Amherst books - JASON montgomery & Sydney kleinrock
8 Main Street
JASON MONTGOMERY
“Earth Bears Metal”
“Wood Feeds Fire”
Jason R. Montgomery is a Chicano/Indigenous Californian activist, writer, painter, and playwright from El Centro, California. Jason is the co-founder of the police transformation group “A Knee is Not Enough” (AKINE) in Easthampton, MA. In 2016 he founded the arts activism collective Attack Bear Press. JRM’s work has appeared in Split Lip Magazine, Storm Cellar, Ilanot Review, and other publications. In 2021, Jason was selected as one of two Poets Laureate for 2021-2023. www.attackbearpress.com www.attackbearpress.com/nono-project
SYDNEY KLEINROCK
“Landscapes of Luv” Oil, Embroidery, and Acrylic on Canvas, 2020
Sydney’s practice incorporates painting and drawing with textile processes to explore themes of queerness, identity and internal landscapes in the context of greater cultural surroundings. She explores the variation of texture and dimension that is added when textile elements are combined with painting. The imagery in her work is drawn from a combination of memory, imagination and moments captured from life. Often reflective objects are transformed into a vessel for refracting the fleeting moment that is presented before the surface. Recognizable figures are distorted through a reflective surface or the ever-shifting perspective of memory and emotion. Through the use of oversaturated colors and loosely-rendered space, everyday scenes and memories become surreal and dream-like. Distanced perspectives are captured through the frame of up close objects, creating a layered effect that hints at the transitory nature of reality and the ever-fluctuating presence of internal and outer life. Sydney Kleinrock is a painter from Long Island, New York. Sydney received her AAS from the Fashion Institute of Technology, and graduated in 2018 with a BFA from Hampshire College. Here, she exhibited a solo gallery show of her thesis artwork which examined the role of clothing in everyday life as well as its larger, cross-cultural impact on the global environment. She was a resident at Vermont Studio Center in 2019. Her work has been shown at the Untitled Space and Teipei Center in New York, at Kaiser Gallery in Cleveland, and online with GIFC. She currently works out of her studio in Greenfield, MA. www.sydneykleinrock.com
amherst coffee - Judy Dickson
28 Amity Street
“Chaos”
“Untitled 3”
“Untitled 4”
“Jungle”
“Untitled 1”
“Untitled 2”
I have always had a visceral response to art. Works of art grab me or leave me uninvolved. Painting for me is all about color, shapes, texture, and layers. My work grows and changes as though on its own, letting me know when it is complete. I paint in acrylic on raw and untreated canvas and on paper, and I also make mixed-media collage.
Five Colleges Center for the Study of World Languages - Anthony Melting Tallow, Bo’taan’niis [Flying Chief]
“Sociolect’, 2021 Archival ink on cotton satin canvas.
‘Entheogen’, 2021 Archival ink on RC Photo Luster Paper
Visual Artist, Public Speaker, Indigenous social justice advocate. I am a full-blood enrolled member of the Blackfoot Nation of Siksika, Alberta, Canada. I have been a resident of Chicopee, Massachusetts since 2005 and am excited to present these pieces to the community. Currently, I am producing work that represents new ideas, based within explorations of my cultural heritage. I strive to evoke a powerful visual statement within each piece, rooted in traditional Blackfoot expression. I embrace vivid color and dynamic form as a language to express emotion, evoking form as tradition. Observing issues of both historic/modern contexts and introducing these within esthetic works are, aspirations for indigenous healing, universal experiences including movement toward truth, social justice, cultural pride, rebirth and resurgence.
amherst worKs - GillIan haven
11 Amity St
“Geese in Marsh” oil on linen
“Greeting” oil on linen
Gillian Haven lives in Pelham and works in oil paint and a variety of drawing media. Her roots are in Amherst where she is drawn to the silent companionship of hills, the elation of water, the clouds that lift, unexpected openings and the expanse of fields. To paint the landscape is to pay attention to a place and its stories. She seeks landmarks which for her become touchstones amid change.
a.j. hastIngs - Sally zIgmond
“Atkins Reservoir”
“J &J Farm”
“Simple Gifts cows”
Watercolors
Upon retiring from a career as a scientist, I moved to art. I paint scenes that I photograph in my daily walks and bike rides. I chose watercolor as a medium for its freshness. I enjoy the process of painting in watercolor. It was a pleasing pastime during COVID.
bistro 63 - Kristine A Villeneuve-Topor
“Ashley Reservoir”
“Resurrection”
“Ladies of the Forest”
My name is Kristine Villeneuve-Topor. I was born and raised in Holyoke, MA.
