Author: Sheila

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Art in Giving New Painting!

Sheila

Art in Giving raises funds for childhood cancer research through the sale of fine arts.

Talented artists exhibit their work with Art in Giving and fifty percent of the purchase price of their artwork sold goes directly to talented cancer researchers working on breakthrough ideas to identify causes of and cures for brain tumors and gliomas. 

 To date, Art in Giving has granted $1.4 million in seed funding to researchers at Stanford University Medical School, Yale University School of Medicine, Barrow Neurological Institute, University of Pennsylvania, The Broad Institute, Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, Johns Hopkins University, Mass General Hospital, and Dana Farber Cancer Institute.

Our business model increases the amount of money targeted for pediatric cancer research, a severely underfunded area.

  • People buy from us rather than a commercial gallery, and still make donations to their favorite charities
  • Interior designers purchase art for their clients while supporting innovative research
  • Companies purchase art using facility management and gift, not philanthropy, budgets

 With Art in Giving, children with cancer and their families, pediatric cancer researchers, artists, art enthusiasts, and corporations all benefit.  

The newest painting I have created for Art in Giving is Copley Skyline. It is done in acrylic paint on wooden board, 43″ x 30″ framed. This painting was inspired by a photograph that I took while strolling through Copley Square this summer with a group of friends. It was a beautiful day, and I was struck by the interesting shapes and contrasts of the rooftops in Copley Square. I also loved the reflections of older buildings in the sleep modern mirrors of the John Hancock Tower. I hope you will visit www.artingiving to check out the wonderful art. And best of all, a full 50% of the price of the art goes straight to researching the fight against childhood cancer.

Exhibitions

Fall Members Exhibit 9/30 – 10/9/22

Sheila

The Danvers Art Association Fall Member Exhibit will be on display September 20 through October 9, 2022. The Danvers Gallery is located at 105 Elliot Street, Danvers, MA in a renovated 1910 two-room school house. The opening reception is on Friday, Sept. 30 from 7-9:00 p.m.

I have two entries in the show. Midcentury Merriment, acrylic, 10″ x 20″ framed was inspired by an old black and white photo I came across showing Danvers Square circa 1960. The area is decked out for the holidays, and has not changed all that much from the present day look of the square.

My second entry is in the Small Works category. Writer’s Block, acrylic, 6″ x 6″ on 1-1/2″ thick gallery wrapped canvas. This colorful graphic style painting was inspired by a much larger 48″ x 40″ three-panel painting I created for the Art in Giving Gallery, www.artingiving.com The small size makes it easy to fit into your decor to brighten up any room of your house. It is wired to hang on the wall, or it can easily stand by itself on a shelf.

Exhibitions

Art In Giving — New Art!

Sheila


Art in Giving raises funds for childhood cancer research through the sale of fine arts.

Talented artists exhibit their work with Art in Giving and fifty percent of the purchase price of their artwork sold goes directly to talented cancer researchers working on breakthrough ideas to identify causes of and cures for brain tumors and gliomas. 

 To date, Art in Giving has granted $1.4 million in seed funding to researchers at Stanford University Medical School, Yale University School of Medicine, Barrow Neurological Institute, University of Pennsylvania, The Broad Institute, Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, Johns Hopkins University, Mass General Hospital, and Dana Farber Cancer Institute.

Our business model increases the amount of money targeted for pediatric cancer research, a severely underfunded area.

  • People buy from us rather than a commercial gallery, and still make donations to their favorite charities
  • Interior designers purchase art for their clients while supporting innovative research
  • Companies purchase art using facility management and gift, not philanthropy, budgets

 With Art in Giving, children with cancer and their families, pediatric cancer researchers, artists, art enthusiasts, and corporations all benefit.  

The recent autumn weather inspired me to paint a picture of golden birch trees I photographed last autumn while taking a drive with my husband. The morning light shone through the leaves and created a golden glow and the colorful leaves sparkled like jewels in the crisp breeze. My new painting, Birch Mountain Morning is painted on wooden board with acrylic paint, 36″ x 36″ framed.

