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Coming Soon... | News | Archive
Upcoming events, encomia, gossip and pronouncements...
August 30-31: Evolutions ’08
Jesa Damora will be part of this invitational two-day annual outdoors art festival over the Labor Day weekend in Marblehead, MA. Event runs from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. both days, rain date Sept. 1. Painters, printmakers, sculptors, ceramicists, musicians, and film makers with ties to Marblehead will exhibit and perform on the lawns of 280 Ocean Avenue on gorgeous Marblehead Neck. For full information, please see www.northshoreartists.org.
November 7–8, 2008: Two-Day Local Artists and Artisans Sale
Jesa Damora will participate in a Two-Day Local Artists and Artisans Sale at the Red Door Gallery and Cottage in Dover, MA, which runs from 10:00 a.m.–4:00 p.m. both days. This is the sixth year of this show, which benefits the Episcopal Church and its ministries. www.saintdunstansma.org/pages/Default.aspx?tabid=98.
November 13–15, 2008: Soni Masur’s Boutique Show
Jesa Damora will once more be the featured fine arts participant at Soni Masur’s Boutique Show at 66 Thornton Road, Needham, MA. This semi-annual event, now in its 15th year, is one of the best. Soni is an artisan who makes whimsical, sweetly sentimental and romantic jewelry incorporating beads of all types, found objects, etc. www.sonyamasur.com
Drawing Classes
Jesa Damora’s drawing classes have a new price structure and schedule. The ‘gym membership’ plan has been retired. Students may now purchase 10-lesson blocks for $280. A card will be issued at time of sign-up, good for one year, with ten icons on it, and each icon is good for one 3-hour lesson.
A more relaxed plan and a better deal than before, neither student nor instructor will now worry about either not being around because we’re at Burning Man or on vacation with our mother in Germany for three weeks.
Lessons will continue to be available several times a week. Drop in for 1.5 hours remains $20. Drop-in for full 3-hour studio is now $33. Kids 12 and under are still $40 for a 45 minute private lesson.
Here are some testimonials from some of Jesa’s students:
“Not only is Jesa a brilliant artist and an engaging person, she's also a talented and inspiring teacher. She works with her students individually and seems to know just the right questions to ask to elicit greater skill while reinforcing the student's own style. I leave class each day with a renewed appreciation for the tiny details that make our world so precious.”
—Susan Swan
“In the 10 years I have known Jesa Damora, I’ve become very familiar with her work. For the past month, I have enjoyed the privilege of studying basic drawing technique with her, and have re-discovered this dormant childhood passion. During this month long introductory series of lessons, she has demonstrated an uncanny ability to recognize a student’s technical strengths and challenges within his/her first 3 classes. There is no question in my mind that her teaching skills live up to her reputation for artistic excellence.”
—John Darlington
“Jesa Damora is the best art teacher I’ve ever had!”
—Jessamine Kelley
For more information, contact Jesa Damora at 617-759-4787, jesa@rcn.com, or jesadamora@jesadamora.com.
June 2008
June 24-August 3, Art in the Garden: Solo Exhibit
Tower Hill Botanic Gardens
Boylston, MA, www.towerhillbg.org
Juried solo show at the Alice Milton Gallery. In addition, Jesa Damora taught a series of drawing classes (how to draw flowers, on mylar!) on Saturdays during the run of the show.
This exhibit was held concurrently with the Tower Hill annual Rose Show, Lily Show, Daylily Show, and local area garden tours. During its run there was also e a concert by the spectacular singer/songwriter Susan Werner.
May 2008
May 3 & 4, Somerville Open Studios
This was Jesa Damora’s ninth time participating in SOS, along with over 300 artists at more than 100 locations. As usual, there was an enormous potluck cookout/party directly following Saturday hours, for which the rain kindly abated, and this year we had a fantastic band. See more at www.somervilleopenstudios.org.
May 5: Garden Club Federation of Massachusetts
Jesa Damora showed at the arts and crafts Boutique accompanying the GCFM’s Metro East/West Annual Meeting and Luncheon, at Elm Bank, location of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, where her work is also retailed.
