Loomings: Melville, Art, and the Climate Crisis
Artist Talk with Christopher Volpe - Virtual
Thursday, January 20, 2022 at 6:30pm (EST)
Tickets: $10 Members | $15 Non-members
Zoom Event
Advance Purchase Required
If you are a member, be sure to sign-in to receive your membership ticket.
Join distinguished artist Christopher Volpe, as he introduces Loomings, his series of tar and gold leaf paintings named after the first chapter in Melville’s Moby-Dick.
This hour-long virtual talk, moderated by Michael P. Dyer, Whaling Museum Curator of Maritime History, will explore how the paintings and accompanying book of essays and images invoke Melville's novel as a cautionary, foundational myth for our own age of accelerating climate change and social disruption. Although each artwork’s title quotes or alludes to Moby-Dick, Christopher Volpe’s paintings are not straightforward narratives or illustrations of events in the novel. Rather, they respond in kind to the book’s underlying critique of the problematic quest for knowledge, wholeness, and enlightenment in a world even more uncertain than it was in Melville’s time.
Join us for a lively discussion with Christopher from the comfort of your home on Thursday, January 20th at 6:3opm (EST).
Purchase Christopher's book, "Loomings: Paintings in Tar Oil & Gold Leaf" online through our Museum Store. This 48-page paperback book combines reproductions of paintings in Loomings with quotes from Melville's Moby-Dick. There are also two brief essays by the artist detailing the genesis of his work.
Loomings: Christopher Volpe will be on view at the New Bedford Whaling Museum from December 11, 2021 through May 8, 2022.
Christopher Volpe is an artist, teacher, and writer in New Hampshire. In addition to maintaining his own full-time artistic practice, he teaches painting and writes about art for regional and national print and online publications. His work can be viewed online at www.christophervolpe.com.
