Art & Cultural Events List

SAC and the Inside-OUT gallery Artist of the Month Grace Durnford The Somerville Arts Council is pleased to have Grace Durnford as the featured artist for August. Her work is inspired by pattern and form that work effortilessly with an urban landscape-- a perfect fit for Davis Square. About the Inside-Out Gallery The Inside-Out Gallery is located in the CVS Window in Davis Square, a unique space that allows the public to view an eclectic array of works from artists and local organizations each month. The mission of the Somerville Arts Council is to cultivate and celebrate the creative expressions of the Somerville community. Through innovative collaborations and quality programming we work to make the arts an integral part of life reflective of our diverse city. About the Artist: GRACE DURNFORD Constantly drawn to the beauty of the mundane, overlooked and unexpected my recent work has been inspired by the linear forms and patterns I find in the urban landscape all around me. The work in this show is a combination of pieces from multiple collections, each of which focuses on a specific visual element of the environment, but all of which share a similar aesthetic sensibility. Combining exactingly rendered colored pencil drawing with highly abstracted and simplified forms I strive in all my work to create pieces whose clean edged simplicity bellies their complex construction. Machine sewn lines are used throughout to depict the webs of wires and power lines that form a kind of energetic netting connecting each image to a world that exists beyond the edges of the page or canvas. Not truly city-scapes in the traditional sense I think of my work as almost more of portrait series of the inanimate objects that make-up the backdrop of daily life, bearing silent witness to the human activity all around them. Grace Durnford received her BFA in Fine Art from Rhode Island School of Design where she majored in Textile Design. Her work has been shown in exhibitions throughout the greater Boston area as well as New York. She was selected from among hundreds of applicants to participate in the first Community Sponsored Art (CSArt) season in 2011 and was one of a handful of local artists to receive a 2012 Artist Fellowship from the Somerville Arts Council & Massachusetts Cultural Council. Find contact information and more works at www.gracedurnford.com