Bowersock Gallery "Figures and Heat"

Event: July 7 through July 25; Opening reception July 28, 7 to 10 p.m.
Where: Bowersock Gallery, 373 Commercial Street, Provincetown, Mass
Contact: Steve Bowersock 1-508-487-4994

 Kim Bernard and Jeanne' McCartin

Figures and Heat the Bowersock Gallery's late summer exhibition will bring together two New England woman, Kim Bernard, an abstract painter and sculptor, and Jeanne' McCartin, a representational sculptor, who create very different works, with similar cores. Bernard and McCartin work in the Maine/New Hampshire Seacoast area. Kim Bernard's work will also be featured on HDTV's "That's Clever" addition, airing this summer.

"Both Kim and Jeanne' demonstrate a strong hand and clear intent with their work," says owner Steve Bowersock.  "Both are skilled technicians, the mastery of their chosen art immediately apparent. But each goes beyond the surface and it's that purposeful effort, that underscores their work."

Much of McCartin's sculpture is of the human face, finished in a mask-like form.
The works are often beautiful or haunting, at face value they are intriguing, says Bowersock. "But Jeanne' has so much more going on in every piece. For her the mask is an exploration of persona, what we show AND hide, as well as a symbol for human complexity, the  individual, culture, race and species. A single work can explore all or one."

Every added or applied item used to "dress" the work is chosen with clear intent. McCartin, who generally casts in mache, works her surfaces with oils, acrylics and encaustic. Each color, shape, adornment, and gesture speaks to personal, political, and social issues that transcend time-periods. "Jeanne' always explains her masks depict what is behind the eyes." 

"The pieces are like Tarot cards, the call for exploration of an element in all its guises," says Bowersock.

Bernard’s work couldn't appear more different, and yet it too is easily likened to archetypes. A sculpture and a painter, her work is abstract with encaustic surfaces. Both paintings and ceramic sculpture may include inlay items, often botanicals and lead. "The layers of colored wax give the pieces physical depth. But it's her careful application, directed by an internal, nonverbal conversation that is at the heart of
Kim's evocative work," says Bowersock.

"Talking to Kim about her work is always interesting. Like many artists, she struggles when describing the intent of a single piece.  But what is clear for this artist is she works a piece till it connects with a gut instinct, and connects with something she calls a collective consciousness.  The work definitely resonates with something deeper than an appreciation for beauty. Kim says she hopes to evoke the feel of a sacred place, which she unquestionably does."

What both women have in common is their intent to seduce you with the surface, then take you somewhere of greater meaning. The places they direct you to may differ, calming and quiet, or angst ridden and disturbing, but it will be moving and often beyond verbal. "Both intend to take you to a powerful place, one that demands you look deeper at the work, and within yourself."