in and around us features the works of Olivia Bernard, Peter Crump, Jehanne-Marie Gavarini, Jamey Morrill, Allison Paschke, and Jessica Deane Rosner—six artists who live and work in the New England area. The exhibition title refers to the phenomenal world around us—its visible appearances, shapes, and colors—and the psychic world inside of us—our mental or psychological constitution. All of the exhibited works engage both of those worlds, 'in' and 'around' us; some depict the perceptual and recognizable elements of actual reality, whereas others address private and emotional states of inner-self.

in and around us features a highly diverse group of artworks. Their media range from drawing (Olivia Bernard and Jessica Rosner) and painting (Peter Crump) to sculpture (Jamey Morrill) and installation (Jehanne-Marie Gavarini and Allison Paschke). Moreover, their aesthetic and thematic scope is broad as well. A number of works recall minimalist interests in primary shapes, colors, and the surrounding space (Crump's large abstract paintings entitled Green Oval, Spectrums, and Brown Oval with One Element); modular structures (Morrill's cool yet unsettling pieces made of inflatable, rubber tires with spikes, zippers and screws, and called Overripe, Tube Roller, and Low Rider); and light as material (Paschke's series of transparent, cubical structures cast in resin, scattered on the floor and walls, and named Invisible Cities).

Other works, like Bernard's white forms, made of plaster and cheesecloth and floating from the ceiling, are highly vivid sculptures evocative of wings or flying angels, but also of human downfalls and victories. In addition, her nine-foot-long oil-stick and pastel drawings (Unthethered and Red Alchemy), characterized by vigorous brush strokes, intense palettes, and lush surfaces, are also emotionally charged works, bringing to mind the intensity and vigorof many abstract expressionist paintings. By contrast, Rosner's drawings from her Diary Project (in progress) are small and meticulously executed in ink, color pencil, gauche, and watercolor. Drawn on the pages of her old diary, they are erasing her written narratives of the past with her imaginary illustrations from the present.

Gavarini's colorful sculptural objects, combining fabric, batting, and various accessories, share the fantastic or surreal sensibility of Rosner's drawings. Some of her works are free-standing (Romeo and Matilda); others hang from the ceiling (Ecstasy) or are spread across a wall (Crave) and pedestal (Sirene), or are crawling on the floor (Strange Attractors). When amassed, they create a physical environment or a situation that is at once cheerful and somber, lively yet lonely. Hence, they touch on both worlds 'in' and 'around' us.

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Olivia Bernard lives and works in Leverett, MA, and New York City. She received her BA from Brown University and her MFA from Tufts University and School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, MA. Her work has been widely shown in the New England area, including at the Hampden Gallery, University of Massachusetts, Amherst; Smith College Museum of Art in Northampton, MA; and the Museum of Fine Arts, Springfield, MA; as well as at Grounds for Sculpture in Hamilton, NJ, and various galleries in New York City. Bernard is the recipient of numerous awards such as the Massachusetts Artists Fellowship in Sculpture from the Artists Foundation in Boston, MA; the Merit Award from the New England Women Exhibition in Northampton, MA, and the Sculpture Prize from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, MA.

Peter Crump recently moved from New York to Providence where he now lives and works. He holds a BFA from Parsons School of Design in Paris, France, and has exhibited his works in the U.S. and abroad, including at the Thread Waxing Space, Printed Matter, and Newman Gallery in New York, NY; Miauhaus Gallery in Los Angeles, CA; Galerie Regain in St. Tropez, France; and more recently at the Newspace Gallery Rozell, University of Sydney, Australia.

Jehanne-Marie Gavarini is a French-born artist, presently living in Boston and teaching at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell. She received her BFA from the University of California, Berkeley, and her MFA from University of California, Davis. Gavarini's work has been featured nationally and internationally, including at the Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts in Wilmington, DE; Fuller Craft Museum in Brockton, MA; Tufts University Gallery in Boston, MA; A.R.C Gallery in Chicago, IL; Centre culturel multimédia in Bourogne, and Urban Multimedia Arts Festival in Belfort, France. She has received numerous artistic awards from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, Bronx Council on the Arts, and Alliance Française in San Francisco.

Jamey Morrill lives and works in Providence, RI. He holds a BFA from Bowdoin College in Brunswick, ME, and an MFA from Indiana University in Bloomington, IN. Morrill has shown his work mostly in the midwest, including at Indiana University Museum of Art in Bloomington, IN; Clara M. Eagle Gallery, Murray State University in Murray, KY; Hand-Laundry Gallery and Gallery Hertz in Louisville, KY; and Wood Street Gallery in Chicago, Il. Most recently he had solo exhibitions at NAO Project Gallery in Boston, MA, and Gallery Agniel, Providence, RI.

Allison Paschke lives and works in Cranston, RI. She received a BFA in studio art from the University of California Santa Cruz, and another in ceramics from Kansas City Art Institute, MO. She holds an MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomsfield Hills, MI. Paschke's works has been featured in numerous solo and group exhibitions, including at the Newport Art Museum in Newport, RI; Wheeler Art Gallery and Providence Art Club in Providence, RI; Cranbrook Art Museum in Bloomsfield Hills, and Vermont Clay Studio in Montpelier, VT,

Jessica Deane Rosner lives and works in Cranston, RI. She received her BFA from Cleveland Institute of Art in Cleveland, OH, and later studied natural science illustration at the Rhode Island School of Design. Her prints and drawings have been shown at the Center City Gallery for Contemporary Art and Sarah Doyle Gallery in Providence, RI; Barbara Krakow Gallery and Bernard Toale Gallery in Boston, MA; and Pierogi Gallery, Brooklyn, NY. She has held fellowships at the MacDowell Colony and the Vermont Studio Center.