Dim Stars: Alien Transport Series

Scott Bakal’s Dim Stars: Alien Transport series, featured in the current exhibition Tall Tales at 13FOREST, is the culmination of several years of creative exploration. Starring Bakal’s long-running Dim Stars character, Dim Stars: Alien Transport reimagines classic American UFO sightings as encounters with Bakal’s friendly alien creature:

On July 26 1947, two days after Kenneth Arnold’s experience of seeing a flying object while flying his own plane, the press coined the term ‘Flying Saucer’ and ‘Flying Disc.’ The series is a collection of flying saucers and spaceships as seen in the early days of the phenomenon. Flying saucers started being spotted regularly, but they were always hazy descriptions or photos taken with the technology of the time. For the last 77 years, government agencies have been keeping what these ships actually looked like from the people. This is the world's first reveal of some of the planet's favorite flying saucers, what they really looked like, and who inhabited them.

Bakal’s interpretations of the Kenneth Arnold Sighting, the McMinnville UFO, and the Lubbock Lights comprise two paintings each, one with Bakal’s representation of the UFO from the sighting, and one showing the craft in use by the Dim Stars. In addition to the paintings, Bakal has compiled contemporaneous newspaper clippings, photos, and interviews for each sighting, which are linked below. You can see more work from Dim Stars: Alien Transport here.

Scott Bakal, The Arrival, acrylic and ink on panel

 

These paintings are sold as pairs.

 
 

Use the link here to find out more public and top secret information on the Kenneth Arnold Sighting, such as original drawings, audio recordings and news clippings, including comments from the National Air and Space Museum on this first historic event. This sighting coined the phrase ‘flying saucer.’

 
 

Scott Bakal, Kenneth Arnold Sighting, graphite and silver leaf on panel

Scott Bakal, Kenneth Arnold Sighting: Class One Fighter, acrylic and ink on panel

 
 

Use the link here to find out more public and top secret information on the McMinnville UFO, such as original photos, newspaper clippings, a LIFE magazine clipping and interviews with Evelyn Trent, wife of Paul Trent, who took the photos.

 
 

Scott Bakal, McMinnville UFO, graphite and silver leaf on panel

Scott Bakal, McMinnville UFO: Communications Vehicle, acrylic and ink on panel

 
 

Use the link here to find out more public and top secret information on the Lubbock Lights, such as original photos, newspaper clippings and video documentary. Includes top secret alien technology information never released to the public.

 
 

Scott Bakal, Lubbock Lights, graphite and silver leaf on panel

Scott Bakal, Lubbock Lights Hyperdrive Transport, graphite and silver leaf on panel

 

Outside|In - artist talk with muralist Alex Cook

 

Arlington has a vibrant public art program, and in the past 13FOREST Gallery's series Outside|In highlighted some of the artists whose paintings and sculptures enliven the community. (If you are curious about the series, you can read more here: 2017, 2018, 2019.) This year we are reviving Outside|In with an artist talk by Alex Cook, who last November completed a new mural in Arlington Heights as a part of his YOU ARE LOVED Project.

Cook's mural was commissioned by the Arlington Commission for Arts and Culture. Cecily Miller, the town's public art curator, arranged for Cook to create the mural, in addition to organizing 50 community volunteers to help complete it. Please join us on Saturday, March 2 from 4-6 pm for a conversation with Cook about his dual practice as a fine artist and public artist. A selection of his fine art will be on view at the gallery during the event.

 

Alex Cook

Cook has been a professional studio artist for over 30 years. During that time he has produced hundreds of paintings, drawings and other artwork through a diversity of media that includes acrylic, oil, watercolor, collage, sculpture and more. He sells his work throughout the US. As a public artist, since 1997 he has created over 240 murals in 25 US states and in Kenya, Nigeria, Guatemala, Australia and New Zealand. His public work focuses on community and spiritual themes expressed through storytelling and images of nature.

