Art should be insightful and thought provoking. If it isn't, then it should at least be beautiful. The work currently being housed in Southwest's Hampden Gallery is the rare combination of all three.
Laura "Lola" Baltzell describes herself on her Web site as "a self-taught painter, yoga teacher and bilingual clinical social worker, living and working in the Boston area." She labels her work "primitive pop," a name derived from her lack of classical training and use of color.
Her recent collection, "Bright Promises," can be viewed inside the Incubator Project Space at the Hampden Gallery. All of the pieces are mixed-media collages inspired by her childhood in small-town Iowa and the time she spent in the rural town of Leyden, Mass., near the Vermont border.
Each collage demands close inspection and a keen eye. Glimpses of maps, sheet music, pages from the Bible, and sewing patterns can be seen amid cutouts of flowers, original drawings and meandering streaks of paint.
The layering effect of her work pulls the viewer into what seems to be a sweet nostalgic time warp, full of old postcards and pages torn from books. Baltzell, in her artist's statement, describes these pieces as a representation of "the way my parents and the larger culture attempted to raise a generation with the expectation of a predictable, safe future."
Another artist showcased is Alicia Adams Hunsicker, a graduate of the University of Massachusetts, who "strive(s) to create a visual language that evokes deep feelings of the divine feminine/masculine and the spirit of the natural world," according to her Web site. She is an accomplished artist and photographer who boasts an extensive resume as well as the largest current exhibit in the Hampden Gallery.
Hunsicker's collection, titled "Between the Darkness and the Light" is a series of paintings that contain a reoccurring theme of imagery - eggs, nests, human bones and fleeting images of the female form. The work is done mostly in soft shades of blue, brown, yellow and white.
The ethereal nature of the pieces hint at fertility and a union between humanity and the Earth. A physical manifestation of the paintings stands in the middle of the room; branches suspended from the ceiling and strings holding an egg over an abstract nest formation. Little nests full of eggs sit in corners of the room and ledges on the wall.
"I have been inspired by the powerful aesthetic and creative whimsy of indigenous artisans around the world for many decades," says Deborah Garner, another artist on display, on her Web site. She is not only an artist, but has also worked "as a collector and dealer of tribal and folk art for over 30 years," the site says.
Garner's "Astral Journeys, Inner Worlds" is a display of what she calls "postcards form the Edge of Consciousness." She describes herself in her artist's statement as "a dreamer by nature and disposition" and seeks to express the nature of her dreams through her art.
The result of this exploration is haunting and whimsical. Images of women shrouded and huddling under trees are paired with blurred figures of people swimming through dreamy, unfixed landscapes of mono-print art. References to India are clear - pictures of snake charmers and parades of cows are mixed with other media to form surreal images of red skies and shifting landscapes.
The work of these women, though staggeringly different, is all worth seeing. The art itself can be purchased, but for a price that far exceeds the means of the average college student.
The three exhibits will remain in the Hampden Gallery until Tuesday, April 29. Hours are Monday through Thursday from noon to 6 p.m. and Sunday from 2 to 5 p.m.
Sophia Pastore can be reached at spastore@student.umass.edu
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