I usually have time off in the winter, so I tend to go to art shows during the week when school is still in session.

It has been too long since I went to the Fuller Craft Museum in Brockton,MA. This is a gem of a museum and the quality of works and shows is superb. I checked out their website and was attracted to the small thumbprint image, advertising the Amy Genser show called Shifting. I love patterns, and was intrigued by the beehive structural installation that she constructed of painted paper.

My first impression as I walked in the room was, well…I was awestruck! This colorful growing pattern is mesmerizing! It fills the room and brings to mind a kind of meandering fungus, growing up to the ceiling and continuing down the hall and up the staircase! Much more beautiful of course. Each cell is made from rolled up painted paper and glued to the next on a network below of  thin rice paper.

To look at each part that makes up the whole is daunting. This had to be years in the making. Beyond the construction you will notice that the colorations change with the seasons. Gradual and subtle, your eye will seek out all the painterly changes that she creates with intricately rolled up paper. The work is not all flat either, there are lifts as if they have the ability to crawl up the walls.

I had so many questions that I looked her up on Instagram and was able to see the documentation of her installation process. You can see more of her work on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/amygenserstudio/ There is also a video link on the Fuller Craft Museum website of her walking you through the whole installation. https://fullercraft.org/event/amy-genser-shifting/

She is inspired by plants, beehives, and other patterned structures in the natural world. I noticed as I walked past a window that the shadows of the trees on the building echo some of her shapes on the walls. The show opened February 5, 2022 and will be up until December 3, 2023, so you have most of this year to go see it! Check out the Fuller Craft Museum website to see what other shows are going on at the same time. So much to see here, I have never left this Museum disappointed!