A Need for Art

In her new studio in the Beaver Mill, GALEN CHENEY pours pigment onto raw canvas — fluorescent acrylics and sensuous oils. “It’s like a collage,” she says. “Painting unstretched canvas on the wall allows me to rip it up and reconfigure it as I’m working on it.” She cuts and layers in a springing energy of color and line. This year, Cheney is in residency at MASS MoCA as one of ten artists in the North Adams Project of Assets 4 Artists and enjoys the community it brings, even in these times when she is in her own space, creating works like Devotee, shown above, on collaged canvas. She has begun working with copper and gold and silver leaf, out of a need for beauty, to balance the grittier aspects of her art. With so much going on, Cheney says, and so many people in dire circumstances, painting doesn’t excuse her from getting out to work for positive change. “But I really believe we need art. It has power.” assetsforartists.org/north-adams-project —Kate Abbott