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ARTIST BROOKE MULLINS DOHERTY DEBUTS ‘PORTALS AND PATHS’ EXHIBITION

Featuring Site-Specific Sculptures and Contemporary Drawing Series

June 1, 2009, MA – The 80 Border Street Cultural Exchange Center in East Boston is currently featuring abstract artist and sculptor Brooke Mullins Doherty in her solo exhibition entitled “Portals and Paths.” Inspired by contemporary science readings and intensive daydreaming, Doherty’s work is the result of her unique and organic creative process, revealing moving art that focuses on underlying connections in life and matter and highlights similarities between different natural forms. The exhibition will run through the month of June with a closing artist’s reception June 27^th from 5pm to 7pm.   

The sculpture portion of Doherty’s exhibition “Portals and Paths” features several site-specific sculptural installations made to appear as if they grow from the Center’s architecture. Her creations emulate a scene from a science fiction movie – revealing soft, organic forms of indeterminate origin bulge from windows, ceilings, and walls. Strategically placed to allow sunlight to act as a “Portal” to the heavens through the forms, the changing light causes them to pulse with the movement of the clouds and sun.

“Paths” refer to her drawing series; many trace the path of a single line as they explore the passage of time and cycles of growth and decay. Using a variety of materials such as pencil, ink, enamel, and paint pen, Doherty’s drawings resemble imaginary plots of data, magnetic field lines, geological strata, and microscopic cross-sections of cells and organs. Doherty utilizes all of these influences in an often-psychedelic way.   

“Someone recently told me that most adults don’t daydream anymore. I daydream most of the time I’m making art, and I would love for my work to serve as vehicles for other people’s daydreams too,” says Doherty continuing, “When daydreaming, your mind is making so many unusual connections. In addition to adding color to life, daydreaming can help you develop greater understanding and feel more connected to your world.” 

Although Doherty doesn’t use many organic materials, she says her creative process is very organic.  Her preferred materials are non-traditional: to make her lightweight, flexible and translucent sculptures, she uses plastic, wire, and fabric as well as a variety of other media. 

“I rarely know exactly what I’m going to make when I’m getting started. My process is much more experimental,” remarks Doherty, “I think of what I do as akin to spider engineering. The spider doesn’t necessarily have a master plan, but she knows how to build in response to stresses on the web, and she ends up making a perfect web for the particular environment each time. A spider’s work is also site-specific.”

Originally from Oklahoma, Brooke Mullins Doherty attended the University of Oklahoma and received degrees in Philosophy and Studio Art. Now residing in New Bedford, Doherty received her MFA in Sculpture from the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, and currently teaches sculpture at Cape Cod Community College.  Her recent solo shows include “Stitches and Time” at the Student Union Art Gallery, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and “Extemporal Congress” at Frame 301, Montserrat College of Art, Beverly, both in 2008. More of Doherty’s work can be found on her website, www.brookemullins.com.

“Portals and Paths” will be on display at 80 Border Street Cultural Exchange Center from June 1-30, 2009, with a closing artist’s reception to be held from 5-7 pm on June 27. 80 Border Street Cultural Exchange Center is a Massachusetts non-profit center for performing, visual and literary arts located in the restored old Captain's Space at 80 Border Street, in the Atlantic Works Artist Building.  The Center is open every Saturday from 12 pm to 6 pm, in addition to scheduled performances, classes, and other cultural events.  The Center’s website can be found at www.80borderstreet.org.