“ARTSWORCESTER Then and Now” At the ARTSWorcester Gallery, 660 Main Street, through March 18, 2004

By Leon Nigrosh

Leon Nigrosh’s hand-built “Pod Pot” (1979) and his latest 2004 piece, a wheel-thrown porcelain luster bottle.

March 2004 – A quarter of a century might seem like a very long time, but to a group of area artists, it’s like only yesterday. Who would have thought that this group who gathered in the basement of what is now the Pleasant Street Baptist Church could stick together for so long, becoming an important voice in the community? Dissatisfied with the lack of reception and interest from the city and its art institutions, these artists (then known as the Cultural Assembly of Greater Worcester) struck out on their own and in 1979 held their first major group exhibition. The show, titled “ARTSWorcester” — which thankfully later became the group’s name — was held in the cavernous Horticultural Hall (now the home of the Worcester Historical Museum). Works were displayed on borrowed peg-board covered with butcher’s paper.

“Hip Hop”, David Bastien’s latest wooden creation

Now, two and a half decades later, ARTSWorcester is holding a yearlong series of events to celebrate its 25th anniversary. For the current exhibit in the AW galleries, “Then and Now,” 26 of the original 61 members who were represented in that seminal show were rounded up and are showing two works each, one from the past and one recent. Some participants have changed styles (and mediums) completely. This writer, one of the founders of CAGW, is showing an early 45-inch tall, hand-built stoneware pod pot alongside the latest wheel-thrown porcelain vase, a mere 3 inches tall. What a difference 25 years can make. Debra Giza has also changed mediums, and career as well. Her early entry is a small, manipulated clay wall sculpture. For her latest work, she manipulates the human body. She’s a massage therapist. Marilyn JS Goodman, CAGW’s first president, has forsaken painting for writing. She’s represented by her latest book, “Learning Through Art,” written and illustrated to help kids enjoy art at the Guggenheim in New York.

One of his early works, “Pond Fiddle,”

David Bastien still works in wood, but his earlier works, like “Pond Fiddle,” were more lyrical as compared to his latest depiction of teen angst in “Hip Hop.” Don McCabe spent inordinate amounts of time in the early days, creating trompe l’oeil jigsaw puzzles like “G. Washington after G. Stuart and M. Bradley.”. His recent work, “Composition #16,” while still meant to fool the eye, is far more abstract. Stephen DiRado has moved from photographing the people at Bell Pond to shooting images of Mars in his “Celestial Series” while Emily Boosahda has gone from flattened architectural works to her signature style of lushly painted gardens. Also included are memorial tributes to original member painters Sally Bishop and Walter Daby.

Now that ARTSWorcester is firmly standing on the ground floor of Worcester’s proposed Arts District, who knows what the next 25 years will bring?