About the Artists and Exhibit Spaces
Avondale Arts welcomes exhibiting artists to two gallery spaces which include:
Avondale Arts Gallery (main building)
Avondale Arts Box (adjacent to the main building fronting the deck)
Avondale Arts Gallery (main building)
Avondale Arts Box (adjacent to the main building fronting the deck)
2021 Exhibiting Artists
Howard Park & Lisa Miceli
Cameron Michael Kelley’s art is an expression of his life experiences and he enjoys painting scenes that he has lived and scenes that live in his memory.
‘Cam’ was born and raised in the Boston area and as a child enjoyed drawing and illustration. As he grew, his interests in life changed and he only practiced art during a couple required art periods in high school and a few elective art classes in college.
After living in Boston for several years, he moved to a western suburb with his wife Sandra and son John. His suburban life of commuting and coaching youth sports had begun but after a few years he set up a small drawing board in their basement and he began painting. At first he painted with acrylics but he quickly transitioned to oils while painting on evenings and weekends.
Three years ago Cam and Sandra moved to SW Florida and he is now painting full time. As a self taught painter he has learned to trust the process of researching the subject matter, sketching for composition and the rendering of color studies. His primary area of concentration is in portrait and figurative work as well as seascapes and landscapes.
Cam hopes that his work presents a personal perspective that in some way will connect with the viewer and will invite others to take a closer and different look at our world.
He is represented by Avondale Arts, Watch Hill, RI and The Reef Gallery at the Ocean Reef Club, Key Largo, FL. His work also appears in many private collections.
‘Cam’ was born and raised in the Boston area and as a child enjoyed drawing and illustration. As he grew, his interests in life changed and he only practiced art during a couple required art periods in high school and a few elective art classes in college.
After living in Boston for several years, he moved to a western suburb with his wife Sandra and son John. His suburban life of commuting and coaching youth sports had begun but after a few years he set up a small drawing board in their basement and he began painting. At first he painted with acrylics but he quickly transitioned to oils while painting on evenings and weekends.
Three years ago Cam and Sandra moved to SW Florida and he is now painting full time. As a self taught painter he has learned to trust the process of researching the subject matter, sketching for composition and the rendering of color studies. His primary area of concentration is in portrait and figurative work as well as seascapes and landscapes.
Cam hopes that his work presents a personal perspective that in some way will connect with the viewer and will invite others to take a closer and different look at our world.
He is represented by Avondale Arts, Watch Hill, RI and The Reef Gallery at the Ocean Reef Club, Key Largo, FL. His work also appears in many private collections.
2019 Exhibiting Artists
Diana Sartor is a mixed media artist noted for her use of sensuous color. She graduated from Hartford Art School, University of Hartford, cum laude with a BFA in painting. Always finding the need to create, painting became more central in her life with a move to coastal Rhode Island. Along with her husband Richard, their new location fulfilled a dream to live by the ocean. With more time to devote to painting, she settled into a new community and built a studio overlooking one of Rhode Island’s pristine salt ponds. The creative spark was reignited!
September’s show represents a new medium for Diana - Oil/Cold Wax painting. With surprises around every corner, this medium offers new forms of expression, fueling her curiosity to experiment and express her love of COLOR in new ways!
September’s show represents a new medium for Diana - Oil/Cold Wax painting. With surprises around every corner, this medium offers new forms of expression, fueling her curiosity to experiment and express her love of COLOR in new ways!
J.Susan Cole Stone - Susan attended Paier School of Art in Hamden, Connecticut, majoring in illustration and fine art. She has also taken various classes at Rhode Island School of Design and has been a working artist since 1975. Her interest in rendering birds, particularly waterfowl, was sparked by her first art-related job illustrating a weekly column “Wings ‘N’ Things” for the Waterbury Republican newspaper in Connecticut. Soon to follow was Birds of Connecticut Salt Marshes, published by the Arboretum at Connecticut College. Since then she has illustrated many more books and scientific journals, worked as a graphic artist and illustrator and exhibited in galleries including the Maritime Gallery at Mystic Seaport, Noah’s Art at Noah’s Restaurant in Stonington, Connecticut, Hartford Fine Art and Framing in East Hartford, Connecticut and Picture This Gallery in Westport, Connecticut.
Howard Park lives in Stonington, CT with his wife Rieta Park, where he owns HgPark Fine Art located in the old Velvet Mill. He attended the Masters of Fine Arts program at Tufts University and studies at the School of The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, MA and continued his studies in France at L'Ecole d'Art Decoratif de Nice, where he won a National prize in photography.
Howard has participated in numerous group and solo exhibitions. He is an Elected Artist at the The Mystic Museum of Art, Mystic, CT and his works hang in galleries and private collections throughout the world. Howard is now concentrating on Conservation, Restoration and Appraisals of Fine Art, including: Original oil paintings, Works on Paper, Objects, Etchings, Murals and Antique Frames. Howard teaches oil and watercolor workshops, in Mystic, Fisher's Island and at Avondale Arts.
Howard has participated in numerous group and solo exhibitions. He is an Elected Artist at the The Mystic Museum of Art, Mystic, CT and his works hang in galleries and private collections throughout the world. Howard is now concentrating on Conservation, Restoration and Appraisals of Fine Art, including: Original oil paintings, Works on Paper, Objects, Etchings, Murals and Antique Frames. Howard teaches oil and watercolor workshops, in Mystic, Fisher's Island and at Avondale Arts.