May 15: Temple Beth Shalom, Needham, MA
Jesa Damora was a vendor in the Boutique that accompanies the Temple’s Annual Donor Dinner.
April 2008
April 10–12
Jesa Damora was the featured fine arts participant at the 2008 Spring Craft Boutique Show at 66 Thornton Road, Needham, MA. This semiannual event, given by Soni Masur, is extremely well-attended and produced. Soni is an artisan who makes whimsical, sweetly sentimental and romantic jewelry incorporating beads of all types, found objects, etc. www.sonyamasur.com. The event showcased both crafts and a “trade secrets” slate of interesting people.
April 19
A wonderful private vernissage was held for Jesa Damora’s Flower Art in Marblehead, MA. Given by a gardener and art lover on Humphrey Street on a marvelous spring day, there was tasty food and wine, and it was attended by great people including gardeners, garden designers, interior designers and florists. If you wish to be on the guest list for the next one, in the Boston area, please write us an e-mail.
February 2008
Jesa Damora’s art is in the premier issue of a NYC-based magazine of culture, art, poetry and political commentary called Zen Monster. Other names on the masthead include Philip Whalen, Gary Snyder, Fannie Howe and Anne Waldman. Look for it at finer bookstores and newsstands! (--no web version yet.)
January 2008
Jesa Damora has been giving group classes in perspective, concept sketching, and landscape drawing at Lombardi Design Inc. in Cambridge, MA. Please contact her for course syllabi addressing drawing and visualization issues for landscape design and architecture firms.
September 2007 - ongoing
Classes starting week of September 17: How to draw Fire, Wind, and Silence
How do you draw space? What about softness? And yes, what about wind, fire, and silence? This is the thread that will weave through fall 2007 drawing lessons. It embraces all the foundations— composition, perspective, etc. and then discards them for— what? What animates the space between? How do you depict the insubstantial? If you’re trying to just draw a corn flake, or a few eggs, where does this lead you? Can you afford to think about it at all if you’re struggling with drawing a straight line? (Say YES. The answer is YES, class.)
Private and small group lessons commence Monday, September 17, 2007 at 76 Columbus Avenue. Space is limited to 40 and will go fast: 38 students enrolled for summer classes.
August–December 2007
Jesa Damora is showing a full line of prints both large and small at Meridian Gallery in Marblehead, MA, at No. 11 Pleasant Street, just over the crest of the hill coming into Marblehead’s Historic District. The huge pink peony drawing that graced the New England Flower Show and Boston Macy’s Downtown Crossing earlier this year dominates the gallery window. The Meridian is the latest expression of Gail Giarrusso, nature photographer, whose long-time Washington Street gallery in Old Town closed last year. Please contact the gallery for hours at 781-631-2942.
May-July 2007
Tufts University Art Gallery, Medford, MA, showed Jesa Damora’s work as part of its Fourth Annual Summer Exhibition. This year’s exhibition was juried by the Tufts University Art Gallery director of galleries and collections, Amy Ingrid Schlegel, Ph.D. It was curated by Rachael Arauz, Ph.D., an independent curator and art historian from Somerville, MA, who recently curated the exhibition Keith Haring: Journey of the Radiant Baby. The show included a vital mix of artists from Tufts University host communities, including Medford and Somerville.
The Opening Reception took place Thursday, May 31, with music provided by the Ken Field Trio.
Artists also shown: Elaine Bay, Meg Birnbaum, N.Noon Coda, David Colomob, Brian Corey, Kate Gakenheimer, Randy Garber, Jane Goldman, Raul Gonzales, David Harris, Bradford Johnson, Veronique Latimer, Joan McCandlish, Rachel Mello, Greg Mencoff, Sandys Moore, Riki Moss, Mary O’Malley, Tina Riedel, Geoffrey Stocking, Sarah Wentworth, and Barbara Zeles.
May 2007
Somerville Open Studios saw Jesa Damora’s eighth time participating, and was yet again a great success with beautiful weather. Damora’s exhibit focused this time on her new editioned prints in color that have come out of a major collaboration with Ditto Editions. Also showing was work from her other line, Cornerpocket Art, currently being collected by two museums and the subject of five upcoming magazine articles. Her studio was open throughout this two-day event, along with a host of others showcasing fabulous (and affordable) art. SOS had many music and performance events this year, as well as special trolley shuttles along the proposed route of the Green Line to Union Square!
