Weathersby is the owner and operator of ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES – a cleaning and home repair company which encompasses both the artist’s livelihood and art practice. “I consider all aspects of ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES, from the documentary photos and video to the working process to the relationship between the client and me as service provider, to be an art enterprise. My aim is to call into question perceptions of boundaries both social and perceptual. How do we differentiate between light and dark, clean and dirty, art and life, process and product, form and formless. I try to make my work exist in many different forms at once, cleaning as performance as meditation, business as conceptual art, exhibition as advertisement, installation as drawing as functional work.” Weathersby states.

The artist attempts to provide us with fresh perspectives on our living and working space through his ongoing documentary projects. His environmental services, “Making-Art-While-Working” has been “presented” at various locations in and around Boston including the ICA Boston, Green Street Gallery, Kingston Gallery, Allston Skirt Gallery, as well as homes and studios. Weathersby graduated from Mass College of Art with an MFA in 2002. He obtained a BFA in printmaking from Atlanta College of Art in 1995. He was a LEF Foundation 2003 Artist Grant Recipient.

I do a lot of shooting at my parents house in suburban Grafton, MA. This works out well, since my parents are primarily the subject matter for my video work. There is a “loft” part of the house where I do a lot of shooting because it is spacious, spare and set-up like a studio. I do most of my editing and press related stuff in my Malden apartment, but I frequently travel to Grafton. Your working medium(s): My working medium is primarily video, but I my degree is in photography. I seem to have much more of a drive working with a time based medium though, and as a musician, I have been trying to incorporate more musical and rhythmic elements into my work. Talk about the selected work showing in MALDEN CONTEMPORARY. momdadkuretshimmy (2004) is a series of color video scenes exploring my family (primarily my mother, father, dog and myself.) I explore the family “characters” by creating discomfort, and through mimicking and trading roles and identities. Our daily tasks and situations become performances for the camera. artskit (2004) explores the family in a similar fashion but through a mock art critique. Kuret & Dad: new [musical] works on video (2006) focuses on an interaction with my father through costume in an unrehearsed, improvisational session of music fictionally narrated by mom (music critic). I may preview clips on brand new clips that have never been premiered.

In addition to exhibiting my own work in various art venues in and around Boston, for about a year I worked for artsMEDIA Magazine as the photographer and also with marketing with local galleries, museums and schools and their exhibitions. In addition, I helped take down a sculpture show (James Surls) at the DeCordova Museum. I also recently worked with Marjorie Kaye, director of Gallery 181 in Lawrence, ma in creating a video documentary of 9 artists currently exhibiting at her gallery. I believe the video is currently airing on Lawrence public access television. How do you envision the Malden artists community in 5 years. I think the Malden artists community can only grow and become stronger in the next 5 years, especially with people like sand t. working hard to unite the artistic community by spreading the word of exhibits and events like “Malden contemporary” through television, web and publications.

I studied graphic design and photography at Northeastern University, and photography and video at the Art Institute of Boston at Lesley University, where I received my BFA. I recently received a first place award in the "Entertainment Variety" category in the Hometown Video Festival, a national community media competition. I play bass in a reggae band “Riki Rocksteady & The Bad Ideas” and am working with a sketch comedy troupe I founded with friends.

I have enjoyed the awakening of the arts in Malden. In particular visiting artSPACE@16, which has continued to exhibit new and intriguing work as well as offer a space for artists to build community. I view the opening of this new gallery, Gallery at Elm Street, to be a positive step in continuing to strengthen support for the arts and the artist community in Malden. My hope is that the next five years will bring more opportunities for artists in terms of available live/work space, exhibition venues and places to gather.

I earned my BS in 1996, in Art Therapy from Bowling Green State University with a studio focus in sculpture. I received an MA in Expressive Therapy from Lesley University in 2001. I am currently full time faculty in the undergraduate art therapy program at Lesley University. For the most part my training has come from experimenting with materials and exploring themes that are meaningful to me.

My studio is in my home. It’s a very large living room with a fireplace and a beautiful window. It’s a very inspiring place to work. I mostly work in sculpture using a variety of materials. I also work two-dimensionally with drawing and painting.

