Crustacean Celebration
Uncategorized

Artoberfest 2024!

Wow! Want to have a great time? Come down to Artoberfest 2024, hosted by the Salem Arts Association. You will enjoy an afternoon of outstanding live bands, dancers, food trucks, activities, and relaxation by the beautiful oceanfront part on Derby Street, Salem, MA.

I will be setting up my easel, along with other local artist-members of the Salem Arts Association to be live painting demonstrators all afternoon. My painting is inspired by a utility box I painted in Swampscott MA this summer — Lucky the Blue Lobster. Lucky and his happy little crew made lots of people happy when I painted them, and I decided to keep the fun going. My painting is titled Crustacean Celebration and it is done in acrylic and latex paint on a stretched 24″ x 36″ canvas — perfect for any child’s room!

If you come to the festival, I hope you will come over to my tent and say hello!

@Artoberfest2024

@Artoberfest

#SalemArts

@SalemMA

@SalemArts

Wake Up Call
Uncategorized

Written Word – Best of Show!

“Written Word” Exhibition at Salem Arts. Think of a word, any word.  Or think of many, many words.  Salem Arts Association invited their member artists to use the written word as their artistic muse for this exhibition.  

The troubled state of the world inspired me to create Wake Up Call, a mixed media piece of artwork which illustrates my feelings about the necessity that we all work together to get things under control ASAP. Divided U.S. politics and gun violence, international wars, the climate crisis! These topics and many more moved me to insert a sense of urgency into this artwork by my use of strong color contrasts, hard edges, eye-catching Op Art lines (yes, I used a printed piece from my Musing painting to show the bugle’s blare!), and a little humor. Wouldn’t it be great if my Wake Up Call worked?

The juror for the Written Word exhibition is Ms. Jean Marie Procious is Executive Director of the Salem Athenaeum and co-chair of the Salem Literary Festival. She is a librarian and archivist with degrees from Simmons University and Hiram College. An avid reader and pie baker, her activities also include serving as a trustee of Harmony Grove Cemetery, volunteering with local nonprofits, and game night with friends, her husband, two kids, and two cats. Who better to judge works based upon the written word?

I am honored to have been her choice for the Best of Show Award! This is what Ms. Procious had to say about my piece, Wake Up Call: “The crisp visual elements reinforce the artist’s words. Message received, loud and clear!” Thank you, Jean Marie! I couldn’t be more delighted!

  • Reception: Friday, June 28, 2024, 6:00-8:00 PM
  • Exhibition Dates: June 29 – July 27, 2024

Open Saturdays and Sundays from 12:00 – 6:00 p.m.

Salem Arts Association Galleries, 159 Derby Street, Salem MA 01970

Contact gallery@salemarts.org with questions.

Uncategorized

Journey Into Self

While we may often think of art as a means to convey our message to the viewer, as artists, we are also looking within ourselves to find that expression, emotion, joy, or pain that emerges onto our chosen canvases, or through our lenses.  Salem Arts Association asked their artist members to take a deep dive within, and to really explore their own inner world.  They asked them to let the art tell their stories, perhaps even betray their secrets, and let go of those things they’ve pushed down and held on to so tightly.  Art should be cathartic.

I was pleased when my painting, Musing, was juried into the exhibit. Musing is painted in black acrylic paint on white illustration board and framed to 11″ x 14″. It is done in the Op Art style of Bridget Riley whose work I admired while growing up and forming my own style. The undulating lines, intersecting, streaming, remind me of the winding places my thoughts go when I am pondering.

The Opening reception on Friday, June 28, 2024 is free and open to the public. Come and enjoy the rooms full of original artwork in the galleries of our wonderful antique headquarters. While you are there, do not forget to visit the wonderful Gallery Shop on the first floor to treasure hunt through the multitude of exquisite one of a kind art made by the members of Salem Arts Association. My matted prints are in the bins for you to find, as well as my smaller paintings and children’s coloring book about Salem, MA — Salem: Which City? You will also find work by many other artists: jewelry, blown glass, ceramics, textiles, photos, paintings, drawings, etc.

  • Reception: Friday, June 28, 2024, 6:00-8:00 PM
  • Exhibition Dates: June 29 – July 27, 2024

Open Saturdays and Sundays from 12:00 – 6:00 p.m.

Salem Arts Association Galleries, 159 Derby Street, Salem MA 01970

Contact gallery@salemarts.org with questions.

  • Reception: Friday, June 28, 2024, 6:00-8:00 PM
  • Exhibition Dates: June 29 – July 27, 2024

Open Saturdays and Sundays from 12:00 – 6:00 p.m.

Salem Arts Association Galleries, 159 Derby Street, Salem MA 01970

Contact gallery@salemarts.org with questions.

Exhibitions

Be Still 5/19-6/17/23

Salem Arts Association’s newest exhibit, Be Still, will host an Opening Reception this Friday May 19, 2023 from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. This event is free and open to the public! I shall be there and hope you can come by and say Hello! My painting of the Beverly/Salem Bridge, Making Connections (acrylic, 12×24″, $485) has been juried into the show which will run from May 20 to June 17 at their beautiful gallery, 159 Derby St, Salem, MA 01970. Salem Arts hours are Saturdays and Sundays from noon until 6:00 p.m. The first floor houses the SAA Gallery Shop and the Paul Nathan Gallery. Upstairs you will find the exhibits, including Be Still.

