galleryblog @ tufts

Working at an art gallery, or museum, is often thought to be a glamorous profession, full of swanky parties, wine and cheese, and brushes with fame and fortune. I’m not going to disavow you of that notion. But it is also full of good old-fashioned work. Lots of it.

Here at the Tufts University Art Gallery, we don’t really run into fame and fortune too often, unless you count our sighting of Peter Gallagher (yeah, the dad on The O.C.) who, I swear, walked right by us on his tour of the Arts Center. The illustrious Tufts alum was here to give a speech. We tried to milk that sighting for all it was worth, but unfortunately I don’t think it upped our cool quotient with too many of the students here.

Anyway, fame and fortune aside, we do do a lot of important things. Paperwork, for one.

Filing. Or not, from the looks of things.

And all the fun stuff that goes into mounting exhibitions. Including building.

More later on that one!

The Tufts Fourth Annual Juried Summer Exhibition is up at the Gallery (through July 29) and it is, in a word, superb. 23 artists from Somerville and Medford were chosen, and the work is extremely varied both in medium and theme.

My co-worker and I play a game during the openings, roughly titled “What we would choose if forced to buy one work from each artist.” Most of the time we choose different things, which will be great if we’re ever actually put in that situation – we’d each come away with what we really wanted! Naturally this leads to an overall choice of artist in the show. This year I have two particular favorites: Greg Mencoff and Sandys Moore.

Greg’s pieces, which I can see from my desk, have a surprising depth to them – on the surface they are simple, subtle sculptures, but as you move around them the layers start to emerge. Here’s a picture:

Sandys Moore’s paintings are layered as well, but in a very different and exciting way. Each one seems to tell its own distinct story, and the colors and textures she incorporates really draw the viewer in. Here’s her work:

Last but not least, on my list of favorites is a little piece we like to call “Devil on a Pork Chop.” You’ll have to stop by to find out about that one!