Exhibitions

Artoberfest Exhibit 9/3-11/6/22

Sheila

Three Exhibitions Opening this Friday, Sept 9
Salem Arts New Exhibitions Celebrate Departed Member Rebecca Dunn DeVries, Fall/Halloween Season and New Work by Paul Nathan

Our annual Artoberfest Exhibit is opening this Friday, September 9.  Salem Arts Association asked our local artists to explore Salem’s history with witchcraft, religion, and Halloween.  The resulting exhibit represents their diverse interpretations of the theme and how, by bringing them together, we create a collective understanding of it.

My painting, Autumn Marsh was juried into the show! It is done in acrylic paint on gallery-wrapped canvas, 12″ x 24″. It was painted one perfect autumn morning — crisp and cool, but with warm honey sunshine. I met a group of friends at the Jones River Marsh in Gloucester, MA and we sat together and painted the view. Somehow, even though we were all side by side, we each came away with something different. That is what I love about painting with other artists; each person percolates the same scene through her own heart. And painting en plein air provides an immediacy for me that no other method can. It is one of my favorite things to do.

Salem Arts Association is also hosting Arcane Nonesuch an exhibition of work by departed member artist, co-owner of Scarlet Letter Press, former Salem Arts Association Board Member, and much loved member of the Salem community Rebecca Dunn DeVries.  All proceeds from this exhibition will benefit her daughter Oona. 

The exhibition is sponsored by Pamplemousse who will be providing refreshments for the reception.  Pamplemousse is a European inspired gourmet market with lots of New England charm.  They strive to bring their customers the best products around including fine wines, craft beer, top shelf-liquors, gourmet food, kitchen gadgets and decor.  Pamplemousse has locations at 185 Essex Street in Salem, MA, and 26 Haven Street in Everett, MA.

We also have a new exhibit of the work of artist Paul Nathan.  It’s always a treat seeing Paul’s delightful, whimsical and inventive art work.  We’re very happy to present new work in his gallery! 

Exhibition Dates: September 3 – November 6, 2022

Opening Reception: Friday, September 9, 6-8pm

Featuring a music performance by Ryan Kelleher.

Salem Arts Galleries and Shop are located at 159 Derby Street adjacent to the Salem Maritime National Historic Site in Salem, MA. Regular gallery hours are 12-6 on Saturdays and Sundays.

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GALA Exhibit 8/5-9/15/22

Sheila

Galleries at Lynn Arts has a new exhibit! Landscapes/ Oceanscapes/ Cityscapes. I am delighted that 3 of my paintings have been juried into the show.

My seascape is Peaceful Cove (Shown), 11″ x 14″ acrylic on gallery wrapped canvas was done en plein air by the ocean behind the busy street of restaurants and arcades at Salem Willows in Salem, MA. It was a perfect summer day and I was painting with a group of friends. I turned to a little rowboat moored among the waving sea grass with a view of the boat yard at Winter Island in the distance. Pure peace! It was fun to see the other artists’ various choices of subject.

The landscape painting in this show is Frosty Morn, 12″ x 24″, acrylic on gallery wrapped canvas. Frosty Morn was painted from my kitchen window; I was inspired by the beauty of my neighbor’s evergreen trees with coats of newly fallen snow and by the lovely early morning sky and a pair of noisy blue jays. The fun of painting is that I had the choice (and took it!) to omit everyone’s trash barrels and cars parked helter skelter along the street. I left out all the houses and added a beautiful frozen lake.

My third painting in this exhibit is Boston Skyline, 11″ x 14″, acrylic on gallery wrapped canvas. One day I was stuck in bumper to bumper traffic on Route 1 South, going into Boston and took a picture of the breathtaking view of Boston’s skyscrapers lined up against a soft blue sky. I loved the strong shadows and the contrast of hard edges against the organic clouds. I have since painted this study of Boston in a large format, in slightly different colors, which can be seen on my gallery page at Art In Giving, www.artingiving.com which is a wonderful charitable foundation.

