New at Gallery A3: Counterspells and Concatenations by Marianne Connolly and Rebecca Muller

Source: Gallery A3

In Counterspells, Marianne Connolly works with intimately-scaled photography and hand-cut, hand-pasted collage, exploring familiar themes of nests, light, and winged beings while experimenting with new materials and methods. In Concatenations, Rebecca Muller exhibits several series of large-format photopolymer etchings and small groupings of mixed media assemblages composed of disparate matter and debris.  

The exhibit at Gallery A3 opens Thursday, September 4 and will run through Saturday, September 27. There will be an opening reception at the gallery on September 4 from 5:00 p.m.-7:00 p.m. There will be a free online art forum on Thursday, September 18 at 7:30 p.m. Preregister here. Gallery A3 is located at 28 Amity Street 1D. Gallery hours are Thursday–Sunday, 2:00 p.m.–7:00 p.m.

Marianne Connolly: Counterspells 
As both a visual artist and a writer, Marianne Connolly finds that each type of work inspires the other. Her artwork in Counterspells is scaled to a page-size format and experiments with the juxtaposition of word and image. The collages are composed of visual elements that are snipped by hand from discarded books and magazines and then assembled into fantastical or surrealistic scenes, often presenting figures in the midst of transformation. The photographs are part of a series taken in autumn after the leaves have fallen, revealing nests previously hidden in the foliage. Some of these photographs of newly-revealed nests are printed on transparency paper and laid over the text of a story while others are hung in the light to capture and cast a shadowy image. 

“This work isn’t overtly political. It’s not even overtly magical, although I sometimes tilt in that direction. But both personally and politically, making art is about countering fear, despair, and paralysis,” says Connolly. After suffering a critical illness in 2017, she still struggles with strength, coordination, and pain management. And in the actual physical endeavor of making art, she goes counter to her fears to reclaim something she almost lost. And, she notes, this year has been devastating for many people, economically and politically. “To be an artist in an age of repression is an act of stubborn, persistent passion,” she concludes.

Rebecca Muller: Concatenations
Rebecca Muller approaches both printmaking and assemblage as a process artist, letting the material lead the way. Looking closely at what is often overlooked, right there in front of us, she collects bits and pieces of organic and inorganic debris—found artifacts that reflect both the physical and metaphysical cycle of erosion and decay. One new series may begin with a bundle of matter she collected on a single walk; a sequence of prints may build on or literally embody an intriguing element from an earlier etching.  Across media and dimension, they emerge one from another, as a concatenation of initially disparate elements intentionally linked together—mapping experience as it unfolds before us.

That sense of intentional interlinking is essential. While the print series have titles—Rhizome series and Frail Structures—that serve as devices to orient the viewer, the work in essence investigates sequential imaging. “Often, they are layered with images from two or three other plates. What results is an ambiguity of space, shifting scale, and time passing before one’s eye with hieroglyphic messaging,” explains Muller. Comprised of component parts that allow variations in how the piece is presented, the individual images can be arranged in a vertical column or meander horizontally across a wall. “The scale orients us toward the standing or seated body and invites the eye to survey a ‘wall of work’ as if it were a bridge between an internal and external landscape,” says Muller.

Art Forum Online
In an Art Forum online at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, September 18, the gallery will host a conversation with Marianne Connolly and Rebecca Muller about the visual connections and conceptual cross-fertilization in their two-person exhibition.

The two artists, working with both written and visual art, bring together ideas, words, images, and concepts in their art. Connolly works with photographs, collage and speculative fictional writing. Muller creates etchings and mixed media “tableaus,” referencing sequential art and “story coding” within her images. The audience is invited to engage in an evening of imagery, artist-participant dialogue, and short “bonus” readings.  

This Art for Community outreach program is supported in part by grants from the Amherst Cultural Council and the Pelham Cultural Council, local agencies, which are supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency. Pre-register for this free program at www.gallerya3.com.

About Gallery A3
A cooperative, contemporary fine arts gallery located in downtown Amherst, Gallery A3 is celebrating its 23rd anniversary this year.  Current members include painters, sculptors, photographers, printmakers, and mixed media artists.

Gallery A3 was founded in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on 9/11. A group of local artists believed art to be essential to the health and healing of a community and began the gallery as a place to share ideas and artistic support. Since that time, the gallery has been home to over sixty artists and is now celebrating twenty-three years of monthly shows with openings and forums. All events are free and open to the public.