During the 2010 New England Art Awards Ball, we paused to remember some fine local galleries that closed over the past year: Stairwell Gallery and 5 Traverse Gallery in Providence; Judi Rotenberg Gallery, which closed in June after four decades on Boston’s Newbury Street; and Whitney Artworks in Portland, which has announced plans to close.
We noted to local museum directors who are moving on. Jane Farver, director of MIT’s List Visual Arts Center, plans to retire in May after leading the center for 12 years. Williams College Museum of Art Director Lisa Corrin plans to step down in June after leading the museum since 2005.
We also remembered some local artists who died over the past year: Brenda Atwood Pinardi, Jason Berger, Oliver Balf, and Joe Deal.
The Art Awards honored the alternative art space AS220 in Providence, which celebrated its 25th birthday this summer. AS220 all began with a thumbs-down review of an art exhibit by Umberto Crenca. To Bert and his friends, it was just one more example of how they were excluded by the art establishment. Their response is a monumental example of how to turn a frown upside-down. They responded with a 1982 manifesto, outlining what became the founding principles of AS220 when it was launched as an alternative space (the AS) at 220 Weybosset Street in 1985. It would be an uncensored, unjuried venue that aimed to be an integral part of society. Today AS220’s reach includes buildings they’ve renovated on Empire, Mathewson and Washington streets. It offers studios and apartments, galleries, performance spaces, a café and bar, a print shop, a photo lab, a tech lab, and youth workshops. It has kept artists central to Providence by seemingly owning most of downtown Providence. By providing creative opportunities, it has touched and inspired the lives of thousands and thousands of people. Myself included.
Finally, we presented a special award for community service—or perhaps we could call it lifetime achievement—to the staff of the Boston-based online art magazine Big Red & Shiny, which shut down in August. Begun in February 2004, by a gang of dedicated volunteers, at its height it defined the center of the Boston art scene – in no small part because so many key players in the scene wrote for it. It was at root an art journal by the artists for the artists.