My creative process is like an exciting adventure, never knowing where the journey will take me. I take photographs of all that interests me. I am an avid collector of found objects which I incorporate into my art. This past year I started experimenting with cement and paper clay. I fell instantly in love. I am also a painter. My paintings are largely representational, but abstracts are also a part of my painting process.
My work has been in many art exhibits around New England. There are numerous corporate and private collections internationally and worldwide. I live and breath art. I believe imagination is a vital part of the human spirit. It’s an inner life that we all need. I am truly grateful for my gift and that I can share with others. Even if it’s a moment.....there’s nothing like touching one’s heart, mind and spirit. That is why I create Art.
Contact: topor_kristine@comcast.net
center dance studio - Nancy Meagher
Nancy Meagher, Emily Dickinson, “Wallpaper Dancer Series”
I cannot dance upon my Toes… Emily Dickinson
Several years ago, I had the unique opportunity to sketch for several mornings with a friend in Emily Dickinson’s bedroom. The Museum was celebrating the installation of Emily’s new Rose Trellis wallpaper, reproduced from a tiny paper fragment discovered in her bedroom closet. I sat for three hours each morning in the tranquility of the Museum, “closed” days, when staff worked quietly indistant rooms. I imagined Emily at night, tossing and turning in her carved sleigh bed, wrestling with a poem. Here, the wallflowers assist, transforming themselves into Wallpaper Dancers. www.nancymeagherart.com
collective copies - Nancy Haver
“Farm Workers and Local Landscape I,II” wood engravings and woodcuts on 8.5”x11” paper
I’ve been drawing since I was old enough to hold a crayon and was captivated by the printing process early on, when I helped my father develop black and white photographs. I’m particularly drawn to woodcut as a medium and enjoy the way wood exerts its infuence on the image, and also the strong contrasts and movement produced by a variety of carving tools employed.
Since 2014 I have been selected as artist-in-residence for a number of national park programs. In addition to my training as a naturalist, I hold an MFA degree in printmaking and taught classes in drawing, illustration, and relief printmaking at the University of Massachusetts and Holyoke Community College. I have exhibited my prints nationally and am a member of The Boston Printmakers and Zea Mays Printmaking, in Florence, MA—a group devoted to using and developing non-toxic printmaking practices. I have worked as an illustrator for many publishers, university presses, wildlife agencies, and other institutions. My printmaking heroes are Kathe Kollwitz and Lyonel Feininger. I enjoy bicycling, hiking, ukulele, and tap dancing, and am a co-owner of Collective Copies.
crazy noodles - Ricky Darell Barton
2 Robot Paintings oil stick on canvas
Robot Paintings are a exploration in color using graffiti and finger painting to explore Post Animation Abstract Expressionism.
elements hot tub & spa - ted hinman
“Pinkscape” acrylic paint, sand and molding putty on canvas,
“Emerald Isle” pen and colored pencil (will be matted and framed)
I am a local artist blacksmith living in Greenfield, Massachusetts. I grew up in New York City, the son of two artists. For 24 years, I have been an innovative, versatile artist blacksmith / toolmaker / bladesmith / teacher. I am presently attending the Massachusetts College of Art MFA program for Sculpture. I see my art as a spiritual process. I keep coming back to the theme of sowing seeds or the tree of life. I am given the gift to create and there are living beings amongst us who were created perfectly. The plants I incorporate into my art are nature’s perfection. My techniques involve forging and shaping iron and other materials, incorporating woodworking, carving and shaping. Art saved me, and now I use it to help others as well. Asperger’s actually empowers my award-winning work and inclusive teaching. I dive deep into the work, able to see with a unique perspective, freed from the pressure to be “normal,” connecting with others in the creative space. When I am creating my art, I forget about my disability. I am able to create without judgment from others of me. I lose that sense of otherness I feel. I am at my happiest when I am creating my artwork. I can be myself, and I decide what direction my artwork will go, and I am not constrained by any rules.
