November Associates Show

Hera Gallery Presents the:

 November Associates Show:

A Member Exhibition featuring:

Iris Falck Donnelly, James Sundquist, and MJ Yeager

Exhibition Dates: November 18th   – December 23rd    

Opening Reception: Saturday, November 18tth, 6:00 – 8:00 p.m.

Hera Gallery is pleased to announce its November Associates Show. This is a member exhibition that will showcase work of three of our Gallery artists, Iris Falck Donnelly, James Sundquist, and MJ Yeager. We invite the public to join us Saturday, November 18th from 6:00 to 8:00pm for the opening reception. The exhibition will run until December 23rd.

Hera Gallery is the 5th oldest women founded project art space in the United States. Our non-profit, artist-run organization has continued to stimulate discussion and challenge perceptions for over 40 years. This creative space has allowed countless artists a place for transformation, exploration, and community with one another.

Iris Falck Donnelly began studying photography at the University of Rhode Island in the summer of 1985 with Stephen Brigidi. She has two diplomas from the Universite de Caen in Normandy, France and a Master of Arts in Teaching from Brown University. After teaching French and Spanish for six years, she spent most of her professional career as a Bilingual Special Education Resource Teacher with the Providence School Department.

Iris has been awarded several grants by the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts including an Artist Project Grant for the portfolio Photographs of the Handicapped and another for In Nicaragua With Providence's Sister City Project, a document of the city's role in the construction of a school and health clinic in Niquinohomo during the Contra War.  

Most recently, she is the curator and participating photographer of In Cuba With Witness for Peace that includes exhibits at Hera Gallery, VanVessem Gallery and the AS220 Project Space (May 2016).  An Arts Access Grant was awarded to Witness for Peace and the International House of Rhode Island for the Cuban events.

Some of her other Latin American photography has been shown at the Rhode Island School of Design Museum of Art, Newport Art Museum, and Atrium Gallery. When Kara Walker was invited to curate an exhibit at the Providence Art Club, she selected a photograph by Iris Donnelly.

For the past twelve years, Iris has been photographer of the Chappaquiddick Tribe of the Wampanoag Indian Nation during their annual summer gathering on Martha's Vineyard.

James Sundquist (b. 1992) is an emerging Artist based in Central Fall, Rhode Island.

James graduated with a B.F.A. in Painting (Honors) and a B.A. in Philosophy from Rhode Island College in May 2017. During his time at Rhode Island College he exhibited regionally in a number of group shows, and most notably has been selected twice to participate in the Inter-Youth International Exhibition in Hangzhou, China—a survey of about 100 young, emerging artists represented at the China Academy of Art. In the 2016 version of the exhibition he was one of a select few artists to receive the “Outstanding Creativity” Award for the work submitted to the show.

For this exhibition, he is working on developing several diverse bodies of work, ranging from interests in nature and botanical environments to studying the work of Nikolai Tesla and applying his theories of wireless energy transmission for an upcoming body of paintings and sculptures.

MJ Yeager worked in the design field from 1974 in Pittsburgh, Los Angeles, New York City, Washington DC and Maine until 1994 shortly after the birth of her daughter when she and her family moved to Maine. It was then that she retired from the graphic design field and began teaching art to children and adults. She moved here to Rhode Island in 2003 and taught art locally at Quest Montessori School. Teaching provided her an opportunity to fine-tune her own expressive art forms including painting and blended media collage.
Her 20-plus year career as a graphic designer may explain her passion for the process of collage. As a designer/art director in the 70s, 80s and early 90s prior to the onset of digital technologies, all of the design and production was prepared in cut-and-paste format and sent to print houses for reproduction. By 1992 all design projects were completed on computers but her passion on to trim and paste imagery continued

I have been involved in art and design longer than I can remember. Before the word "design" entered my vocabulary I recall driving with my family and pointing out signs that I was sure I could improve. My lengthy career in graphic design started long before computers claimed the field. I loved the process of sketching, drawing, cutting and pasting images and type to produce a project. Once I crossed over to the digital age I still had the deep urge to juxtapose imagery and language to a surface. My work has evolved dramatically from literal surrealist vignettes to fully emotive abstract expressionism. I make collage as a means of channeling a thought or feeling that I can't arrive at through my thinking. –MJ Yeager