April 2007
Boston’s Macy’s at Downtown Crossing devoted two windows to Jesa Damora’s large flower drawings at their Downtown Crossing Store, a part of Macy’s ‘Bouquet of the Day! ’ Spring PR events over the first two weeks of April. These windows (Summer Street at the corner of Washington, right near the main entrance) were sponsored and organized by the Massachusetts Horticultural Society.
Macy’s also recognized Jesa Damora at the ’Bouquet of the Day’ Launch Party on April 5, which featured "Boston’s Best Designers" Bryan Rafanelli, Andrew Anderson, Yvette Viard, Lisa Greene, and Heather Greenwood showcasing exotic floral centerpieces, and included informal modeling of fashions, Vera Wang and Peroni promotions. Damora signed and distributed cards and showed prints.
March 2007
Jesa Damora’s print editions of flowers and gardens will be featured by the Massachusetts Horticultural Society in Flora’s offerings at the New England Spring Flower Show, March 17–25, held at the Bayside Expo Center in Boston, MA. The artist will be on hand for three special events to sign prints made especially for this show.
Artist Print Signing Events at the New England Spring Flower Show:
Sunday, March 18, 2-4 pm
Wednesday, March 21, 7-8 pm
Saturday, March 24, 2-4 pm
(These events are listed in official Show catalogue.)
December 2006 and ongoing
Jesa Damora’s print editions are being retailed at Flora, the new shop at the Massachusetts Horticultural Society in Wellesley, MA . They were on display there at a party for The Garden Club Federation of Massachusetts. A print-signing was held on December 23 for the release of a new folio of amaryllis images commissioned by Flora as a seasonal offering. Seasonal offerings are planned for 2007 spring and fall as well.
October 2006 and ongoing
Jesa Damora has commissioned Ditto Editions of Marblehead, MA, as the master printmaker for her work. Printing is done in archival pigment-based inks by an Epson 9800 on exquisite German papers in very limited editions. Sizes of prints range from 12 inches to 12 feet. Technically, they are layered duotones/ tritones/quadtones involving multiple masks and a great deal of hand-painting. Ditto has generously sponsored Damora’s training in the Photoshop techniques she uses to create these from her original B&W images. 16 editions have been produced to date.
June 2006
GRAND GARDENS in GRISAILLE: a show of flower art focusing on Peonies—June 1–28, Elise Mankes Gallery, Marblehead, Massachusetts. To coincide with June, the Month of the Peony, this one-person show ran from June 1 through 28, with an opening party the evening of Saturday, June 3rd, from 6 pm to 9 pm. It showcased the print collaboration I have been doing with the Center for Digital Imaging Arts in Waltham (www.digitalimagingarts.com) and debuted many small, affordable pieces as well as some new very large stuff. For more information see www.elisemankes.com.
This show also included events at the gallery. It was an opportunity for attendees of the Massachusetts Horticultural Garden Tours (tours are Saturday and Sunday, June 10 and 11) and friends to stop by and learn about exquisite peony cultivars, perhaps purchase them, and see some of them represented in the show.
Events at the gallery included: “Peonies: Ostentation in the Garden” a presentation by Reed Pugh, MCH of Parterre Garden Services. This included a sale of rare peonies as well as other unusual and colorful plants, and a raffle. Parterre Garden Services is a branch of Lombardi Garden Design of Cambridge, offering the highest quality garden services and stewardship by certified horticulturists to owners of exceptional gardens throughout the greater Boston area, from rolling country estates to small, jewel-like city plots. More may be seen at www.parterregarden.com. On Sunday, June 11, Donald Smith of the American Peony Society and internationally known peony hybridizer provided much-awaited news on the incredible beauties, including yellow peonies, created through intersectional hybridizing, or the crossing of herbaceous peonies with tree peonies.