ETTA INTERNATIONAL @ Realignment Park, North Pleasant Street
Ben Krogh-Grabbe, Crayon and watercolor
Karen Weneczek, Wool Yarn Embroidery
Jay W. Lithgow, Collage
Wole Abiodun, Mixed Media
Andrea Washiek, Acrylic Paint
Empowerment Through The ARTS, Inc.
We became an official nonprofit in May, 2020! We continue... 20 + years and counting! We pivot and incorporate virtual Zoom Theater and will soon offer dance, art and new Social Justice Theater classes!
fresh side - Shoshona King
“Follow Me” print landscape photograph
“Emily’s Tree” print photograph of the Dickinson Museum
Shoshona King is a member of the Amherst Public Art Commission & Co-Chair of the Amherst Arts Night Plus committee since 2018. All her life she has been an independent artist & activist, always learning & pushing her boundaries as an artist. She never stops learning or shys away from a new challenge, even if it terrifies her . Coming from a long line of women artists, her first teacher was her Grandmother, Eleanor, in the field of ceramics. Since then she has expanded into dance, jewelry, leatherwork, commercial arts, fabrication, photography, costume & all manner of fiber arts. She received her associates from the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising in San Francisco & her bachelors from UMass Amherst. During the holidays, She can be seen dancing with the Pioneer Valley Ballet company’s Nutcracker show. Since the pandemic, she can often be found on nature walks photographing heart shaped occurrences in nature. You can follow her photography on her instagram account, which she’s been working on updating daily with a new image that relects her meditations of the day: Shoshona King (@shoshona_king) Instagram photos and videos
go berry n’ Cream - noa chambers
“Sunset at Sea"
Noa Chambers is a freshman at Amherst Regional High School. She was inspired to work with relief printing in her art class but also enjoys graphic art and other mediums. This piece was inspired by the travel we have all missed in this last year. The relief was carved in a wood block and in ink. The process was a huge challenge but the finished result was worth it.
hair east - Kristi Woodworth Colbert
“Hilltown Barn"
“City Windows"
“Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia"
All three pieces are made from recycled papers painted with gouache, watercolors, and colored pencil, then cut and fixed on heavyweight 138 lb. French paper.
Artist by passion and typically into the latest hours of the night, I draw much of my inspiration from country life in the Valley and (pre-pandemic) travel with my wife and two small children. For me, the real magic of life exists in nature and people and all the many forms and textures they embody.
Through my art, I enjoy connecting with and elevating these currents of life that aren't always readily accessible to others. And, while I work in many mediums, my newest series of hand-painted cut paper collages really allows me to deconstruct and then reconstruct the world in front of me in a way I experience as both keenly intimate and expressive, painterly and sculptural.
coldbearstudio.etsy.com
Instagram: @coldbearstudio
Corner of North Pleasant/amity street - Julio Neijens
MAGIC FLUTE CREATIONS
Julio Neijens is a local artist and art teacher with the Multi-Arts children’s camps. The works exhibited are costume puppets made in conjunction with Multi-Arts for the 2020 Windham Philharmonic production of Mozart’s The Magic Flute in Brattleboro, which was postponed indefinitely last March due to the pandemic.
The objects made for The Magic Flute, a loopy, whim-filled opera, drew inspiration from the theater costumes and scenery made in collaboration with children campers at the Multi-Arts summer programs. Made chiefly out of cardboard, clear shapes aim to host the expressivity of the maker as well as to communicate clearly and directly the characteristics of the of the depicted subjects from both the short and long distances inherent in a theater. Other sources of inspiration were David Hockney’s opera sets (including his own Magic Flute scenery for the Los Angeles Opera), the archetypal characteristics of the subject animals –the asocial porcupine, the unfortunate dragon–, as well as the The Magic Flute opera itself.
In all its contradictions and indulgences, The Magic Flute is irreverent, explorative, and free as a child’s mind. This, adorned over the architecture of classical opera and the virtuosic music of Mozart’s mastery provides a fertile ground for the scenic art that would paint its picture.
