March 13th to April 21st.
POST-PANDEMIC
Visions-Insights-Concepts
Most recent artwork by Robert Peters
Reception: Thursday, March 23rd 6-8pm
Hybrid Gallery Talk: Thursday, March 23rd 6:30-7:00pm
Gallery Hours: Wednesday-Friday 12 to 5pm & Saturdays by appointment (For a Saturday appointment- please email at least two days in advance: info@spokeart.org)
Spoke address: 844 Summer Street, Boston MA 02127
Spoke Gallery is honored to present a solo show by Robert Peters who is a celebrated Mashpee Wampanoag artist, poet, and author.
For his exhibition, POST-PANDEMIC, Peters is exhibiting work he created during the COVID-19 Pandemic. The title of his show is multi-layered in reference. The title doesn’t just refer to the current global epidemic, but it also makes reference to the pandemic that caused wide-spread fatalities to the indigenous peoples due to the diseases brought by the foreign traders and colonists when they came to the shores and lands of what is presently called North America.
Peters is showing work from several bodies for work: nine works from his 2020 series of gel pen drawings, entitled, Baby Maushop; a 2022 large scale mural painted on three doors; and two new paintings, The New World and Three Sisters and Grandmother Moon. Also included in this show is a selection of his pencil drawings. This is the first time he has exhibited his pencil drawings. He is showing a selection of recent stand-alone drawings or what he terms as Free-Styledrawings as well as work from two drawings series. One of the series of drawings included in this is exhibit, is his graphic story entitled, The boy, the cat and the vision smasher. The other series is of three interlinking freestyle pencil scenes entitled, Half Past Time To Save The World.
This is not the first time, Spoke Gallery has shown his works. Peters’ work was included in a fall 2016 Spoke Gallery group show, Spirits. Peters works on several projects at a time and is currently working on a long-term public art project, A Time of Healing, in Franklin Park (https://olmstednow.org/a-time-of-healing-in-franklin-park/). One of Peters’ paintings is prominently featured on, From Paradise to Prison, an State issued educational sign located at South Boston’s Castle Island. This sign shares some of the history of the indigenous peoples who inhabited what is now referred to as the Boston Harbor Islands. As the title of the sign indicates, also shared is how the colonists inhumanly treated the indigenous people.
About Robert Peters
Robert Peters lives and works in Mattapan (Boston, MA). He is a fire keeper and a keeper of the oral tradition. Peters published his first children’s book, Da Goodie Monsta, in 2009. He has shown his art work and given poetry readings extensively in the New England area. Peters is regularly commissioned to create public murals and paintings. He was a contributor to a statewide campaign to combat opioid addiction among native teens. In early 2023, he helped to organize a show of Wampanoag artists at the State Senate’s Chambers at the Massachusetts State House.
At this time, Robert Peters does not have a website, but the below webpages can give more information about him:
https://www.creativeground.org/profile/robert-peters
https://ccmht.org/robert-peters
https://www.wcvb.com/article/chron-4-io4zv8at/9150113
Spoke Gallery is honored to present a solo show by internationally acclaimed Boston-based photographer Lou Jones. For his exhibition at Spoke, Jones is drawing photographs from five of his series: Cuba, Olympics, panAFRICA project, COVID-19, and Every Color Has a Different Song.
The panAFRICA project’s goal is to dispel the negative western media perceptions of Africa. Jones is planning to document all of the 54 countries in contemporary Africa – one by one. Thus far he has completed 15 to date. Jones’ series entitled, Every Color Has a Different Song, are photographs he has taken in 61 countries while he was on assignment. The images in this series “transcended the original reasons for taking differences both monumental & sublime.” His Cuba series draws from images that he took on a few visits to the island both when it was closed to Americans & after. The Olympic series draws from images he took at thirteen winter and summer Olympics. For his COIVD-19 series, he documented the unusual way many creative people were coping with COVID-19.
He shares, “I set out early in my pursuit of photojournalism & documentary photography to carry two Leicas on my shoulders & cure the ills of the world. That was a naive notion at the time but after years I can give voice to many peoples who otherwise would have none.
Having visited so many foreign countries on assignment I have amassed an enormous collection of the eclectic way the world looks. Fleeting moments may be spectacular captures but have limited relevance on their own. However as an amalgamation we can glean an amazing preview of the way that humanity exists.
