Celebrate the season at Gallery X with ‘Spring It On’ exhibit

By the time this article is published, it will be several days into spring. But one doesn’t need a calendar to sense the change in season. Spring is in the air, both literally and metaphorically.

The hours of sunlight increase incrementally everyday and the weather becomes a bit more predictable and comfortable.

The chorus of nature has begun with the buzzing of bumblebees, the chirping of songbirds and the croaking of spring peepers. Daffodils and crocuses will soon emerge. It is a time of symbolic rebirth, of climbing out of the winter doldrums, of mating season for creatures of all kinds, including humans, with our spring breaks and spring flings.

“Spring It On!” is Gallery X’s celebration of the moment, with nearly three dozen artists exhibiting works that — for the most part — embrace the common theme. One notable exception is a multimedia image of a bright red comic book demon, framed by fake fur and lengths of chain, that would be far better suited to a Halloween show.

But maybe that is the artist’s reminder that autumn will roll around sooner than we expect. Point taken.

With the exception of a few landscape paintings and depictions of animals (notably Christina Glaser’s wall-mounted wire sculpture “ANTS”, Robin Nune’s bovine portrait “Bessie,” and a series of watercolors by Kayla Connors that include a fox, blue jay and hare), the spring-themed works fall into two categories.

The first category is the floral, with dozens of works of art depicting flowers of all kinds. The second category is the fantastic, depicting magical beings, such as a fairy or a dryad, and in the case of artist Susan Brandon’s “Bursting” mixed media series, anthropomorphic flowers with human faces.

Upon entering the gallery, one is struck by a large painting of pink petals by Christine Cummings. Her “Peony” is luscious in hue and form, and intoxicatingly suggestive.

Georgia O’Keeffe notably denied that her famous large-scale, close-ups of (and into) flowers were meant to be reminiscent of female genitalia. And it is quite possible — even likely — that Cummings might reject that interpretation as well.

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As Freud noted, “Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.” And hence, sometimes a flower is just a flower.

The flowers in Kim Barry’s “Dancing Lilies” are evocative and sensual as well, but the cool grays, blues and greens within the painting work to tone it down to a calmer PG-13 sensibility.

Beyond the aforementioned “Bessie,” Robin Nunes also exhibits “Signs of Spring,” a handsome impressionist study of vibrant yellow flowers in a deep indigo vase, while Lisa Goulart’s “Fuchsia” is a wonderfully composed painting, that makes the most of the curve of a bowl in sharp contrast to the floral arrangement that it contains.

A four part series called “Springtime on the Seine” by Helen Bryant eschews any semblance of flowers at all but it still suggests them in the abstract, using an Easter basket palette of pink, baby blue, lavender and barely-there yellow.

Among the work that fall into the spring fantasy category is “Dryad,” a fabric work by Erica Miller, referencing the tree nymphs of ancient Greek mythology, that were connected to Artemis, the goddess of the hunt and vegetation, among other things, and a forerunner to Mother Nature. Miller’s piece is a sweet and simple depiction of the woman-tree hybrid.

“Return to Jubilee,” a painting by Hannah Rose Schlieder suggests that moment when winter becomes spring, when the cold gives way to the warmth, where Thanatos and Eros dance and the cycle continues.

Spring is here. But I leave you with a poem that I wrote a decade ago:

“Mother Nature and Father Time shared a bed and four children came.

There was Summer, sensual and joyous, but with a hot mean streak.

Autumn was wizened and brilliant and rarely looked back.

Winter was obstinate and cold, rigidly set in his ways.

And there was Spring, pretty and sweet and flirty, but oh so fickle.”

Consider that last line a warning. This is New England. Keep the scraper in the car.

“Spring It On!” is on exhibit at Gallery X, 169 William Street, New Bedford until April 10th.

This article originally appeared on The Herald News: Art Beat: Gallery X opens ‘Spring It On’ exhibit