May 2006
Somerville Open Studios, May 6 and 7. SOS has become the annual highlight of my art activities—this was the seventh time I’ve participated—a moment to sum up the year and to debut new work. This year I showed LOTS of prints, the result of many hours of collaboration with Charles River Editions, a branch of the Center for Digital Imaging Arts in Waltham (www.cdiabu.com). It’s always a big party, and as usual, lots of friends showed up from far and wide. SOS is now the largest open studios event in the Boston area (see more at the recently spruced up www.somervilleopenstudios.org). Both lines of my work were represented. You can get a sense of this other work at www.cornerpocketart.com. As an added attraction, visitors also got to admire the new porch. Truly this is the place you want to rally to in the next hurricane, my brother built it for the 100-year storm.
March-April 2006
In an unusually formatted online show at NYC-based www.Projekt30.com, my work for CornerPocketArt was juried by the general public and promoted to the final show. This show generated many new fans of the work for me, including other artists, curators, and galleries.
The artist and friends at the opening of ’Erotik Neurotik’ with featured piece
March 2006
Under my aegis of Belle Wether (why do I have a pseudonym? ...well, you’ll just have to go see at www.cornerpocketart.com) a large piece from my newer line of work was prominently placed in a group show called ’Erotik Neurotik’ at the Elise Mankes Gallery in Marblehead, Massachusetts (www.elisemankes.com). The opening party, on a dismal, sleety night, was jammed—it was one of those openings you write... well, if not home, then maybe Venus, about.
New owners of a flower print with the artist at the CCG fundraiser
January 2006
My artwork was featured in another fundraiser given by the Community Concerts of Greenwich, Inc., at the Delamar Greenwich Harbor Hotel in Greenwich, Connecticut, raising more money than any other auction item.
MFAC Fundraiser: The artist with organizer Frank Strauss
November 2005
With five other artists, my work was in a fundraiser given at The State Room in Boston by Mutual Funds Against Cancer to raise funds for the Dana Farber Center for Cancer Research and the Jimmy Fund.
September 2005
The first annual ArtsUnion Open Studios was held on September 17 in conjunction with all-day ArtsUnion festivities to promote culture and the arts in Somerville’s Union Square area. I showed both lines of work, and it was a brilliant day.
The happy artist relaxing at ArtsUnion
Friends in studio during ArtsUnion
More friends at ArtsUnion
June 2005
A one-person show at Diane Boisvert Gallery, Brooklyn, New York, scheduled for this month went up in smoke in April when the gallery closed. This was to be a showing of the new body of work I have been developing over 2004 under the aegis Belle Wether. One-person shows in NYC don’t always come easily: rats.
May 2005
Somerville Open Studios, April 30 and May 1 was a success despite intermittent rain: although somewhat off the beaten track, my studio seems to have become known, and many folks were repeat visitors from years past. In my sixth year with SOS, four other artists showed with me (Jamil Simon, Annie Shallenberger, Richard Gilson, and Belle Wether); and the usual tides of poetry readings, piano playing, and so on provided eddies of enjoyment throughout both days.
January 2005
A continuation of the "Fishy, Fishy..." studio party of last Fall, when we all were drawn in by Peter Shelley’s presentation on ocean ecology and Maine fisheries and struggled to stay awake through the director’s cut of The Big Blue: Local documentary filmmaker, including Bob Nesson showed three short films. Over sixty people attended and the evening was rounded off by poetry readings by John Bailes, Susie Hampton, and Judy Silvan.
December 2004
My first foray into the New York art scene: I was part of a group show at a newish spot in Brooklyn just north of Prospect Park at 619 Vanderbilt Avenue called the Diane Boisvert Gallery. Diane, who hails from Canada, has a voice rich as a garbure, and continues to call herself a tourist...though her perceptions are sharper than those expressed by of most of us “natives.” The opening party was jammed and a great success. I exhibited from my brand new folio of smaller digital prints: please see www.dianeboisvertgallery.com for further information.