The ensemble not only encapsulates fugitive moments that are synergy but gathers very divergent times into our collective history. With today’s fast pace, as the world gets smaller, photography has become the default “universal Language”. Because photos do not need translation or Rosetta Stone to decipher what we can see with our own eyes, we are bound together through television, computers & social media. It has become a new form of communication. Everyone can experience what other cultures experience through the magic of the camera.”
About Lou Jones
Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso | February 2017
Photo courtesy of Lou Jones
Lou Jones’s eclectic photography career has evolved from commercial to the personal. It has spanned every format, film type, artistic movement & technological change. He has photographed for Fortune 500 corporation, international companies & local business including Federal Express, Nike, Aetna, Major League Baseball, AFL-CIO & KLM; completed assignments for magazine & publishers all over the world such as Time/Life, Sports Illustrated, National Geographic & Paris Match; initiated long term projects on civil wars in Central America, death row, Olympic Games, tall ships, Japan & pregnancy; published over a dozen books. His photographs have been exhibited in Smithsonian, DeCordova Museum & Griffin Museum of Photography. Currently he has been documenting all 54 countries in Africa for his www.panAFRICAproject.org.
Jones has served on the boards of Photographic Resource Center, American Society of Media Photographers & currently Griffin Museum of Photography. He has photographed & authored more than a dozen books, taught at Mass College of Art, Art Institute of Boston & helped found Center for Digital Imaging Arts. He has work in the permanent collections of: Harvard University; Wellesley University; Texas Tech University; Boston Atheneaum and the Boston Public Library.
He has an extensive exhibition history and his most recent solo exhibitions include: Griffin Museum of Photography- Distressed: memories; Boston City Hall Gallery-Changing Skylines; DeCordova Museum-Final Exposure: Portraits from Death Row; Bridge Gallery -Higher, Faster, Stronger: Olympic Games; Worcester Art Museum-Descendants; Roxbury Community College-Every Color Has a Different Song; and the Cape Cod Museum of Art- panAFRICAproject.
Some of his Awards & Honors: Nikon-Legend of the Lens; Massachusetts Artists Leaders Coalition-Champion of Artists; United Nations-Professional Photography Leadership Award and the Massachusetts Citizens Against the Death Penalty- Ehrmann Award.
For more information, visit his websites: www.fotojones.com and www.panAFRICAproject.org
About Spoke Gallery:
The medicine wheel, originating from a Native American tradition, is also referred to as Sacred Hoop. The medicine wheel represents the sacred circle of life, its basic four directions, and the elements. It is a symbol of balance, symmetry, healing, and oneness. “It teaches us that all lessons are equal, as are all talents and abilities. Every living creature will one day see and experience each spoke of the wheel and know those truths. The Medicine Wheel is a pathway to truth and peace and harmony. The circle is never ending, life without end.”
MWP’s philosophy and values are deeply entwined with that of the medicine wheel. We too believe that every person has talents and abilities to share with the world and that, through art, they can unlock them. By participating in the art—whether that’s creating the art, experiencing the art, or taking a cultural action in response to the art—we believe that community members are taken on a transformative journey that helps them gain a deeper understanding of themselves, of others, and the overall human condition. This is the phenomenon of art. It engages all people (the creator and observors) in dialogue and takes them to a place of endless possibilities.
Artists of all disciplines are interested in starting a new dialogue about the role of art in culture. Over the years, art has come to be seen as a commodity, not an essential part of everyday life. Art is so much more than that though—it helps individuals access the hidden world of thought, feeling, and meditation. It is a tool that draws humanity together, guiding people towards a greater understanding of self and the overall human condition.
MWP’s Spoke Gallery is an innovative new program that seeks to act as a hub for artists of all disciplines who want to join the conversation. We realize that many artists lack the networks, support, tools, and/or resources to progress the dialogue forward on their own. By creating a network and space dedicated to redefining the role of art in culture, we hope to provide a support system and home for artists, so that they can grow, learn, and put into practice this exciting and significant concept.
SPOKE Gallery hours are Wednesday – Friday
12:00pm – 5:00 pm
Saturdays by appointment
* For Saturday appointment, Please email at least two days in advance: info@spokeart.org
or call 617.315.7318
This program is supported in part by a grant from the Boston Cultural Council, a local agency which is funded by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, administrated by the Mayor’s Office of Arts, Tourism, and Special Events. It is also supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council.