The sculpture that I will show in Malden Contemporary is called Paradox. Paradox was created during my recent battle with Thyroid Cancer. I wanted to work with this subject in my art but did not want to be literal. This sculpture went through many stages before it became the piece it is today. I wanted to convey the beauty within my battle. In my experience with fighting this horrible disease I focused on positive aspects of my life such as the things I wanted to achieve or overcome. I became more driven than I have ever been in my life. I allowed myself the freedom to create from pure emotion without having an eye on my audience. The piece is constructed of barbed wire, embroidery chord, paper mache’ spheres, beads, and black electrical tape. The beauty of the brightly colored embroidery chord, beads, and colored spheres hides the destructiveness of the barbed wire. The barbed wire becomes apparent when one stands close to the sculpture. Having a destructive disease such as cancer is quite an eye opener. It can bring a person down to the knees destructively or it can be the catalyst for great life changes. In my experience, this disease actually set me free. My life has changed greatly and I have grown through the positive choices I have made since becoming ill. Today, the cancer is gone. It may be back tomorrow. I never know. I live in the moment now, and do not worry about what might happen. Those bridges can only be crossed when they are reached. In the moment I have energy. That energy, when applied to positive outlets such as art, is powerful and beautiful. Paradox is about that energy.

I am just becoming involved with the local art scene. I am thrilled to see Malden become an artistic center…I finally fit! I foresee great things for the Malden art scene in the next five years. I feel more artists will be attracted to Malden. I also feel it will become a place where the children of Malden will be able to freely express themselves through the arts. It’s an exciting time for us Malden artist types!

I am currently a student at Montserrat College of Art in Beverly MA. My major is sculpture and art education. I am in my last semester. I also work in music (vocals, composer) as well as writing (poetry, lyrics, and art critic for the Malden Muse).

Tolan received her Master of Science in Art Education from Massachusetts College of Art in 2002 and a Bachelor of Fine Arts from State University of New York at Purchase College, Purchase, NY in May 1994. A member of the Kingston Gallery in Boston in since April 2002, Tolan has participated in exhibitions held at Art House at 85 Rockview Street, Jamaica Plain; “Beloved,” her Solo exhibit was at Kingston Gallery, Boston this past March. She has exhibited her work in Massachusetts galleries including Barbara Krakow Gallery, Gallery@Green Street, Massachusetts College of Art, and Cambridge Art Association.

I have a studio in my basement. My recent working mediums are site-specific art installation, 2D and 3D mixed media work. In Malden Contemporary, I will show three illuminated sculptures. These pieces explore the conscious and subconscious, spaces of intimacy and immensity, dream and reality. The visual setting I created is an exploration of self through the manipulation of the various media. I’m interested in looking into the substance of transformation (change, creation), and interpretation (language, communication).

I have been operating artSPACE@16 since 2000. For those unfamiliar with artSPACE@16, it is a gallery that also serves as an art community developer. It has played a leadership role in art collaboratives and initiatives within the community since its inception. I provide voluntary facilitation and art consultations to area artists, local non-profit organizations and city government whenever I can, and continue my voluntary efforts in “putting Malden on the ARTS map.” I present ongoing art exhibitions that explore contemporary aesthetics, social, and cultural issues. artSPACE@16 also functions as a networking hub, distributes information regarding artist studio space, art resources and exhibition opportunities in /outside of Malden through postings on art-related list-services, e-mailing lists and artSPACE@16's website:

1. Malden artists Community
2. Listings of Arts and Cultural venues in Malden
3. Links
4. MaldenArtsNetwork list-serv (est. 2005)

I completed my graduate and Museum Studies programs at Tufts University / the Museum School with an MFA in 1997. I’ve been creating and exhibiting my work nationally and internationally for two decades - including nineteen solo shows, numerous group shows in the United States and overseas. I have a twenty-year history in arts administration with an extensive portfolio in community outreach, exhibition curatorial, planning, design and installation. I have curated, organized, coordinated and installed more than 200 contemporary art exhibits and art-related events in the United States and Kuala Lumpur Malaysia since 1985.

Recently I was awarded a Contemporary Work Fund from the LEF Foundation to organize six exhibitions for artSPACE@16. My gallery, artSPACE@16, was selected by Raphaela Platow, curator at the Rose Art Museum at Brandeis University, as one of her 11 favorite Greater Boston galleries. “REPETITION - Negotiating the Irrationalities,” one of the exhibits I curated, has been selected as one of the eight best shows by Mary Sherman featured on VISUAL ARTS: April Visual Arts Best Bets www.wbur.org/arts April 3, 2006. I was the participating grant recipient of the Malden Cultural Council/Massachusetts Cultural Council 2006 Grant to help create exhibition space and curate a premier exhibition “MALDEN Contemporary” at Gallery at Elm Street, First parish Church in Malden, MA.

