Professor JoAnne Carson stages two solo exhibitions at New England museums
Studio art professor JoAnne Carson is staging two art shows in New England museums this summer and fall, one at Zillman Art Museum in Bangor, Maine, titled Wood Nymphs, August 4-December 23, and the other at Burlington City Arts from July 22 - October 10, titled A Sense of Wonder. The details of each show are below.
Zillman Art Museum, 40 Harlow St., Bangor, Maine
August 4 - December 23, 2020
Wood Nymphs, features a selection of drawings and large-scale sculptures by JoAnne Carson. Splitting her time between Brooklyn and rural Vermont, Carson is known for her quirky, serio-comic works in painting, sculpture and assemblage. Carson’s sculpture Chlorophylia (For a World Without Color), that rises eight feet tall, is a focal point of the exhibition. The work is light-bleached and ghostly with its oversized, pale colored flowers and branches that stretch to the ceiling. Varied plant species— some resemble stylized hydrangea while others are textural enlarged roses—are assembled in a whimsical manner on a trunk-like base that is perched atop a circular disk. Wood Nymph, 1999, represents a major work in Carson’s career; a multi-armed, female figure spins pies on the tip of her fingers as she emerges from a nine foot high trompe l’oeil log. The work is a tragic/comic comment on the gendered role of women as homemaker, muse, and force of nature. The work Blue, 2006, is a quirky three-dimensional piece that is reminiscent of the amped up colors and forms found in a Dr. Seuss book. The flattened, stylized leaves and pom-pom flowers emanate from a coiled electric-blue stalk whose origin is four curved legs that rest precariously on the plinth. Exhibited together these works orchestrate a chorus of invented forest creatures that aspire to transport viewers to a magical, imaginative woodland. Admission to the Zillman Art Museum is FREE in 2020 thanks to the generosity of Deighan Wealth Advisors.
First floor, BCA Center, 135 Church Street, Burlington, VT 05401
July 22 - October 10, 2020
Open Wednesday-Saturday, 12-5 pm
"A Sense of Wonder features large-scale paintings and drawings created by JoAnne Carson over the past decade. Carson’s improvisational worlds of flora embody playful, surreal, and often dark connotations. Her exuberant compositions feature animated abstractions in the form of bushes, flowers, branches, and trees that are as beguiling as they are disconcerting. Richly patterned and pulsating with color, her imagery evokes the transformative and cyclical nature of life."
- Heather Ferrell, Burlington City Arts Director