Rieta Park- For over 50 years, Rieta’s career as an artist has focused on color and design. While studying Illustration in Boston, she was introduced to gouache, an opaque water based paint, and ever since then she continues to paint with this medium. Most of Rieta’s gouache paintings are done from her own photographs, and although she has painted from life, she finds that spending as much time setting up a still- life and photographing it, or going out in the field to capture that perfect scene, is as exciting as the time spent on the painting itself. Her works can be found in many private collections, have been in exhibitions at the Two Pears Gallery, Santa Fe, NM; the Gene Arnould Gallery, Marblehead, MA; the Courtyard Gallery, Mystic, CT, and Park Gallery in Stonington, CT.
Rieta lives in Stonington, CT, with her husband Howard, where her heritage dates back 10 generations. Rieta is the Assistant Director of the Maritime Gallery at Mystic Seaport Museum.
Rieta lives in Stonington, CT, with her husband Howard, where her heritage dates back 10 generations. Rieta is the Assistant Director of the Maritime Gallery at Mystic Seaport Museum.
H. Gray Park, IV started oil painting at a young age and attended the Norwich Free Academy where he majored in Art and his interest in and love for painting grew. In 1994 he received his BFA from the Maryland Institute of Art in Baltimore, Md where he focused on painting nocturnes and cityscapes. During his third year in college Gray spent four months in England at the Winchester School of Art and at a later date he returned to Europe and spent several months plein air painting in Scotland. Here he was inspired by the the colors and shapes in the fishing villages.
As a Plein Air painter, Gray is known for his large marsh and coastal landscapes. He lives in Ledyard, Connecticut where he has a studio, but the majority of his work is done outside. Gray’s work can be found at Louisa Gould Gallery, Vineyard Haven, MA; Arnold Gallery, Marblehead, MA; and in private collections around the world.
Since 1989 Gray has participated in multiple group exhibitions and one-man shows, winning several major awards including: Best in Show, 1994 Mystic Arts Center, Mystic, CT; Award of Excellence, 2005, the Stobart Foundation Award, 2004, 2011 & 2012; and the Museum Purchase Award, 2009 at the Maritime Gallery at Mystic Seaport, Mystic CT.
As a Plein Air painter, Gray is known for his large marsh and coastal landscapes. He lives in Ledyard, Connecticut where he has a studio, but the majority of his work is done outside. Gray’s work can be found at Louisa Gould Gallery, Vineyard Haven, MA; Arnold Gallery, Marblehead, MA; and in private collections around the world.
Since 1989 Gray has participated in multiple group exhibitions and one-man shows, winning several major awards including: Best in Show, 1994 Mystic Arts Center, Mystic, CT; Award of Excellence, 2005, the Stobart Foundation Award, 2004, 2011 & 2012; and the Museum Purchase Award, 2009 at the Maritime Gallery at Mystic Seaport, Mystic CT.
Sarah Park is a fine art photographer from Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. She graduated from Maryland Institute College of Art with a BFA in General Fine Arts & Photography in 1996. In 2002, Sarah moved to Connecticut, where she and her future father-in-law, Howard Park, opened a frame shop & gallery in Stonington CT. She continues her photographic experience and education with workshops and classes, ranging from the Photographers Formulary to Rhode Island School of Design. She exhibits her work in local galleries & local art institutions. Her work is held in private collections Nationally & Internationally. |
Annie Wildey is a British artist with a Stonington studio in the Velvet Mill. She is known for her large expressive oil paintings of waves. Most of her paintings are created in the studio, but she has a knack of translating the experience of being at the shore into her work. She interprets the smells, feelings, energy and movement of waves. She is an award winning artist, and received her MFA from the New York Academy Art. Her work has been exhibited nationally and international in museums, and galleries. Most notably, The National Museum of China, the Hecksher Museum, LI, Southampton Art Center and the Mall Galleries London.
Holly Wach is a fine artist working and living in Rhode Island. She received her BFA from the University of North Florida and her MFA from New York Academy of Art. She believes that nature provides us with a constant reminder to slow down in a modern world teeming with distractions.
In her youngest years, she made friends with bugs, frogs, crabs, snails, slugs. Their personalities, design, and beauty still provide endless curiosity. The more she draws and paints the creatures of nature, the more of themselves they reveal to her. She shares these wonders with you in her art.
Birds have become her most recent muse. Through watching and painting them, she is learning and discovering so much about these magical creatures.
In her youngest years, she made friends with bugs, frogs, crabs, snails, slugs. Their personalities, design, and beauty still provide endless curiosity. The more she draws and paints the creatures of nature, the more of themselves they reveal to her. She shares these wonders with you in her art.
Birds have become her most recent muse. Through watching and painting them, she is learning and discovering so much about these magical creatures.
Ian Newbury - Ian Newbury first tried his hand at watercolor 30 years ago in the Spring of 1989, inspired by impressions of Europe speeding past the windows of fast-moving trains. After stopping in Florence the desire to make some sketches led him into a supply store. He picked out the most basic of materials, shelling out a few days worth of his strict $30/day budget. His style has evolved more so by trial-and-error than guided instruction, learning primarily by observing the work of painters he admires. He held his first show at Noah's in Stonington, since then he has exhibited regularly in local and regional galleries, outdoor art shows and in solo exhibitions. For many years he maintained a studio in downtown Westerly, he now works from a studio in his home. He has built a strong local following, and a number of his paintings have found their way into collections well outside the local area, something he never imagined that first day sketching in a garden in Italy.
M.J. BRUSH - M.J. discovered Ms. Mollie Hubbard in the biology Scientific Illustration Office while studying for her BFA at UCONN. This chance encounter created the opportunity to use her skills as an artist to illustrate the complexities of science. M.J. has worked as an illustrator for some 70 scientists, illustrating a broad and deep array of biological subjects for publication in books & scholarly journals.