(Himalaya friends corner) 61main Street - rita edelman & Mary Witt
Rita Edelman
“Life is a Circle and Everything Has It's Place In It. And There is Always One More Story" acrylic on canvas
Symbols are used to create my own visual language. I don't invent images, I just rearrange them. I have long admired and appreciated the great originality of the early art of the Americas. My paintings suggest rather than define. I make layer on layer of marks...a web if you will. Hopefully, the viewer will see layer on layer of meaning. The symbols are ambiguous and open to multiple interpretations.
rita.edelman@gmail.com
mary witt
“Sanctuary”, “Tumbleweeds”
All acrylic on canvas
Mary Witt, an abstract painter, works intuitively, letting the process lead her to the next stroke, the next color. Painting for over 25 years, she summons up the many abstract artists she was exposed to by her German parents in all their travels. And finding inspiration from other contemporary abstract artists as well, she continues to experiment, noticing which compositions, color combinations, and marks bring joy to her as well as to her viewers. Being a singer and bass player, she always listens to a wide variety of music while she paints in her studio, an ice house from the early 1900s. Texture, depth, color, layers, confict, and collaboration all play their part in the flow of creating her work, mystery environments.
She is a member of Oxbow Gallery in Northampton and has shown her work in numerous locations in New England.
knowles flower shop - Donna Roy
“Winter Cornfield”
“Three Sisters”
“Waking Blooms”
All Soft Pastel on UArt
Donna Roy is a Western Massachusetts artist who began her love of painting while studying privately with a local oil painter when she was ten years old. During weekly studio sessions, she learned traditional foundations of composition, perspective, color theory and design. This foundation cemented her love for painting and her creative journey. A graduate of UMASS with a BFA, Donna continued her exploration of art through several mediums. Fascinated with the play of color and light through glass, she has worked in glass enamel painting and fusing. Combining these elements she developed a line of post consumer copper and glass garden and interior wall sculptures. Learning to thrive in a pandemic, Donna pushed her passion for color full circle and found her home with soft pastels. Addicted to vibrant color and energetic marks, her paintings center on Western Massachusetts landscapes and local natural beauty. These days, you will hnd Donna visiting local farms, rivers, and trails with her trusty camera in search of inspiration, painting PleinAir, or in her small home studio creating pastel paintings inspired by Western Massachusetts character.
www.instagram.com/donnamroy_artist ] donnamroy.com
laughing dog bicycles - Anthony Melting Tallow, Bo’taan’niis [Flying Chief] & Nina rossi
Anthony Melting Tallow “Grass Dancers”, 2018. Archival ink on cotton satin canvas.
Visual Artist, Public Speaker, Indigenous social justice advocate. I am a full-blood enrolled member of the Blackfoot Nation of Siksika, Alberta, Canada. I have been a resident of Chicopee, Massachusetts since 2005. I am excited to present these pieces to the community. Currently, I am producing work that represents new ideas, based within explorations of my cultural heritage. I strive to evoke a powerful visual statement within each piece, rooted in traditional Blackfoot expression. I embrace vivid color and dynamic form as a language to express emotion, evoking form as tradition. Observing issues of both historic/modern contexts and introducing these within esthetic works are, aspirations for indigenous healing, universal experiences including movement toward truth, social justice, cultural pride, rebirth and resurgence.
NINA ROSSI “Essential Amherst” Three color illustrations
For the past four years, I have been creating illustrations of people working and recreating in the towns of Montague, Leverett, Wendell, Erving and Gill, for the weekly newspaper The Montague Reporter. Over the past two years, my methods have changed to full color, digital illustrations, and I would be excited to create several specific illustrations featuring people working at every day essential jobs in Amherst -- grocery workers, trash collectors, town hall employees, etc. These could be printed at any size for display in a window.
la veracruzana - Abbie Wanamaker
Red Winged Blackbird Great Crested Flycatcher & Pileated Woodpecker
House paint on board. Both paintings are graphic paintings of birds with natural materials done in a graphic, folk art style.
