New York City transplant Jen Fries utilizes a storytelling approach in her art. The Diver is intended to convey a sense of “taking a leap.”

By Tatiana Kombo

This summer, the Brickbottom Artist Association (BAA) is having a member’s exhibition based on the theme of escaping. Works including photography, painting and printmaking, among other forms of artistic narration, will be on display at the Brickbottom Gallery in Somerville through August 18.

Jen Fries, one of the exhibiting artists and a New Yorker by birth, has lived and worked in East Somerville for the past eleven years. She refers to herself as a “storyteller.” Indeed, she states that “the trick is I don’t like very much to tell what the stories are. I prefer to let the viewers do that.” The piece she is showing at the Brickbottom Gallery was made in 2010, and is entitled The Diver. Fries refers to it as a “a collage constructed of found images, decorative papers, and objects.” She describes her piece, stating that “It was inspired by watching Olympic divers in competition over the years, and I hope it captures all the possible contexts attached to that moment when the diver leaves the board and does what she’s going to do: energy, passion, freedom, danger, hope, commitment, motion and emotion.” The Diver, much like other works and installations at the exhibition, is “about taking a leap.”

Daniela desLauriers, another member of the BAA, is also exhibiting her work this summer. The piece she is showing, “a group of small ceramic sculptures, three adults, one child, one dog,” is entitled Rain. She explains, “While the adults try to cover up and escape the rain, the kid is enjoying it. It has become oblivious to its surroundings escaping to its own world.” In a sense, Rain serves as a reminder “to keep an open mind and to allow yourself to sometime step away and embrace the moment.”

For more information about Brickbottom Artists Association and their activities visit the online at http://brickbottomartists.com/BAA_gallery.