Alex Cook, Tall Trees with Diamonds, acrylic on canvas, 36” x 24”, sold

Throughout Cook’s career, he has taught art and creativity to people of all ages and in settings ranging from alternative high schools and court-ordered community-reintegration programs, to afterschool programs and summer camps.  While teaching in the Boston public school system, he founded a painting program for teenagers called Art Builds Community (ABC). From 2004 to 2009, ABC employed young artists in the summer and provided them with the technical skills to paint murals across Boston and the surrounding area. Many of Cook’s contemporary mural projects invite community members to add their own images to larger overall works so everything coheres within a common structure. Painting to Cook is only half of his public art; the other half is his creating environments in which community members find a love of creation and a connection to the world.

In 2014 Cook initiated a solo project titled YOU ARE LOVED, his aim of which was to produce murals that publicly proclaim the simple phrase You are loved. His project has since evolved to include residents of communities across the US who share a desire to influence public discourse on human value and self-worth. Today there are 110 YOU ARE LOVED murals adorning the walls of schools, homeless shelters, prisons and houses of worship in 15 states and two countries. In 2021 Cook’s experience of this project prompted him to author the book You Are Loved, Spiritual and Creative Adventures, A Memoir, which details his lifelong effort to bring beauty and love into the world.

Alex Cook, Four Birds, acrylic on canvas, 20” x 16”, sold

Alex Cook, View Towards Melbourne from the Dandanong Forest, acrylic on canvas, 16” x 20”, $700, available at 13FOREST

Alex Cook’s most recent YOU ARE LOVED mural, located in Arlington Heights on the west wall of Szechuan’s Dumpling at 1360 Massachusetts Avenue

It is important to Cook that his project’s three-word message be expressed in the broadest number of locations, and across the lines of geography, race, gender and socioeconomic status so it reflects the universal need of humans to be loved. His most recent mural is in Arlington Heights, on the west wall of Szechuan’s Dumpling at 1360 Massachusetts Avenue.

Cook's murals often give students, church congregants and residents the sole opportunity in their lives to create a permanent work of art. Anyone can join in regardless of skill or experience. Cook states that the result is always beautiful and that it instills a sense of pride and ownership among participants. Communities have many times used YOU ARE LOVED murals as their response to social afflictions such as gun violence and the rise of suicide among teenagers. In this context, Cook believes, the project's truthful statement to viewers as individuals operates on the far more complex level of the community collective.

Mini Maker Market

At 13FOREST one of the joys of our practice is working with artists who work in a wide range of media and experiment with different materials.

On Wednesday, December 6 from 6-8 pm we are hosting a Mini Maker Market featuring three of our talented artists who all make jewelry in addition to other types of objects. Each artist will bring a selection of new work and jewelry for the evening, with a variety of great pieces that would make the perfect gift this holiday season. Refreshments will be served!

Get a sneak peek of the featured artists below:

 

Heather Carroll is a visual artist and jewelry designer. She grew up helping her grandfather in his jewelry store on Long Island, which sparked her appreciation for the beauty found in the smallest of details. Her work exemplifies her playfulness, love of color and texture, creating compositions that are both distinct and classic.

 
 
 
 

Kimberly Huestis grew up in Vermont. Once a year, her family would trek to the coast of Maine to see the ocean, smell the salty sea air, and play in the sand. It is no coincidence she ended up in the Boston area. Specializing in hand-sculpted, wearable art for those nautical lovers out there, Huestis’ style is clean and fresh, with an organic touch of coastal elements and textures.

 
 
 
 

Ilana Krepchin’s creations combine a sense of fun and purpose with essential interests from her past. As a kid, she wanted to be an architect when she grew up - now she makes miniature buildings. Krepchin has always been drawn to mathematical concepts - now they inform her art, as in the miniature Mobius strips she makes.

 
 
 

East Arlington Holiday Hurrah

This year we are excited to participate in East Arlington’s Holiday Hurrah - an innovative new program created to thank our community for shopping small and supporting local business.

Make a purchase at any six participating businesses as you shop, dine and prepare for the holiday season around the neighborhood, get your card stamped, then redeem your card for a pair of free movie tickets at the Capitol Theater. Pick up your card at 13FOREST today and start earning your stamps!

