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Artists from FSC take part in global
exhibit 'The Coaster Project' FRAMINGHAM
- For most drinkers, a coaster is nothing more than a little cardboard mat
that keeps their Cokes or cocktails from leaving wet circles on the counter. Now, 99 artists from
Framingham State College to Antarctica are circulating nearly 10,000 handcrafted
coasters around the world bearing personal messages from the profound to the
peculiar. So put down your Black
Russian and check out "The Coaster Project, Destination: The World"
at the Whittemore Library at Framingham State College. Visitors will see 99
coasters bearing so many different images they'll think their last beverage
was 100 proof. There are coasters with
handpainted ideograms from the I Ching and portraits of Jimminy Cricket. There are coasters bearing
arcane messages asking strangers to "Drink me" or cautioning
others, "Don't put all your eggs in one basket." And some coasters share
esoteric bits of whimsy with torn bits of a dollar bill or a big fat greasy
thumbprint. After being exhibited at
the college library from March 25 through April 12, all the coasters will be
given away free to "unsuspecting" patrons at Sabina Doyle's Irish
Pub and Restaurant at 116 Main St. in Medway on April 13 and 14. According to the project's
founder, Mary Sherman, an artist and editor for Art New England magazine, the
project involves "99 artists working together who have transcended
geographic, political and cultural boundaries to stage more than 99
trans-global exhibitions." Sherman said the widely
varying designs on the coasters reflect "the basic human desire to
express ourselves through images." The images on coasters
displayed at FSC range from prosaic to perplexing, from the mundane to the
miraculous. Participating artists were
given few limitations except to make their coasters about four by six inches. There are coasters with
images of Christ's face on a tortilla chip, a blonde dominatrix with a fly
swatter, pieces of a doll and a lactating breast. The FSC exhibit is one of
99 similar exhibitions staged at 99 sites around the world between March 9 and
May 19 as part of an innovative project organized by TransCultural Exchange. The exhibit is free to the
public. Narinjan Khalsa, director
of the college's Mazmanian Gallery who organized the FSC exhibit, described
"The Coaster Project" as an "artistic goodwill venture"
that lets artists "break boundaries by creating exhibits that curate
themselves." "Putting art on
coasters is a nice idea. It's a strange thing to put your finger on. I really
don't know what feels so good about it," she said. Founded by the artist-run
organization, "TransCultural Exchange," "The Coaster
Project" will result in more than 10,000 pieces of art being given away
in the guise of coasters at cafes, bars, restaurants and coffee shops. The project's goal,
according to the FSC wall notes, is "to create an international public
forum ... where people from all parts of the world realize only positive
things happen when people work together." Khalsa made 99 of her own
coasters, "Baby Bodhisattva," in which the design reflected her
former work as a home-birth midwife and vocation as an explorer of Indian
religions. She explained in some
forms of Buddhism, a Bodhisattva is an enlightened soul that out of
compassion surrenders its right to the pure happiness of Nirvana in order to
remain on Earth to educate others. Khalsa said, "I think
all babies who come into a soul have made that choice. It was fun to be part
of this project." An artist who paints and
sculpts, Khalsa said her 99 coasters will be shown around the world in
locations as far-flung as Inner Mongolia, Finland, India, South Africa, Korea
and Turkey. "I guess this makes
me an international artist," she joked. "It's exciting to be spread
far and wide." In Massachusetts, coasters
from "The Coaster Project" will be given away at sites in Amherst,
Boston, Brockton, Cambridge, Medway, Northampton and Sunderland. For more information
about the Coaster Project, visit the Web site at
www.transculturalexchange.org/coasterproject. |
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