I worked as a theater director and dramaturge since 1979 and made a career of directing the world premiere productions of new plays in Boston and Chicago. I helped to found several theater companies and, for the last 15 years or so, I have taught graduate playwriting. I began investigating the possibilities of knitting as an art form since the start of the millennium. I often approach art from a theatrical vantage point, inventing story, imaginary characters, subtext and dramatic action along the way.

The first piece I showed in the Boston area was inspired by a play that I directed about Cuba. It was the beginning of making something out of an unconscious longing; and I knit an island. A year or so later, surprise, I had a studio in Nahant.

I am primarily a fiber artist but I drifted quickly to mixed media and I’m currently planning larger installations which may ultimately qualify as sculpture.

There is a thread running through everything … but sometimes, it is just a single strand. Pretty soon, you’re going to have to really look to be sure that it is there.

I have two pieces in MALDEN CONTEMPORARY which represent my major current interests: Scientific Research and Spiritualism/Mysticism. I am very grateful to the curator, Sand T, first for inviting me and then, more importantly, for giving me the chance to re-conceive two pieces which I showed at Harvard during the last year or so. I hope I have found a better way to tell the story or to introduce the imaginary.

Vaccinations Against is a group of knitted science experiments in Petri dishes that conjure desperately-needed vaccines to protect us from dangerous things, such as Corporations, the Hair Club for Men and Vice Presidents with Guns.

Message from Oupenskya is a fiber arts installation which teleports you to the parlour of the renowned clairvoyant Madame Oupenskya. (I told you I was big on imaginary characters!) You are each welcome to take a free psychic message or automatic drawing that was created just for you by the gifted, but reclusive, trance medium.

I’m really excited about Malden becoming an epicenter for art! I am very pleased to have met Sand T (owner of artSPACE@16 and curator of Malden Contemporary) who seems to combine the most valued characteristics of visionary, magician and Energizer Bunny. I am looking forward to becoming further involved with Malden Arts and I visit Malden Muse every day.

My studio is in the basement of our home, while Stephanie works in the attic. I work primarily as a wood carver, using traditional tools (mallet, gouges, chisels, carving knives and a hatchet). Almost all of my work is painted. The pieces in the show are from two very different series.

Found objects are a series of pieces in which fragments of human skeleton are tangled in roots. The roots are natural, the bones are wood, mostly carved from the material of the roots. When I was carving it, the piece seemed to be about nature and rebirth, that as one life was ending and breaking down, the physical material of that life was being reclaimed and reused by nature. Despite the macabre subject matter, the piece appeared hopeful to me, as if roots were re-fleshing the bones with new life. Now I find the piece more troubling; there are no leaves, no green, nothing alive on the plants that seem now to be contributing to the decay of what once was human. I think that my interpretation of the piece has been colored by the fact that far too many missing people have been found in just the way depicted in these sculptures: a few bones at a time.

The other series is entirely different, based on old-fashioned toys. Jumping Jack is a self-portrait, when someone pulls the string the figure jumps, spreading his arms and legs. Pull toy is a carved wooden dog on a wheeled platform. Interval is perhaps a little farther removed from the source, it’s based on a type of toy called a thaumatrope, but it’s not really very toy like. My son once told me that I was lucky to be a sculptor, because I could make my own toys. He was absolutely correct. (He saw what I wrote here and corrected me, saying, “No, I said it was lucky you’re a sculptor because you can make my toys.”)

No, I’m not very involved in the Malden art community. I used to be a member of the Malden Monday night sketch group and I really enjoyed it, mostly because they’re such good people, and I keep meaning to go back. I’m not really all that aware of the state of the art community, and therefore will not be much help on the question of picturing it in five years. Stephanie, however, is very involved in the community, you should talk to her.

I began learning to draw at about five years of age when my father taught me to draw Popeye the Sailor. My mother has a great sense of humor and I know that a lot of the way she thinks has gotten into my work and my teaching. I got my BFA from the Philadelphia College of Art (1978) where most of the teachers were outstanding, notable among them Walter Erlebacher in Sculpture and Dr. Dorothy Grimm in Literature. I got an MFA from the University of North Carolina (1984). I’ve learned a lot from Stephanie, watching her work and discussing my work with her. Watching the children do anything has turned out to be an invaluable education; I learn more from them every day.