Participating businesses:
Derby Farm & Flowers
Capitol Theatre
13FOREST Gallery
The Fox & Robbins Shop
Maxima Gift & Book Center
Inspired Gardens
Quebrada
Arlington Bakery
Yes!
Continental Salon
Town Tavern
Sleepy Dog Veterinary
Lotus Yoga Studio
Boon Noon Market
Inspire Fitness Studio
Breadboard Bakery
Clay Dreams
Anthony's Barber Styling

Dear Memories post-screening discussion with Lisa Kessler and Larry Volk

 
 
 

13FOREST Gallery is pleased to invite you to a special event hosted in partnership with the Arlington International Film Festival. Following the New England premiere of the film Dear Memories at the Capitol Theater on Saturday, November 4 at 2:45 pm, the public will be invited to a post-screening discussion at the gallery from 4:30-6:30 pm with two nationally recognized photographers and educators, Lisa Kessler and Larry Volk.

Written and directed by Nahuel Lopez, Dear Memories is a journey with the legendary German Magnum photographer Thomas Hoepker. One of the most important living photographers worldwide, Hoepker's pictures became icons of photojournalism. After a 2017 diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease, he embarks on his last big dream - a road trip through the USA with his wife Christine. Hoepker, the man whose art has become part of the collective memory, is now losing his own memories; all the while he continues to see life through his unique eyes and captures his visions on film for us to see.

Be sure to check the Arlington International Film Festival website for more great films being shown at the Capitol from November 2-5!

 
 

Featured Speakers

 

Lisa Kessler is a nationally recognized photographer and educator based in Boston. She is known for long-term projects on culture, education, health, and faith, including “the idea of the color pink in America;” the scourge of sexual abuse; young people in our public schools; and portraits of families coping with homicide.

Her work is in the permanent collections of the Cleveland Museum of Art, Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the Teaching Museum of Lehigh University. She teaches at Endicott College and the Griffin Museum of Photography.

Larry Volk is an artist, educator, lecturer and author. His visual work explores family history, identity through biographical narratives. He has lectured nationally on imaging, portfolio production and art practice. He is a member-artist of the Bromfield Gallery in Boston, Massachusetts.

A Professor of photography in the School of Visual and Performing Arts at Endicott College, he holds an MFA from Rhode Island School of Design.

 
 

Dear Memories will screen at 2:45 pm on Saturday, 11/4 at the Capitol Theater, located at 204 Massachusetts Avenue, Arlington MA 02474.

Dear Memories post-screening reception will take place from 4:30-6:30 pm across the street at 13FOREST Gallery, located at 167A Massachusetts Avenue, Arlington, MA 02474.

 
 
 

As Luck Would Have It Artist Feature - R. Galvan

 

As part of our exhibition As Luck Would Have It, R. Galvan created an interactive piece that culminated with a performance titled Cashing Out at the closing reception for As Luck Would Have It on Friday, September 22. Read more about the project and Galvan below, and watch the full performance here.

 

When You See Unusual Misfortune installed in As Luck Would Have It

Galvan’s project, titled When You See Unusual Misfortune, is an extension of another project that Galvan is currently conducting in their studio: 

When You See Unusual Misfortune is an ongoing performance initiated by collecting discarded coins in my studio space. Inspired by the saying, “find a penny, pick it up, and all day you'll have good luck,” I began with those abandoned pennies, near valueless objects, on my studio windowsill. The performance unfolds as an exploration of a compulsion to accumulate objects of little material worth. With each newly encountered penny on the streets and in other places, I humbly gather and meticulously document them through color pencil rubbings. These coins are then added to a ceramic piggy bank, becoming tangible encounters with seemingly insignificant things. The core of this performance lies in drawing attention to how a routine act of accumulating trivial objects challenges the expectation that misfortune is an inherent and recurring aspect of our lives. This "misfortune," characterized by repetition and routine, animates the concept of diminishing returns and questions the significance we attach to everyday objects and to reflect on how small, repetitive actions can reshape our perceptions of luck and misfortune. The project includes drawings, photo-documentation, video, and an artist book (in development). This project will conclude when my studio lease ends, and I cash out the piggy bank, using its contents to purchase a lottery scratch card - an act that underscores perspectives on fortune and luck.