M.J. Brush became a member of the Guild of Natural Science Illustrators in 1974. (GNSI.ORG) She served as Vice President of the Guild from 1990 to 1994. M.J. was awarded the Guild’s Distinguished Service Award in 2001, the same year she helped start a New England chapter of the Guild. MJ has taught science illustration in the honors program at “UConn”. She also taught watercolor workshops at the Mystic Art Association as well as private workshops in the area.
After retiring from the University in 2000, she and her husband, Dr. Alan Brush, sailed their 33’ Cape Dory the length of the Eastern U.S., while working on a book describing the ecology of the coast & changes to the habitat over the past 300 years. (He is the writer she the illustrator.) Their book was published in 2018 by the Catesby Trust & can be ordered on-line from catesbytrust.org.
M.J. Brush became a member of the Guild of Natural Science Illustrators in 1974. (GNSI.ORG) She served as Vice President of the Guild from 1990 to 1994. M.J. was awarded the Guild’s Distinguished Service Award in 2001, the same year she helped start a New England chapter of the Guild. MJ has taught science illustration in the honors program at “UConn”. She also taught watercolor workshops at the Mystic Art Association as well as private workshops in the area.
After retiring from the University in 2000, she and her husband, Dr. Alan Brush, sailed their 33’ Cape Dory the length of the Eastern U.S., while working on a book describing the ecology of the coast & changes to the habitat over the past 300 years. (He is the writer she the illustrator.) Their book was published in 2018 by the Catesby Trust & can be ordered on-line from catesbytrust.org.
Serena Bates - Over 40 years ago, Serena Bates started her journey of exploration and interpretation of the world around her through art. Beginning probably at the age of 8 or 9, she started with pencil and paper and went on to study traditional figure painting and anatomy at the Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts and the Rhode Island School of Design.
Over the years she has explored many mediums including charcoal, pastel, oil and acrylic paint to name a few, but when she discovered clay, she went over to the "Dark Side" as she likes to say. She had finally found her soul mate and companion saying, "When you find a material that you can work with tirelessly for hours and think minutes have passed, and your excitement still bubbles over when you leave the studio for the day, you have found home." The artist describes herself as a story teller with an affinity for portraits and animals. "Life’s stories plant seeds in my mind, take shape in my soul, and are born through my sculptures."
Over the years she has explored many mediums including charcoal, pastel, oil and acrylic paint to name a few, but when she discovered clay, she went over to the "Dark Side" as she likes to say. She had finally found her soul mate and companion saying, "When you find a material that you can work with tirelessly for hours and think minutes have passed, and your excitement still bubbles over when you leave the studio for the day, you have found home." The artist describes herself as a story teller with an affinity for portraits and animals. "Life’s stories plant seeds in my mind, take shape in my soul, and are born through my sculptures."
Lyman Goff is an Architect who lives and works in Watch Hill. He is also a watercolorist who paints with delicate clarity, both when home and traveling worldwide. He makes visual sense of the work around us and creates notebooks of far reaching adventures. His first book, "Travels with Lyman" was self-published in 2017 fall and a second one, " In and Around Watch Hill" was released in 2018. Lyman sees the light and the best aspects of his surroundings. He shared is vision with us through beautiful watercolors.
Olga Goff has the genuine joy of the natural world imbedded in her soul which she shares with us through painting. An avid gardener, world-traveler with her husband Lyman, Out Back hiker, pet lover, walker, mother, grand-mother, she is the hub and creative leader in her family. Over the years she has been involved in many creative pursuits, Sailor Valentines, Decorative Painting, Nantucket Baskets, Shaker Baskets, Rug Hooking and Knitting, and more recently I have turned to painting in both oils and acrylics. Enjoying my workshop painting groups directed by Erica Lindberg Gourd of Stonington.
Izzy Goff - After retiring from a 20 year marketing and advertising career, Izzy questioned "what will I do now?" and her best answer was ART! She has taken many painting classes in oil, watercolor and even decoupage, and loves it all, particularly, trying to "really see" and create. She believes authentic art comes from your heart and soul and that everyone is an artist if they learn to be open. A competent artist needs lots of technique, practice and experience to create something to which the artist and the audience responds. Plein-air painting is the best, but, her iPhone holds onto landscapes that she wants to paint over time. Learning how to use a camera is very important to an artist as well as drawing.
J. Susan Cole Stone - Susan attended Paier School of Art in Hamden, Connecticut, majoring in illustration and fine art. She has also taken various classes at Rhode Island School of Design and has been a working artist since 1975. Her interest in rendering birds, particularly waterfowl, was sparked by her first art-related job illustrating a weekly column “Wings ‘N’ Things” for the Waterbury Republican newspaper in Connecticut. Soon to follow was Birds of Connecticut Salt Marshes, published by the Arboretum at Connecticut College. Since then she has illustrated many more books and scientific journals, worked as a graphic artist and illustrator and exhibited in galleries including the Maritime Gallery at Mystic Seaport, Noah’s Art at Noah’s Restaurant in Stonington, Connecticut, Hartford Fine Art and Framing in East Hartford, Connecticut and Picture This Gallery in Westport, Connecticut.
Rick Kollmeyer was born in Alaska but grew up in Groton, CT. He graduated from the University of Connecticut and moved to Massachusetts for a tech job at Apple in the 1980s. Rick a natural observer and entrepreneur then founded three tech businesses in the Bay State: The Support Group, Blue Edge Data Solutions, and most recently, Direxxis, a marketing automation company that grew to 80 employees and was acquired by Broadridge Financial Services in 2015. The Kollmeyers then left Boston for this area to enjoy new business and creative ventures. Rick currently co-owns specialty retail and design shop, Adore, in Mystic CT with his wife Deb and is an avid Nature Photographer.