I served on the Malden Cultural Council, the MATV (Malden Access Television) Gallery Committee and the Mayor’s Committee to convert the Sacred Heart Convent to artists’ studios, and as a visiting artist for the Malden Public Schools. As a volunteer at MATV I co-produced Gallery Spotlight for two years.

I produce artists' books and prints (woodcuts, silk-screens, etchings, and monoprints) in our attic. The idea for the plaster books, which I am displaying at The Gallery at Elm Street, grew out of a Sculptural Books class I taught recently at Massachusetts College of Art (MassArt). The weight, the satisfying sound of the two cast halves closing, and the textural possibilities of the medium were appealing. Working on them reminds me of time spent as a costume jewelry designer at Red Cobra in Broomall, PA. All day every day I experimented with things like Python skin (now illegal), carved olive pits from China, and electroplated cactus root to name a few. The job was quite different from my jeweler’s training of working with fine metals.

Sand T invited me to curate an exhibition at artSPACE @ 16 this September. I invited six other local book artists to show their pieces in "From Two to Three Dimensions: Prints Into Books." The show will cover a wide range of alternative approaches to the idea of what a book is and can be. There will be books of every scale, material, binding and design imaginable. Some will have text and others will have images. They also vary in content. Some narratives are whimsical, others political or personal. This exhibition will then travel to Emerson College, which is hosting the 4th Annual International Conference on the Book, and be on display through December. The participating artists Marcia Ciro, Mary McCarthy, Sharon McCartney, Lisa Olson, Annie Silverman, and Janine Wong and I have all been involved in the book arts for over a decade, have taught extensively, and collectively have work in museums and libraries nationwide.

I have been making books since 1988 when I received my Masters of Fine Arts from Mass Art. Making books combines various roles for me: designer, writer, story teller, engineer, and publisher. It is a pleasure to create art people can handle.

John Carlino of the newly opened Exchange Street Bistro gave me the honor of being the first artist to hammer a nail into his freshly painted walls. My prints and paintings will be on display there through September.

I will be sharing the windows of Hugh O’Neill’s with Lisa Sears, another Malden artist, during Malden’s Windows of Art. Many thanks to both John and the folks at O’Neill’s for loaning valuable real estate to artists for this arts celebration in September.

In the pieces at the Elm Street Gallery, my focus has been on exploring technology and adaptation, how we build or buy into increasing complexity, and how that ebbs and flows over spans of time. As I create my work I generally focus on a theme with each piece, exploring the trails of thought that arise, and let those in turn influence my creation of the work. The media the pieces are created in reflects a primitivist fascination with technology. I attempt to take items which are typically not viewed for their aesthetic value, items, treated as temporal, and to take them out of that context. Every piece of modern technology from wire to transistor to microchip, represents a gestalt, people worked together to create these items, and other people working together to combine them in new and innovative ways, and in the end, we never notice all of this, casually tossing them out as they break down or newer devices come along. I hope to slow down the pace a bit, to appreciate each of these components as craft, that is, containing both form and function. I hope to take a more Balinese approach of not making "Art" as a product, but of sharing in the artistic perception of life and creation.

The Malden arts community has seen an amazing amount of growth over the last few years, in large part thanks to Sand's unceasing efforts to encourage it. Artists have had a long history in Malden - Frank Stella, the famous abstract artist was born here, but I think that artists have viewed Malden as a place where they sleep at night, and not necessarily a place where they find support and inspiration. As the effort to build that community is evolving, it is beginning to take on a life of its own and other leaders are stepping forward as well, which is wonderful to see. With efforts by the Window Arts Malden and the Mayor's office, I hope the city continues to grow and value its cultural resources until Malden is considered the place to come for new artists.

YOUNG-SUK SUH

Untitled Rooms

I have lived in Malden for 3 years. As a photographer I have been using my home as a studio space.

About the "Untitled Rooms" project:

Untitled Rooms is a series in progress, in which I investigate residential space in its most generic form. The spaces that I have been photographing are condos and apartment units in their transitional stage, before/after someone moves in/out. These residential units are mass-produced and devoid of individualities. Waiting for someone to move in, they are yet to be inscribed with traces of life by occupants. The meticulous process of cleaning and painting erases its own history, to be re-written by another occupant. They are in a stage, that is to say a non-stage, in which a meaning of the space is erased and written at the same time.

I have volunteered at artSPACE@16. I see more and more artists finding Malden an art-friendly community thanks to community art space like artSPACE@16. With support from the community.

