The Provincetown Art Association and Museum (PAAM) hosts an exhibition, “Myths, Stories and the Life of Things,” featuring the work of Ellen LeBow and Anna Poor. The exhibition opens on March 12 from 6:00 to 8:00pm and will be on view until May 2, 2010. The PAAM is located at 460 Commercial Street, Provincetown, Massachusetts. The opening is a potluck reception. Guests are asked to please bring a dish for six or pay $7 at the door.
Co-curated by Donald Beal and Maura Coughlin, “Myths, Stories and the Life of Things” is a mid-career survey of artwork by Ellen LeBow and Anna Poor. If Ellen LeBow’s name sounds familiar, it is because she is the founder of Atis Fanm Matènwa, an artisans’collective in Lagonav, Haiti, and owner of RaRa, a store in Wellfleet that carries Haitian artwork, hand-painted silk scarves, prints, jewelry, wood and metal artifacts, embroidered denim jackets, and other goods made in Matènwa [see RaRa and the Women Artists of Matènwa, Haiti]. Also, with Chris Low (co-founder of the Community School of Matènwa) and Lisa Brown, LeBow founded The Starfish Arts & Vocational Center, which supports the school through environmental projects, music, and artisanship.
The curators describe LeBow and Poor’s work here: “The power of narrative generated by mythology, folklore, and religious visual culture is made evident in their work. Both Poor and LeBow explore subject matter culled from a fantastic range of contemporary and historical sources: from ancient Egypt to modern-day Haiti and from Giacometti to Doctor Seuss. Obsessively reconfiguring the objects and iconography of art history and world religions, both artists take critical positions of homage, ironic commentary or outright pillaging on their appropriated sources. They share a material fascination with the sensuous potentials of their materials, often working with innovative or unconventional techniques and combinations of mediums.”
PAAM’s galleries are open Thursdays through Sundays, noon – 5:00pm (October-May). General Admission is $7 – Free to PAAM members and children under 12.
For more information please call or visit www.paam.org
For more on Provincetown’s Haiti Relief events. See http://www.wickedlocal.com/wellfleet/fun/entertainment/x231949633/Photo-gallery-Wellfleet-residents-lend-a-hand-in-Haiti
