Shoptastic!

Photo courtesy of Ashley O'Dell

FP: How did “Twelve Chairs” begin? What was the inspiration behind this décor/interior design business?

TC: It all started with an email. "We should open up a shop and interior design studio!" The rest is history. Neither of us really had any pause...we went full steam ahead from that very moment. Having studied interior design together in college and having worked in the design and retail industries we felt that we had the background and experience to pull off the hybrid business. And so far so good!

FP: Why did you choose to settle in Fort Point?

TC: We loved the creative energy, the architecture, the sense of history and most of all the people. Sounds like a killer combination!

FP: Now that you have lived in the area awhile, what do you find most interesting about its indigenous, creative population?

TC: We love the sense of pride that the Fort Point residents have. It's like no other neighborhood in Boston and everyone here really values its history and uniqueness.

FP: What is your favorite local hang-out? We want to catch you in your savvy skirts and seriously swanky slacks? Just look for a pair of young, professional fashionistas in Fort Point and you will know what we mean!

TC: This is a tough one. Here it goes: Sportello for "Bagel Friday," Flour for cookies (Miggy likes ginger molasses and Roisin likes peanut butter), Yada Yada for chai lattes, Lucky's for fish tacos. How did this become all about food!?

FP: We love the greeting card selection! They are so witty! Who makes those? And that killer dining table, where do you find this stuff?

TC: Narrowing down what cards we should carry in the shop was torturous. Their are so many fantastic lines out there that it was nearly impossible to decide. We ultimately settled on Rifle Paper Company, Sycamore Street Press, and Smock. They're a perfect balance of sweet and sassy. The dining table is another one of our favorite pieces. The top is made from salvaged pine from trees that came down in a huge storm in Upstate New York and the legs are industrial pieces from an old factory. The gentleman that makes them can do custom sizes all with unique legs. It's been a very popular piece. We love getting to meet so many interesting and talented people who are behind the items in our shop.

FP: You often have local art that is for sale in the store. Why go local? How would a local artist have the opportunity to show work with you?

TC: We love the fact that Fort Point is such a welcoming, supportive community. We feel so fortunate to have been embraced by the neighborhood and showing local art is one small way we can be supportive, not to mention the artists here are beyond talented. We're so lucky that they're willing to show in our space! We're also extremely lucky to be working with Glovebox. They're the real catalysts behind all of this. Artist members of Glovebox are hand selected by the fabulous Jodie McMenamin to create fantastic exhibits in the shop. We can't wait to start planning the next one!

FP: Beach Vacation or Europe Tour? Definitely a Europe Tour.

TC: We're both too antsy to relax on the beach. Plus we can't get enough of great art and architecture.

FP: Where do you see “Twelve Chairs” in the future?

TC: This is a frequent topic of conversation. We love to brainstorm/ daydream about the future of Twelve Chairs. In the immediate future we plan to have a web-store. More long term goals include our own furniture and home decor lines and maybe a book!

Log onto www.gloveboxboston.blogspot.com on 8/24 to read part 1 of this interview by artist organization, GLOVEBOX

Announcing the MCC 2012 Artist Fellowships Program

Harold Reddicliffe (Painting Fellow '10), PROJECTOR AND LIGHT STAND (2009), oil on canvas, 18x16 in (photo credit Clements/Howcroft) Mass Cultural Council announces the launch of the 2012 Artist Fellowships Program. MCC's Artist Fellowships are competitive, anonymously-judged grants for individual artists, with awards based solely on the artistic excellence of the original work submitted*. The 2012 Artist Fellowships Program accepts applications in the following categories: Drawing, Painting, and Traditional Arts Online application available: August 15, 2011 Application deadline: October 7, 2011 Grants announced by February 2012 Choreography, Fiction/Creative Nonfiction, and Poetry Online application available: December 15, 2011 Application deadline: January 30, 2012 Grants announced by June 2012 Read the program guidelines and apply online. And, read tips on applying for an MCC Artist Fellowship. * The Traditional Arts category has additional criteria. See guidelines.

Wendy Shapiro

Wendy Shapiro
Reception: Wednesday August 10, 5:30-7:30 pm at 35 Channel Center, Boston MA

This exhibit is a part of the Fort Point Arts Community's ongoing art lending
program with our neighbors at 35 Channel Center. The work is on display
through August of 2011 and can be viewed by appointment. Contact
www.shapirodesigns.com or www.fortpointarts.org for more information.

What's In My Mind?

You Hold it in Your Mind All the Time

August 11. 2011 through September 30. 2011
Opening Reception - August 11. 2011
5 to 8 PM
Where? Art at 12
12 Farnsworth Street

Michele Jaquis - It's Not You, I'ts Me

Sarah Rushford - Lens Portrait

Artists: Michele Jaquis , Heidi Kayser, Jeremy J. Quinn,
Sarah Rushford, Tom Wojciechowski and Marguerite White

FP: You hold it in your mind all the time is an exhibition about a shared human experience, can you explain more?

HK: The title for show references a … thought you wanted to say but didn't, the elephant in the room, the growing kernels of ideas you carry with you. It's about collective consciousness versus individuality, and your body vs. your mind, and you versus them.

