Skinner to Launch "The Firewall Gallery" in September: A selection of contemporary artwork by recognized faculty artists from New England colleges and institutions
Boston, MA – Skinner has announced the inauguration of "The Firewall Gallery," an innovative program of sponsorship and patronage of contemporary artists. The purpose of the program is to provide a venue for the display and sale of artwork by selected faculty members at Boston area colleges and institutions. Skinner plans to offer this opportunity on an ongoing basis; in March and September of each year, the works of art will be offered as part of Skinner’s auctions of American and European Paintings and Prints, with the next auction to be held in Boston on September 22. Proceeds from the sale of the artwork will be divided between the artist and the affiliated school.
The name of the program derives from the location where the works will be on display prior to the auction, in the lobby of Skinner’s Boston gallery. Artists featured in September will be Barbara Moody, a professor at Montserrat College of Art in Beverly, Massachusetts, and Diane Ayott, an assistant professor at Salem State College in Salem, Massachusetts.
Moody’s works are small (6 x 12 x 2 in.) and presented in diptych format. The left panel represents a masterpiece from an earlier century (a Vermeer, for example); the right panel depicts the same subject as it would appear in the twentieth century. The artist has been a professor at the Montserrat College of Art since 1997, teaching classes including Painting: Mixed Media, Advanced Drawing, and Life Drawing. She is a consultant on accreditation and higher education and a member of the National Association of Schools of Art and Design (NASAD).
Ayott’s artwork is, by contrast, abstract. She has described it as revealing "a deep engagement with the language of abstraction…informed by years of attention to the landscape." She uses acrylic, latex and oil paint, and further defines her subjects by drawing into or onto the surfaces with various drawing implements, and rolling, scraping, brushing and squeezing paint onto and/or into the different layers of the paintings. As Assistant Professor in the Art Department at Salem State College, she teaches classes including Introduction to Teaching Art and Teaching Art as a Special Subject. Research projects include the design of two graduate level art education courses.
Colleene Fesko, director of Skinner’s department of American and European Paintings, notes, "As New England’s foremost auction house, Skinner recognizes and is committed to support of these artists. By publicly acknowledging their artwork, we hope to promote awareness of their contributions to the community beyond the boundaries of their respective institutions. These professors give a lot, and we at Skinner are pleased to provide a venue through which their work may be viewed, and in some way to demonstrate appreciation for their efforts." For more information regarding the Firewall Gallery, call Colleene Fesko at 978.779.6241, or fax 978.779.5144.