I
have been working with MRI (magnetic resonance film) for several years.
Originally, I had cut shapes out of the films, painted them and turned
them into cylindrical lanterns. They have now been deconstructed into
portholes. Once the lanterns were reopened into the original flat
presentation, the cut out patterns resumed the round or porthole shape.
To enhance the reflection of the environment, I added mylar behind the
cutout MRI film. Usually a porthole is looking out from within a vessel.
In this case, the porthole is reflecting the environment back at the
viewer. The cut method is on two of the rows of film. For this
installation, I have assembled five alternating rows of films. On
three alternating rows of MRI film, the portholes are painted with
smaller circular painted holes. These represent looking inside oneself.
From portholes to portals - looking from within, looking inside,
looking out and looking at a reflection - by framing them on the barrier
fence, we see the world around us in a new and different perspective.
Bette Ann Libby, “Portholes: Looking Out/Looking Within”
Bette
Ann Libby has worked in clay since 1972 and has been inspired by her
sojourns in Samoa, Asia, India and the Middle-east. A studio potter in
Waitsfield, Vermont from 1975-86, she ran the Mad River Valley Craft
Fair from 1985-1989.
In
1999, she founded the sculptor’s collective, “Studios Without Walls”,
which has received 12 consecutive Massachusetts Cultural Council grants
for environmental installations in Brookline. In 2009, Bette Ann began
creating “lanterns” out of MRI film which were exhibited in “Nature and
Artifice” along the Longwood Riverway path.
Over
the past 12 years, she has organized numerous mosaic workshops and
public installations involving from a dozen to more than one hundred
participants. Most of the installations are permanently located in
hospitals, schools and libraries. She has worked with art consultant
Betty Bothereau, L’Attitude Gallery, Boston.
In
2008, she was awarded an MCC grant for the Brookline Town-wide Mosaic,
which was permanently installed in the Coolidge Corner Library,
Brookline, MA in December, 2011. In June, 2011, working with students at
Yestermorrow Build/Design School, Libby created a 32 x 8’ wall on the
campus in Warren, VT. In October, 2012, working with the Boston/Haifa
(Israel) Connection, she created “Peace/Shalom” Mosaic for Temple Beth
Avodah, Newton, MA and also created a community mosaic “Tree of
Knowledge” through a grant from the City-Wide Friends of the Boston
Public Library. Her work will be included in the “Art of Mosaics:
Piecing it Together” at the Fuller Craft Museum in Brockton, July 7th- October 27th 2013.
www.betteannlibby.com