SR: The word "proprioception" is really where this show began … It is the sense we have as humans that tells our own body where it is in space, how to fit our bodies into spaces in the world, how much pressure to exert on the objects. Proprioception is reflexive; the body is giving the body information about itself…related to the notion that the body is our infinitely personal, private selfhood, and also a physical object in the outside world.

FP: In a broad sense, it seems the artwork makes the viewer ask larger questions - Why am I here?, What is it all about? Was this something that was intentional or came to understanding after the work was gathered in a single room?
SR: All powerful art asks big questions, in specific, personal, and ideosyncratic ways. We knew which kind of big ideas we were talking about… we sought work that was highly specific, smart, not didactic, understated, mysterious, and made with great skill

FP: How did you come up with the title of the exhibition?

SR: "You hold it in your mind all the time" It's a sentence that is about the material world and about the immaterial world at once. How can one hold something in one's mind? An idea is not an object, but though convention and cultural metaphor we understand an idea as something you can hold onto. This play between the material and the ephemeral nicely parallels the other sets of dualities in the show…

FP: What is the relationship between the artists, how did you all decide to come together on this project?

SR: Heidi Kayser and I have worked together for the past several years on collaborative works for example Proprioceptive Refraction, which addresses proprioception. Jeremy Quinn and Michele Jaquis are LA based artists I've collaborated with in a group called Rise Industries an international forum for exchange between artists and a starting point for interdisciplinary collaborative projects. Their works immediately spoke to the themes I discussed above. Tom Wojciechowski is a Boston artist whose work we were made aware of through our contact with Art at 12. Tom's compelling photographs practically jumped off the screen… with his level of connection to the themes the show addresses and Marguerite White's approach is representational and has narrative elements, a much different approach than other work in the show, and further expands our ideas about this theme.

MJ: I haven't met all the artists … however Jeremy and I are married and have shared a studio space since 2000. We went to undergrad with Sarah and used to all be roommates back in Hartford during the late 90's. As one half of Rise Industries, the three of us have collaborated in various ways for years.

FP: You explain the show as "multidisciplinary contemporary art practice." Can you tell me more about this? I guess what I am asking is if you felt traditional art methods could not explain the concept in the way that you wished it conveyed? AND what contemporary art offers to the viewer?

SR: I define contemporary art practice as a way of working that begins with an idea or concept then is adapted to fit a medium. This is a change from the definition of traditional art practice in which artists are defined as "painters,” "sculptors," etc. Defining the work as contemporary art practice acknowledges that multi-disciplined does not mean unfocused, it means that the concept of the work is the foundation of the work and the artists are masters of many crafts.

Sarah Rushford - Quickening

MJ: As the Director of Interdisciplinary Studies at Otis College of Art and Design, I am always encouraging my students that it is good (and almost necessary) to work in a range of media and disciplines - I think the wider the range of technical skills and sets of knowledge one has, the more ways in which you are able to express yourself as an artist and the more employable you are (which is a growing concern of my students and their parents). I think it is a very "old school modernist" way of thinking about oneself as merely a "painter, sculptor or photographer."

I was trained as a sculptor, but quickly realized I was drawn to the expanded field of sculpture that included installation, performance, video and other conceptual forms. This training in drawing, welding, mold-making, sewing, video editing, etc., paired with a conceptual/issue based practice is similar to what Sarah described. I often start with the idea then decide the best media to get that idea across. Although in the last 13 years or so most of my work has been video-based I resist being labeled as a "video artist,” and that resistance gives me the freedom to make work that doesn't involve video from time to time (like the mask). In grad school, my peers and I spoke often about "sculptor's guilt" - the need to make things with our hands, smell the woodshop and hear the sounds of a MIG welder. I get that urge after working on the computer a lot, and then have to move around and do something physical. In our "post-post-modern times" artists can push the boundaries of the traditional art disciplines and still create a solid body of work with conceptual threads that tie it all together.

FP: I couldn’t agree more with that last sentence! What do you hope the viewer leaves with when they have experienced this show?

SR: I am touched by a quote from art theorist, Gabriele Brandstetter: “The body is a being of two leaves; from one side a thing among things and otherwise what sees and touches them.” and I hope that someone who sees and interacts with the show can apply that idea to their personal understanding of their own body and their own self in the world.

FP: Ultimately, how has the art in this show encouraged you to expand on your own work?

SR: This show has taught me that my work is heading in the direction of my piece "The lining of your coat." It is a spoken word piece. A recording of me reading …about someone who has a supernatural ability to mend the linings of people's coats, without even touching them. It’s magic realism…I will be writing more and recording more in the future, working with sound, and this show has pointed me in that direction! SR: I've also tremendously enjoyed calling on my colleagues, and new artists I've met, to put their work in a show I am organizing, it's an honor to be showing work with these artists I admire so much.

FP: A fun one! What is your favorite local FP joint where we can find you relaxing on some down time, contemplating all these life questions?

SR: I actually live in JP and have a studio in the South End. When in Fort Point I like to hang out at Made in Fort Point, and Art at 12! When in the South End, I love to relax by visiting galleries, Carroll and Sons and Howard Yezerski are some of my favorites. When in JP, the new bookstore at Tres Gatos is a real gem!

HK: My favorite local FP place is in the channel, sitting quietly in my kayak, watching the day go by.

FP: Thank All!! Looking forward to the show!