Meditations: Intuitive explorations of the inner realm through art

February 8, 2019 - March 9, 2019
Reception: February 9, 2019 at 1-3 PM
Desiree Brunton | Jen Charleson | Mary Dondero

What we call the real world is often limited to all that exists on the outside. Deep inside our consciousness is vast realm of existence no less real, but for which there is no universally accepted language.

This part of our human experience is alive with subtle energies, persistent thoughts and feelings; memories, gestures and ideas which we are taught to keep private and separate from our day to day life. The stories remain untellable, and the reality within can feel like an isolated and unknowable place. Perhaps a meditative exploration inward might locate ethereal landmarks, intangible moments we have all visited, however inexplicably. Meditations features three artists’ efforts to translate this solitary human journey in a way that reveals the shared nature of the internal human experience. Interdisciplinary artists, Desiree Brunton, Jen Charleson and Mary Dondero chase elusive realities through experimental markings, mixing mediums, and abstractions of line, color and pattern. By stepping outside the conventional, these artworks aim to bring out something recognizably true, completely unknown and mysteriously familiar. 

Desiree Brunton is an interdisciplinary and experimental artist whose mixed media paintings have been exhibited in galleries throughout New England. 

Desiree earned an Arts and Science degree from Bradford College. She did an extensive travel study as well as an internship with Acava Arts Organization in London. 

Currently, she is the Education Director at the RI Museum of Science & Art and the Arts Administrator at Four Corners Arts Center. Desiree frequently collaborates with local artisans and conducts workshops as an art educator with various non-profit art organizations. Recently she has been published by North Light Books. 

As an artist, she is driven by curiosity and tends to work intuitively with signature usage of bold color, obsessive layering techniques, and experimentation with materials. She enjoys exploring themes such as consciousness, nature, sensory perception and navigation. She works in her home studio in Tiverton, RI.

Jen Charleson is a mixed media artist who works predominantly on paper, exploring combinations of pastel, ink and acrylics. 

A graphic designer by trade, much of Charleson’s artistic development has been self guided, combining her professional experience with private instruction through trial and error. Her technique is a culmination of her diverse education, professional experience and untethered experimentation. She considers herself an expert only in her own art techniques, which do not fit neatly into any particular category.

She refers to herself as a multidimensional artist, mixing mediums both physically and conceptually. She is drawn in by unseen energies and considers her work to be a form of spiritual channeling, visual translations of untellable stories.

In 2017, Charleson created the Underground Planetarium, a multi sensory installation of original art prints on aluminum that pair her geometric forms with photographs from the NASA image library. The planetarium is located in the lower level of Hotpoint Emporium Artist Cooperative in Bristol, RI, where Jen is a founding member. Her studio is located in Warren, RI.

Mary Dondero is an interdisciplinary artist whose focus is on large-scale works-on-paper, mixed media and photography. 

She earned her B.F.A. at Roger Williams University in Bristol, RI, where she concentrated in Graphic Design, Printmaking and Photography. Dondero holds an M.A.T. from Rhode Island School of Design, and an M.F.A. from UMass Dartmouth.

Dondero is currently a full-time tenured faculty member in the Department of Art and Art History at Bridgewater State University in Massachusetts. During her 2011 sabbatical from teaching, Dondero was awarded “Artist in Resident” at Zion National Park in Utah. Dondero’s artwork is exhibited both nationally and internationally, is held in several collections, and is regularly exhibited at Atelier Gallery in Newport RI. 

For the past seven years Dondero has served as Curator and Chair of Exhibitions at the Bristol Art Museum where she is a member on the Board of Directors and established the Museum’s permanent collections policy. Additionally, Dondero is one of the founding members of Imago Foundation for the Arts in Warren, RI. Her studio is located in Warren, RI.

Images:

1st photo: (Left) Scent of Salt by Dondero (Center) From the Ashes by Charleson  (Right) Pineal Garden by Brunton
2nd photo: Vesica Piscis by Charleson
3rd photo: Stary Night by Dondero
4th photo: Whole Hearted by Brunton

EXHIBITIONS