Two new exhibitions at the Tory Folliard Gallery (233 N. Milwaukee St.) each introduce the everyday into their art. Cathy Martin comes to her craft from an earthy angle, which steered clear of the contemporary artist’s traditional MFA-lined path. She is an artist whose day job puts food on her table by putting food on other people’s tables. Indeed, her oil paintings on display in the exhibit “This & That” reveal a sensitivity to nature no doubt nurtured by her years as a Wisconsin farmer. Although she is self-taught, the technical execution of her work indicates a rare talent.
Mark Mulhern’s “New Work” uncovers a d ifferent domain of reality by means of a different technical approach. Photographic accuracy is here exchanged for figurativeness and atmosphere, which evoke a more primal, immediate stratum of experience. From dog walkers, pigeons amongst passing crowds and the backs of people’s heads, the subject matter also belongs to the everyday world.
The exhibitions open with an artists reception on Friday, Sept. 12 from 5-7:30 p.m. You have until Oct. 11 to make these images part of your everyday.
“From Here To There: Alec Soth’s America”
Madison Museum of Contemporary Art
227 State St.
With 50 states, 3.71 million square miles, 238 years of history and roughly 318 million inhabitants, “America” is too unwieldy a reality to be compartmentalized conceptually. Alec Soth’s America is one of the more visually eloquent. In more than 100 photographs, this exhibition covers 15 years of the photographer’s international travel. Narrative moments of folks and folklore are abundant, and the viewer finds herself fleshing out the stories with her own America. Only 317,999,998 left. “From Here To There: Alec Soth’s America” opens Sept. 14 and closes Jan. 4.
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Make a Chihuly Sculpture: Chi-Hooligans Workshop with Artist Ann Juneau
Plymouth Arts Center
520 E. Mill St.
Dale Chihuly is a faintly piratic looking fellow who makes glass sculptures of enormous scope and unusual beauty. He manages to domesticate the unruly material into fluid forms that evoke Seussian exploding stars, giant psychedelic pasta and radioactive seashells. A Sunday, Sept. 14 (1-4 p.m.) workshop for adults and children (4th grade and older) at the Plymouth Art Center gives you the tools and guidance to make your own Chihuly-inspired cellophane art. Registration for the event is $5 and should be mailed to the Center along with a registration form. See plymoutharts.org for information.
