Grant recipients

Photo: © Linda Haas Photography
The nine of us pictured here were selected this past spring to create a portfolio of art. Each of us has worked on a limited edition of 50 pieces that will be divided into 'shares' similar to a CSA. Our project is called CSArt, funded by the Mass. Cultural Council and facilitated by the Cambridge Arts Council.

Meet my new friends in this artists' collective, clockwise from left:
Linda Haas, Estelle Disch, Janet Malenfant, Marcia Cohen, Melissa Glick, Margarette Mattos, Miriam Mireli, Anne Plaisance, Deidre Tao. All our artist profiles and websites can be found here.

The piece I created for this project is a painting that will be made into giclée prints for collectors. I invite you into the studio and into my process... Here is Riverbend at Dusk on the easel as it developed over the course of the summer.

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This may sound strange to most people, but winter is actually one of my favorite times of year. I grew up in Massachusetts and don’t disparage the snow or cold – I welcome it. I love the clothing I bring out for that time of year, I enjoy the different pace of life, and I embrace the special foods and flavors that are prepared and enjoyed only in winter. I tell new friends who relocate here that you just have to give into winter instead of resisting it, and you’ll be a lot happier.

I’m inspired by several artists of the 20th century, among them the painters of the ‘Group Of Seven’ of Canada. One of this group’s most prominent members was Lawren Harris, who recently had an exhibit of monumental winter paintings at the MFA Boston, curated by (comedian and avid art collector) Steve Martin. I had already known Harris’s work of course, so was really excited to go check out this curated show in the spring. If you saw these paintings, too, you may see some influence of Harris in my piece I’m working on.

The image evolved from a number of pictures I took the previous winter, in late afternoon just before sunset when the sun was low, and I am working hard to capture that moment while still allowing the piece to feel fresh. It is a challenge I love. This location is near family I have who live near Nasketucket Bay, a quiet and sheltered inlet off of Buzzards Bay in the South Coast region of Massachusetts.

The original painting is currently on exhibit and available for sale through the Marion Center Art Gallery in Marion, MA, pictured here. Contact Kim Teves at the gallery for inquiries: marionartcenter@verizon.net

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Visitors enjoy the Marion Art Center's exhibit. Pictured here are three of my paintings including "Riverbend at Dusk" as well as watercolor paintings by Peggy Call Conley.