Shows & News

In 1863 the most prestigious exhibition in Paris, the Paris Salon, rejected art work in the new Impressionist style.  Manet, Courbet, Whistler and Pissaro were among the rejected artists.  In protest they exhibited their work in their own exhibit, the now famous “Salon des Refuses,” which brought their beautiful and innovative work to the public – and made them famous.

In recognition of the fact that a lot of wonderful work doesn’t get accepted into art exhibits Salem Arts Association is holding its own “Salon Des Refuses” including work not accepted in the Salem Arts Festival Exhibit, other exhibits and other innovative and avant garde work.

My painting juried into the show is “Forest River Summer”, acrylic, 12″ x 36″. Forest River Park is one of my favorite places in Salem. The way the light flows over the grassy hills in the late afternoon is magical. I hope this painting makes you want to visit this beautiful seaside park.

The reception will be held on Friday, June 7 from 5:00 until 8:00 p.m. Live music will be provided by Johny Fireseed & the Junkyard Dogs featuring original Earth Rock, Green Punk and Junk Funk. Gallery Hours are every Saturday and Sunday from 12:00 noon until 5:00 p.m. Please contact gallery@salemarts.org with questions.

On June 7^th – 9^th, the 11^th annual Salem Arts Festival will present a free celebration of arts, culture, creativity, and community! This popular family-friendly event features over 200 artists and performers and includes a variety of art, music, dance, and theatre performances. Public activities include four performance areas, onsite art-making for all ages, local artisans and makers selling their creations, a juried art exhibition, and a temporary eco-friendly public art installation on Artists’ Row. This year’s festival is sponsored by Peabody Essex Museum.

The reception for the Festival art exhibit in Old Town Hall will be held on Friday, June 7 from 6:00 until 9:00. My painting which has been juried in to the show is “Old Town Hall Holiday”, acrylic, 15″x15″ framed. If the artwork looks familiar, it is because this painting was commissioned to illustrate the poster for 2018 Holiday Artists’ Market. It shows a tiny Old Town Hall inside a snow globe. A family of mice inhabit and enliven the old building with all sorts of artistic activities.

The festival is rain or shine; in the event of inclement weather, performances will be moved into Old Town Hall and Front Street Coffeehouse.  Visitors interested in attending the Salem Arts Festival can find easy access to the downtown by public transportation or parking at one of the many downtown lots in the City. For more information and for the full festival schedule, performer information and listings of street fair vendors please visitwww.salemartsfestival.com.

In conjunction with the Salem Arts Festival, Salem Arts Association presents an exhibition exploring the meaning of “Roots”, one of the themes of the Festival.  Interpretations include living things and their roots, ancestry, home and country, family and any other creative explorations of this theme.

I am excited to have five pieces of artwork juried into this show: Changing Seasons, acrylic, 30″x40″; Mighty Redwood, watercolor, 32×38″; Summer Afternoon, acrylic, 12×36″, Slainte, pen & colored pencil, 11×13″; Seamroag, pen & colored pencil, 12″x14″.

Changing Seasons shows a stylized rendition of a tree during summer, winter, spring and autumn painted on a dappled metallic background. Mighty Redwood was inspired by my visit to the awe inspiring Muir Woods in California. Summer Afternoon is my interpretation of a day just before sunset at Forest River Park in Salem, MA. Slainte and Seamroag are both drawings done in the Celtic style, reminiscent of the detailed, jewel-toned drawings in the Book of Kells.

Opening Reception: Friday, May 10, 2019, 5:00 – 8:00 p.m.

Exhibition Dates: May 10-26, 2019

Gallery Hours are every Saturday and Sunday from 12:00 – 5:00 p.m.

Salem Arts Association Gallery
Salem Old Town Hall
12 Derby Square
Salem, MA  01970

Please contact gallery@salemarts.org with questions.

ReachArts, Swampscott’s Community Art Center, launching a project called ART ON THE WALLS, a 3-month rotating exhibition platform for local artists.

