May 4, 2011 — June 5, 2011
Gallery Talk Sunday, May 15 at 3pm
Opening Reception Sunday, May 15, 4pm – 5pm
Artist Statement
Several years ago I looked through my son’s discarded high school notebooks hoping to catch a glimpse of his inner world. I discovered pages of exquisite, tiny geometrical drawings sandwiched between lecture notes, sprinkled in margins and crammed edge to edge on back covers. Created in the unselfconscious state typical of doodlers, the shapes seemed to represent a secret, indecipherable language.
As I looked at the doodles, I realized that they could be geometric diagrams, hieroglyphs, or pictographs -some kind of mysterious language or alphabet. In an effort to decipher these shapes, I began to incorporate them as compositional elements in my work. The viewer can walk into a dimensional space where the symbols spin, float or twirl. Some of my pieces are doors, others windows. They are all portals. I continue to use these symbols because they are a joyous and mysterious language that is somehow both deeply personal and universal.
About the Artist
Adria Arch is a visual artist, instructor, and art administrator. Her undergraduate studies included Rhode Island School of Design and Carnegie Mellon University. She received an MA in art education at the University of Arizona and an MFA in painting at Massachusetts College of Art and Design. She has taught at the DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park, Montserrat College of Art, Massachusetts College of Art, and Endicott College. Arch is currently the Education Director at the Arlington Center for the Arts. For more information, please visit adriaarch.com.