Galleries at Lynn Arts (GALA) is located at 25 Exchange Street, Lynn, MA 01901. The show runs from the opening reception on Friday, August 5 from 5:30 – 7:30 p.m. until the closing on September 15, 2022. The reception is open to the public and will include music and refreshments as well as a LOT if wonderful art from talented local artists. A donation of $5 is requested to help GALA in its mission to support local artists.

Exhibitions

People’s Choice Award

Sheila

Each year during the Danvers Family Festival, one of the events is the Danvers Places Show, sponsored by the Danvers Art Association. This year the exhibit was held at the Peabody Institute Library of Danvers. All the paintings were of places in the beautiful town of Danvers. I was thrilled when my painting, Midcentury Merriment, was chosen by viewers for the People’s Choice Award!

The painting is a view of Danvers Center at Christmastime circa 1960, complete with the old shops that once graced the town. Classic autos are parked on the street, decorations and a huge Christmas tree brighten the scene. I am not sure what appealed to the people who voted for my painting. Was it nostalgia? Was it the warmth of the Holiday season? Maybe it was cooling to look at a wintry picture in the midst of summer heat. Whatever it was, Thank You Danvers!

The library is located at 15 Sylvan Street, Danvers, MA and the paintings can be viewed during normal library hours.

Exhibitions

Marblehead Festival of Arts 2022

Sheila

The Marblehead Festival of Arts will take place July 1 through 4, 2022 in venues all around the center of Marblehead. Go to www.marbleheadfestival.org to find out details and schedules!

I am excited after several years of Covid to finally be back as part of this fun event. This year I have three paintings in the festival. My painting, Skyline: Boston, acrylic, 28″ x 40″ framed, has been juried into the Painting Exhibit which will take place at Abbot Hall on Washington Street. This painting was inspired by a photograph I took of the Boston skyline one day while I was stuck in endless traffic. I have painted several small studies of the image before finally creating this larger one. The sun was just in the right place to make striking shadows on the buildings and made it, in hindsight, the luckiest traffic of my life.

My painting for the Senior Exhibit is titled Writer’s Block, acrylic, 6″ x 6″. It is done in the Op Art style which is so much fun to play with, in cool shades of blues, purples and greens. I had come upon some of my old dip pens that I used for penmanship in elementary school, and the idea jumped into my mind. The painting is on a chunky canvas which can stand alone, and it is also wired to hang on the wall. The Senior Exhibit will hang in the Unitarian Universalist Church on Mugford Street.

The third painting was done with my favorite MFoA event, Paint the Town, a plein air painting day. This year we enjoyed perfect weather for artists to fan out over the town and find a good local scene to paint. I went to Devereux Beach where scores of people were enjoying the lovely weather under an array of colorful beach umbrellas. Devereux Beach Umbrellas, acrylic, 12″ x 24″ is a scene I have had in my mind to paint for a while, but this is the first time since I had the idea that Paint the Town took place on a good beach day. It was particularly fun because I love working with bright colors. The Paint the Town Exhibit will be shown upstairs in the Marblehead Arts Association building at 8 Hooper Street, Marblehead.

If you come to the Festival, I hope you will take the time to also enjoy the Sculpture, Mixed Media, Drawing, Writing, Youth, Logo, and other events.

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Marblehead Art Assoc. Member Exhibit

Sheila

The Marblehead Arts Association will be presenting a wide variety of their members’ artwork in the Summer Member Exhibit which will run at the same time as the Marblehead Festival of Arts. I was glad to learn that my painting has been chosen to be part of the show.

My painting for the Summer Members’ Exhibit is Marblehead Harbor Panorama, acrylic on canvas, 12″ x 36″. It was painted in 2019 as part of the MF0A Paint the Town Exhibit, a plein air event; and it was chosen for the People’s Choice Award at that time. It is the painting that inspired my 2022 Cod for the MFoA Cod Auction benefit.