Four of my creations have been juried in to the first show for this project. Two of the pieces are mixed media,  13″ x 13″ framed in shadow boxes; and both have won awards in art shows, including Best of Show and Peoples’ Choice. ‘Sea Breeze’ is a view of Ten Pound Island in Gloucester through a library window, and ‘Relax!’ shows a claw foot tub beside a window overlooking Salem Harbor. ‘Raven Tresses’, acrylic on illustration board, 11″x14″ is an Op Art abstract in black and white. ‘Crochet’, acrylic on illustration board, framed to 22″x28″ is an intricate abstract incorporating every color of the rainbow in a very orderly design evocative of crochet.

The work will be on view at ReachArts from April 26 through August 4, 2019. ReachArts is located at 89 Burrill Street, Swampscott, MA 01907. For further information, please go to their website, reacharts.org.

The Salem Arts Association will present their Member Showcase exhibition at Old Town Hall, Salem MA. The opening reception will be held on Friday, April 5 from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m. and is free and open to the public. The guest juror is Kate Luchini, Staff Planner for Art and Culture at City of Salem.

I have five entries in the show. Boston Skyline, acrylic,  11”x14”, shows a view of Boston that I could see when I was trapped in traffic one frustrating morning — lemons to lemonade. Devereaux Morning, acrylic, 12”x24”, is a misty view I painted on location on a cold July morning, as part of the Marblehead Festival of Arts when artists paint local scenes all over town. The Silversmith, watercolor, 16”x20”, in a lovely antique frame. Knowles Landing, acrylic, 16” x 20”, was painted on location at Stubby Knowles Landing in West Gloucester on an idyllic summer afternoon. More Power, mixed media, 16”x20” matted and framed was the inspiration for the electric light box I painted at Riley Plaza in downtown Salem.

In addition to the gallery show, Salem Arts Association will be running a shop, chock full of original art, prints of members’ work, jewelry, photography, textile work, etc. — all for sale to art lovers. I will be showing small Celtic style paintings, and matted prints of my other paintings.

The exhibition dates are April 6 to April 20, 2019, and gallery hours are every Saturday and Sunday from noon until 5:00 p.m. Salem Old Town Hall is located at 12 Derby Square, Salem, MA 01970

CuriousCity is a temporary pop-up children’s museum in downtown Peabody that inspires curiosity, a love of learning and the healthy development of children of all abilities, ages 2-10 years old. A children’s museum invites kids to touch, explore, interact and make noise! Museums are awesome places to visit in general, but children’s museums come with the added bonus of actually inviting children to touch and feel, interact and make noise as they do. Children’s museums are heaven to children, who are naturally curious, learn by touching and are excited about new. CuriousCity pop-up museum will open its doors March 31, 2019 and be open for 3 months.

I am proud to have been chosen to design two of the exhibits. Epi-Curious is a farm-to-table space where children can play with a toy barn, farm animals and straw table. Then they can play at the farmers’ market complete with cash register and baskets of play food before bringing it to the play kitchen to ‘cook’ and serve at the little table and chairs. The room is surrounded by my art: two big murals, one of an apple tree and another of a farm scene, and also a cut paper children’s barn. I have also created a fun photo-op mural which is placed outside the barn so kids can get their pictures taken peeking through the mural as farmers, and beekeepers.

My Curious World exhibit is a place for kids to play with a variety of maps and an interactive world globe. There is a magnificent Augmented Reality sand table where children can build their own land and water forms, literally changing their world with a sweep of their hands. Also, in this exhibit, is a Biome carousel constructed of my 4 murals of Desert, Coral Reef, Tundra, and Rain Forest. Children can sit in the area and play with toys matching that biome.

CuriousCity is housed in the historic George Peabody House and Peabody Leather Barn at 205 Washington St., Peabody, MA 01960. This is the birthplace of George Peabody, the father of modern philanthropy. The rooms of the house hold kid-friendly exhibits:  a wonderful play George Peabody Bank; a story exhibit complete with giant storybook, puppets and costumes; a Sensory room, a Mindfulness exhibit; and my two exhibits, Curious World (geography), EpiCurious (farm to table). The adjacent Peabody Leather Museum has been transformed into a big creative area for children to explore building, a wind tunnel, rocks & minerals, art and more.

Peabody Main Streets has used “pop up” events to test out new ideas before committing a vast amount of resources. The 3-month trial will allow the City to determine the feasibility of a permanent museum. There is plenty of parking both in front of and behind the museum, as well as along the street.