I was a biology student back in Korea, where I am originally from. I decided to switch over to photography when I decided to come to the United States and study at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York, from which I received my BFA degree. I moved to Boston after Pratt and received an MFA degree from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts. I received honorable mentions in Yusef Karsh Awards in 2000 and 2001.

BRUCE MYREN

wide Open

I am a landscape photographer exploring the idea of place. I first moved to Malden in 1985 to attend MassArt. Since that time I have lived there three different times over a period of 18 years; the last of which was 2003-2005. I often find myself in Malden, as my parents live in Everett and I enjoy exploring the Fells and going to events at Sand T's artspace@16.

I do not have a studio in Malden, my studio is in the South End.

For these bodies of work, I am using two different cameras, both with film. For the 'Wide Open' series I use a 14mm lens and a 35mm camera set to the largest aperture, or 'wide open' as it is known and move back and forth until a specific small detail in the picture is the only point in full focus. These were pictures made during a time of transition after I moved back to Malden from South Boston in 2003 and before I moved to Cambridge in 2005. In a way, it was a move back, and a move forward. The title and phrase 'wide open' also suggests meditation via the contemplation of these small details and moments. Often made while walking or moving, these images are responses to place, both mental and physical, in my life.

For the second body of work, "The Fortieth Parallel," I use my antique 8" x 10" Deardorff camera to record the intersection of North 40° latitude at every whole degree of longitude across the United States. The large scale panoramic images that will be on display at the Gallery at Elm Street include the first picture I made in the series, landfall in New Jersey, and the most recent, in the fields of Pennyslvania this summer. The project will comprise 52 photographs when complete. The works are archival ink jet prints made by scanning film, and then printing with an Epson 4000 on Crane's Museo Silver Rag paper. More work can be seen at www.brucemyren.com.

I am often seen at artSPACEat16 openings. Sand T is amazing. I hope the Malden arts scene continues to grow. Malden is a beautiful city with a lot of potential for the arts.

I went Mass College of Art. and graduated in 1991 as a photography major. Here is my bio:

BIOGRAPHY

Bruce started his photographic career at age 16 with a job at his hometown newspaper and went on to study at the Hallmark Institute of Photography (Turners Falls, MA) and attend Massachusetts College of Art (Boston, MA). He holds a BFA in Photography with Departmental Honors from MassArt. He currently lives in Cambridge, MA and has a studio at the 450 Harrison Avenue arts building in Boston's South End neighborhood.

Bruce has exhibited widely and at numerous venues; highlights include the annual juried exhibition at the Photographic Resource Center (Boston, MA) and the solo debut of his 'The 40th Parallel' work at the Laconia Gallery (Boston, MA). His upcoming exhibitions include two solo shows in Boston this Fall: Panopticon Gallery (September 5-October 16), featuring his series 'Markers: History,' and the Artists Foundation (September 16-October 21), featuring his series 'Markers: Memory'. In addition, he is a part of two curated group shows in Fall 2006 and Spring 2007: Malden Contemporary at The Gallery at Elm Street in Malden, MA, featuring selections from his 'Wide Open' work curated by Sand T (September 9-November 12, 2006), and the Boston Cyberarts Festival offering at the Lillian Immig Gallery at Emmanuel College, featuring new work from his ongoing project, "The 40th Parallel," curated by Kathleen Bitetti.

Although he shoots most of his personal work with his 8 x 10 Deardorff camera, Bruce has always been at the forefront of digital imaging technology. He started the digital imaging room at a professional camera store, E.P. Levine, Inc., in 1996, where he was the 'Digital Evangelist' for 4 years. He has taught at the Center for Digital Imaging Arts at Boston University, served as the US tech rep for Eyelike medium format digital backs (now Sinar), and was a digital mentor for American Photo Magazine's Mentor Series. This fall, he will be an adjunct faculty with the new digital photography program at The New England Institute of Art (Brookline, MA). Bruce started his own freelance company, BeeDigital, in 1999 and continues today to help photographers, art directors, and publishing houses navigate the digital world. His website is www.brucemyren.com.

PAM PRITZKER

Pam Pritzker Greg and Austin

I have been a Malden resident for two years; however, I have lived in Boston and its surrounding areas for 6 years. I am originally from Portsmouth, NH.

I am a photographer and do not have a studio. My work is made by just me and my camera and I do most of my shooting on location. Once in a while, I do collaborate with a make-up artist and stylists for my more glamour-oriented projects.

The project (same-sex couples) for this show is actually quite unique. Sand T had asked me to take on the project after seeing some images on my website. We did a lot of advertising online about the project and word of mouth got around. I became bombarded with couples pretty quickly.