This year of long walks around my house in the woods gave me a chance to see all the seasons emerge in the woods, see the first signs of spring with skunk cabbages and the small beauties of the fleeting woodland flowers. This series came unexpectedly after a year of nature drawing and journaling, taking note of the timing of plants and birds and getting immersed in the routines and patterns of arrival and growth.These paintings are an attempt to pay tribute to the emergence of the seasons specific to the Pioneer Valley by combining birds, plants and other natural elements that are all just appearing or thriving at the time I start to paint. The use of a graphic, stylized, playful style is inspired by folk art that favors design and artful arrangement. All paintings are household paint on sign-board and coated with sealant for inside our outside display.
Abbie Wanamaker is an artist, illustrator, writer and educator living in Western MA with her husband and daughter. She studied painting at UMass Amherst and went on to get her MFA at the University of Southern California, before deciding to go back to school to work with children. In her artwork she works with color, form and design, interpreting and responding to the world around her through drawings, painting, poetry, stories and photography. Abbie has shown her work at galleries and public spaces in Los Angeles, Boston, Provincetown and Amherst. She has two self-published children’s books and during her time in Boston, she worked to bring art making into public spaces, through her work with community organizations, in the Boston neighborhood of Dorchester. Abbie is a member of Gallery A3 located in Amherst, MA.
instagram.com/abbiewanamaker_art abbiewanamakerart.com
mexcalitos taco bar - 3 artists
Amy Dawn Kotel
“All Hands” Color Pencil Abstract on Acid Free Paper, Matted
“Desert Bird Beauty” Color Pencil and Watercolor Illustration on Acid Free Paper, Matted
Amy is a creative type in every sense of the word. From an early age on she’s been passionate about the the arts. She attended high school in Syocett, NY, and studied art and dance during her undergraduate days at SUNY New Paltz. After college she became a professional puppeteer and dancer, traveling,
teaching, choreographing and performing for over 25 years. About 5 years ago, she turned her focus back to art and has been prolific in her creating ever since. She began showing her art and curating up until the pandemic, when one of her shows were canceled. Her work is vibrant and rich in color. She mixes realism, with imagination. Since the pandemic started, Amy has utilized stipple-like circles. The circles come together to create depths, together making the larger image.
lorna ritz
“Mt. Norwottuck and Apple Trees” oil crayon on paper Amherst 2018.
The Holyoke Mountain Range range was glacially formed, one of the only east-west axis range mountains in this country. Lorna says, “The mountains are so close to me I can almost reach out to pet them, like they are a big animal moving up and down as the cloud shadows allow sun and cloud shadows to undulate them, like ocean waves. Each drawing has immediacy to it, but takes time to complete; it’s my own personal paradox. The drawing is the consequence of technique and skill brought about by the concept. That is how what ends up on the paper gets said, and how my drawings come to be.” Lorna works with Holbein oil pastels on 300 pound hot press, (smooth), archival paper. The crayon slides across the mirror-smooth surface. She scrapes into the crayon with a single edged razor blade as a drawing tool, as much as the crayon is used. She says, “ I love color and I love the oil crayon to express how my eyes tell my hands how to move across the paper.”
Bernice Massé Rosenthal
“Enredadera” Free standing painted wood assemblage.
I am an assemblage sculptor and creative recycler. The material in my art work is primarily wood from objects that had been abandoned as presumed worthless’ After assembling, a fresh coat of paint is applied. It’s a form of re-incarnation. My challenge is “let’s see what I can do with that.”
miss saigon - tom morton
“Borderlands: Backyard”
“Borderlands: Dingle”
“Borderlands: Beyond”
Tom Morton has lived in Amherst since graduating from Amherst College in 1964 and returning in 1970. He earned a MFA degree in painting from UMass Amherst in 1988. From 1992 to 2003 he was Managing Director at Leverett Arts and Craft Center. He is a member of Gallery A3, the Amherst Coop Gallery.
mystery train - Olivia arau MCsweeney
“We Called it a Dream (Second Version)"
Multicolor photolithograph and relief print
Olivia Arau McSweeney is an artist and researcher working in the fields of printmaking and analog photography. Raised in Sitges, Spain, Olivia moved to Burlington, Vermont and then to Ann Arbor, Michigan where she received her BFA in Art and Design with an Environmental Studies Minor at the Stamps School of Art and Design at the University of Michigan in 2019. Olivia's work contemplates the emergence of the Anthropocene; responding to the grief that comes with facing a world shaped by climate change, and the hope sparked by communities actively combating it. She is excited by the materiality and the technical aspects of print and analog photography. Their process-heavy nature and the ability to experiment with these mediums influence the concepts she explores in her work.
