Winter Meditations

Winter Meditations is a trans-discipline, evolving, multi-media art experience—an exhibition of visual art and a coordinated series of performances evolving with the season from mid-winter into spring. Four phases explore four facets of the season of winter: Stillness, Observation, Longing, and Persephone’s Return.

“The cycle of seasons is deeply imprinted in human consciousness; it matters to everyone and has meaning for all. The idea behind Winter Meditations is to remind ourselves how engaging with art deepens our experience of life by drawing forth our own creativity. Good art has the power to enlarge our views, develop our sensibilities, and fuel our spiritual journeys, but viewing art becomes a dry exercise if we lose touch with the experience of art as a creative act itself. I want to mount an exhibition which emphasizes the pleasure and creativity in the viewer’s experience of art, rather than the goal of grasping the artist’s unique gifts and vision, which though important can distract us from the reasons we value the hard work of artists so highly in the first place; the reasons we choose to bring art into our homes, schools, and workplaces; the deep, human reasons why stories, images, movement, and music matter.”

— Matthew Swift, Director

From Friday, January 24th, through Sunday, March 2nd, Trident Gallery is proud to host a loan from the Massachusetts Audubon Museum of American Bird Art of more than thirty prints, paintings, and miniature sculptures by the renowned and important artists John James Audubon, Milton Avery, Andy Warhol, Allen James King, Robert Verity Clem, Lars Jonsson, and others. All the works of art depict bird species present on Cape Ann in winter, and their exhibition constitutes a new extension to the Cape Ann Winter Birding Weekend (Friday–Sunday, 31 January – 2 February) a festival which celebrates the winter bird life of Cape Ann, especially those Arctic species rarely encountered farther south. Sponsored by Mass Audubon and the Cape Ann Chamber of Commerce, the event draws several hundred participants to hear expert presentations and embark on bus tours and a boat trip to see the birds. A birding guide for the event in past years, Director Swift has this year orchestrated the festival’s new art component at Trident Gallery.

Works of art by Gabrielle Barzaghi, Winston Boyer, Charlie Carroll, Susan Erony, Dennis Flavin, Eileen Mueller, Joe Poirier, and Lynn Swigart will be on display during the entirety of Winter Meditations. In the final phase, Persephone’s Return, additional works of art by these and other Trident Gallery artists will take the place of the departing Mass Audubon winter bird art.