MCLA Gallery 51: "It's Insane"
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| Colleen Paz concentrated on creativity at the MCLA Gallery 51 "100 Hours" art event.
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Day Care Center For Adults
"It's amazing," said artist and teacher Mark Mulherrin, who usually creates from a Beaver Street Mills studio. "One of my students said it looks like a day care center for adults."
<L2>One glance around the Main Street gallery delivered the basis for the observation; the floor was covered with drop-cloths, and atop the cloths, shredded bits of paper reminiscent of a peanut-shell-smothered bar floor. Artists occupied tables, focused intently on a variety of collage and surrounded themselves with tools of the medium; scissors, glue sticks, tape, paints and paint brushes. A few artists used computers, razor-blade cutting tools, and strips of celluloid to produce their work.
The event kicked off with an artist reception on Thursday and will conclude on Tuesday with another reception, the opening of the "100 Hours" exhibit. Selected works created by the artists will be featured during the display.
Spilling Creative Juice
MCLA student Hannah Macksey is among the college students who staff the gallery.
"I think this was a great idea," she said. "It has generated public interest, and I think it will produce some great art."
Macksey was at the gallery on Friday and said she believes a lot of creative juice was spilled between then and Sunday noontime.
"To come in here on Sunday and see all the progress; it's insane," she said. "And how they all interact is entertaining and interesting."
During Saturday, scores of people came into the gallery to watch the process. According to several estimates, about 200 people passed through the gallery that day.<R3>
The Most Fun Ever
"The public aspect has been challenging," said artist Ana Crowley. "Things have been going very well. It's nice to have an opportunity to work like this."
"I think it's going fabulously," said artist Joe Kennard. "It's nice getting away from my everyday routine. We were talking about that this morning, that there's an energy here."
Seated at the rear of the gallery with a sewing machine that hummed along was quilter Carla Michel. Pieces of her original quilt were pinned to a wall as she worked with fabric and pictures taken from an old book that targeted children and personal hygiene.
"I'm having the time of my life," she said. "I think I'm going to get this finished. This is the most fun ever."
City resident and artist Rich Remsberg was putting together a short film using archival government material. He enjoyed the public attention, he said.
"People have been very good, " he said.
<L4>Boston-based artist Colleen Paz said she was taking great pleasure in the event. Initially, the idea of 100 hours seemed long, but...
"Now it doesn't seem like five days is going to be enough time [to finish her work]," she said.
"A Hard-Chargin' Time"
Scott Ziehr, whose ZiehrSmith gallery hosted a similar event last year, termed the creative energy, camaraderie, and competitive spirit "unbelievable."
"It's exactly what we've seen [at previous, similar events] but with different people," he said. "The dynamic is the same and look at how hard everybody is working. In Chelsea [where ZiehrSmith is located] people didn't come in but here, the door kept opening. It's great that there was the enthusiasm."
The artists seem to become even more focused on their work as the hours move from day to evening, Ziehr said.
"From about 4 to 8 is hard-chargin' time," he said.
There appears to be a collective force that has wound its way into the psyche and the fingers of the artists, said Mulherrin.<R5>
"To have a room full of people who usually work in solitude working in a room full of people, it seems to add to the energy," he said.
A gallery-hosted reception is scheduled to kick off the Jan. 30 exhibit. The reception is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. and conclude at 9 p.m..
Information about the exhibit is available by calling 413-664-8718 or visiting a www.mcla.edu/Gallery51 Internet web site.
