By Eric Baxter
Editor

As planning sessions go, this one ranked as an oddball. There were the typical meeting accoutrements – handouts, discussions of responsibilities and finances and refining of raw ideas into concrete realities.

But there the resemblance ended. This was a meeting of the recently formed Monastery Artists Collective, a Manchester-based artists group changing the definition and presentation of art within the city.

The Artists (left to right): Jaime Grady, Marcia Woood, Andy Mertinook, Jason Bagatta, Mark Barbere, Aaron Slater, Jenn Casoni and Dennis Morrison

“(Monastery) happened almost under its own power and weight. There’s a sense of energy here and I’m just sort of watching it unfold,” said Jaime Grady, the ostensible co-head of the collective, or collaborative, depending on who in the group is offering a definition. Grady shares the responsibility with glass artisan Aaron Kilby Slater.

Whatever the term, Monastery artists, a mix of professionals and enthusiastic and skilled amateurs, are united in creating a fresh kind of art for Manchester.

“We want to make art more accessible. We want to do work that attracts people who are not necessarily interested in art,” said Marcia Wood. “We want people to understand they don’t need a degree in art to enjoy it, they don’t need to buy it to look at it, but they do have a connection to what we have to say.”

The Monstery’s home is a cluttered loft claimed from old mill space on Bedford Street, the walls adorned with spontaneous art, the floor space occupied with easels, half-finished projects and pink sheets of sculpted foam core insulation. During the recent meeting, the attendees snacked on granola bars and two members passed a bottle of Ravenswood Vintners Blend wine between them, and discussed their upcoming show – “Masks” – and the attendant public show blending static art with audience participation, couched in a Halloween theme.

What the group has to say is a mixed message of straight-forward wall art, interactive display and performance art designed to shake the cookie bag of traditional ideas and perceptions. Monastery formed in May, first as open, inexpensive studio space for artists. In July, the group hosted its first show, “Lollipops and Hand Grenades,” a mélange of works in a variety of media ranging from oil paintings, to hand-blown glass to found-object collages. The group promoted the show by placing papiermache dolls, created by member Jason Baggata, throughout the city.

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“We assumed we’d be chased off,” said Grady of that first experiment in art promotion, also classified as “guerilla art.”

The idea, however, was embraced. The open-arms attitude of the city gave Grady and the other members the first hint that maybe Manchester was ready for a change, ready for something new.

“The city’s being gentrified,” said Grady. “There’s a new class of people, younger people, who want something different.”

The show being planned this past Wednesday for Oct. 28 promised to top their first installment and move the loose group agenda forward. It would also fill the need of the city’s younger residents for a different type of art.

What that art is, and what the next show will be, is something the city will have to watch for. Like the show “Lollipops and Hand Grenades” implied, anything can happen when artists get together. And in the varied opinions of the group, that “anything can happen” is where art lives and where they go when they create art.

“Art is a very social endeavor. It gives meaning and context to experience,” said Grady. Anything you do for passion, that’s art, that’s the beauty of the thing. That goes for artists and everyone else.” Member Andy Mertinooke took a more personal view.

“We are artists. This is what we do, this is what we have to do, we’re passionate about it. Of course, it would have been easier if I was passionate about accounting, but I’m not. I’m an artist.”

The Monastery Artists Collective meets Wednesday nights on the second floor of the 300 Bedford St. building. For more information e-mail monasteryartistscoop@yahoo.com.