Richard Misrach, Dead Animals #454, digital chromogenic color print, 48 x 60", 1988. Collection of the artist. Courtesy of Raenkel Gallery, Marc Selwyn Fine Art and Pace/MacGill.

Atomic Afterimage: Cold War Imagery in Contemporary Art focuses on recent artistic reinterpretations of pictures from the era of above-ground nuclear testing (1945–1962) and new interpretations of weapons test sites. The artists in the exhibition uncover the role aesthetics played primarily in 1950s politics; some make use of films and photographs drawn from government sources, whereas others take pictures of nuclear landscapes that official documents fail to represent. Taken together, this powerful selection of contemporary art explores the Cold War’s visible aftermath.

Chapel Art Center

Sylvia Nicolas

Sylvia Nicolas, Green Leaf, stained glass, 2005.

The Chapel Art Center announces an exhibition honoring the artistic legacy of sculptor, painter, and stained glass maker Sylvia Nicolas. This exhibition will explore the major themes of her prolific career in each of her media. Sylvia Nicolas has had a major role in the artistic enrichment of Saint Anselm College, and the Chapel Art Center is most pleased to honor her life as a model of consummate artistic achievement.

Gaal Shepherd.

Coastlines, a two-person show of distinctly different types of landscapes, opens on November 7th. Judith Hoersting, an Alaskan, has regularly seen the coast of her state by float plane, a perspective normally confined to birds. Her free and lively oils—blurring the line between abstract and figurative landscapes—will contrast with those of Gaal Shepherd’s dramatic pastel paintings of the ends of Irish peninsulas and its inlets and bays. Her rich, layered pastels are remarkable for their serenity. The diversity of both style and landscape promises breadth of subject, despite the common theme.

Top-heavy, oil on canvas, 45 x 55", 2008.

This exhibition features large-scale paintings that straddle that curious space between figuration’s storytelling and abstraction’s crashing waves of paint. These stylistic shifts create a sense of impermanence that references the history of painting and investigates how we exist in a state of flux. The series evolved as a reaction to the intricacies and complexities of life. The paintings contain fragments of ordinary objects, such as cinderblocks, couches and filing cabinets, representing fractured space. Shirley earned a BFA degree in painting and drawing from the University of Utah, and an MFA in painting and drawing from the University of Connecticut.

Lucy Fradkin, Perseverance Brings Good Fortune, acrylic gouache and colored pencil on paper with collage, 71 x 50", 2007.

Lucy Fradkin presents compelling portraits executed in oil, gouache and collage that are inspired by Indian and Persian miniatures, the art of hand-painted signage, and a variety of sacred and folk arts. Her portraits draw the viewer into an intimate world of color and pattern. Sharon Kaitz's paintings create a universe of lists, shapes, words and letters from the vernacular of the everyday. This series culls familiar warnings from a mother to a child and charge them with the anxiety and terror of war.

Seher Shah, Perversions of Empire: The Concrete Oracles, archival giclée prints, 18 x 24", 2008. Courtesy of Shumita and Arani Bose Collection.

Empire and Its Discontents exhibits the work of an international roster of contemporary artists with ties to previously colonized regions in the Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia. The exhibition explores various notions of “Empire”—Empire as a conceptual lens through which previously distinct cultural iconographies are merged or juxtaposed; Empire as a historical term evoking traditional art-making practices; Empire embodied in grandiose nationalistic events re-presented to indicate collapse; Empire in the media today, approached critically through pop cultural and political icons.

Jessica Straus, Hot Soup, from Icons + Altars 2007.

The 15th Annual Icons + Altars is a unique benefit exhibition and a wonderful opportunity to acquire profound works of art by over 100 regional artists who have been invited to create an “icon” or “altar” for the event.

All works in the exhibition are for sale through a ticketed drawing process. Tickets are $250 each, and will be sold through December 14. Ticket holders need not be present at the drawing to select their artwork; proceeds benefit the NAC. Additionally, the work of three artists—Stephanie Chubbuck, Bonnie Mineo, and Jessica Straus—will be available through a special auction, to take place on closing day. For more information visit www.newartcenter.org

Bente Hansen, Nimbus, salt-glazed stoneware, 22 x 13 1/2", 2007.

This exhibition brings to America the unique perspective of the most current Danish ceramic artists. Included are internationally recognized Danish masters as well as younger, enormously creative artists who have reached international acclaim. The work is rooted in the Danish tradition of the container as art and shows its evolution as a vehicle for sculpture and abstract form. Because of its depth and scope this is a museum level exhibition not to be missed.