When I took on this project I thought a lot about my approach to the subjects and what kinds of topics my images may raise. What I thought to be most important in the work was to show that two people love one another. The fact that they are same-sex couples became secondary to the positive energy each images holds.

I have been involved mostly in the Boston arts community and go to a lot of openings there. Although I have lived in Malden for two years I am new to the Malden arts community. I am impressed by the number of working artists that live here and how much support we have. Sand T works really hard to support us and to keep great work coming out of Malden. I can only see the community flourishing in the next five years.

I graduated from the Art Institute of Boston last year. I currently have self portrait work online at the Caladan Gallery, www.caladangallery.com,and am showing my “Belle Fatale” work in the “Summer Exhibition” at gallery 181 in Lawrence. I also can be seen photographing local bands. I am always looking for new opportunities to photograph. You can see more of my work at www.bellefatale.com.

WESLEY KALLOCH

Accessible

I have been a resident of Malden for 8 years. I have a home studio, and I work mainly in photography and works on paper.

The work I am showing in Malden Contemporary are photographs of buildings under construction. I have been taking these sorts of pictures for about 2 years. I can only tell you that I have a strong affinity to the geometry and physical strength of the materials. I also have some romantic ideal concerning the temporary nature of these structures.

I suppose I have been somewhat involved in the local art community. I have shown at the MATV Gallery, the Mayor’s Office Gallery, and at artSPACE@16.

I have gained any artist training from Oxford Hills High School, Portland School of Art, University of Maine, School of the Museum of Fine Art, Massachusetts College of Art, and the New England School of Photography.

EADEN HUANG

I’ve been living in Malden since 1989. I am a wedding photographer, but photography in general is my passion. I do not have a studio in Malden. Some of my work has been on display at artSPACE@16 (2004), MATV Gallery (2004), and The Mayor’s Gallery (2003).

I feel that the Malden artist community will expand in five years. That means more people will become involved, it will reach out to even more Malden artists and residents. Not only that, but people from other places will soon take notice of all of our work and effort.

I trained as an artist at Bunker Hill Community College as well as the New England School of Photography. I’ve also worked for Zan Productions Inc. in New York City, a commercial photography studio, for three years. I was an award winner in the 8th, 9th, 20th, 21st, 23rd, and 24th Annual Spring Photography Contests, which was held by “Photographer’s Forum Magazine.” I was awarded in an International Photography Competition in 2000. In 2006, I was also awarded an Honorable Mention by the Jewish Community Center Gallery in Stoughton, MA.

PAINTINGS, 2D, and WORKS ON PAPER

BARTEK WALICKI

Green Bombs

I've been living in Malden for one year now. I have found this town to be very receptive to artists with a lively artist community. I'm glad that my wife and I decided to move here.

I have my studio here in Malden. I work on large collage derivative, colorful paintings. Most of them are five feet or more in height. I use acrylic paint and markers for my work. Smaller pictures are made on paper using the same materials. I find paper to be a wonderful substance for making art. Besides being a painter I am also a printmaker. Currently I have been working on a number of zinc etchings. They are completely different from my large paintings. First of all, they are small, roughly two or three inches, and black and white. They depict invented characters that interact with each other in these dream-like environments. Part of the inspiration behind the prints came from my love of cinema. Films such as "The Seventh Seal" and "The City of God" impressed me very much. I also look and listen to the news, which provides its own mixture of action, horror and the absurd. The Middle Eastern situation, primarily the humanitarian crisis, as well as military presence in the region, fuels my imagination.

Yes, I have been involved in the community to a small degree. I had two shows recently, one at Malden City Hall in Mayor Richard Howard's gallery, and the other at the MATV Gallery in the Malden public access television office. Sand T from artSPACE@16 has invited me to three shows in the last six months. I feel very lucky to have found her. She's a very energetic person, genuinely interested in the advance of culture in this city. I am also participating in the Malden Window Arts Project in the fall. As to the Malden art scene in the near future: I think that it will continue to develop. I find it to be very energetic and ambitious. What we now need is more of the local community to get involved. Local newspapers should include more art-related articles. The coming of new building developments should invite more people and artists to reside here. Malden is a great town, very close to Boston and with a direct subway train straight into the city. This combination should be taken advantage of. I also think that if the local community would agree on demolition of the Government Center building and opening of Pleasant Street to the public, that that would bring more business to this town. Right now Pleasant and Exchange streets have not reached their full commercial potential, party due to poor urban planning. To make a long story short, I'm very excited to see what will happen to Malden in the next five years!

