40th Anniversary: Artists A – K
May 5 – 27 at Gallery NAGA
Meg White, the director of Gallery NAGA, joined the gallery’s staff in 1999, after stints in New York with Sotheby’s and the Dia Art Foundation. She quickly became the key collaborator of Arthur Dion, then the gallery’s director. In 2011, as Dion eased into his current consulting role as director emeritus, White took the director’s reins. Now she’s staging a public celebration of the gallery’s 40th anniversary.
“I think every major anniversary deserves a celebration,” she says. “This feels like a substantial milestone.”
The festivities include exhibitions this month and in February, 2018, a public party on May 5, and financial contributions to honor the public service of the National Endowment for the Arts and Meals on Wheels. “We’re collaborating with organizations that have meaning for us, that have effected what we’re doing here,” White adds. “In our political climate, the NEA supports our ability to operate, our freedom to express, and colleagues in other organizations – museums, universities, public radio – that we feel part of. Meals on Wheels is an organization we’ve looked to on occasion to help someone we care about.”
White and associate director Andrea Dabrila selected for exhibition work by the artists, furniture makers, and estates the gallery represents. “A fabulous piece by every artist we work with,” is White’s characterization. “This is who we are. Our tastes are varied. I’d compare this in feeling to the wildly diverse show we did in early 2016 of portraits by gallery artists.”
The party itself? “We’re inviting our audience,” White puts it. “An expression of gratitude to the community.” The May show’s opening reception will be followed by an after-party at the gallery sponsored by The Buttery café and market of Boston’s South End.
What’s ahead now for Gallery NAGA? “There’s so much going on here,” White says. “A thoughtful young audience, new artists working with variations in media. Painting and studio furniture will always be at the center for us.”
40th Anniversary: Artists A – K features work by
Sophia Ainslie Harriet Casdin-Silver Hank Gilpin
Joseph Barbieri Nicole Chesney Jaclyn Kain
Ken Beck Nelson Da Costa Masako Kamiya
Garry Knox Bennett Alice Denison Joo Lee Kang
Gerry Bergstein Yizhak Elyashiv Martin Kline
Peter Brooke Robert Ferrandini Mary Kocol
John Eric Byers Rick Fox Keira Kotler
Lana Z Caplan Gregory Gillespie
The exhibition runs from May 5 to 27. Ten percent of all proceeds will be donated to the National Endowment for the Arts and to Meals on Wheels. A reception for the artists and the public will be held at the gallery on Friday, May 5 from 6 to 8 pm, followed by a celebratory after-party.