For Immediate Release:
Contact: David Kuehn, Executive Director
Cotuit Center for the Arts
Phone: (508) 428-0669
Email: David@cotuitcenterforthearts.org
Website: ArtsOnTheCape.org
Two Art Exhibits at “Exposure: Beneath the Layers” and “Keys: Connecting” Open at Cotuit Center
for the Arts
Cotuit Center for the Arts presents two gallery exhibits, "Exposure: Beneath the Layers" by Art
Synergies and “Keys: Connecting,” featuring The Key Idea™, a community art project led by Lenore
Lyons, from October 10 through November 21. The opening reception is Saturday, October 10, from
5 to 7 PM, with an Artist Talk at 5 PM.
“Exposure: Beneath the Layers” features works by the eight members of the art collaborative,
ArtSynergies. The group was founded in 2006 to share ideas and information about digital imagemaking and computer technology and to present group shows. Synergy, the creation of a whole that
is greater that its individual parts, expresses well the nature of this creative group of artists.
Members are Mary Doering, Barbara Ford Doyle, Martine Jore, Lee Connolly-Weill, Amy Heller, Sara
David Ringler, Alan Trugman, and Joyce Gardner Zavorskas.
“Exposure: Beneath the Layers” features two- and three-dimensional works on the theme of
exposure. Pieces range from abstract to representational and surrealistic to playful. Each artist
presents his or her own varied interpretation of the theme, combining computer technology with
traditional media and expanding on the definitions of collage, montage, and mixed media. The artists
have used processes including photo transfers, cyanotype, encaustic, photography, and various types
of printmaking methods.
“Keys: Connecting” is an exhibit of key-inspired artwork, including “The Key Idea,” a community art
project created in collaboration the Cape and Islands Art Educators, and a selection of encaustics and
mixed media pieces by Lenore Lyons.
“Imagine a key that would unlock anything you desire. What would you unlock?” This was the
question posed by “Keys: Connecting” project developer Lenore Lyons of Explore Art! The Journal
Project, in collaboration with Cotuit Center for the Arts and the Cape Cod and Islands Art Educators.
Since last October, over 2,500 individuals, ranging in age from 1 to 100, have responded to this
question and added their voices to Cape Cod’s largest community art project. Lyons collected
thousands of used keys from across the U.S. and around the world, and she and a team of educators
have provided the keys to people at fairs and festivals, school classrooms in every town on the Cape,
and community organizations of all kinds.
Each participant selected a key, drew a picture of the key, and wrote a sentence or two about what
the key opened for them. Most people, children and adults, kept the key when it was offered, as a
reminder of what they wrote.
“Keys recall vivid memories and inspire powerful concepts,” said Lyons. “People often selected a key
because ‘felt good,’ rather than because of the way it looked, indicating a certain connection with
the key. It was a very emotional experience for many. They wrote about things that were important
to them.”
Participants wrote about goals, longings or personal interests, from the political: “This is the key to
campaign finance reform,” to the personal: “This is the key to growing up Jewish on Cape Cod,” to
long-held desires: “This key will open the door to my brand-new Corvette that I am going to buy
myself when I turn 71 in October.”
Their drawings ranged from the simple to the very elaborate. “Some people take five minutes to do
their drawing and statement,” said Lyons. “Others would sit for an hour and chat while they worked
on their pieces, embellishing it, making it their own, all the while claiming, ‘I’m not artistic.’”
Children and adults of different ages had very different approaches to the project. “Almost every 4year-old writes, ‘It opens a door!’ ‘It starts a car!’ as if to say, ‘Why are you even asking me this
question?’” said Lyons.
By age 6, 7 and 8, children’s responses are very imaginative and involve “fairies, unicorns, puppies,
and candy,” said Lyons.
Nine-year-olds are different. “If I see something incredibly thoughtful written in a child’s handwriting,
it is almost always a 9-year-old,” said Lyons. “When I see, ‘The key to solving world hunger,’ ‘The key
to humanity,’ ‘The key to forgiveness: Don’t we all make mistakes? Shouldn’t we all be forgiven?’ it
was written by a 9-year-old.”
Teenagers write about self-discovery. Twenty-year-olds talk about education, new starts, travel,
adventure, and love. Thirty-year-olds are interested in home, family, and children, and 40-year-olds
write about travel and adventure. “People in their 50s are the most random,” said Lyons. “They write
about anything. They are funny, with a kind of do-not-care attitude.”
People in their 60s write about doing what they always wanted to do—play the cello or take up
painting, while those in their 70s write about retirement. In their 80s and 90s, people write about
travel and adventure again, about longevity, memories, and the problems of aging.
“Some are sad or poignant,” said Lyons. “One 80-year-old woman wrote, “This is the key to my car. I
don’t have it anymore. It was taken away from me. I can’t drive any more. How dependent I am.’”
People also write about wishes for other people. “It’s fascinating,” said Lyons. ”There is no end to the
interesting things and the variety of things people write about.”
Most of the pieces in the collection are five and a half inches square on heavy-weight watercolor
paper and will be arranged in grids, by age group, in the exhibit. A wide variety of media were used,
from sharpies to pencils, paint, and mixed media. Some of the pieces were done as sculptures, and
there are also some group pieces created by families, as well as some created by local artists.
“One of the purposes of my life is to help people discover their creativity, whether for five minutes or
for a lifetime,” said Lyons. “This is a project that people can connect to and share with others. People
loved creating art that would part of the voice of the community.”
Lyons has many ideas about how the project may continue in the future, perhaps in smaller groups,
as a school project, a book, or a fundraiser. “Imagine how different the results would be in different
communities,” she said. “It is a wonderful way for people to explore future possibilities and
opportunities, or to reflect on their lives.”
Cotuit Center for the Arts is at 4404 Route 28 in Falmouth. For more information, visit
artsonthecape.org or call 508-428-0669.
# # #
What:
ArtSynergies “Exposure: Beneath the Layers” and “Keys: Connecting”
Where:
Cotuit Center for the Arts, 4404 Route 28, Cotuit
When:
October 10 through November 21. Opening reception, Saturday, October 10, 5 to 7 PM, with Artist
Talk at 5 PM.
Admission:
Free
END