Two exhibits will be showing simultaneously at the Whistler House Museum of Art in Lowell.
Recent works by Thomas M. Fleming will be shown through Feb. 23, with the opening reception on Saturday Jan. 12, from 2 to 4 p.m.
In addition, the Lowell Art Association Inc. also will exhibit at 243 Worthen St., Lowell, “The Modern Atelier: The Methods of Today’s Training” featuring works by Todd Casey, Carla Crawford, Angela Cunningham, Gregory Mortenson, and Travis Seymour. It also will run through Feb. 23 with an opening reception on Jan. 12.
FLEMING SHOW
Tom Fleming was born in Lowell in 1940, and grew up in the Acre. His first one man show was at the Whistler House over 50 years ago.
His art career has expanded into a variety of endeavors, according to the Whistler House Museum. While still in art school, he worked part time for a Boston film production company. Upon graduation, he joined the staff full time as art director animating art for commercials and training programs along with set design and construction.
In 1967 he joined Westinghouse Broadcasting as their first director of creative services. This position combined the art, photography, promotion and public relations departments for stations in Boston, Baltimore, Pittsburg, Philadelphia and San Francisco. After working for additional TV groups, Washington Post Broadcasting and Metro Media Broadcasting, he became an independent producer for a number of clients, private corporations, government agencies and public broadcasting.
In 1974, he produced one of the first documentaries in the People’s Republic of China. In the mid ‘80s, he set a new direction designing and fabricating church furniture, altars, baptismal fonts, carved custom signage and painting wall murals for private homes and public areas.
“This current collection of paintings, started in April of 2011, is a personal reflection, and artistic expression of living with breast and pancreatic cancer since 2006,” according to a museum release.
Fleming is a member of Art in Giving, a group of artists raising funds for pediatric cancer research and New England Art Reach, where six of his works will be displayed from Feb. 24 through May at St Joseph’s Hospital in Nashua N.H., raising funds for their cancer programs. Fleming has been selected to exhibit in a curated juried show at the State House in Boston, from Jan. 28 through Feb. 1.
ATELIER TRAINING
“The Modern Atelier: The Methods of Today’s Training” will run Jan. 12 through Feb. 23, with a reception on Jan. 12, from 2 to 4 p.m.
According to the museum: Atelier training is a form of training that was popular through the Middle Ages all the way up through the 18th and 19th Century. Many Americans sought fine art training in the professional studios of French painters in the 19th Century. The word translates in French to “workshop,” and usually consists of a professional painter or sculptor and a small number of students that act as apprentices.
This show encompasses the work of two Atelier studios in the United States and Italy; The Water Street Atelier in New York City, under Jacob Collins and the John Angel Academy in Florence, Italy under John Angel.
On exhibit are drawings and paintings from artists Todd Casey, Carla Crawford, Angela Cunningham, Gregory Mortenson and Travis Seymour. Preliminary drawings, color studies, transfer drawings, and final paintings will be shown as the methods of the Atelier are exposed, according to the museum.
