PRESS RELEASE: The Sparks are Flying! Worcester Center for Crafts' New Exhibit: Spärk

Michelle May (Curator) with her work.

Worcester, MA-  On view in the Krikorian Gallery of the Worcester Center for Crafts is Spärk, an exhibit of work by four talented and expressive women artists, all of whom are pushing their media to explore fantasy, reality, and the limits or no limits of beauty. The exhibit was curated by Michelle May of Worcester and includes work by May, Tara Sellios, Keri Anderson, and Jessica Lyn Burhans. It is on view in the gallery at 25 Sagamore Road through September 16, 2017.

The title of the exhibit speaks to the art on view as a fiery particle thrown off from a fire or emitting sparks of fire or electricity. Provocative? Edgy? “The show is perfect for HOT NIGHT when it opened,” says Gallery Director Candace Casey, “as it speaks to the energy of the work being shown, and the spark of creativity that it inspires!”

The artists are connected only through May. Tara Sellios is a Boston-based artist working

Work by Tara Sellios

in large format photography printed on metal. “I think of my work as theater, with each collection of images like an act in a play,” says mixed-media artist Tara Sellios. Since graduating from the Art Institute of Boston in 2010, her work has been largely influenced by art history. “I love altarpiece paintings and the surreal work of Hieronymus Bosch,” she says. “There is a sense of majesty and sacredness to it that has stood the test of time.” Others call her work simultaneously grotesque and beautiful.

Work by Tara Sellios (detail)

The Craft Center is planning a one-person exhibit of her work in January of 2019. Sellios has two large photographic installations in the exhibit.

Jessica Lyn Burhans creates expressive and “relate-able” color illustrations as well as

Jessica Lyn Burhans with her work

intriguing graphite drawings. Her illustrations have been nationally published and her work has been showcased in and around Worcester since 2004, including the popular Cirque Du Noir and Whiskered Wonderland events. Burhans is represented by a large grouping of small intimate drawings.

An educator who gets inspiration from music, dreams, nature, and movement, Keri Anderson picked up her long time love of painting four years ago. She has three paintings on view. Her efforts to capture human struggle result in a narrative and in the layers upon layers of paint. “People see what they want to see,” says Anderson, “so I like to leave my paintings open for questions.”

May, a painter, designer and marketer says that her creativity is “firmly centered in

Detail of Keri Anderson's work.

community…I enjoy pushing my personal boundaries and love to push the boundaries of others.” She is the creator of Cirque du Noir and the local equivalent of Slow Art Day. Eight of May’s paintings are on view in the show.

The Krikorian Gallery is open Tuesday through Saturday, 10 am to 5 pm. Admission is free.

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About the Worcester Center for Crafts:

The Worcester Center for Crafts (WCC) is one of the oldest non-profit institutions for craft study in the United States. Founded in 1856 as the Worcester Employment Society to help immigrant women produce and sell hand-crafted wares to support their families, the Center evolved over the past 155 years into New England's leading center for craft education, exhibition and entrepreneurship. In 2004, the organization expanded and opened the New Street Glass Studio - an off-campus, 8,000 square foot, state-of-the-art, multi-studio glass facility. The WCC offers the only comprehensive glass studio program in New England available to the public. Through an affiliation begun in 2009, the WCC is home to the Worcester State visual arts studios.

The Craft Center's mission is "to sustain craft as a vital part of our community" by providing high-quality craft education and training, by supporting craft artists in their professions, and through advocacy and public education initiatives including adult education classes and workshops, youth education and outreach programs, exhibitions showcasing the work of established and emerging artists, artist residencies, lectures, family events, studio rentals, Gallery Store, and major events. The WCC is a member of the Worcester Cultural Coalition and its WOO card program, and receive funding from the Massachusetts Cultural Council.