Shervone Neckles: Steeping Memory

Installation view

We do rely on art for healing purposes, but art that directly heals often requires a performative component. That is not to say that it delivers results, but there needs to be an interactive element in which the art appears to “give back” to the viewer.  I visited the shrine of St. Anthony in Padua, for me, it was mostly to see the Donatello altarpiece and the Antonio and Tullio Lombardo friezes, but it was impossible to ignore the numerous worshippers at the shrine, their foreheads resting against the saint’s sarcophagus, inserting small pieces of paper with requests for St. Anthony.  For nine years, Shervone Neckles has wheeled her healing cart — the Creative Wellness Gathering Station throughout the five boroughs and dispensed potions to fascinated and grateful onlookers. 

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Art Spiel Picks: Boston Exhibitions in November 2025

HIGHLIGHTS
Beverly Semmes, Red Bird on Blue, 2017, 16” x 20”, oil and magazine page collage on glass

I’m deeply grateful for Boston’s university galleries—they consistently fill the gaps left by the local commercial gallery scene, which has been diluted, in my opinion, by the pressure to cover rent. These institutions reliably bring high-quality, thoughtful art and ideas to the city. A short but not exhaustive list would include the Rose Art Museum at Brandeis, the Aidekman Arts Center at Tufts, MIT’s List Visual Arts Center, and the Harvard Art Museums.

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Caroline Burton: The Back of the Moon

In Conversation
The Back of the Moon, Caroline Burton, view 2, on view at the Louise Hopkins Underwood Center for the Arts in the Christine DeVitt Exhibition Hall in Lubbock, TX, photo courtesy of Taylor Ernst

What does it take to move an exhibition from one institution to another, and how does it change along the way? Caroline Burton’s The Back of the Moon began at The Clara M. Eagle Gallery at Murray State University, where curator T. Michael Martin first organized the presentation. Recognizing both the impact of Burton’s large-scale works and the practicality of transporting them rolled in tubes, Martin developed opportunities for the exhibition to travel. This led to a partnership with the Louise Hopkins Underwood Center for the Arts (LHUCA) in Lubbock, Texas, where curator Taylor Ernst re-envisioned the show for the Christine DeVitt Exhibition Hall. With each venue offering its own curatorial approach and installation design, The Back of the Moon continues to evolve as it moves between sites. In the following conversation, curators T. Michael Martin and Taylor Ernst discuss the process of shaping this traveling exhibition.

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Holly Wong: Full Circle at Slate Contemporary Gallery

Previewing Exhibition
Body of Light, Textile and LED. Photo: John Janca

“Coming full circle and making whole” is how Holly Wong describes her process of repair—working with memory, reassembling fragments, and layering paint, fabric, and light into new forms. On view at SLATE Contemporary in Oakland from September 5 through October 11, 2025, Full Circle is her second solo exhibition with the gallery. It brings together collaged paintings on shaped aluminum and wood panels, mixed media drawings, wall-based fiber and LED installations, and a heat-molded acrylic assemblage, presenting a mid-career survey of her work.

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Feeling the Onslaught of the Moment at Field of Play

Lauren Clark, Four Points Round, oil, acrylic, cotton mesh, copper, glass beads, iron, malachite, 40 x 20 inches

The exhibition at Field of Play gallery titled Onslaught of the Moment was wonderful, intriguing and timely all in one. The gallery’s exhibitions are always deeply considered and engaging, even within a smaller space, the works all shine and carry with them quite the presence. The shows are always curated with care, and this exhibition was no exception. Curated by Kate Sherman, the works of Lauren Clark, Masie Love, and Brian Karlsson each traverse space and show a progression of both time and experience through each artist’s process.

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ARCOlisboa 2025 and Lisbon’s Renaissance

ARCOlisboa 2025

Lisbon in May presents itself as both majestic and enigmatic, its urban landscape punctuated by clusters of jacaranda trees in full bloom, casting cascades of purple blossoms across streets and sky like botanical fireworks. The city’s legendary seven hills form a natural amphitheater overlooking the Tagus River, creating an endless choreography of ascent and descent through Escher-like topographies. Glossy marble cobblestones snake through a labyrinth of narrow streets, flanked by stately yet sometimes weathered palaces and residential buildings adorned with brightly colored azulejo tiles that catch and reflect the city’s crystalline light, making the entire urban fabric shimmer.

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Those Who Fulfill the Infinite Labor of Love

Photo Story
Anya Kotler – “Never Alone IV” (2024) . Graphite on paper and paper mache, 13 × 9 in

The group exhibition titled Those Who Tend at the Warnes Contemporary in Brooklyn is an occasion in which 22 artists come together to celebrate their shared philosophy towards work and life. The title refers to the fact that all the artists here care for others in one form or another, whether they are parents of young children, grownups caring for their elderly parents, or supporting staff for people with disabilities.

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Wherever I Lay My Head at the Jamaica Center for Arts and Learning 

In Dialogue
Group picture(Members in picture from left to right): Euijin V. Ra (artist), Julia D. Shaw (artist), Courteny Symone Staton (artist), Laura OsCam (artist), Sherwin Banfield (Program Manager), TEDF (artist), Marleen Moise (artist).

Wherever I Lay My Head, now on view at The Jamaica Center for Arts and Learning , began with an invitation to Indira A. Abiskaroon to curate the culminating ARTWorks exhibition. The offer came from Program Manager Sherwin Banfield and was formalized in conversation with Director of Program Operations Wendy Arimah Berot. Abiskaroon’s first priority was to spend time with the ARTWorks Fellows—to learn how their practices had developed over the course of the program and to hear what ideas had been resonating in their weekly sessions.

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Art Spiel Picks: Manhattan Exhibitions in May 2025

HIGHLIGHTS
Holding Water: Mary Mattingly

This month’s Manhattan highlights focus on artists tapping into the natural world, where these practices converge with the man-made in a clash of stunning reinvention and compelling engagement. These exhibitions channel the experimental through exploratory processes that harness our attention and hold us in their spell.

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Ghada Amer: New Directions and Disobedient Thoughts at Marianne Boesky Gallery

Installation view

Upon entering this exhibition, I was taken to the wall pieces immediately, especially the use of vibrantly colored embroidery string mimicking paint strokes on the canvas. Art historical references and connections are very prevalent in the works of this exhibit. It was refreshing to see this conversation of the painting canon being brought up in a contemporary light by the use of this novel medium. Amer’s love and interest in the history of painting is apparent, and her works show art historical influences intertwined with intuition and a strong painterly hand that is present despite there being no paint in the show.

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