We were intrigued by this project and its unique take on the ideas of luck and fortune, and asked Galvan to adapt it to our exhibition. For As Luck Would Have It, the project consists of a ceramic piggy bank with text written on it by Galvan: “Inspired by Dante's descent into hell, the revised inscription, ‘Relinquish petty fortunes, all who come forth,’ urges one to release expectations and control over outcomes. Win or lose, the piggy bank present[s] fortune in waiting, turning luck into an anticipating factor, thereby provoking the pondering of uncertainties inherent in suspense.”

The bank sits on a pedestal in the gallery next to a pile of small prints of a photographic image of the piggy bank with the text. Visitors are invited to “leave a penny, take a print.” The piggy bank is also accompanied by an incomplete document that includes a photograph of the piggy bank and a balance sheet that will be completed by Galvan at the end of the Cashing Out performance. Throughout the duration of As Luck Would Have It, visitors to the gallery have been leaving change in the piggy bank and receiving a print in exchange. At the closing reception, Galvan will wear an outfit that indicates they are an ‘artist at work.’ Galvan will shake out the piggy bank, smash it, and count the money collected. Galvan will then take the money to a convenience store across the street from the gallery and buy a lottery ticket, which they will return to the gallery to scratch off to document any winnings.

When You See Unusual Misfortune (1/10), archival print, work-in-process

R. Galvan - Artist at Work

Cashing Out - Full Performance

 
 
 
 

R. Galvan is an artist based in Medford, Massachusetts. Their practice focuses on vanity and on the role systems play in shaping an understanding of memory and the self. With a special focus on queerness and Latinx subjectivity, their work manifests as image making, drawing, and critical research and writing. They have completed residencies with Brashnar Creative Project, Staccion Center for Contemporary Art, the School of Machines, Making and Make Believe, and the Kolaj Institute. Galvan received a Bachelor’s degree from Brown University, a Masters of Fine Arts from the Rhode Island School of Design, and a postdoctoral fellowship with Duke University’s program in Latino/a Studies in the Global South. Galvan has exhibited work at the National Humanities Center, the Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts, and internationally at the University of Coimbra (Portugal). They are a studio resident at the Boston Center for the Arts, an incubator for new creative projects.

 

As Luck Would Have It Artist Feature - Ted Ollier

 

One of the reasons we chose the very broad theme of ‘luck’ for our open call show As Luck Would Have It was to encourage a diverse range of responses and interpretations. Printmaker Ted Ollier took ‘luck’ to mean ‘randomness,’ and created a visual representation of a small bit of random data that we interact with in our daily lives. His Random Chroma Bands Type C series turns Two-Factor Authentication codes he received into a colorful pattern; read his full statement about the project below.

 

Random Chroma Bands Type C/p: 521964, archival inkjet print

Random Chroma Bands Type C/p: Grid of 361, archival inkjet print

 

Random Chroma Bands Type C illuminate and abstract a very commercial form of randomness now encountered on a daily basis. Whenever you sign in to your bank, shop on Amazon, or book something on Airbnb, you’re likely to be using 2FA, or Two-Factor Authentication. Once your login is entered at the relevant site, a code is sent to your phone or email address, and you use that to confirm the login. However, you only have ten minutes to act, before that code expires.

Well, these codes are little six-digit snippets of on-demand randomness. They are supposed to be inimitable, unpredictable, and evancescent. They provide the seed for generating the Random Chroma Bands. In these pieces, I have taken the resulting digits and encoded them further using my alphanumeric synaesthesia — the colors I associate with each of the ten ordinal digits. The six numbers become six identical bands of color that still retain that numerical information, just not as numbers. 

This renders the random number string into an aesthetic design, which can be appreciated by itself, or in groups with other Random Chroma Bands. In the grid piece displayed, 361 of these codes, specifically drawn from my personal PayPal account, have been turned into a 19x19 grid of bands that interplay and weave with each other in a way perhaps not quite envisioned by the developers who programmed this process.

 
 

Ted Ollier was born in the Midwest, lived in the South, and now resides in the Northeast. He has been a photographer, graphic designer, bass player, typographer, web pioneer, informational leafblower and armchair philosopher. He has also worked a variety of day-jobs, the details of which are not terribly important.

