Unbound Visual Arts, Inc., and the Harvard Allston Education Portal are very pleased to announce the opening of Joanne Desmond: looks can be deceiving. This exhibition, at the Harvard Allston Education Portal Art Galleries, features two and three dimensional re-purposed mixed media artwork that explores the relationships and realities among our memories, identities and emotions. The exhibition, curated by John Quatrale, will run from May 15 – August 19, 2014.
The exhibition includes a unified body of monotypes, collages and encaustic artwork that was created using a wide array of materials including paper, wood, wire, fabric, thread, ink, and nails. The autobiographical subjects present conduits for discovering and confronting her life, ancestry and where she finds herself today. Throughout the creation of this work the artist is searching for “peace, acceptance, and [ability] to let…. go” of fear and the past. Her artwork conveys the power of connecting many divergent elements, people and “threads” of life. “Discovering what lies beneath the surface of someone or something” is especially important to the artist. It is her way of reminding us all that things oftentimes appear one way but are in reality are totally different. In the end, the exhibition invites visitors to think about taking “second looks” and to prompt everyone to have the courage to act, to dream more and to always choose to do their best when confronted with life’s inevitable difficulties and changes.
Joanne Desmond, a member of Unbound Visual Arts, maintains her art studio at the Lydia Pinkham Studios in Lynn, MA. She received a B.A. in Art from the University of Massachusetts/Boston with a concentration in printmaking and photography, a Master of Education (M. Ed.) in Arts & Learning from Endicott College, Beverly, MA, and a Master of Fine Art (M.F.A.) from the Massachusetts College of Art & Design, Boston, MA. She serves on the board of the Monoprint Guild of New England. She has exhibited widely including a solo exhibition at Berkshire Community College, and group exhibitions at the Fitchburg Art Museum, the Newburyport Art Association, the Nave Gallery, the Bromfield Gallery, the Brickbottom Gallery, and the Boston Printmakers 2013 North American Print Biennial.