Tell Me a Story: A Member Showcase
Myths, Narratives, Dreams, and Fairy Tales
Salem Arts Association is excited to open our 2023 exhibition schedule with a themed showcase of our Member Artists. Tell Me a Story: Myths, Narrative, Dreams, and Fairy Tales features works of visual storytelling in our artists' chosen medium and style. Our artists think beyond the traditional definition of “narrative art” and embrace the diverse ways in which we all “tell our stories.”
With a Special Book Release: A Secret Gathering by Paul Royka, a local Salem, MA author
Opening Reception Friday March 3 2023, 6-8 PM
Exhibition Dates: March 4 - April 1, 2023
Book Release: A Secret Gathering by Paul Royka, a local Salem, MA author. Available March 3, 2023! Filled with mystery and magic, this true story is a moving tale of self-discovery, personal growth, and the transformative power of storytelling. Whether you're a fan of mysticism, spirituality, art history, Monhegan Island, Maine, Salem history, Carl Jung, or synchronicity, this book is sure to captivate and inspire you! About the author: Paul Royka, who has been a night auditor at one of America's most haunted inns, an antique appraiser on TV, and a solo sailor across the Gulf of Maine. He received his undergraduate degree from Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts, and studied abroad at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. After earning a Master’s degree from Claremont Graduate University in California. Paul exhibits photography and paintings as a Master Circle member of the Salem Arts Association. Paul provides guided retreats to locations mentioned in his memoir A Secret Gathering including Farandnear and Monhegan Island. |
Our Guest Juror: Daniel Lipcan Dan Lipcan is the Ann C. Pingree Director of the Phillips Library. He leads a talented staff charged with preserving and sharing the library’s extensive collection of books, archives, ships’ journals, broadsides, and ephemera. Dan served as co-curator of the PEM exhibitions The Salem Witch Trials 1692, The Salem Witch Trials: Reckoning and Reclaiming, and Let None Be Excluded: The Origins of Equal School Rights in Salem. He serves on the Board of Voices Against Injustice and is a member of the Art Libraries Society of North America and the Grolier Club. |
Awards
"Lulu's View" BY Jim Vaughey Jim has created an engagingly cinematic and interactive way to experience Lulu’s story. The nostalgia that some of us associate with the View Master itself mirrors that of a vivid memory. | "Hercules and Lernaea Hydra" by Georgia Katsika (Dee Kay), A mythical battle between two crochet creatures is fun to consider. The Hydra has already regenerated several crocheted heads! | "The Five Year Project" by Jessica S. Murdock Jessica’s economy of line leaves us with opportunities to fill in the details of the artwork, the emotion, and the story. |
"Water Dance No. 1" by Patricia Scialo Water Dance No. 1 recalls 19th century photography and early modern dance. Both of those forms of expression possess a theatrical quality that, for me, comes through in this piece. | "Diary of a Painting" by Thomas Darsney The layers of images and text here communicate a deep and complex narrative of history, people, and creation. | "Bambina Brito" by Joshua DiPerri I wonder about the story of this child 15 years on: where was this taken? What have they experienced? Where are they now? | "Ixchel Triptych" by Elizabeth Hall I’m not exactly sure what’s going on here, but I found this sequence—and its location somewhere in the cosmos—to be engaging, delightful, and somewhat mysterious. |