Allston Education Portal Exhibits Contrasting Painters

Gruesome images of Biblical figures abutted vibrant paintings of flowers last Thursday at a reception at the gallery space of the Allston Education Portal, a joint partnership between Harvard, Boston, and the Allston-Brighton community that aims to foster learning and new educational experiences for residents of the neighborhood. The event celebrated an exhibition curated by the Unbound Visual Arts Committee  that opened at the Allston Education Portal on September 9. It consisted of the work of two painters with dramatically different styles.Heidi Lee, a teacher at the Boston Trinity Academy, is one of the two artists whose work is on display. Her brooding and intense paintings stand in stark contrast to fellow artist Diana Weiske’s paintings of bright poppies and beach scenes in the adjacent room, titled “Petals & Places.”

According to Lee, her exhibit, “Inner Journeys,” is an ode to the power of resilience and the paradoxes of the human soul. One of Lee’s central pieces, titled “Sacred Sinner 1,” consists of textured square canvases depicting a gruesome scene between Mary and Jesus in which Mary whips Jesus in front of a crowd of displeased onlookers. “This piece grapples with the potential of each human soul to possess great holiness and great evil at the same time,” Lee says.The paradox of the human soul that the artist describes is a consistent theme in her artwork. “Sacred Sinner 1” is the first of a collection of paintings addressing the corruption of the church. Lee says that her work is often a social commentary, but that she allows viewers to come to their own conclusions about her pieces. Many of the artist’s works include both recognizable and abstract elements for this reason. “

I want people to use their imagination to construct the abstract portions of my work,” she says. “That’s why I don’t give an artist statement for every piece. I think it takes away some of the imaginative quality.”Lee’s visual style complements her dark subject matter. She uses a subdued palette accented by bright reds and deep blues. Her paintings almost always have a distorted human figure present. She says the inspiration for these figures and her paintings come from what she likes to call “visual words”—collages that she creates using newspaper cutouts and lines of poetry.One of the pieces in the exhibit was shown in its intentionally unfinished state surrounded by the artist’s collages. John A. Quatrale, who curated the exhibit and came up with this unique display, says that he wanted to highlight Lee’s creative process.

“Sometimes galleries can seem too sterile, like the art is too perfect,” Quatrale says. “Many people walk away not knowing that art is a messy process.”Quatrale is one of 60 members on the board of Unbound Visual Arts. The board chooses artists every year for 20 exhibits. He says that the board’s concept behind this current exhibition, which is on display through November 3, was to underline the contrast between two artists.Walking from Lee’s exhibit to Weiske’s exhibit feels like passing into a different world. While Lee depicts shadowy images of abstract figures, Weiske favors sunny street scenes and bright poppies, which she has been painting for 15 years. Her exhibit was curated by Ruth Rieffanaugh, who is herself a Boston visual artist specializing in paintings and collages.Lee and Wieske’s creative processes are, not surprisingly, extremely different. Although Lee and Weiske have very different approaches to art, they both agree that risk-taking is important to the creative process. Weiske admits that she is most comfortable with bright colors and few people in her paintings, but she has experimented in the past with different palettes and drawing figures. Lee also sees a value in risk-taking.

“If we don’t take risks then we never learn,” Lee says. “I feel like I’ve learned more from my mistakes than my successes. That’s why I try so many different techniques.”

While both artists use oil as their medium, their styles are starkly different. Lee focuses more on dark images and recognizable figures from religion and popular culture; Wieske’s paintings are more impressionistic and vibrant. “I don’t do a lot of sketching or planning,” Weiske says. “I take a lot of pictures.” Weiske’s exhibit is inspired by her own travels and those of relatives. These influences are translated into a heightened reality of the brightest blues and reddest reds she uses in her works.  “I always think that I’m trying to get the colors as I see it, but they always turn out brighter than they actually are,” Weiske says. “I automatically make things brighter because I just love bright colors.” This exhibition is the first in the 2013-14 Unbound Visual Arts season. On November 9, the Unbound Visual Arts Committee will collaborate with Boston Open Studios, a community event in which artists display their work for a small fee in a variety of nearby venues. The exhibition is the latest in a series of EdPortal events that seek to encourage dialogue about art between Harvard and the communities that surround it.