JACK LUEDERS-BOOTH

Seven Selections from the Library
of Congress Lowell Folklife Project

October 31 – November 30, 2019

The library of Congress, American Folklife Center, became interested in Lowell MA. as a city that had been reborn. The textile mills of the industrial revolution played a central role in the development of Lowell, and in its diverse migratory history. The early twentieth century collapse of that industry in this city brought with it a period of economic depression that lasted for more than half a century. In the nineteen seventies the city of Lowell began a near miraculous recovery that was sparked by, (1) its designation as the site for the Lowell National Historical Park, an urban park which tells the story of the industrial revolution, (2) the founding of Lowell Heritage State Park, (3) the establishment of a city university, and (4) high tech industries moving to, and around Lowell. The city now stands as a monument to the importance of cooperation between public and private sectors. 

When the Library of Congress asked me to photograph this national model, I was encouraged to follow my own instincts. As always, my own instincts led me to people. The City of Lowell includes about fifteen different ethnic groups. I was attracted to this mix of peoples, which includes a large number of southeast Asians whose presence in Lowell is not rooted in nineteenth century mill culture, but is rooted in their recent flight from the turmoil in their homelands. -Jack Lueders-Booth

Lueders-Booth’s photographs are included in important collections, including those of The Addison Gallery of American Art, The Art Institute of Chicago; deCordova Museum and Sculpture Park; The Hood Museum; The Fogg Art Museum; The Library of Congress; The Museum of Modern Art, NYC; The Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco CA; The David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies at Harvard University.

WENDY FULENWIDER LISZT

Bombed Out Womanhood

September 6 – October 26, 2019

Wendy Fulenwider Liszt’s paintings evoke porous bodies or structures as they try to contain, and provide relief from, their internal conflict. They are made with layers of spray paint, construction materials, sharpie marker, string, acrylic and oil paint. The index or impression left by these ingredients’ application – poured, scraped, applied with stencils, yarn, twine, brushes – is the presence of touch. Gritty textures and florescent colors imply aggression of the street. Translucent washes offer the release of swimming. Body parts can bulge in fleshiness or be skeletal in fragility. The juxtaposition of the layers of indexical marks, abrasive sanding and sensitive drawing drive the work’s exploration of womanhood.

Wendy Fulenwider Liszt was born in Boston, MA in 1974. She has participated in the Artist in Embassies Program in Tunisia, the Governors Island Art Fair in New York City, and the Dean Collection in Berlin. She recently received an MFA from Hunter College in New York, where she also received the Kossak Painting Fellowship.