Large vertical chalk on paper drawing of blue, red, grey and black birds
chalk on four vintage collaged music sheets
Artwork measures 78 x 25 inches,
83.5 x 30 inches framed, deckle edge paper is floated in natural wood moulding with glass.
This contemporary graphic chalk drawing on collaged vintage music sheets was made by Louise Laplante in 2016. The delicate yet vivid silhouettes of birds are stenciled onto the vintage music sheets with red, blue, navy, and black chalk. The birds extend vertically up the paper, as if they were singing in a flock. In some segments the stenciled birds are delicately brushed over with a thin wisp of chalk. The work is complimented with a modern natural wood frame. Whimsical composition, gorgeous neutral palette, and uplifting imagery!
About the artist:
Mixed media artist, Louise Laplante, will exhibit new drawings on collaged pages of of vintage paper. Interested in blending the old world with the new, Laplante combines her original images with ephemera of the past, enticing a conversation about it’s “relevancy to the present.” Her compositions begin with vintage book pages, personal handwritten letters, sheet music, or instruction from old guides on etiquette or science. While the text itself is weighted with reference to a particular subject, the visual of the typed or handwritten words and printed illustrations establish a unique pattern. These layered backgrounds are superimposed with opaque charcoal drawings that are inspired by the themes read between the lines. Most recently, the artist has opted for larger scale work, combining multiple sheets of vintage paper to expand her unique motifs. In the six and a half foot tall work, “Chorus”, a flock of multi-colored birds are stenciled on collaged sheets of handwritten music. They gravitate in a gloriously dynamic upward movement, illustrating their song resonating in harmonious unison. Other work is decorated with groupings of blue whales, billowy clouds, or gentlemen’s hats, while some selections are riddled with personal references that are blurred with whitewash. Laplante exhibits across the Northeast and has shown with Carrie Haddad for more than ten years.
Resume:
2017 Abstractions in Black and White, Gallery 175 Pawtucket, Rhode Island
Blanche Ames National, Borderlands, North Easton, Massachusetts
Five Points Biennial, Five Points Gallery, Torrington, Connecticut
A Declaration of Sentiments: Reflections on the Centennial of Women’s Right to Vote in NYS, Athens
Cultural Center, Athens, New York
2016 Winter Exhibit, Carrie Haddad Gallery, Hudson, New York
2015 Boston Biennial 4, Atlantic Gallery, Boston, Massachusetts
Drawing, Carrie Haddad Gallery, Hudson, New York
Taking Root: Caniskek and the Meeting of Two Worlds, Athens Cultural Center, Athens, New York
North Northeast, Brattleboro Museum and Art Center, Brattleboro, Vermont
NBMMA 45th Exhibition, New Britain Museum of American Art, New Britain, Connecticut
2014 New Directions ’14, Barrett Art Center, Poughkeepsie, New York
Connecticut Women Artists – 85th National, Slater Memorial Museum, Norwich, Connecticut
New England Collective V, Galatea Fine Art, Boston, Massachusetts
Boston Biennial 3, Atlantic Works Gallery, Boston, Massachusetts
2013 Storytellers and Conjurers, Carrie Haddad Gallery, Hudson, New York
2012 Works on Paper, Carrie Haddad Gallery, Hudson, New York
Drawing, b.j. spoke gallery, Huntington, New York
Strange Glue, Thompson Gallery, Weston, Massachusetts
Silhouette, A.P.E., Northampton, Massachusetts
The Cadence of Familiarity, Krauss Gallery, Providence, Rhode Island
2011 20th Anniversary Exhibition, Carrie Haddad Gallery, Hudson, New York
Paperworks, Paper City Studios, Holyoke, Massachusetts
Small Works, Towne Gallery, Wheelock College, Boston, Massachusetts
2010 Text/Context, McCoy Gallery, Merrimack College, North Andover, Massachusetts
A Community of Artists, Danforth Museum of Art, Framingham, Massachusetts
Here and Gone: Presence, Absence, Memory and Time, Amy H. Carberry Fine Art Gallery,
Springfield Technical Community College, Springfield, Massachusetts
2009 Dreamscape, Carrie Haddad Gallery, Hudson, New York
