The Schoolhouse Gallery Presents:
Bernd Haussmann, Gina Kamentsky, Keith Maddy, Vernacular Photography
Project: David Davis ~ A Self Portrait
July 1 - 20, 2011
Reception: Friday, July 1, 7-10 PM

The gallery presents new work from Bernd Haussmann, an exhibition appearing in two parts with the Provincetown Art Association and Museum from July 1 – August 14, 2011. There will be a second reception for the artist at the museum on July 15, 2011 at 8 PM.

BERND HAUSSMANN divides his time between his studio north of Boston and Western Maine where he also works on a 250 acre nature project. Haussmann exhibits nationally and has had recent exhibitions in Boston, MA; Scottsdale, AZ; Fort Worth, TX; and Santa Fe, NM.  His works are in a number of museum collections including the Danforth Museum of Art; Lyman Allyn Museum of Art; Hunterdon Museum of Art, Clinton, NJ; Longview Museum of Fine Arts, Longview, TX; and the Provincetown Art Association and Museum, among others.

This important painter offers a deep investigation into the issues primary to the ongoing dialogue about painting in Provincetown. Haussmann’s subjects range from an abstracted interpretation of nature to language and dreams to architecture to a total investment in the possibilities inherent in a single color. His masterful executions couple trust in the unexpected and an investment in the intelligence of the viewer that is not often approached free from the burden of context.  Haussmann extracts singular elements illuminated by bold colors and introduces a discussion of gesture, surface and the subconscious that, though contemporary in nature, can be traced directly back to the same philosophy of painting that defined Provincetown’s schools from Hensche to Hofmann to Stout through the moment of abstraction’s passionate public introduction at Forum 49. For him, rendering reality has been replaced with a trust that the viewer is the element that completes his work. With Haussmann’s art we are alive and involved.

GINA KAMENTSKY, sculptor, animator, designer and teacher, has spent most of her life creating objects and media for the amusement of children and adults. During the 90s in her career as a toy and game inventor, she developed a worldwide reputation creating products for companies including Mattel, Milton Bradley, Fisher Price and Parker Brothers. Kamentsky combines fantasy and reality in one of a kind mechanical toys and kinetic sculptures. Gina Kamentsky lives and works in Provincetown and in Boston where she also teaches at Massachusetts College of Art and Design.

For this exhibition Kamentsky has created eight new wall pieces.  In this series crisscrossing fine metal rods sub-divide circular frames of steel into complex grids.  These linear wires create visual and physical structure in the  work, and support a variety of mechanical components. Each piece is operated by turning a crank which sets found objects and mechanical elements into motion. Bells, wooden blocks and ratchet gears fashioned from bits of found metal create a rhythm of sound and motion engaging all of the viewer's senses.

 I set about making the pieces, creating a circular frame of steel using an antique Ring Roller. Straight rod is inserted into one end of the device. With energetic hand cranking, I create two circles which are soldered together to create the frame. Mechanisms, researched from my library of engineering books, form the heart of each sculpture.  The ratchets and mechanics in these pieces are based on inventive devices dating back several centuries. The work is developed, cutting components from found tin, brass and steel. I enjoy leaving bits of text and graphics revealing a bit about the original items. Some of these materials have their roots in Provincetown second hand shops and yard sales. I shape each piece intuitively, letting the wire support structure develop around the mechanical components. Working several weeks on each sculpture  I let the composition emerge and am always surprised by the result. Each piece is finished with several coats of oil to keep things running smoothly. After completing a work I always shoot a bit of video, edit together a rough cut of the piece in action, and upload it to YouTube. I do this to share my progress with a lively online community of Kinetic Sculptors and fans. A month ago, when reviewing a video, I heard myself exhaling loudly as I did the work of cranking the piece.  This embarrassed me a bit, the sound seemed too  intimate for public viewing and I was a bit unsure about revealing my physical presence in the video. Considering this, I realized that my breathing was directly connected to the work of making and interacting with each piece. The rhythm of the piece in motion is breathing! Enjoy the work and stay well oiled.  ~GK, June 2011

KEITH MADDY holds a BFA w/distinction from Massachusetts College of Art and is the recipient of several Massachusetts LLC Visual Arts grants.  The exhibit Surrounded, at Brickbottom Gallery in Somerville, that he co-curated and participated in, won 2nd Place, Best Show in an Alternative Space, Boston, MA 2004 by the International Art Critics Association. He has exhibited extensively in the greater Boston area including Logan International Airport, Boston Center for the Arts, City Hall, Hynes Convention Center, Mills Gallery, The Distillery, Somerville Museum, Harvard Univ., Attleboro Museum, Cape Cod Community College, William Scott Gallery Provincetown, Nahcotta in Portsmouth NH, Susan Maasch Fine Art in Portland ME, Vermont College and the Kentler Drawing Space in Brooklyn, NY. Keith teaches collage workshops at Vernon Street Studios in Somerville, The Provincetown Art Association & Museum, is represented in the Boston Drawing Project at Carroll and Sons Gallery and The Schoolhouse Gallery, Provincetown.  Keith is featured in Mixed Media Collage published by Rockport Press, 2007 and will be featured in the upcoming 100 Boston Artists by Schiffer Publishing.

Keith works from familiar, domestic materials as the foundation from which to create new images. In each case the process is the same but the materials, often vintage, vary from textiles, placemats, children’s book and wallpaper to lithograph reproductions of paintings. Materials are chosen based on color, pattern and the potential he sees within them to be transformed. Drawing over the chosen surface and selecting parts of the original image to keep, he creates new shapes and patterns. Keith edits out what he no longer wants by sanding, and covering it with gesso, graphite, acrylic, collage and resin. The resulting images are organic, playful and simplified, reminiscent of cells and elements in nature that flourish and interact all around us.

VERNACULAR PHOTOGRAPHY or amateur photography refers to the creation of photographs by amateur or unknown photographers who take everyday life and common things as subjects. Examples of vernacular photographs include travel and vacation photos, family snapshots, photos of friends, class portraits, identification photographs, and photo-booth images. Vernacular photographs are types of accidental art, in that they often are unintentionally artistic.  This exhibition consist of a group of anonymous, found and collected images culled from several collections including Mark Adams, Larry Collins and David Carrino.

DAVID DAVIS presents a special project for the gallery called, 'Self Portrait'. This standing sculpture is also an installation and a functional piece of commerce. Davis has produced over 50 postcards presented in typical dime store fashion on a spinning rack. These images have been pulled from his own life and travels, including his time in Provincetown, and convey his love of art and collecting artwork and other treasures. This 'portrait' offers not only a view of how we use people, places and objects as stand-ins, substitutes, and even impostors for our own stories, but also how, through relationship they are genuine expressions of love and our personal aesthetic. Our stories are written by the evidence and resonance of our connection to the images captured here. This nostalgic presentation offers them as memories. That they are obtainable suggests that these occurrences remain alive, dynamic and possible.

The Schoolhouse Gallery is located at 494 Commercial Street in the heart of Provincetown¹s East End Gallery District. For information and press contact Mike Carroll at 508.487.4800 or email mike@schoolhouseprovincetown.com.