May 2004
My fifth showing as a part of Somerville Open Studios on the weekend of May 1st and 2nd was, as usual, a delight and success. There were lots of visitors, some from far afield (Stella came from Washington, DC!), and the weather once more was sweet and verdant. Again, I hosted several other artists in this show: Annie Shallenberger, www.aksassociates.com, a jeweler who showed with me at last year’s Open Studios, and Belle Wether, www.cornerpocketart.com, who does drawings of male nudes. These caused a buzz and Chuck is still not sure what he thinks of them, but generally they were well received; they were written up in an article in the Boston Herald. Multi-talented Phil Covitz once more gave Tarot readings with one hand while playing Rachmaninoff on the piano with the other. My lighting designer Phil Bundman built a huge hula-hoop lighting fixture—a "Rapture hole"—over the parking area between the house and the driveway for Saturday evening’s cookout and party, and Annie’s friend Ray brought tons of shrimp and manned the grill. The party culminated in an intimate and marvelous poetry reading by Susie Hampton and John Bailes. Drawings will remain up through June 2.
March 2004
Huge Party! At a one-night-only community party sponsored by Foglia Associates, a New England landscape design firm in Somerville, MA, I got to put up lots of my work as a backdrop to the festivities. There were several hundred people over the course of the evening, the best pot-luck I’ve ever encountered, and dancing to a seven-piece band. One piece is still prominently displayed, please check it out if you are in the neighborhood— it is a long drawing of mostly cosmos at the Somerville Community Growing Center, done as a commission for the City of Somerville under an Arts Council grant.
October 2003
In conjunction with Fort Point Open Studios, the title image from my first folio of digital prints was on display at C Duell Gallery, 300 Summer Street, Boston, on October 17, 18, and 19. I would like to acknowledge Charles River Editions of the Center for Digital Imaging Arts in Waltham for sponsoring the printing of this edition of "Dead Sunflowers," formerly only available as a blueprint proof on account of damage to the original.
October 2003
JESA DAMORA, RECENT PRINTS were shown at the Moosewood Restaurant, the world-famous vegetarian restaurant in downtown Ithaca, New York. Please see www.moosewoodrestaurant.com for more details. The show ran from October 1 through October 30 and was held to coincide with regional artists’ open studios, October 11–12 and October 18–19.
May 2003
Click here for pictures from May
2003 Somerville Open Studios.
For the fourth time, I participated in Somerville Open Studios. This
annual event, organized by the Somerville Arts Council and held this year
on May 3rd and 4th, has grown vigorously with each occasion, and is attended
by an amazing number of people. Check it out at www.somervilleartscouncil.org/
sos/.
Open Studios was again a collaborative affair: Annie Shallenberger showed her finely crafted, subtly elegant gold and silver jewelry, some with semi-precious stones. For a glimpse of her work, please go to www.aksassociates.com. Rob Olsen specially fabricated the cool lucite show cases that contained it, Phil Bundman totally redid the extensive lighting in the studio, my friend Jenny carted away the construction waste in the driveway, my brother Matt provided help too extensive to itemize, and my friend Kathy, famous for her "Chocolate Jesus" performance, drove up from Connecticut to hang out and spread cheer and hilarity.
It was a marvelous party—over 200 people came to this spot off the beaten track, and many lounged around, played the piano, sang, ate, conversed and laughed for hours, keeping the studio constantly lively and buzzing. We held a musicale, disorganized but delightful, during Saturday —musicians from around Somerville and as far away as Providence supplied a smorgasbord of everything from Rachmaninov to rock ’n’ roll. In addition, Philip Covitz, my Web site designer and a professional astrologer and Tarot reader, offered Tarot readings at the studio on both days; Phil Bundman premiered information and examples of his recently established lighting company for the arts, Moon Lighting; and David Dahlbecka dispensed information on the Mystic View Task Force.
March 2003
"Ellen’s Garden" was part of a juried show called Avant-Garden held at the Target Gallery at the Torpedo Factory Art Center in Alexandria, Virginia. This show was curated by Mark Leithauser, Senior Curator and Chief of Design at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. The show opened Thursday, March 21, and ran though Sunday, April 27.
February 2003
My work was part of a winter group show on February 7, 2003, at C Duell Gallery, 300 Summer Street, Boston. This was my first show with my new gallery!
As seen in the
December 23, 2002 issue of The Back Bay Courant:
Beacon Hill’s Marilyn Riseman (center) held court with TV news anchor Janet Wu and artist Jesa Damora at the opening of Upstairs on the Square restaurant.