Shao Yuan Zhang: Silent Canyons

The Friends of the Jamaica Plain Branch of the Boston Public Library in partnership with Uforge are pleased to announce a new exhibition held in the renovated library space. After soliciting proposals from over 50 local artists and groups, a selection committee comprised of community members and BPL staff chose four exceptional artists to fill its gallery for the rest of 2017, with printmaker Shao Yuan Zhang exhibiting for the third spot.

Born and raised in China, Zhang was sent to the countryside as a teenager, where he worked in the rice fields and created propaganda art for the communist party’s Cultural Revolution movement. In the late 1980s, he immigrated to the US to pursue his MFA at the University of Utah, developing his prowess in various printmaking techniques. Currently based in Boston, today Zhang depicts vast forest landscapes and red rock canyons with a surreal, otherworldly vision. His simplified forms accentuate a stark, isolated experience emotionally resonant with his immigrant journey. Each monotype was created with Asian rice paper using a technique derived from ancient Chinese painting. Through delicate line-work and luminous colors, he illustrates rock formations to capture how the light transforms them. With their subtle shifts in tone, quiet atmosphere, and jagged shapes, often punctuated by a solitary moon, these prints encourage close study and reflection, simultaneously suggesting faraway worlds and internal struggles.

Shao Yuan Zhang: Silent Canyons is on view from September 8 through October 31, 2017, with a public reception to be held on Thursday, September 14, 5:30-7:30 PM. The library is open Monday-Wednesday 10-6, Thursday 12-8, and Friday-Saturday 9-5 (closed Sundays). The exhibition space is located on the lower level.

http://www.shaoyuanzhang.com/

This exhibition is proudly sponsored by the City-Wide Friends of the Boston Public Library, a nonprofit promoting public awareness of the Boston Public Library system and its resources through:

1. Furthering appreciation of the value of the Library as a cultural and educational asset
2. Supporting and linking the activities of Branch Library Friends groups.

Cristina Rosa Nelson: Ikonoplastic

The Friends of the Jamaica Plain Branch of the Boston Public Library in partnership with Uforge are pleased to announce the second exhibition held in the newly renovated library space. After soliciting proposals from over 50 local artists and groups, a selection committee comprised of community members and BPL staff chose four exceptional artists to fill its gallery for the rest of 2017, with mixed media artist Cristina Rosa Nelson filling the second spot.

Based in Jamaica Plain, Nelson combines her academic expertise in history and gender theory with her multicultural background through whimsical, multivalent collages and assemblages. She collects objects and paper ephemera incessantly, accumulating medical textbook pages, vintage illustrations, animal figurines, environmental detritus, and various thrifted bric-a-brac. These components are then brought together in two- and three-dimensional mixed media creations, each layered with characters and symbols at once familiar and strange. As the title suggests, Nelson considers her work iconoclastic, smashing together recognizable historical figures, fashion models, fantastical creatures, and traditional monuments with irreverence, critique, and at times a cheeky sense of humor. However, it is also plastic, open to many interpretations as each viewer brings their own experience, knowledge, and perspective to the work.

Cristina Rosa Nelson: IKONOPLASTIC is on view from July 7 through August 31, 2017, with a public reception to be held on Thursday, July 13, 5:30-7:30 PM. The library is open Monday-Wednesday 10-6, Thursday 12-8, and Friday-Saturday 9-5 (closed Sundays). The exhibition space is located on the lower level.

http://www.boxologymixedmedia.com/

http://www.friendsjplibrary.org/

Steven Edson: Road Paint

The Friends of the Jamaica Plain Branch of the Boston Public Library in partnership with Uforge are pleased to announce the first exhibition held in the newly renovated library space. After soliciting proposals from over 50 local artists and groups, a selection committee comprised of community members and BPL staff has chosen four exceptional artists to fill its gallery for the rest of 2017. With upcoming exhibits of photography, printmaking, and collage, there is an exciting range of original art in store for the space!

The debut show for May and June highlights the work of Steven Edson, a photographer based in Belmont. With a keen eye for detail and fondness for pattern and texture, Edson captures abstract selections of paint found on city streets, boiling them down to an essence of line, shape, and color. His works make the familiar suddenly unfamiliar, reframing the pavement traversed unnoticed by so many pedestrians, cyclists, and drivers every day. Each photograph carries multiple levels of interpretation, whether viewed literally, figuratively, or abstractly.

Steven Edson: Road Paint is on view from May 5 through June 30, 2017, with a public reception to be held on Thursday, June 8, 6:00-8:00 PM. Please check the library website for hours.

This exhibition is sponsored by The Friends of the Jamaica Plain Branch of the Boston Public Library. A non-profit dedicated to planning and sponsoring free educational and cultural programs for all who visit the JP Library. Please check the library website for hours. www.friendsjplibrary.org