Erica Lindberg loves color, design and painting. She adores teaching others to be comfortable with their own creative visions because it can feel so awkward to begin. After a marketing business career in NY she now teaches painting and design in Stonington. She likes to help students access their own creativity, to inspire joy through mastery of composition in many art forms particularly painting and digital mixed media. After the painting is complete it is fun to digitally continue to apply the art to products. Photoshop, is the digital tool to make patterns and applying those patterns to products, is what interests her most now in her own work.
Rebecca Woodward ‘Becky’- A dentist, mother and wife. Always looking for the beauty around us - never without a camera. Capturing the world through the lens or recreating it through the medium of watercolor on paper. Minoring in Art at Westbrook and Bates college discovering that watercolor was the medium that drew people to her art. People and light are found in the majority of her watercolors where landscapes are the theme in her photography. Now bringing the love of watercolor without the fear of the medium to her students at Avondale arts.
Carrie Powers - "Giving and receiving are natural forces of human nature, and vision is the strongest of our senses. Creativity is my ability to pass along to you an emotion or memory experience.
Art contributes to your quality of life, and for me, this is what gives my art meaning and purpose." - Carrie
Carrie received her B.A. from the University of California at Berkeley and her B.F.A. from Art Center College of Design. Many of her works are commissioned pieces in private collections. She lives in Stonington, CT, and spends time in CA where she grew up.
Art contributes to your quality of life, and for me, this is what gives my art meaning and purpose." - Carrie
Carrie received her B.A. from the University of California at Berkeley and her B.F.A. from Art Center College of Design. Many of her works are commissioned pieces in private collections. She lives in Stonington, CT, and spends time in CA where she grew up.
Barbara Ginsberg - Barbara is a devoted wife, mother, grandmother and member of the Mystic Garden Club. She is the most beautiful gardener and painter taking her time to balance colors to create soft and distinct oil paintings mostly from nature.
Spike Lobdell - Spike founded, NESS community based sailing and marine biology educational program in 2004, after a career in Finance. ‘Sailing & Science’ theme is unique in teaching life skills. Over 8,500 students of all ages will participate in 2019. Scholarships provided to approximately 56% to make program available to all. Now operates in 10 locations in New England. Named US Sailing's Outstanding Organizational Leader in 2017. Recipient of the National Recreational Foundation's Crawford Award (2016) to denote the individual who has done the most to advance the lives of inner city youth through athletics. Spike, in his spare time, has taken up oil painting focusing on the beauty of the sea and the natural world around us.
Summer 2018 Exhibiting Artists
Stonington Connecticut and Vero Beach artists Janvier and Gustaf Miller met as art students at Syracuse University and have been sharing life and studio space ever since.
Gustaf Miller - My sculpture and painting have an abstract constructive approach. It is also intended that the works have highly textured and colored surfaces. The recent work of the last two years is centered around the stacking of blocks sometimes figure based and sometimes architecture based. The sculptures are stacked often quite formally and other times with a more casual haphazard appearance. Materials most often used are wood found on beaches or in lumber yards, sea grape limbs, dowels, glue and generous amounts of paint.
Janvier Miller- With age comes a certain freedom. Making art is still just as hard, there is less psychic and physical energy. I should do more preliminary drawings for example but now I go right to canvas. I move onto ceramics when I get stuck painting. Eventually I'll go back to the canvas and pick up where I left off. I usually have several canvases in process at once. It's an ongoing exploration of abstracting representational subject matter. I need something as a reference when I paint. The still life paintings of tabletops use dashes of color to create a restless quality. The objects are an excuse for painting shapes and color. I work for balance between description and abstraction in the interplay between objects and their backdrops. I tend to work in series, lately it's been still lives, the Vero Beach Marina, and vases unsurprisingly inspired by my pottery.
Gustaf Miller - My sculpture and painting have an abstract constructive approach. It is also intended that the works have highly textured and colored surfaces. The recent work of the last two years is centered around the stacking of blocks sometimes figure based and sometimes architecture based. The sculptures are stacked often quite formally and other times with a more casual haphazard appearance. Materials most often used are wood found on beaches or in lumber yards, sea grape limbs, dowels, glue and generous amounts of paint.
Janvier Miller- With age comes a certain freedom. Making art is still just as hard, there is less psychic and physical energy. I should do more preliminary drawings for example but now I go right to canvas. I move onto ceramics when I get stuck painting. Eventually I'll go back to the canvas and pick up where I left off. I usually have several canvases in process at once. It's an ongoing exploration of abstracting representational subject matter. I need something as a reference when I paint. The still life paintings of tabletops use dashes of color to create a restless quality. The objects are an excuse for painting shapes and color. I work for balance between description and abstraction in the interplay between objects and their backdrops. I tend to work in series, lately it's been still lives, the Vero Beach Marina, and vases unsurprisingly inspired by my pottery.
Kate Skakel - I think of my work as an exploration into opposing forces in order to see how they can come together. I am constantly being confronted with dichotomies: man or woman, hard or soft, tough or sensitives. This creates in me a desire to rebel against institutions, and to create the grey in a world that sees in black and white. Instead of dichotomy, I aim to create a duality. Most of my work is made by the taking away of material, from cutting into paper and letting the empty space become the piece, or mixing solvents with ink to see how the ink becomes distorted. While the blade usually beats the paper, or the mineral spirits eat into ink, in my art they work together to exalt each other.