2008 Small ’08, Wunderarts Gallery, Amherst, Massachusetts
Interaction: Louise Laplante and Liz Chalfin, Wunderarts Gallery, Amherst Massachusetts
Artists and Books, Art Complex Museum, Duxbury, Massachusetts
One Night, Pivot Gallery, Florence, Massachusetts
2007 20 Artists X 2 Feet, Wunderarts Gallery, Amherst, Massachusetts
Biennial 2007, New Hampshire Art Institute, Manchester, New Hampshire
Salon, Clark Gallery, Lincoln, Massachusetts
2006 Small: 20 Artists X 2 Feet, Wunderarts Gallery, Amherst, Massachusetts
Salon, Clark Gallery, Lincoln, Massachusetts
2004 On Paper, Carrie Haddad Gallery, Hudson, New York
Encaustics, Carrie Haddad Gallery, Hudson, New York
New Acquisitions, University Gallery, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts
2003 Hart Gallery, Northampton, Massachusetts
2002 The Belles of Amherst; Contemporary Women Artists in the Collection of the Mead Art Museum
and the University Gallery, Mead Art Museum, Amherst, Massachusetts
1998 Vessels: Louise Laplante & David Powers, Hart Gallery, Northampton, Massachusetts
Ten Women, Whistler House Museum of Art, Lowell, Massachusetts
1997 Self Portraits, Hart Gallery, Northampton, Massachusetts
1996 Painting Now, Bristol Art Museum, Bristol, Rhode Island
Louise Laplante, Milton Art Museum, Milton, Massachusetts
1995 New Work: Louise Laplante, St. Germaine Gallery, Springfield, Massachusetts
Drawings: Louise Laplante, Newspace Gallery, Manchester, Connecticut
Small Works, Pump House Gallery, Hartford, Connecticut
1994 Sesquicentennial Celebration, Rice Gallery, Albany Institute of History and Art, Albany, New York
Two Artists, Cuneen-Hackett Cultural Center, Poughkeepsie, New York
Large Drawings – Louise Laplante, Canal Gallery, Holyoke, Massachusetts
1993 Louise Laplante, Geissler Gallery, Greenfield, Massachusetts
Drawing Now, Boston Center for the Arts, Boston, Massachusetts
1992 Louise Laplante, Pindar Gallery, New York, New York
Louise Laplante and Margaret Plaganis, Pump House Gallery, Hartford, Connecticut
1991 Small Objects, Nicole C. Gallery, Boston, Massachusetts
The Changing World, Pindar Gallery, New York, New York
Louise Laplante New Work, Nicole C. Gallery, Boston, Massachusetts
1989 New Artists: Gloria Winchler Memorial Exhibition, Currier Gallery, Manchester, New Hampshire
Figures and Faces, Gary Wortzel Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts
Louise Laplante, Museum of Fine Arts, Springfield, Massachusetts
1988 Paperworks, Clary-Miner Gallery, Buffalo, New York
Small But Monumental, Hera Gallery, Providence, Rhode Island
1987 The Subject is Water, Newport Art Museum, Newport, Rhode Island
1986 American Contemporary Women Artists, Gallery Triangle, Washington, DC
1985 Louise Laplante, The Gallery, Springfield Tech Community College, Springfield, Massachusetts
Louise Laplante Works on Paper, Hampshire College Gallery, Amherst, Massachusetts
1984 Works on Paper, F.A.C.E.T., Taos, New Mexico
Works on Paper, 100% Realart Gallery, Spokane, Washington
1983 Louise Laplante, Springfield Central Gallery, Springfield, Massachusetts
Rope, Drawings by Louise Laplante, Main Street Gallery, Amherst, Massachusetts
Women Artists, Herter Gallery, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts
1982 Two Artists Drawing, Gallery on Paper, Lenox, Massachusetts
Artists Self Portraits, Pratt Gallery, Amherst, Massachusetts
Small Works, Passepartout Gallery, Winooski, Vermont
Valley Artists ’82, The Gallery, Amherst, Massachusetts
1981 Invitational, Danco Gallery, Florence, Massachusetts
Bibliography
“’Works on Paper’ Evokes Yesteryear, at Carrie Haddad Gallery”, Amy Griffin, Albany Times Union, September 26,2012
‘’Strange Glue: Collage at 100”, catalog, essay Todd Bartell, Thompson Gallery, Weston, Massachusetts, 2012
Creative Quarterly No. 21, The Journal of Design and Art, December 2010
“Louise Laplante: Here and Gone”, Paul Bloomfield, Art New England, April/May 2010
“Burge, King, Laplante and Hammond at Haddad Gallery”, Hudson-Catskill Newspapers, Hudson, New York, November 8, 2009
“On Paper”, Daily Freeman, Kingston, New York, July 2, 2004
“The Belles of Amherst”
Contemporary Women’s Art...