Alison Wells, Home is Memory, Memory is Now at Brookline Arts Center in September

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August 29 - October 7, 2011

Alison Wells, a Trinidadian mixed media and acrylics painter who resides in New Bedford, will be showcasing her artwork at the Brookline Arts Center this September. Her abstract paintings will be on display at the Brookline Arts Center gallery in a solo exhibition titled Home is Memory, Memory is Now, from August 29-October 7.

The opening reception will be held on September 10, from 6:00-8:00 PM.

Alison Wells was born in Trinidad and received her B.F.A from Edna Manley College of Visual and Performing Arts in Kingston, Jamaica, and her M.F.A from the University of Massachusetts: Dartmouth in 2007. Recently, Wells has had solo exhibitions in Trinidad's Normandie: The Gallery 1234, and displayed her work at the World Exposition in Shanghai, China in 2010 to represent Trinidad and Tobago.

"My work explores the search for an identity between Trinidad and the United States. I view home not as a physical place but as changing memories and dreams impinging on reality. In this conflict, my paintings become a mediator for [the] push and pull of these familiar and unfamiliar cultural aspects as they try to redefine the idea of home and identity," explains Alison on the work featured in her solo exhibit at the BAC.

Alison Wells depicts the multiplicity of her existence, and the cultural diversity of her two worlds in her work. Her color techniques and layered surfaces represent the experience of environmental change and how it affects the human spirit.

"Alison’s art powerfully combines elements of her native Trinidad with New England themes into beautiful, abstract, yet expressive painting that undoubtedly will make for a very meaningful and sensorial exhibit," says filmmaker Daniel Jamous. Jamous has interviewed Wells about her artwork in a documentary that he is making about the art projects funded by the Brookline Commission for the Arts in 2011.

Alison Wells is also teaching a free workshop for children at the Brookline Arts Center on September 24 from 1:00 - 4:00 PM. Advanced registration is required either by phone or email for this free art class. The workshop curriculum is based on Wells' teaching experience and her unique method of working, transforming concrete images into abstract and universal forms.

The exhibit will be on view at the Brookline Arts Center, 86 Monmouth Street, Brookline from 9:00-4:30, Monday - Friday. Admission is free and open to public. For more information, call (617)566-5715 . Located at 86 Monmouth Street in Brookline, MA, the Brookline Arts Center is easily accessible from the St. Mary's stop on the C line, the Fenway stop on the D line, and the CT2 and 47 bus stops.

This program is supported in part by a grant from the Brookline Commission for the Arts, supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council - a state agency. The Brookline Commission for the Arts is part of a grass-roots network of 329 local councils that support that support arts and culture throughout Massachusetts. The programs of the Brookline Arts Center are also supported by funding from the Massachusetts Cultural Council.

Page updated 04-08-2011