The Swampscott Arts Association (SAA) will be exhibiting the assorted works of its members in the Shrage Gallery of the Hooper Mansion of the Marblehead Arts Association. Started in the 1940s when a group of well-known professional artists came together at the Swampscott Public Library to meet and create exhibits, the SAA currently has about 70 members. Each year the SAA offers non-juried shows for artists and photographers as well as workshops and demonstrations.

My painting, Great Horned Owl (acrylic, 16″ x 20″) has been accepted into the exhibit. Great Horned Owl was painted during a snow storm while I looked at the view out my back window. The snowflakes were falling so thickly that the trees right outside my yard were indistinct gray outlines. As I was painting, one of the great horned owls which lives in the woods behind my house swooped right past my window. I had been hearing his calls for months and it was a thrill to finally see him! Watching that powerful predator in flight made me wonder what the pair of little chickadees were thinking as they sat in the upper branches of the tree on the right.

This exhibit runs from January 14 until February 26, 2023. The Opening Reception will be held on Sunday, January 15 from 2:00 p.m. until 4:00 p.m. The Hooper Mansion is located at 8 Hooper Street, Marblehead, MA.

Danvers Art Association will present their Joy of Winter Show at the beautiful Peabody Institute Library of Danvers — commonly called the Danvers Public Library at 15 Sylvan Street, Danvers, MA 01923. The exhibit will be on display from Saturday, November 19 until December 24, 2022.

All the artwork in the show will be winter themed! My two paintings in the show are Frosty Dawn, acrylic on canvas, 12″ x 24″; Sweet Tidings, acrylic on wood panel, 17″x17″ framed.

Sweet Tidings is the original artwork used for the 2018 Harbor Sweets annual chocolate Advent calendar, a treat eagerly awaited by chocolate lovers. Each little door on the candy box holds a delightful treat from Harbor Sweets. Collecting these calendars is a holiday tradition for many families.

My 2018 cover is a Beacon Hill style scene with lots of Salem and Harbor Sweets references for their loyal fans to find. The diverse characters in the painting reflect the diversity of Harbor Sweets’ hometown, Salem, MA.

Frosty Dawn was inspired by the snowy view out my Salem window right after a blizzard. Because an artist can control her world when painting, it does not show the parked cars, telephone poles, and houses of my congested neighborhood. My neighbor’s backyard skating rink became the pond. 

The blue jays were really there balancing on the snow-clad shrubs, and making a lovely contrast with the new snowfall and the glorious pink sunset. With art, I can revitalize the world the way I would like it to be!

Hours:

Monday – Thursday 9am to 9pm
Friday & Saturday 9am-5pm 
Sunday (Sept. to May): 1pm to 5pm

danverslibrary.org

978-774-0554

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The Holiday art fun continues! The Salem Art Association presents the Member Showcase. Members were invited to show some of their best work and there is no theme, so the show is an array of art in all different styles, subjects, and mediums. The show will be exhibited from November 18 until December 18, 2022 when the shop goes on hiatus until March.

I have two pieces of artwork in the Member Showcase: Snowy Gables, an original screen print, 12″ round, $250; and Great Horned Owl, acrylic on canvas, 16 x 20″, $500. These can be seen in the association’s second floor galleries.

Snowy Gables is one in a series of about 8 (I sold them out of order I’m afraid!) and the one in this show is AP, an Artist’s Pull. This screen print is done in two colors of ink on 100% rag paper, and is displayed in a round wooden frame, wired to hang. This artwork was inspired by the many antique houses in Salem MA with their steep roofs that look so cozy covered in snow, sparkling under the moonlight.

Great Horned Owl was painted during a blizzard last winter as I stood looking out my window onto the conservation area behind my house. The snow was so heavy that I could only see the closest trees clearly, everything in the background faded into the falling snowflakes. All autumn I had been able to hear the hoots of the Great Horned Owls that live in the woods, and I even had seen their babies in the nest. But I had never seen the adult owl flying. While I was painting, one of the owls swooped right by me, its feathers a perfect blend with the subdued winter colors of the trees. So this painting is a souvenir of a thrilling painting experience.

