Retro Active
An interactive retrospective of works from the HCC Permanent Collection
The Taber Art Gallery at Holyoke Community College is presenting “Retro Active,” an interactive retrospective of works from the HCC Permanent Collection, now through October 22.
The exhibit includes 26 pieces from the more than 300 the college owns and has been collecting since the 1960s, said Rachel Rushing, the Taber Art Gallery director.
“What’s on display is a combination of contemporary art, pieces from artists living and working in their day, and historical pieces that were either donated or purchased by the college,” she said.
That’s the “Retro” part of the show.
Also included among the paintings, lithographs, prints, and other pieces are four stations where gallery visitors can offer their own interpretations and comments on individual works of art. Each of the four stations has a different theme: Critique, Curate, Connect, and Create.
That’s the “Active” part of the show.
“I call the show a ‘collaborative review’ because I’m asking visitors to sit with each of these stations and really think about the collection itself,” Rushing said. “I’ve got prompts. They can write up their comments and pin them up to a bulletin board. It’s a way to get feedback.”
For instance, the “Create” station features a desk with an antique Underwood manual typewriter focused on a woodcut by late American artist Fred Becker and asks visitors to offer a description of the piece or write a poem.
“Critique” invites people to offer their comments about two specific pieces some might find r “contentious.” One is a color etching called “Jerusalem” by Amran Ebgi, who was born in Morocco in 1939 to Orthodox Jewish parents; the other is called “Lindy Hop,” a 1937 black and white etching by Fred Becker that depicts dancers at a Harlem jazz club in the early 20th century.
The show includes five pieces from the Taber Collection, which was donated to the college by the gallery’s namesake, the late Holyoke businessman Donald Taber. One of the pieces is a lithograph by Salvador Dali, signed by the artist.
Two of the larger pieces are holdovers from a summer exhibit featuring work by HCC alumni artists. One wall contains 19 paintings and etchings by Becker and his wife, artist Jean Morrison Becker, who both taught at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
The Taber Art Gallery, located off the lobby of the HCC Library on the second floor of the HCC Donahue Building, is free and open to the public Monday through Thursday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. during regular school sessions.
PHOTOS: (Thumbnail) A visitor explores the "Retro Active" exhibit in the Taber Art Gallery. (Above) A collection of etchings and paintings by artists Fred Becker and Jean Morrison Becker.