livvyarau.com instagram: @livvyarau.art
oriental flavor - roseanne helden
“Pink Light, Barnstable, MA”
“Colorful Sunset, First Encounter Beach, Cape Cod”
“Dramatic Winter Sunset, Hadley, MA “
Painting connects me to the places and emotions that feel most comfortable, and with brush in hand, I feel at peace and with purpose. As a psychotherapist, I was constantly utilizing my intellectual creativity in the unraveling and reassembling of the human spirit; painting takes me away from this intellectual work and lands me in a gratifying world steeped in texture, shape and color. The feel of the brush in my hand, the swirling of paint, the emerging image, and the contrast of color all take me to a place of imagination and inventiveness. An unusual shadow, a geld of dry corn stocks, a snowy hill, almost bare trees in autumn - these sorts of natural “moments” are where I gnd inspiration for my oil landscapes. Shape next to shape, color next to color, light next to dark, layer upon layer- slowly the form emerges bringing forth a familiar image, something that felt worth remembering. My work with watercolor is less about capturing the feeling, and more about examining unique shape and contour. My current watercolor collection reiects my love of bold color, deep shadows, and the organic form. I am deeply rooted in my artistic process, and with this connection comes a willingness to allow my creative eye to evolve.
rkhelden@comcast.net
Instagram: rosanne-helden-artist
osteria Vespa - sydney Kleinrock & diane steingart/Jonathan WOODBRiDGE
“Pomegranate” by Sydney Kleinrock
Sydney’s practice incorporates painting and drawing with textile processes to explore themes of queerness, identity and internal landscapes in the context of greater cultural surroundings. She explores the variation of texture and dimension that is added when textile elements are combined with painting. The imagery in her work is drawn from a combination of memory, imagination and moments captured from life. Often reflective objects are transformed into a vessel for refracting the fleeting moment that is presented before the surface. Recognizable figures are distorted through a reflective surface or the ever-shifting perspective of memory and emotion. Through the use of oversaturated colors and loosely-rendered space, everyday scenes and memories become surreal and dream-like. Distanced perspectives are captured through the frame of up close objects, creating a layered effect that hints at the transitory nature of reality and the ever-fluctuating presence of internal and outer life.
Sydney Kleinrock is a painter from Long Island, New York. Sydney received her AAS from the Fashion Institute of Technology, and graduated in 2018 with a BFA from Hampshire College. Here, she exhibited a solo gallery show of her thesis artwork which examined the role of clothing in everyday life as well as its larger, cross-cultural impact on the global environment. She was a resident at Vermont Studio Center in 2019. Her work has been shown at the Untitled Space and Teipei Center in New York, at Kaiser Gallery in Cleveland, and online with GIFC. She currently works out of her studio in Greenfield, MA.
Once Upon a Time in New York by Diane Steingart & Jonathan Woodbridge
I have been making art for the past 12 years, mostly painting and collage.
I create art as a daily practice and am mainly self-taught. I love what I learn from the process of creating art. I have been a member of Gallery A3 since 2016 and have had a number of shows in the area, including a solo show at the Burnett Gallery and two shows at Pelham Library.
pasta e basta - Dina Spice
"Space Dust" watercolor, gouache, watercolor pencil, pen
"Rush Hour" watercolor, gouache, watercolor crayon, pen
"Summertime Songs" watercolor, pen
I've had my hands busy with creative projects my whole life. My college stints earned me degrees in Visual Art and Art Education. But more than that, I have just always loved making things. Painting is the medium I feel most at home. I use my art as a form of therapy; to express the inner workings of my messy brain. I really enjoy playing with watercolor, gouache, acrylic paint and ink. Too, I like using weird found objects as printmaking tools. My appreciation of music plays into a lot of the intuitive-type pieces I make. Sometimes one line from a song will strike me, and I'll look to it often as I work; or a particular beat or melody will help direct my markings. Nature is also a driving force - I often work outside in my garden, where I am given so much interesting inspiration.
powerhouse Nutrition - Robert Markey
“Untitled” oil on canvas, abstract.
