"One Giant Step" © Nadine Boughton 
"The Grand Illusion" © Nadine Boughton Growing up in suburban, mid-century America, Nadine Boughton
loved all things "modern" - frozen foods, sprawling
homes and lawns, leisure time, and all the new products to consume.
To her, suburbia appeared as an ordered universe, sleek and spacious.
The Pleasures of Modern Living, an exhibit of her digital
collages, is featured in The Griffin Museum's Atelier Gallery
at the Stoneham Theatre in Stoneham, MA, November 26 through
January 24. The exhibition runs parallel to the theater's performance
of It's a Wonderful Life.
"As an artist, I am drawn back to my beginnings, to the
imagery and cultural milieu of the post-war period through the
early 1960s," says Boughton. "Using vintage magazines
and materials, I scan and compose digital collages. My intention
is to blend the nostalgia for the past with the darkness beneath
'the pleasures of modern living.'"
Boughton says her work also "explores the portrayal of
women and domestic culture; the illusion of security; food as
an object of desire and comfort; and the power of materiality.
I am piecing together fragments of memory into new narratives.
Color often acts as an organizing principle."
"The Pleasures of Modern Living skillfully pokes fun at
how the media creates truth from fiction," says Paula Tognarelli
executive director of the Griffin Museum of Photography. "With
digital scissors in hand, Boughton reconstructs scenes from a
time when the modern woman was depicted as party hostess and
house wife even while doing the laundry."
Boughton, of Medford, MA, studied photography at the Essex Photography
Center in Essex, MA; the Visual Studies Workshop in Rochester,
NY; and the Lesley University Seminars in Cambridge, MA. She
also has a master's degree in expressive therapy from
Lesley University and is a writer, poet, teacher, and creativity
coach.
An opening reception with Boughton at the Stoneham Theatre is
December 7, 3:30-5 p.m. It is open to all. Please RSVP to the
Griffin Museum by December 1.
The Griffin Museum's Atelier Gallery at the Stoneham Theatre
is open Tuesdays through Saturdays, 1-6 p.m., and one hour before
each theater performance. The gallery can be accessed through
the Stoneham Theatre's lobby at 395 Main Street in Stoneham,
MA.
The Stoneham Theatre is a professional nonprofit regional theater
that presents eight shows a year. For more information, visit www.stonehamtheatre.org. |