Harriet Moore Ballard graduated from Chatham University with a degree in Political Science, a BFA from the Cleveland Institute of Art, and an MFA from the Instituto de Allende, an affiliate of the University of Guanajuato. The roots of her art comes from the abstract ideas of Ben Nicholson, Matisse and Braque, which she was exposed to while living in London in an earlier life. Building a house in Mexico in the 1990’s introduced her to structural discipline as well as random on-the-spot decisions which today still influences her artistic process; for example she interacts a grid pattern with a spontaneous splotch of paint or a scribble. She mixes abstract marks with recognizable forms, such as doodle that looks ‘bowl-like.’ Her subject matter comes from a hodgepodge of objects from everyday life, which she accesses at will.
Dinah Maxwell Smith has been painting since the age of 5. Earning a BFA from RISD, she has been painting and exhibiting ever since. Her work has been shown extensively in New York City and Long Island (where she has had a studio in Southampton for 40 years) as well as in Paris and Germany. She is in many corporate and private collections and has won numerous awards. Smith was recently in the show Artists Choose Artists at the Parrish Art Museum in Water Mill, NY and was also a presenter at PechaKucha, (also at the Parrish), this summer. She loves to work from old black and white snapshots mostly gleaned from family albums (her own and those of friends) and the flea markets in Paris. Her preferred subjects are people, children, dogs and the beach or a combination thereof.
Erica Lindberg - Erica Lindberg Teaches painting in her Stonington, CT studio and has a Masters in Digital Imaging and Design from NYU. She enjoys pattern making, and awakening the joy of creativity in others.
Will Vogt- Summers in Watch Hill include umbrellas lining the beach to Napatree Point, long sunny days and the occasional summer storm. This is the backdrop for time-honored traditions like men playing golf for the club championship while kids play at playing golf and aged college athletes together with swimming enthusiasts try their luck in an endurance ocean swim. In other seasons, there is grouse shooting in Scotland at Leadhills Estate and the greatest two minutes in sport, where Barbaro is sighted in the post parade before his win in the 2006 Derby. These are moments that often pass too quickly but linger in the memory for a lifetime, marking our lives with drama, adventure, family, and friendship. Will Vogt is a photographer and lifelong summer resident of Watch Hill. His work has been featured nationally in galleries and exhibitions, including a recent show at the Art Museum of South Texas.
Karen Israel- “I have pursued a career as a painter for a decade. Along the way my methods, materials and focus have evolved. My real interest and challenge as a painter is how to best manipulate the core principles of painting into effective visual statements. Regardless of the subject,I am most successful when I can capture the light as it describes the forms allowing me to create a pleasing design.” Karen teaches pastel painting in many locations throughout the Northeast. “ I love working with other painters in their pursuit to better their craft. My goal is not to have them assimilate my style and technique, but to teach artists how to more closely examine the subject and apply the principles that representational painters must follow to become effective visual communicators.” Karen has shown her work in galleries and museums nationally since 2011. She holds the title of Master Pastelist with the Pastel Society of America and the International Association of Pastel Societies. Among her many awards, She’s placed three times in The Pastel Journal’s ‘Pastel 100’ competition, has won First Place with the Lyme Art Association’s Associate Exhibit and won the Frank C. Wright Medal of Honor with the American Artist’s Professional League.
Nancy Highfill-Socha- As an artist I want my work to speak to the beauty that surrounds us. As a plain air painter, capturing light and color with its elusive quality is my process. Light, movement, atmosphere, color, shapes and textures are forever changing and are a fountain of inspiration. Outdoor painting allows the study and meditation of the subtle complexities of the landscape. My oil and pastel paintings are the expression of that experience- trying to capture with art, that still point where the complexities come together at one moment in time.
Lynn Frink- My canvases focus on color, shapes, textures and moods—-evolving as semi-abstracted figures, still lifes or non-representational art. Often, I begin a work by painting in shapes, lines and objects. I study the creation and either deliberately or spontaneously paint over sections leaving a portion of an image or creating layers or combining shapes, mindful of color, rhythm, and composition. I set aside the art for periods of time---days, weeks, months before returning to the easel, recreating. Working on multiple canvases at a time enables me to stay productive and avoid laboring over unfinished pieces. My intention as an artist is to create aesthetically pleasing and meaningful work.
Cheryl Seaver- My paintings usually tell a story—I used to write and that remains. Sometimes small objects are made large and sometimes larger vistas are made small but there’s usually a suggestion of a narrative, even in a still life. In addition, I want to communicate to the viewer the magic of a moment or moments, the immediacy and joy of discovery when time is taken to look.
J.R. Dill - I began painting about fifteen (15) years ago and paint both abstract and representational works, primarily in oil. Art has always been a keen interest though my career was in healthcare administration.I studied art history and literature in college and enjoy traveling to visit many of the the great museums of the world. I have studied studio painting at Lyme Academy of Fine Arts and the Guilford Art Center and in area artists’ workshops. I am an elected artist at Mystic Museum of Art and the Essex Art Association.
My work (both painting & photography) has been displayed at the Mystic Museum of Art and the Essex Art Association (recognized with two awards), the Lyme Art Association, the Zahn Gallery at Middlesex Shoreline Medical Center and the Connecticut Fine Arts Association. Donna Richard is a landscape artist and practicing Art Therapist.