He holds degrees from the University of Texas, Texas State University and the Massachusetts College of Art and Design. At present, he is a printmaker and conceptual artist working in the Boston community of Medford. He teaches letterpress and design through the Harvard Extension School at the Bow & Arrow Press in Cambridge. Ollier is the Pressmaster of Reflex Letterpress in Charlestown.

His concerns are with data and its interaction with the consensus reality, and how that reality is affected and changed by that data. Oftentimes the simplest visual representation of a dataset is enough to engage the viewer in ways far beyond the naïve reading of that information. Although the didactic element of information transfer is always present in his work, his true focus is on revelation and enlightenment, and the joy of finding a previously-unnoticed detail in the landscape of life.

He lives with a patent attorney, a small human, a chow mix and a red tabby.

 

As Luck Would Have It Artist Feature - Jaina Cipriano

 

For our summer 2023 exhibition As Luck Would Have It, we put out an open call for artists to submit work that addressed the theme of luck and its numerous iterations. Some artists submitted proposals for new work to be completed specifically for the show; one such artist was Jaina Cipriano, a photographer and filmmaker who stages her photographs in elaborate built environments. Cipriano’s three photographs in As Luck Would Have It address the role that luck and ritual play in the experience of obsessive compulsive disorder. Read more from her proposal and see the images she created for our exhibition below.

 

Jaina Cipriano, You Get to Make the Choice, photograph in built environment

Luck and ritual play an unfortunate part in Obsessive Compulsive Disorder - these photos explore playful motifs of luck mixed with the shame and isolation that comes from OCD rituals. OCD, for me, stems from the inability to let go of control. I often feel that nothing I do will ever be enough to save me - unless I do just the right things, in just the right order then I will not have to face whatever it is I am afraid of.

[You Get to Make the Choice is a] self portrait in a wall of stuffed animals - hidden amongst the carnival prizes that folks are trying to win. Bright, colorful with bold, dramatic lighting - reminiscent of childhood fears and wants.

Jaina Cipriano, It Is Out of My Control, photograph in built environment

Jaina Cipriano, How Much Is Real, photograph in built environment

 

Jaina Cipriano is a Lowell-based artist communicating with the world through photography, film and installation. Her works explore the emotional toll of religious and romantic entrapment. Cipriano creates her photographs in built sets, forgoing digital manipulation because she believes creating something truly immersive starts with the smallest details. A self-taught carpenter, she loves a challenge and her larger than life sets draw inspiration from the picture books and cartoons of her childhood.

Cipiano writes and directs short films that wrestle with the complicated path of healing. In 2020 she released You Don’t Have to Take Orders from the Moon, a surrealist horror film wrestling with the gravity of deep codependency. Her second short, Trauma Bond, is a dreamy coming-of-age thriller currently in the festival circuit.

Working with many local organizations to support and strengthen the community, Cipriano was a judge for The Arlington International Film Festival, dispersed funds for the inter-media portion of the Somerville Arts Council Grant Board, built sets for Arlington Friends of the Drama and served on the board of the New England Sculptors Association. Cipriano is also the founder of Finding Bright Studios - a design service company that translates ideas into visuals, working in set design for film, music videos and immersive spaces.

Cipriano studied at The New England School of Photography and has been exhibited in numerous group and solo exhibitions around New England. She is currently a Boston Fellow at Mass Art’s Creative Economy Business Incubator and Merrimack Valley’s E for All Accelerator program.

 

Call for Art - As Luck Would Have It

13FOREST Gallery’s mission is to introduce the work of established and emerging artists to a public audience. As a way of connecting with new artists, we occasionally sponsor open calls for thematic exhibitions. We are glad to announce that this summer we will host one of those shows, titled As Luck Would Have It, from July 22 through September 22, 2023. The show’s submission period is from now through May 6 and is open to artists whose work we have already shown as well as representatives from the broader community of artists in New England. From the submissions we receive, we will choose a group of about 15 to 20 artists to exhibit in the show.

