Old Deerfield Painting Group

Before college, art for me was confined to illustrated maps, and sketches in book reports.  When I got to college (UNH), my intent was to major in physical therapy.  However, I had one elective, and I chose art!  The course was drawing, taught by professor John Hatch, who became my mentor, and his family became my campus home, as I often took care of their two wonderful daughters.

 

By the end of my freshman year I was hooked!  I became an art major, in painting, ceramics, and art history.  I loved and excelled at it.  I was also offered the job of librarian of the art department’s slide collection (every dollar helped) as I was putting myself through college.

 

In 1955 I graduated with a bachelor’s degree in “the arts”.  The question then was, what would I do to earn a living?  After two years of summer schools, I earned my art education certificate.

 

After this, I went to Schenectady, NY.  I was in charge of visual arts for the public school system.  I also taught in the system.  The Schenectady Museum became my home on Saturdays, where I taught painting, drawing, and ceramics.

 

In the 1960’s I returned to N.H.  I taught art K-12 in the Franklin public school system.  I continued to paint.  I created a gallery in the barn of my family home in Franconia, where I showed my art and that of other area artists.  I became a member of the New Hampshire Art Association.  The NHAA show traveled all over NH, visiting galleries and museums.  In 1963 I won the Currier Gallery of Art prize.

 

After my marriage, we moved to Deerfield, MA, where I joined the Old Deerfield Painting Group and the Deerfield Valley Art Association.  I do one or two paintings in the winter.  In the summer I go to Monhegan, ME for 5-6 weeks where all I do is paint!

 

Nature, be it country, mountain or ocean, is filled with glorious visual images, which are defined by colors, patterns and lines.  These become the elements I use to express what I see.  Color is my first love; I delight in how light changes and varies patterns.  Colors, be they bright, intense, vivid, somber, dull, dark, or light, are the language that define my work.  My style is eclectic, as is my choice of media and subjects.  I am influenced by what I see and the effect that it has on me.  I often title my work at the onset of the idea.  Once I visualize my subject it rarely changes, with the exception of color adjustments.