IN THE ANNEX: APRIL 2022
March 30-April 24, 2022
Molly Dee, Amanda Millis, Gery Menz
SoWa First Friday Art Walk: Friday, April 1, 2022 | 5:00–8:00 PM
April opens our Annex exhibition series with three artists whose work responds to form and light. Molly Dee, a sculptor, and Gerry Menz, a painter, both have a focus on the human figure. Amanda Millis responds to the landscape.
The ANNEX is a section of the Gallery where we spotlight new work by regional artists.
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Molly Dee
In her work as a sculptor, Molly Dee researches and interacts in communities to share their stories through the exploration of the human form. Dee's work is an abstraction of the female figure with her own body and its movements as her biggest inspiration. She strives to capture the inner movement and expressive form of the figure. Then using a small layer of abstraction she is able to tell a story that allows all audiences to put themselves inside the figure. than capture a body exactly as it appears - where we can distance ourselves through details that we know don’t belong
Dee was born and raised in the Boston area where she was a student at Joseph P. Keefe Technical High School before attending Boston University’s School of Visual Arts. There she earned a Bachelors of Fine Art with a double major in Graphic Design & Sculpture and a minor in History of Art & Architecture. She is currently a visual arts teacher as well as an artist.
Amanda Millis
Amanda Case Millis is a Boston-based perceptual painter who is inspired by place. A central focus of her work is light—the light that she sees in the world and translates into paint. The work in this show, painted on location in Maine, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts, is representative of her plein air painting practice. She works outside in collaboration with the elements to capture the immediacy uniquely experienced in nature. When she paints, she integrates her physical observations with her interior feelings—translating the seen and felt into a language of shape and color. She considers nature her greatest teacher.
Millis received her MFA from Massachusetts College of Art and Design and a BA from Smith College. Her work has been recognized in exhibitions throughout the US and Australia and is in private collections worldwide. She lived in Sydney, Australia from 2012-17 where she was a finalist in major art competions. Millis has been awarded residencies at PLAYA, Hambidge Center for the Creative Arts, Monson Arts, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, the Eastern Frontier Educational Foundation, and Mount Gretna School of Art. She has a forthcoming residency and solo show in Northwest Germany. Currently she paints out of her studio at Waltham Mills in Waltham, MA.
Gerry Menz
Gerry Menz sees beauty in every face and finds a story in every figure. This quality fuels her art practice, which includes painting, drawing, and small sculpture. Menz works primarily in acrylic, often in combination with drawing materials and stitching. She starts by layering color and marks on the paper. She works intuitively, looking for shapes that evoke some aspect of the figure, discovering her subject as she paints. What’s important is an emotional connection to what is emerging rather than a realistic portrayal. She sees revealed a complexity in each character, and an enigmatic gaze that tells a whole human story.
For nearly two decades, Menz owned and operated Artwear, the award-winning women’s boutique in Arlington, MA. She also developed her own line of clothing which was sold in stores throughout New England. Earlier in her life she worked as a costume designer and preschool and kindergarten teacher. Her studio is in her home near Boston, where she lives with her husband, their daughter, and three dogs. Menz received a BA in Art from Emmanuel College.