The day of the 2019 plein air event, I drove to Devereux Beach in Marblehead hoping to make a painting of the colorful beach umbrellas in the sand. However, when I arrived, the sky had darkened and it had grown cool. Instead of painting the deserted beach, I turned and decided to paint the dramatic view of Marblehead Harbor. The sea was a luminous light green due to the sun just beginning to break through the dark clouds. The white boat masts of the many crafts docked because of the bad weather shone against the glowering sky.

The exhibit will be on display June 25 to August 7, 2022 at Marblehead Art Association, 8 Hooper St., Marblehead, Massachusetts. Call 781-631-2608 for gallery hours.

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ArtBox Salem, MA 2022

Sheila

It has been a tough few years! The City of Salem, MA has decided to brighten up the city and raise citizens’ spirits with their Positive Thoughts Art Box Project. Following the theme of Positive Thoughts, artists will paint their utility boxes with bright cheerful imagery and incorporate uplifting words into their designs.

My utility box is located on the corner of Boston and Nichols Streets in Salem, MA. When I first saw it, the box was dirty and covered in graffiti and stickers. Once it was cleaned, scraped and primed, it was ready for some Positive Thoughts. My design shows a sunflower garden, full of cheerful flowers, butterflies and bumblebees. The sunflowers march around the box on all sides and positive quotes are painted both on the street side and the sidewalk side.

The street side sports a quote I have seen associated with sunflowers. Sunflowers, which always turn their faces to the sun seem made to illustrate this quote. “Turn your face to the sun and the shadows will fall behind you.”

I had originally thought this was a quote from Helen Keller, but while doing research I also found it ascribed to Walt Whitman. Diggin deeper, I found that both of these people were using the quote, but had not initiated it. The earliest version I could find is an old Maori proverb, so that is the one I used.

The quote on the sidewalk side is by the Dalai Lama XIV. “To make others happy, practice compassion. To make yourself happy, practice compassion.” I like this quote because sometimes it seems that compassion is lacking in today’s world. But I also like the reminder to also be good to oneself

Exhibitions

Observance: Inspired by PEM 2022

Sheila

Salem Arts Association members reflect on the Zachari Logan: Remembrance exhibit at the Peabody Essex Museum and the Covid-19 pandemic to create works in observance of our personal and collective experience.  Members were asked for work that reflects grief, anger and loss in addition to hope and remembrance.

I chose to concentrate on the remembrance aspect and am delighted that my painting, Free Birds Too, was juried in to the exhibit. This painting represents my memories of rearing my three children through good times and bad. Now that my husband and I are in the autumn of our lives, our children are grown and have flown the parental nest to make lives of their own. They are certainly Free Birds, and at first I was heartbroken to see them go! However, I am happy to have learned that this has given my husband and me a new chance to connect as a couple, to live our lives for and with each other again and remember why we fell in love. It turns out that we are Free Birds Too.

Free Birds Too is painted in acrylic on canvas and is 12″ x 15″ framed. The background is painted with many layers of metallic paints and glazes, inspired by the backgrounds on some of the paintings and panels I have admired in the Asian collection at the Peabody Essex Museum. I like this process because it gives the painting warmth and depth and causes it to look very different in various lights. The three trees represent my three children, who can be seen flying into the distance. The swirling leaves represent the passage of time. And the two blackbirds sitting together in one of the trees are my husband and me, snuggled together, free as birds.

The exhibit Opening Reception will be held Friday evening, July 1, 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. The Exhibition Dates are July 2 through August 27, 2022. The show can be seen online at www.salemarts.org and in person at the Salem Art Association Gallery at 159 Derby Street, Salem, MA 01907. Gallery and shop hours are Saturdays and Sundays from noon until 6:00 p.m. 978-745-4850.