Two Artists Share their Visions at the Arsenal Center for the Arts

What do global warming, natural disasters, and presidential politics have in common? Answer: They are among the sources of inspiration for artists Cindy Cuba Clements and Patricia Crotty. Their works are currently on display at the Arsenal Center. The New Visions exhibit, which opened Jan. 12 and runs through Feb. 25, features 17 paintings by Clements and 21 by Crotty.

Clements’ works are primarily in acrylic, although most paintings also include some collage elements such as swatches of newspapers, cardboard, photographic prints, and pieces of fabric. Her latest works, she says, are derived from her emotions. A year and a half ago, her father-in-law passed away and days later her son’s closest friend died in a car accident at age 17.   

"My creativity, at first, came to a halt. I was devastated and unable to access that piece of myself," Clements states. "Gradually, through paint, I was able to use art to express and feel my emotions. It was a painful process – those initial pieces are pretty gritty – but as a result of that I recognized that there is more to work that begins from a deeper place. The work may not always be as pretty to look at, but it is authentically expressionistic.

"In a sense, as I consider the scope of my work, I can see a theme in that it is a diary of sorts – a journal of my emotional landscape over the past couple of years."

More recently, her diary of artworks has touched on current world events. For example, her works Tsunami Meltdown and Tsunami Meltdown 2, as well as Nuclear Spring 1, 2 and 3 are all in response to the earthquake and tsunami in Japan last spring and the nuclear disaster that followed.

"I was particularly distraught about that disaster (and still am)," says Clements.  "Some of the paintings have ancient haiku written on the canvas that seemed relevant to me; others have newspaper articles related to the incident."

Other paintings include RIP Troy Davis, about the recent execution of a Georgia prisoner, Stop the Insanity, which takes aim at certain Republican candidates running for president, and Sense of Wonder, which reveals Clements’ anxiety during her daughter’s visit to the Amazon jungle.

As for Crotty, her works are derived more by the ever changing natural world.

"I'm inspired by nature and by the beauty in everyday life that is passing," she says. "I'm concerned about global warming, and part of what I try to do is capture a place in nature or a moment before it is gone. For example, when I paint flowers it's usually over a long time, and as I go along they become withered and die. I try to put this passage into the painting."

Crotty mostly uses oil paint, on canvas or paper, although she also works with acrylic. Most of her works are landscapes and still life paintings that are in between abstract and figurative.  She usually starts by sketching her landscapes or still lifes with either charcoal or pastels. From there Crotty heads to the studio, where as she paints, the artwork tends to become more abstract.  Two of those abstracts, Flotsam and Jetsam and Cloths of Heaven, began while drawing the turbulent coast in the Isle of Shoals in New Hampshire.

"As I was working on Flotsam and Jetsam I wanted to get at the essence of the turbulent sea, which I think of as the forces in life that toss us all around, over which we have no control," Crotty says. "Cloths of Heaven, which I worked on at the same time, became more about the sky reflected in the ocean, and I feel that it got to a point where it kind of transcended the turbulence to reflect a more peaceful realm."

The New Visions exhibit runs through Feb. 25, 2012.  Gallery hours are Tuesday - Sunday, from 12 p.m.-8 p.m. Admission is free. For more information, call 617-923-0100 or visit arsenalarts.org.