I received my BFA from Massachusetts College of Art in 2002 and my MFA from Boston University in 2005. I found both schools to be exciting and inspiring places to create art. I received small scholarships in both schools. I was born in Warsaw, Poland in 1977. I came to the States with my family in 1993. My mother and father worked at universities doing research. We arrived in East Lansing, Michigan, and after two years settled in Boston, where I went to high school and both colleges. My parents and my brother live in Washington DC now. My parents will retire soon, and my brother plans to go to law school within a year or so.

JOHN RODZVILLA

Echoesweb

I moved to Malden two years ago after having pieces accepted for a show at artSPACE@16. My wife and I moved from Jamaica Plain to Malden due to the burgeoning art scene in the area and the general feel of the city.

My studio is in Malden. Right now my medium is drawing. I work with pen and ink, oil pastel and other mediums to create drawings based on copied images. I copy botanical and mechanical diagrams repeatedly mixing and matching different parts until the drawings take on a completely different look. By the time the pieces are finished they bear little resemblance to the original images, but still convey the feeling of organic species.

I attended Skidmore College where I took several art classes. This is the first time since moving to Massachusetts that I have actually been involved with the local art community. Previously I submitted to galleries around the area and was content to stay in my studio. The friendliness and openness of the art community in Malden made it very easy to get involved. Since moving I have volunteered with Windows Art Malden. With the support of the Mayor's office and local businesses I think the arts community in Malden will continue to grow very quickly. The growing presence of galleries such as Soho Art Center, ArtSPACE@16, and the Gallery at Elm Street in downtown Malden as well as the Windows Art Malden project is helping bring more attention to the art community in Malden.

Bio: John Rodzvilla is a Malden-based artist who also works for a Cambridge publishing house. He is an active member of several online mail art communities. He participates in several mail art shows around the country and other local group shows. Recently he has been working on developing a series of drawings that chart the evolution of make-believe organisms. He also maintains a general interest website - www.guttertype.com.

MICHELLE STEVE McCAULEY

Swarms: #5

I moved to Malden with my husband about two years ago. Our first experience with Malden was participating in a show at Sand T’s artSPACE@16 gallery. Knowing that there were the seeds of a strong art community here was definitely an incentive to move beyond the typical artist-friendly areas of Somerville and Cambridge.

I work from my home studio in Malden. Currently I am working on a series using mixed media, including pencil, acrylic paint and oil pastels. This series of drawings presents abstract, stylized versions of mouths and teeth. The disembodied mouths in the pieces remind viewers of the menacing grin of a clown, the bared teeth of an angry dog. People seem to have a visceral reaction to this series, because of the color – the lipstick or blood red of the lips – and the subject matter.

I am a volunteer for the Window Arts Malden project, which will showcase art by Malden artists. The artwork will be displayed in business storefronts in downtown Malden this September. It is an exciting project because it brings art out of the usual designated space of a gallery into the public view. I hope that this project, along with the opening of alternative gallery spaces such the Gallery at Elm Street, will bring more artists into Malden and strengthen the community.

I received my degree in Studio Art from Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, NY. I have exhibited my work in alternative gallery spaces across the country, from Boston and New York City to Portland, OR and Virginia. I also have an online gallery at my website: www.steviegirl.com.

ERIK PETTERSEN

Vermont

In 1998 I graduated with a BFA from Massachusetts College of Art with a concentration in painting. I have been living in Malden for 3 years but my family history with the city dates back to 1956. I currently live and create art in the house my grandparents used to own. My involvement in the local art scene started when I was included in the Malden Art Now show in 2003 at artSPACE@16. Since then I have been in several shows, including the Malden Artist show at the Mayors Gallery at City Hall.

Painting is a means of expression that is essential to who I am. Each of my paintings is a diary of my travels in life. The idea of doing cityscapes came from looking out at the city of Boston from my backyard. The city is alive; it breathes and pulsates, filled with energy. The city as a landscape interacting with nature is tremendous to behold from afar. It is like viewing mountains from the distance and the surrounding towns are like the far-reaching valleys. The landscapes I create express my love of the idea of nature as an abstraction: emphasizing the colors, lines, textures, and composition. I can appreciate why other artists have spent their whole career pursuing this subject alone.

It is a great time to be an artist living in Malden. Over the past couple of years the art community has become more visible and many area artists are displaying their work. The future of Malden will be prosperous. I am glad to be part of a community that embraces creativity and supports artists of all kinds.