As Luck Would Have It will focus on the theme of ‘luck’ and all its iterations. Whether we believe good (or bad) fortune is pure happenstance or a force that can be conjured, it is often a potent part of the stories we tell about ourselves and the world. From lucky charms and black cats crossing our paths to beginner’s luck or making one’s own luck, we have a myriad of ways of expressing how unseen influences affect our lives. 13FOREST Gallery invites you to reflect on this broad theme and to submit a work of art, or a proposal for a work you would like to make, that presents your own unique perspective on the concept of luck. Good luck!

Photo by Melvina Mak

 

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

For work that already exists: please submit high quality images (JPG) of the finished piece and a brief description of the materials and intent/content of the work

To submit a proposal for new work: send a sketch, a description of how the finished piece will appear by the submission deadline, and an explanation of how it fits the theme

Artwork must have been created within the past five (5) years

Artwork cannot have been shown before at 13FOREST Gallery

Two-dimensional work preferred; some sculpture will be considered

Maximum of three (3) submissions per artist

Size requirement: 24” x 24” or smaller preferred; some larger work will be considered

Artist must reside in New England

No fee to apply

 
 

HOW TO SUBMIT

Please include a short biography, website links, resume/CV, and contact email address with your submission

Send submissions via email to info@13forest.com

Please get in touch if you have any questions

 
 

DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION

Sat May 6, 2023

EXHIBITION DATES

July 22 – September 22, 2023

LOCATION

13FOREST Gallery, 167A Massachusetts Ave, Arlington MA 02474

IMPORTANT DATES

Sat 5/6: Submission deadline
Sat 5/13: 13FOREST will notify artists if their submission has been chosen
Sat 7/1: Submit images (if you want to be included in press release)
Sat 7/8: Submit images of finished work
Sat 7/15 (or earlier): Drop off work at gallery - framed, wired, ready to hang
Sat 7/22, 4-6 pm: Opening Reception
TBD: Artist talk and reception

 
 

ABOUT 13FOREST GALLERY

13FOREST Gallery searches New England for outstanding artists - established and emerging - to offer the very best in original art and contemporary craft. We are a dynamic gallery space that features rotating exhibitions every 6 to 8 weeks, as well as numerous public programs designed to inform and inspire creative minds.

 

Winter Open Mic - Meet Amanda Shea

Amanda Shea welcomes everyone to the open mic night

Inviting poets and spoken-word artists to perform in the gallery is just one of the ways in which 13FOREST celebrates the breadth of the Boston arts community. For the first time since the pandemic began, on Friday, February 10, we held a poetry open-mic night, which was organized by our friend Amanda Accardi of Around the Corner Framing. This reinauguration was made particularly special by acclaimed artist, activist and educator Amanda Shea. Serving as the evening’s host, Shea performed her own poems, and then invited guest performers - including some of her students - to perform their own work.

We are grateful to the artists who brought incredible energy to the gallery and to everyone present through their performances. Many thanks go to Shea, whose talent, warmth and generosity created a space that made everyone feel free to share their art. The poets, the youngest of whom was 14, spoke powerfully and beautifully about the devastation of police brutality and racism, the strength of the Black community, the costs of social media, and the power of love. The event was truly galvanizing, and we look forward to sponsoring more events like this at 13FOREST.

To share a portion of the evening with you, below we are posting photos from the event as well as the names and social-media handles of the performers so you can follow or connect with them. We are also highlighting some of the arts organizations with which Amanda Shea works. Please take some time to learn about them and how they work to empower artists, especially young artists. Stay tuned for more events with Amanda Shea in the future!

Josie @josiehannaa

Antonio Miles @captainnappybeard

Korde @nlighten_me

Beats Rhymes and Life is a community-based organization that grew in response to a critical need for therapeutic programs designed specifically to serve boys and young men of color who as a group demonstrate some of the greatest health and social disparities.

617Peak seeks to encourage youth in Boston to find their voices by sharing their stories through written and spoken forms. This platform provides members of the community with an outlet to voice their concerns, thoughts and feelings in a safe and comfortable environment. They aim to promote literacy and creativity amongst peers, with a comprehensive goal to create more avenues and resources for people in inner-cities, empowering them to be autonomous in their future successes.

Sofar Sounds is a global music community that connects artists and audiences through live music. They bring people together to create space where music matters in 400 cities around the world.