As a part of its monthly art demonstrations, the Newton Art Association plans to feature local artist Betsy Silverman April 12 to share why she uses magazine paper in her work and how the concept of “fragmented realism” plays an important role in her creative process.
Silverman, a collage artist with a hotel management degree from Cornell, said she began to explore materiality while obtaining a master’s degree in Architecture at the Rhode Island School of Design.
“Paper is a lowly material, but I thought there are so many ways that you can explore it that it can be inherently structural,” Silverman said.
Silverman, whose studio is in Newton, said she is a “green artist” and creates her work with recycled magazines from donations, open studios, and her book group. Working almost seven days a week, Silverman said, choosing magazines has become intuitive.
“I have thousands of magazines and they’re organized by Martha Stewart, Food and Wine and Artscope, and I get used to how a particular layout the magazine used,” Silverman said. “If I am looking for something burgundy, I will go to Food and Wine or Wine Spectator.”
Silverman said her artwork is centered around Boston’s architecture, people, and food.
“I love Boston as a city for the art I do,” Silverman said. “I can go to Chinatown, the North End and have all these beautiful, historical buildings, or the public gardens, and create images of swans.”
Nancy Duvergne Smith, co-president of the Newton Art Association, said the local art scene is lively because art is a channel to “build intimacy with other people and learn from others’ intellectuality.”
“Art is a great way for people to engage,” Smith said. “We can all get twisted up in the complexities of life at any stage, but art brings people to a place where they can think through things from a higher, warmer and more compassionate level.”
According to its website, the Newton Art Association was founded in 1949 by a group of local artists with the mission to “bring art and artists together with the public.” Smith said the organization has grown to about 200 members who are bonded together through sharing ideas, skills, and messages through art.
Jeanne Gugino, program chair and educator of the Newton Art Association, said she chooses artists whose work is exciting and who are good at explaining their work.
Gugino said there has been a steady growth in visual arts engagement in Newton despite the pandemic. In the future, she said she plans to host interactive presentations, allowing participants to work along with the artists.
“Our membership itself is composed of people working in many different media,” Gugino said. “Meeting artists willing to share their process is beneficial even if the media is foreign to one’s own practice.”
Silverman’s demonstration April 14 is one of nine free, public demonstration events. For more information, visit newtonartassociation.com/demos/.
Irene Chung can be reached at newtonreport@globe.com.