“Untitled” oil on canvas, abstract.
“Night Flight” oil on canvas, woman flying in an abstract night.
My work combines the visual and the conceptual. I want the visual statement to be profound, to be questioning and to be a source of inspiration and of beauty. Conceptually, my work often speaks about hope, about humor and about the human condition: what it is and what it could be. Much of my earlier work was visually brutal, showing the suffering which one group of people cause to another. My later work pushes this brutality beneath the surface, showing more the beauty and hope which is possible. Currently I am working in oil painting, sculpture and mosaic murals. In my paintings I work with layers of intense color creating a deep almost primeval feeling space. My sculptures are outdoor installations using steel, stone, glass, wood and mosaic. The sculptures often have a political or social motif. I have done mosaic murals in Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Israel, India, Afghanistan and the U.S., and for the past several years I have traveled to Asia and Brazil to work with youth in vulnerable situations to do mosaic murals. I have done painted murals with refugees in the U.S. and Greece, and with tribal painters in India. I have a vision of a peaceful world, a world based on justice, compassion and human dignity. As an artist my work comes from that vision and from the understanding of how different that vision is from reality. I attempt in my work to impact on an emotional level, to evoke laughter, tears or anger. It is the purpose of art, I believe, to confront, to challenge, to force the viewer to see and think about the world in a new and more profound way. It is my hope that experience my work will be one of perhaps many events that will influence people to envision and work for a more humane and just world.
Stakeholders Capital - nancy meagher
“Emily’s House in Wind” Heavily layered\scored, oil on canvas and painted with palette knife.
Emily's yellow house is a beacon for me. Driving up Main Street each day, I'm reminded that a whole world can be found in a rose-trellis wallpapered bedroom, the heat of the kitchen - a garden. As a child my Mother invited me along for drives to look at houses. She pointed out interesting roof designs, brick chimney patterns, moss-covered eves, and best of all, symmetry. I'm forever searching for details in the two mansions on Main Street. They connect me both to a favorite poet and my long passed Mother.
The Toy box - john Romanski
“Hot and Cold”
“Changing Season”
“Flying Triangles”
All are acrylic paint on canvas
I work in painting and photography. Presently and over the past decade, I have worked more in painting than photography. This change came about as a result of working many years as a photographer in N.Y.C. My new locale in the Valley has afforded me more time to paint. The 3 images I have presented as concepts which I translated into painting. Sometimes textures are incorporated in order to enhance the artwork.
Visitors Information Center - 35 s.PleASANT - JoAnn Denehy
“Dandelions Greatest Moment”
“Late Spring”
Love of the land and the landscape best describe my experiences living and painting in the Pioneer Valley. This area offers diverse subject matter. Barns, mountains, farmfields and historic sites and parks. I like to embrace the light and design in each of my paintings.
Enjoy!
westbrookdesign@aol.com
wheelhouse (383 Main street) - Jamie Brelsford
“Golden Hour” acrylic on canvas
“Bloom” acrylic on wood panel
I’m a clinical social worker and abstract painter. My process is without plan or expectation —an exercise in detachment and self-revelation—making choices that call to me in the moment. I dance and wrangle with the paint through a process of layering, excavation and acceptance. I consider a painting complete when it pushes back at me, revealing itself as able to stand in its own right. I stop when the painting makes a simple request for me to let go. Playfulness and non-attachment drive my gesture and color choice. This process of art-making calls to me as a reminder that nothing is static in world that never stops inviting us to return home to ourselves.
brelsfordjamie@gmail.com
zanna - Karen Iglehart
“Abstraction in Reds” oil on canvas
“Abstraction in Orange” oil on canvas
“Blue Abstraction with Orange” oil on canvas
I have worked with abstraction of landscape primarily since 2005 and in the past 2 years have been working with total abstraction also, using layers of color to create space. All my work is in oil, on paper or canvas . One of the influences on my work comes from my connection to Buddhism and a desire to create and share a space that is not filled with commentary, or story line. Actually, I am trying to do the opposite, to create space that allows the mind to stop, or at least pause. I would like the viewer to feel an “out breath”,...space to move into.