Regular Gallery Hours: Noon to 6:00 PM Sat. & Sun. from March 5 to December 18, 2022

Visit our Virtual Galleries and Online Shop

Gallery Address: 159 Derby Street, Salem MA 01970

Phone: 978-745-4850

Email: info@salemarts.org

Website: salemarts.org

#SalemArts

The Salem Arts Association Shop is newly stocked with hundreds of unique items created by local artists. Paintings, blown glass, pottery, turned wood, original clothing and accessories, jewelry, etc! I have mini original paintings, 3×3″ with wee easels $25, matted 11×14″ prints of my paintings $25, and some original wall art in the shop. We are located at 159 Derby St. Salem MA and hours are noon to 6pm Saturdays and Sundays until Dec. 18. We are also open Friday evening 6-8 pm for an Art Opening Reception for the Members’ Showcase — and the shop is open too! #salemarts

Though many people think of Salem MA as a place to visit only at Halloween, it is actually a wonderful place all year long. But the Holidays are particularly nice. In a very small area there are so many cute little shops and places to eat, and the city is decorated to look so pretty.

The Salem Arts Association Shop is one of the nicest places to go. It is an ocean front antique building right beside Derby Wharf. A walk through the gallery is not only an art experience, it is historic as well. You’ll see old hand-hewn wooden beams and multiple fireplaces as you walk through our many gallery rooms on two floors.

Another option is to visit our Virtual Galleries and Online Shop where you can take your time and view all the paintings in our exhibit and many of the items in our beautiful shop.

Salem Arts Association is located at 159 Derby Street, Salem, MA 01970.

Phone: 978-745-4850

Email: info@salemarts.org

Website: salemarts.org

Art makes a thoughtful, unique gift for the Holidays, and Marblehead Arts Association is here to help! The association will present its Winter Wonderland Show, an exhibit of small works, all no bigger than 11″ x 14″. Best of all, the work is available to purchase right off the wall, no need to wait for the end of the exhibit like in regular art shows.

My contribution to this show is Snowy Trio, acrylic on canvas, 12″ x 4″, $125. It shows three jolly snowmen having some winter fun together. The canvas is deep enough to stand alone on a shelf or table, and it is also wired to be hung on a will. Its small size makes it ideal to tuck into any corner of your home or office, to give it a little winter flair.

The artwork in this exhibit encompasses all styles and subjects. Many are winter or holiday themed, and many have other subjects. There is something for everyone.

This show will run in conjunction with the Member Exhibit from November 13 through December 24, 2022. Marblehead Arts Association is located at Hooper Mansion on 8 Hooper Street, Marblehead, MA. Please visit their website, www.marbleheadarts.org for gallery hours and more information.

Come join us at the Marblehead Arts Association annual Member Exhibit. Both shows will be held at the MAA’s lovely Hooper Mansion galleries at 8 Hooper Street, Marblehead, MA. The show will run from the Opening Reception on November 13 from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. until the last day of the exhibit on December 24, Christmas Eve.

The Member Exhibit showcases the diverse talent of the members of the association including paintings done in oils, acrylics, pastels, drawings, photographs, etc. The artwork encompasses realism to abstract and everything in between. You are sure to find something that suits your fancy.

My entries in the Member Exhibit are: Midcentury Merriment and Snow Globe Christmas, both Christmas themed paintings. Midcentury Merriment, acrylic on canvas, 11″ x 21″ framed, $500. This painting was inspired by a black and white photo I came across showing the Town Center in Danvers, MA, circa 1955. I imagined what it would look like with all the colorful Christmas lights on the big tree and in the shop windows. Showing it on a wet, rainy night gave me even more options for reflections. Danvers Square has not changed all that much since those days.

Snow Globe Christmas, acrylic on wood panel, 17″ x 17″ framed, $600 is the original artwork for the Salem Holiday Market in 2018. The market was held at Old Town Hall and the painting shows that lovely brick antique building on a snowy winter night with little mice enjoying the holiday. I got the idea to make the whole scene take place in a snow globe, inspired by my granddaughter’s snow globe collection.

While you are the MAA, don’t forget to visit their lovely MAA Artisan’s Shop for those last-minute gifts!

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.

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.

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.

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.