“Every artist dips his brush in his own soul, and paints his own nature into his pictures.” – Henry Ward Beecher Donna’s landscapes reflect her own interpretation of her morning walks along the Connecticut shoreline. Her use of a soft and limited palette intend to capture the beauty and tranquility that is present along side the ocean, marshes and majestic skies of the coast. Her goal is to bring the color, light and beauty of her daily strolls, from her soul and onto the canvas. Judith Gay is a native of Connecticut whose mother was an artist so she was exposed to it as a child. During her early adulthood, she painted mostly portraits using pastels. Judith chose a career in school psychology which left her little time to paint. After retiring seven years ago, she renewed her interest in painting, but this time with watercolors. “I love the translucency, spontaneity and portability of watercolor. I also love those “happy accidents” that occur when one color bleeds into another. Watercolor always maintains some mystery to me because you don’t always know how one color will react with another.” Judith belongs to the Madison Art Society, Essex Art Society and the Connecticut Shoreline Artists plein air group. Her work has been accepted in a number of juried shows and she has won several awards. She has painted with David Dewey, Alvaro Castagnet, Charles Reid, Tony Couch, Ted Nuttal, John Salminen and Jeannie McQuire.
Hillary Steiner-Seltzer -From as early as I can remember, art is and has been a natural extension of my life, both as a supporter of the local artists in my community, and as a professional artist. From 2006 until 2010, I owned Central Gallery in Old Saybrook, where I reside, specializing in local and regional contemporary fine art and design. With degrees in both graphic design and textile design, I work in various medium, with a strong concentration in watercolor. I am inspired by the early 20th century Impressionists: Claude Monet, Vincent Van Gogh and Mary Cassatt ...and late 20th century Modern Masters: Marc Chagall, Pierre Bonnard, Milton Avery, Wolf Kahn and Mark Rothko.I paint intuitively, exploring color and shape from familiar subjects...still life, landscape and the figure. I am also inspired by music and the written word for use in collage studies. My work has appeared in select group shows in Old Saybrook, Ct., Mystic, Ct., Westerly, RI, and Chester, Ct., as well as, held in private collections.
Bette Ellsworth
Rebecca Woodward ‘Becky’- A dentist, mother and wife. Always looking for the beauty around us - never without a camera. Capturing the world through the lens or recreating it through the medium of watercolor on paper. Minoring in Art at Westbrook and Bates college discovering that watercolor was the medium that drew people to her art. People and light are found in the majority of her watercolors where landscapes are the theme in her photography. Now bringing the love of watercolor without the fear of the medium to her students at Avondale arts.
Summer 2017 Exhibiting Artists |
Pamela Gordinier has been awarded membership in the CT Academy of Fine Arts, Copley Society if Boston, CT Watercolor Society and the Mystic Museum of Art. An award winning artist, her work has been acquired by Fortune 500 Companies: Pfizer, Travelers Insurance, Northeast Utilities and Southern New England Telephone. As an educator, Pam has taught workshops in Paris, Provence, Algarve & Venice, as well as, on Block Island and along the coastline of Long Island Sound. She has a studio in Stonington, CT and Vero Beach, Florida where she is affiliated with the Vero Beach Museum of Art.
Joanne Sloneker
Annie Wildey is a British artist with a Stonington studio in the Velvet Mill. She is known for her large expressive oil paintings of waves. Most of her paintings are created in the studio, but she has a knack of translating the experience of being at the shore into her work. She interprets the smells, feelings, energy and movement of waves. She is an award winning artist, and received her MFA from the New York Academy Art. Her work has been exhibited nationally and international in museums, and galleries. Most notably, The National Museum of China, the Hecksher Museum, LI, Southampton Art Center and the Mall Galleries London.
Lyman Goff, a practicing Architect who lives and works in Watch Hill, is also a watercolorist who paints sporatically both when home and traveling worldwide making visual notebooks of far reaching adventures. His first book, "Travels with Lyman" was self published last fall and a new one, " In and Around Watch Hill" is due out this coming summer.
Izzy Goff- After retiring from a 20 marketing and advertising career, the only thing that seemed to answer the question "what will I do now?" was ART. I have taken as many painting classes as time has allowed. From oil to watercolor and even decoupage, I love it all and enjoy trying to "really see" and create. Not a perfectionist, I believe authentic art comes from your heart and soul. And...everyone is an artist in someway if they learn to be open. But, a competent artist needs lots of technique, practice and experience to create something to which the artist and the audience responds. Though nothing is as good as painting plein-air, my iPhone has certainly become a friend. It holds onto landscapes that I want to paint at another time. I think learning how to use a camera is very important to an artist as well as drawing. Drawing is a basic and a must when painting. And, of course, composition of a piece is also most important. Oh...so much to learn and practice.
Graham Goff is a practicing architect based in Bozeman Montana who enjoys creating ink drawings and taking photographs as way to document his travels
Olga Goff- I'm the wife and creator of many displaying here at Avondale Arts. Over the years I've been involved in many creative pursuits, Sailor Valentines, Decorative Painting, Nantucket Baskets, Shaker Baskets, Rug Hooking and Knitting, and more recently I have turned to painting in both oils and acrylics. Enjoying my workshop painting groups directed by Erica Gourd of Stonington.
Elizabeth Browning Jackson grew up in Rhode Island. After graduating from Lincoln School in Providence, she attended RISD, University of New Mexico, Cappella Garden school in Sweden, and graduated from San Francisco Art Institute. She designed furniture and rugs which she showed and sold in USA, Europe and Japan. She did commissions for private homes and corporate offices.
Recently she has a line of scarves and is painting in oils. Elizabeth lives in Tiverton 4 Corners, RI.
Sarah Goff Cooper- I am the daughter of Lyman and Olga Goff, mother of Sophia and Jack and married to Chris Cooper. I have been in involved in the arts since childhood and learned to paint with local portrait artist, Marge Schilling. In 1985, I studied painting at art school in Florence, Italy and then went on to study architecture at Boston Architectural Center. Currently, I am a decorative painter and owner of the Ocean Views Summer Directory. I paint, sketch, knit, decoupage and obsess over Sailors Valentines regularly.