CAROLINA PACHON

Flat Trip

A few years ago I was mostly interested in the figure, the wooded landscape and the still life. As work progressed the spaces around the still life became more engaging than the objects themselves: the desk, the wall and the window letting the light through. I begun to investigate the relationships of spaces, colors and planes, through the medium of collage. Based on those collages I made paintings and drawings. Recently I began using patterned fabric and construction paper as means of addressing flat areas of color. Currently, my work is related to the interior and exterior relationships of space. I am interested in how relationships of pattern and color can create that interior space. My process often begins by making drawings of my surroundings using patterns and color. The paintings are based on these drawings. Sometimes I start paintings by appropriating other painters’ compositions. Once I have a preliminary idea, I rearrange the colors, shapes and patterns into a configuration that interest me. I believe that working on a numbers of projects simultaneously stimulates a dialogue between the paintings and brings them closer to their resolution. I would like my work to encompass the viewer as though he can walk into this colorful world.

The work shown in this exhibit is a sample of the result of my stay on Vermont Studio Center. My time spent in Vermont was ideal for art making. In opposition to daily life, my only responsibility in this residency was to paint, eat, sleep, and wash a few dishes as part of my work study. This month long residency allowed me to submerge in my painting world and further explore the issues of color, space and pattern and how they interact on the picture plane.

KELVY BIRD - RECENT PAINTINGS - "Pulse" series


Pulse 038

I’ve lived in Malden since 1999 and came to the area, frankly, because I couldn’t afford anything in Somerville and fell in love with the rocks of the Fells. I’ve actively volunteered in the arts since 2003, most recently bringing it home by initiating Window Arts Malden with my friend Naomi Brave.

My studio is at Vernon Street in Somerville, where in our building alone there are about 100 or so other practicing artists. I find that the community spirit of a studio building offers huge support in the process of making art; to have other creative souls around egging me on and that I can egg on helps sustain a more consistent art-making rhythm than I might exercise left to my own accord.

I paint in gouache, wax, and water-soluble wax sticks on paper, board, and canvas. For MALDEN CONTEMPORARY, I’ll exhibit nine 12-inch square paintings from the series PULSE, as well as nine one to three-inch sculptural wax orbs. All the PULSE pieces, regardless of size or medium (they scale up to 5 feet…) aim to evoke the radiance of the human spirit, emerging in various pacing and rhythms from fields of textured intricacy.

I grew up in a religiously and morally mixed family of artists and scientists, in the serenity of the Hudson River Valley, in the confusion of the late 60’s and 70’s. I earned dual degrees in painting and art history from Cornell University in Ithaca, NY then spent a bunch of time outside the U.S. in part to have new, expansive experiences and in part to see our national landscape with more objective and informed eyes.

For a long time I have pursued a career of “graphic facilitation.” Basically I visually map out conversations in business settings to aid in organizational learning. No – that’s not something they teach in school! It involves a lot of deep listening and an ability to invent tangible products on the fly, as needed. And, I’d say, the focus it requires balances the more emotional, intuitive part of my nature that runs free with paint.

Awards? None. Rewards? Witnessing a heart or mind open ever so slightly because of something I’ve made with my hands. Nothing, other than nature and love, is more moving.

I.M. DEDD - WORKS ON PAPER

Ignatius M. Dedd has been publishing Dead Guy. The Cartoon. Online since January 2005. Located at http://deadguylives.blogspot.com/, Dead Guy uses the traditional comic strip as a medium for edgy commentary on social, political and personal issues. Dead Guy. The Cartoon received the prestigious Best of Blogs award for Most Humorous Blog of 2005 and has been featured on TV38's Morning Show and in the Malden Observer. Mr. Dedd has been cartooning professionally for over fifteen years. His work has been published in several New York newspapers and national magazines. The artist has previously worked in the recording and television industries. He currently works in education and lives in Malden with his wife and son.

Gallery Hours: Tuesday and Friday, 10 a.m. – 1 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m. – 2 p.m.; Sunday, 10 – 1 p.m. Gallery address: First Parish in Malden, Universalist, located at Elm Street and Pleasant Streets (Route 60), Malden, three blocks west of the Malden Center T station, walking distance. For more information, please contact Reverend David M. Horst, Minister, telephone 781-322-0474, or visit www.malden.ma.uua.org. Also visit www.artSPACEat16.com/contemp.html for more information on the show.