THE ANNEX
November 2018
October 31–November 25, 2018
The ANNEX is a section of the Gallery where we spotlight new work by regional artists.
The November Annex Artists are the winning artists from our 2018 juried call for art, Space Invaders.
Jurors’ Choice: Isabel Beavers
Honorable Mention: Lani Asuncion and Samantha Morris
Isabel Beavers
Isabel Beavers re-examines knowledges and ecologies as both an artist and researcher. Her creative practice encompasses multi-media installations, sculptural mapping projects, and creative and academic writing. Her piece, Mars, creates an analogue for the Martian landscape via the inaccurate and imprecise methods of modeling, satellite imagery, and hand-built sculpture. Through sound the work interrogates four tenets of the human condition: loss, discovery, intimacy and fear. Mars juxtaposes the plight of human suffering on Earth against the absurdity of future space exploration, current environmental challenges against the realities of the barren Martian landscape, and ultimately desire and fantasy against scientific truth.
Beavers holds an MFA from SMFA at Tufts University, and a BS in Natural Resources from University of Vermont. Her work has been exhibited at the MFA’s Boston's William Morris Hunt Memorial Library, Emerson Media Arts Center, Boston Convention and Exhibition Center, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin Thaer-Institut, Framingham State University, and Mountain Time Arts in Bozeman, MT. Recent achievements include an artist residency with the Finnish Bioarts Society and an artist residency at Skaftfell Center for Visual Arts, Iceland.
Samantha Morris
Samantha Morris was born in 1995 and grew up Madison, Connecticut; she now lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. Morris graduated from The University of the Arts in 2017 with a BFA in Fine Arts with an emphasis in Painting and Drawing. In addition, she has studied at Paris College of Art in Paris, France. Recent solo exhibitions include: Kanna Rými, Listhús Gallery in Ólafsfjörður, Iceland; and BFA Thesis Exhibition, The Space Between, The University of the Arts. Selected group exhibitions include Black and White, Site:Brooklyn, Practice: In Progress, NARS Foundation, and Space Invaders, Fountain Street Gallery among others. Morris’ work has been published in FreshPaint Magazine, Opción Magazine, ArtMaze Magazine and Underground Pool.
Samantha Morris focuses on the idea of an individual traveling through a space; exploring place through architecture and landscape, abstracted through line, shadow pattern, contrast, and negative space. She is interested in dynamics, what can and can’t be seen. The seemingly mundane aspects of everyday life, one light shining through the square of a window frame, or the corner of a plant casting shadow on glass. Influenced by photography and film, her work investigates the stillness of night; the frozen moments before something happens. It exists in the “in between”, the time when your eyes adjust to the contrast of natural illuminated light and the depth of darkness. Samantha feels immersed, traveling through such spaces. Each of her pieces has reference to an environment, while existing in its own space.
Lani Asuncion
The HUMAN GARDEN project focuses on how commercial development causes a disconnect from nature leading to isolation and alienation within local communities by creating gentrified environments, as well as a decline in native flora. Lani is interested in presenting different perspectives of interacting with plant life through looking, listening and seeing. Her work aims to create an alternative way of connecting to one another and the environment. Lani uses video, sculpture, performance, and digital storytelling to explore the socio-politics of community. In using her body and the camera, Lani is able to navigate landscapes recalling personal stories that are transformed into abstract narratives. These abstract narratives explore her identity as a multicultural, biracial Asian American woman. She is continually discovering the negotiation of belonging and how stories can be used to explore generations of change, loss and transformation.
Lani’s video work has been screened nationally and internationally including New Mexico, UK, Greece, Sweden and Scotland. Lani’s work has been included in ASPECT: The Chronicle for New Media and Boston Art Review. She’s been an artist-in-residence at Santa Fe Art Institute, Caldera Arts Center, Elsewhere Living Museum, and Bilpin International Ground for Creative Initiatives, Australia. Lani received the Dame Joan Sutherland Fund grant from the American Australian Assn and the Assets for Artists grant. She earned her MFA from the University of Connecticut, and is a Media Arts Manager at the SMFA at Tufts University.
Boston Hassle | William Kryjak