Jack Cooper- Jack is the son of Sarah and Christopher Cooper and the grandson of Olga and Lyman Goff. Jack will be attending Southern New Hampshire University for Game Art and Design. These pieces were done while he attended Norwalk Community College.
Izzy Goff- After retiring from a 20 marketing and advertising career, the only thing that seemed to answer the question "what will I do now?" was ART. I have taken as many painting classes as time has allowed. From oil to watercolor and even decoupage, I love it all and enjoy trying to "really see" and create. Not a perfectionist, I believe authentic art comes from your heart and soul. And...everyone is an artist in someway if they learn to be open. But, a competent artist needs lots of technique, practice and experience to create something to which the artist and the audience responds. Though nothing is as good as painting plein-air, my iPhone has certainly become a friend. It holds onto landscapes that I want to paint at another time. I think learning how to use a camera is very important to an artist as well as drawing. Drawing is a basic and a must when painting. And, of course, composition of a piece is also most important. Oh...so much to learn and practice.
Graham Goff is a practicing architect based in Bozeman Montana who enjoys creating ink drawings and taking photographs as way to document his travels
Olga Goff- I'm the wife and creator of many displaying here at Avondale Arts. Over the years I've been involved in many creative pursuits, Sailor Valentines, Decorative Painting, Nantucket Baskets, Shaker Baskets, Rug Hooking and Knitting, and more recently I have turned to painting in both oils and acrylics. Enjoying my workshop painting groups directed by Erica Gourd of Stonington.
Elizabeth Browning Jackson grew up in Rhode Island. After graduating from Lincoln School in Providence, she attended RISD, University of New Mexico, Cappella Garden school in Sweden, and graduated from San Francisco Art Institute. She designed furniture and rugs which she showed and sold in USA, Europe and Japan. She did commissions for private homes and corporate offices.
Recently she has a line of scarves and is painting in oils. Elizabeth lives in Tiverton 4 Corners, RI.
Sarah Goff Cooper- I am the daughter of Lyman and Olga Goff, mother of Sophia and Jack and married to Chris Cooper. I have been in involved in the arts since childhood and learned to paint with local portrait artist, Marge Schilling. In 1985, I studied painting at art school in Florence, Italy and then went on to study architecture at Boston Architectural Center. Currently, I am a decorative painter and owner of the Ocean Views Summer Directory. I paint, sketch, knit, decoupage and obsess over Sailors Valentines regularly.
Jack Cooper- Jack is the son of Sarah and Christopher Cooper and the grandson of Olga and Lyman Goff. Jack will be attending Southern New Hampshire University for Game Art and Design. These pieces were done while he attended Norwalk Community College.
Jeanette Vertentes is a contemporary painter who lives and works in North Stonington, CT. Her colorful paintings pay homage to the area she lives in. Surrounded by her gardens and close to the sea. Her distinctive personal style emanates joy and movement and with her use of color expresses her vibrant spirit. Jeanette earned a Bachelor of Fine Art with a concentration in painting from Rhode Island College. There she studied color theroy and composition extensively. Jeanette now paints full-time and participates in many of the countries finest Art shows throughout the spring and summer.
Diana Sartor is a mixed media artist. She graduated from Hartford Art School, University of Hartford, cum laude with a BFA in painting. Always finding the need to create, her painting became more central in her life with a move to coastal Rhode Island. Along with her husband Richard, this new location fulfilled their dream to live by the ocean. She began building a network of friends, investigating the local art scene, connecting with fellow artists, taking workshops and eventually built a studio. The creative spark was re-ignited! Her paintings hang in private collections throughout New England and NewYork.
Susan Noyes grew up and now lives in the coastal town of Stonington, CT. Even as a child, inspired by the sea, sky and natural beauty of her surroundings, many hours were spent drawing, painting, and sketching. As an adult, she paints many of the same things yet sees them differently. A clump of lobster buoys resembling a colorful floral arrangement, a scattering of seashells that glimmer like jewels, a familiar sights such as a local lighthouse or drawbridge that is both nostalgic and sentimental, evoke an appreciation for the natural beauty around us. Using water based acrylics for vibrancy and flexibility, her paintings are known for bold color choices and a connection to the local area. Being an artist changes the way you live and see things. Everyday joy is found in discovering the multitude of colors in a simple seashell or the glint of light on a champagne glass at the Ocean House. Beauty is very simple and is all around us. The possibilities are endless.
Robert Noreika is a graduate of Paier School of Art and has been a professional artist for forty years. A prominent national award winning artist and illustrator, his paintings hang in both corporate and private collections throughout the United States, Europe, and Japan. Bob’s passion for art is matched by a natural talent to paint a wide variety of subjects, highlighted by expressive coastal scenes, intimate woodland pictorials and street scenes.
A lifelong resident of Westerly, Charles Liguori has been painting for about 60 years. Now at the age of 84, he sill paints almost every day. A self taught artist, he learned his craft from books, visits to galleries, but mostly from painting hundreds of scenes. He is inspired by the work of the French Impressionists, local scenes, and from his several travels to Europe. He is a past Elected artist from the Mystic Art Center and the Connecticut Academy of Fine Arts and has been a member of the Artist Cooperative Gallery of Westerly for 25 years. Painting has been a wonderful part of his life.
