Local artist Kim Carlino stands next to some of the work from her latest exhibit that is on display at the Westfield Athenaeum.
Reminder Publishing photo by Trent Levakis
WESTFIELD — The Westfield Athenaeum celebrated local artist Kim Carlino on March 13 with an opening reception for her latest exhibit.
The exhibit opened on March 10 and will run through May 3 inside the building’s gallery space.
Carlino is from Easthampton and has grown into one of the most dynamic artists working in the region based on the corners of the world she has been able to showcase her work. She received a bachelor of fine arts degree from the University of Massachusetts in 2011 and over the last decade has exhibited nationally and internationally, including shows at the University Museum of Contemporary Art in Amherst, Site Brooklyn Gallery, Alfa Gallery in Miami, and was a UAE sponsored artist for the 2024 Ras Al Khaimah Art Festival.
“I like working in abstraction because it’s really open to interpretation and so the viewer brings themselves to it when they’re viewing so there’s no wrong answer, there’s no something you have to get, you can just have an experience,” Carlino told Reminder Publishing at the opening reception. “I would hope that they give a sense of a kind of expansion and possibility. That’s what a lot of my work is about. They’re all improvisational so they kind of start from a point and build off of that.”
Carlino has been creating public art since 2014 and has completed numerous mural commissions, including works in Marshalltown, Iowa, Springfield, Colorado Springs, the New York City Department of Transportation, the Isenberg Project in Boston, a seven-block public art project commissioned by the Garment District Alliance in New York City, and a mural for Google HQ in Cambridge.
Carlino has described her work as based in eco-geometric abstraction exploring themes of place, poetics and experience.
“Abstraction for me is a tool to synthesize my daily experiences into visual renderings of relationships of color and form as I explore simultaneously my inner landscape in relation to my exterior one,” Carlino explained in her artist’s statement included as part of the exhibit.
Carlino has been in and around the valley for 23 years and is originally from Michigan. With a studio located at Easthampton’s Eastwork for many years, she said friends in the city have claimed her as a talent in the region they are proud to have part of the community.
The local angle for the exhibit allowed Carlino for some reflection on her career and sharing her work with others both near and far.
“I think it’s an opportunity every time you show [your work] anywhere, whether its halfway across the country or wherever. Everybody has a different experience of it. I’ve been here in the valley doing public art and organizing and running galleries and events so it’s always really meaningful to put up my personal work and that sense of sharing and for people to see how its evolved over the years and changed and that they’ve been on this journey with me. I like that opportunity to be like, ‘here’s what I’m doing now.’”
Westfield Athenaeum Executive Director Guy McLain added that as someone who has seen Carlino’s work over the years, he can attest to her growth as an artist and creating more interesting work.
“I saw her work 10 or 15 years ago and it is interesting to see how an artist evolves over time,” added McLain.
McLain told Reminder Publishing in lead up to the exhibit that this was another showcase that fits into the goals of the athenaeum of growing its offerings in the arts space, while also utilizing its space to showcase local artists leading the current local arts scene.
“We’re trying to bring in important, regional artists who are doing cutting edge work today and Kim is certainly an example of that. It fits in with a program that the athenaeum is trying to make a permanent feature of what we do here,” McLain said. “We have a wonderful gallery space here and my feeling is we want to utilize this gallery space. Artists are always looking for places to exhibit their work. We’re very fortunate in Western Mass. that there are so many interesting artists working out there. So, we look at this as an opportunity to both encourage and help these artists to find a good exhibit space, but also to bring regional artists who [are] doing cutting-edge work today, to the community. There’s not too many places for people to go see contemporary art so we feel like that’s something we can provide here.”
The Westfield Athenaeum Art Gallery is open Monday through Thursday from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., and on Friday and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The paintings featured in this exhibit are for sale, and the proceeds benefit the artist and serve as a fundraiser for the athenaeum.
For more information on the exhibit, visit westath.org.
