum show. To give an idea of the unique form of these pieces, Kerri Cushman's "Pumping Iron" is in the shape of a handcrafted iron, the kind used for pressing clothes.
The base of the iron folds down, and inside are iron-shaped pages decorated with pressing burn marks and on which a sparse, printed story unfolds. One page reads: "Every morning she pumps iron... the iron sighs." The sigh, of course, is the Farmville artist's reference to steam - a lovely metaphor for domestic dreariness.
This is a plum collection packed with eccentric examples. Lesley Riley of Bethesda, Md., works in a feminine style often associated with the modern idea of artist's books - handmade fabric pages with sewn-on laces, beads and photos. Her book "Follow" suggests romantic commitment, with a storyline that begins "Where you lead I will...," though it's more about her dance with the muse.
Tennille Davis Shuster of Oakland Park, Fla., made a touching tribute to a friend who died of cancer. "Hard to Swallow" consists of a medicine cabinet with the artist's thoughts printed onto tiny scrolls rolled and tucked like pills in clear bottles.
Shuster's "Crown of Thorns," set on an antique wig stand, incorporates many bits of paper with the word "TAKE" printed over and over. Is the artist suggesting a martyrdom caused by greedy people?
Only a few men were included. Stephen C. Daiber's piece, "El Mar," reflects his fascination with Cuba, a country he has visited numerous times since 2000. The Massachusetts artist incorporated images from a Cuban geography book and clippings from a Cuban newspaper.
The scroll is a whirlwind in both form and in the storyline. As with nearly all of the works on view, don't expect to read an easy story, one page at a time. These pieces call for a playful imagination and a flexible mind - which would be true, really, for any artwork worth its salt.
Teresa Annas, (757) 446-2485, teresa.annas@pilotonline.com