Zullo Gallery unveils holiday exhibit

By James Kinneen
Hometown Weekly Reporter

Medfield’s Zullo Gallery Center For the Arts unveiled its holiday pieces this week, but visitors won’t find any Christmas trees, elves or stockings covered in glitter - just reasonably-priced pieces from local Massachusetts artists.

At first glance, the artwork on the walls of the gallery can seem quite small. However, this is less of a stylistic choice than a practical one. While the gallery’s pieces often average between 400 and 2500 dollars, the holiday exhibit has been specifically tailored to cater to buyers that may be looking for less expensive pieces, perhaps as a special gift for the holidays.

But that has not come at the expense of quality, as Executive Director William Pope explained.

“The nature of this exhibit is that there’s 11 different artists in it. And, the premise is number one that I know, because they’ve been here before, that they’re very good artists, very talented, and that you have a wide variety of different works - some photography, some mixed media, some paintings - so it’s a variety of work. The premise was that all the artwork had to be less than 375 dollars, so that kind of created the fact that there are going to be a lot of medium to small pieces, but it makes a nice variety at this time of year for people to come in and find a really nice, affordable piece of artwork.”

If you have been to the Zullo Gallery before, you should know that this artwork will be different from the pieces you’ve seen in the past. Further, of the eleven artists whose work is being displayed, six have never had their work displayed at the Zullo Gallery before, providing what Pope deemed a “fresh, new and exciting” feel to the exhibit.

Another new edition to the gallery is the addition of ceramic pottery for the first time, provided by Medfield’s own Tom Cadman. These ceramics are both very well done and unique, including a fascinating take on the Dionysus myth printed on a tan ceramic.

Other unique pieces include Tracey Maroney’s slightly abstract take on traditional landscapes, Rebeccah Skinner’s “abandoned photography” focused on deserted cars, trucks, interiors and exteriors, and Gale Fisher’s torn paper pieces made of reworked photos.

In addition to its exhibits, the gallery also offers adult and children’s art classes, taught by Kim Weineck and Medfield’s Kerry Gorton Evans. Incidentally, the two instructors both have work displayed in the holiday exhibition.

Further information about the Zullo Gallery is available at www.zullogallery.org.