This show was open to both artist members of the SAA and to non-member artists. They were met with the following challenge: The Oxford Dictionary defines “Stillness” as the absence of movement or sound. Stillness can be a moment of solitude, the calm surrender that we feel during meditation, the quiet moment just before an intense storm, the tranquility of water, or the uninterrupted surface of a frozen pond. This exhibition features artworks that depict the stillness within and all around us, or the glimmer of the storm to come.

My painting, Making Connections, was painted from a photograph I took of the Beverly/Salem Bridge. The title reflects all the connections shown: the bridge between Beverly and Salem, the railroad bridge, the water, the sky, the radio/phone tower, and even the red light on top of it which communicates with the airplanes in the sky. One early morning as I drove from Danvers to Beverly, the sky and water were so calm and the color was so stunning that I had to pull my car over to capture the moment. When painting, I did take artistic license and placed the railroad bridge in the distance which allowed me to have the legs of the Beverly/Salem Bridge reflect directly against the water without having the train cut them in half visually. That is the fun of being an artist; I can control the world on my canvas.

Guest Juror: Claudia Paraschiv

2023 Salem Public Artist in Residence (PAiR) on Artists’ Row

Claudia Paraschiv is an architect, public artist, and educator. Born in Romania and raised in Los Angeles, Claudia now lives with her family in Salem MA, where she started her design practice, Studioful Design in 2016. Studioful takes on a varied constellation of projects for more meaningful living and engages people to participate in the transformation of their worlds as purposeful places of stewardship, democracy, social gathering, self-expression, and imagination.

Claudia will continue these explorations as the 2023 Public Artist in Residence (PAiR) on Artists’ Row with her project the Tree of Care + Wonder / Árbol del Cuidado + del Maravillas, a large scale sculpture of a whimsical tree featuring migrant stories and a magical canopy!

The Tree of Care + Wonder / Árbol del Cuidado + del Maravillas will transform streets in Salem into community spaces of art and friendship to demonstrate the potential of streets to do more than move cars: local artists (poets, visual, musicians, dance, and theatre) will collaborate to produce civic-art events centered on migration stories, food memories, local history, and novel visions of how a future city might take care of and bring wonder to its residents. 

Exhibitions

Salem Arts Show: 3/5-4/2/22

Salem Arts Association is excited to open our 2022 exhibition schedule with a showcase of our member artwork. Our current Salem Arts members are exhibiting their best and newest work showing the community what we have to offer in all of our diverse styles and artistic disciplines.

My entry in this exhibit is Changes, a 4-panel acrylic painting of stylized tree branches with each 12″ wide by 24″ high canvas panel showing one of the four seasons. The total size is 48″ wide by 24″ high. The painting was inspired by the Asian panels at the Peabody Essex Museum and the background is done in many layers of different metallic paints and glazes which gives it a rich and varied look as the light in a room changes.

The Salem Art Association Gallery invites you to the Opening Reception on Friday, March 4, 2022 from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Free and open to the public.

Exhibition dates are March 5 through April 2, 2022. While you are there do not forget to visit our beautiful Gallery Shop located as you come in the front door. So many one-of-a-kind handcrafted treasures by local artists! I have a selection of 8 smaller paintings, miniature original acrylics with tiny easels, and matted prints of my work in the shop.

Salem Arts Association Gallery and Shop are located an antique yellow house by Derby Wharf at 159 Derby Street, Salem, MA. Hours are Saturdays and Sundays 12 noon until 6:00 p.m. www.SalemArts.org 978-745-4850 #SalemArts Info@SalemArts.org

Uncategorized

Poster for Salem Holiday Artists’ Market

I was very happy to have been commissioned to paint the artwork for the 2018 Salem Holiday Artists’ Market poster. It is a fantasy version of Old Town Hall in Salem on a snowy night, bustling with holiday activity. Little mice can be seen through the illuminated windows and socializing outside the Hall.

The real Salem Holiday Artists’ Market is a fantastic place to do your holiday shopping if you are looking for original, one-of-a-kind gifts for your friends and family. Artists display their varied creations throughout the historic building in the middle of lovely downtown Salem. So many styles and mediums are available: wood, textiles, ceramics, jewelry, paintings, photography and more.

Uncategorized

Marblehead Art Assoc. Winter Exhibit

The Marblehead Arts Association Winter Members’ Exhibit will be on display from the opening reception on November 10 through December 23, 2018. The show is hung at the MAA’s Hooper Mansion, 8 Hooper St., Marblehead, MA.

My acrylic painting, House of the Seven Gables Front Door, is my entry in this show. It was painted outside in the gardens of the H7G on an absolutely gorgeous May morning. The shadows were very pronounced at that time of day, and I was inspired by the series of strong diagonal shadows falling across the front of the house, caused by the sun hitting the slanted gables.

Gallery hours are Tuesday through Friday & Sunday, noon-5 pm and Saturday, 10-5 pm. Closed Monday. Tel: (781) 631-2608.

Exhibitions

Salem Arts Assoc. Members’ Showcase

The Salem Art Association is presenting its Members’ Showcase running from the opening reception on Friday, November 9 until December 14, 2018. There is no theme this time. Since members have been asked to submit their best and favorite work, there is a wonderful variety of subjects, mediums and styles.

My entry for this show is my painting, The Silversmith, a large watercolor. It is framed in an elaborate antique frame I found in my attic when I bought my house — just like in a movie! One of the reasons I decided to enter this painting right now is in response to the recent terrible massacre at a Pittsburg synagogue. If only we could all see the humanity in each other.

The Salem Arts Association gallery is located at 211 Bridge Street, Salem, MA. Gallery hours are Saturdays and Sundays from noon until 5:00 p.m.