Summer 2016 Exhibiting Artists
Dennis Sirrine
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Jack Hagop
Hagop was born in Yerevan, Armenia where at the age of twelve he entered the School of Painting for Young Artists. Upon graduation from college, Hagop was accepted into the Aprahamian Art Studio where he learned his technique. His studies involved working exclusively from life, using the conceptual and technical methods of the Spanish and Russian traditions, and also included French Impressionism. Seeking his own artistic vision, Hagop emigrated to the U.S. in 1981 and settled in Watertown, Massachusetts, where he has thrived as an artist and teacher. Among his honors, a painting on permanent display at the Armenian Library and Museum of America in Massachusetts, and earning first prize in the International Artists Magazine Competition for 2007. For more detailed information please visit http://www.hagopfinearts.com/
See examples of Jack's oil paintings on his website and below:
Louise McCagg

BIO:
Louise McCagg is a sculptor who currently lives and works in New York City. Her work has been shown throughout the U.S. and internationally. She lived in Budapest, Hungary during the 1960s and was influenced by the political culture of Eastern Europe. While in Budapest, Louise met and worked with several Hungarian artists with whom she has had an on-going
connection.
Back in the United States, Louise received her M.F.A. from Michigan State University and built a geodesic dome to serve as her studio and foundry. She worked there for twelve years,creating life-size sculptures. During this period she was commissioned to produce several public artworks.
When she moved to New York in the 1980s, Louise developed her own casting system. As she learned more about that process, she began to manipulate it by reducing her molds to sizes she prefers. The result has been heads and masks, which maintain the unique qualities of the individual, while showing the commonality between diverse cultures.
Louise’s work has been reviewed by prominent art critics such as Michael Brenson of the New York Times and Alan Jones, who portrays McCagg’s work as existing somewhere between life and death where “…the enigmatic and the macabre dwell in harmonious co-existence.”
In 2014 Louise had a retrospective exhibition at the University of Hartford, CT. In 2009, at the Venice Biennale, Louise collaborated with Hungarian film-maker Peter Forgacs, in a multi-media project presented in the Hungarian Pavilion. Louise has also collaborated
with various artists including the South African artist Senzeni Marasela in a performance and exhibition that took place at A.I.R Gallery in NYC during 2011. Louise has also had continuous collaboration with The Garrett Fisher Ensemble from Seattle. Their most
recent collaboration has been “Moon in the Bucket” performed at The Judson Memorial Church in NYC.
Solo exhibitions have included:
University of Hartford, CT; The Lyman Allyn Museum, New
London, CT; Center for Creative Arts, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI; A.I.R.
Gallery, NYC, NY; The Sculpture Center, NYC, NY; Nippon Kan Theater, Seattle; Petofi
Museum of Literature, Budapest, Hungary; Saint Stefan Museum, Budapest, Hungary;
Handlung, Hamburg, Germany.
Her artist books are in the collections of the New York Public Library, NYC; Yale University
Library, New Haven, CT; University of California, Santa Barbara, CA; University of
California, Stanford, CA; Herron School of Art, Vancouver, Canada; University of California
Library, San Diego, CA; Petöfi Museum of Literature, Budapest, Hungary; The Széchenyi
Library, Budapest, Hungary.
Louise McCagg is a sculptor who currently lives and works in New York City. Her work has been shown throughout the U.S. and internationally. She lived in Budapest, Hungary during the 1960s and was influenced by the political culture of Eastern Europe. While in Budapest, Louise met and worked with several Hungarian artists with whom she has had an on-going
connection.
Back in the United States, Louise received her M.F.A. from Michigan State University and built a geodesic dome to serve as her studio and foundry. She worked there for twelve years,creating life-size sculptures. During this period she was commissioned to produce several public artworks.
When she moved to New York in the 1980s, Louise developed her own casting system. As she learned more about that process, she began to manipulate it by reducing her molds to sizes she prefers. The result has been heads and masks, which maintain the unique qualities of the individual, while showing the commonality between diverse cultures.
Louise’s work has been reviewed by prominent art critics such as Michael Brenson of the New York Times and Alan Jones, who portrays McCagg’s work as existing somewhere between life and death where “…the enigmatic and the macabre dwell in harmonious co-existence.”
In 2014 Louise had a retrospective exhibition at the University of Hartford, CT. In 2009, at the Venice Biennale, Louise collaborated with Hungarian film-maker Peter Forgacs, in a multi-media project presented in the Hungarian Pavilion. Louise has also collaborated
with various artists including the South African artist Senzeni Marasela in a performance and exhibition that took place at A.I.R Gallery in NYC during 2011. Louise has also had continuous collaboration with The Garrett Fisher Ensemble from Seattle. Their most
recent collaboration has been “Moon in the Bucket” performed at The Judson Memorial Church in NYC.
Solo exhibitions have included:
University of Hartford, CT; The Lyman Allyn Museum, New
London, CT; Center for Creative Arts, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI; A.I.R.
Gallery, NYC, NY; The Sculpture Center, NYC, NY; Nippon Kan Theater, Seattle; Petofi
Museum of Literature, Budapest, Hungary; Saint Stefan Museum, Budapest, Hungary;
Handlung, Hamburg, Germany.
Her artist books are in the collections of the New York Public Library, NYC; Yale University
Library, New Haven, CT; University of California, Santa Barbara, CA; University of
California, Stanford, CA; Herron School of Art, Vancouver, Canada; University of California
Library, San Diego, CA; Petöfi Museum of Literature, Budapest, Hungary; The Széchenyi
Library, Budapest, Hungary.
Xanda McCagg

BIO
Xanda McCagg is a painter living and working in Chelsea, New York and Stonington, CT.
Her work has been shown in both individual and selected group exhibitions in New York, Connecticut, Florida, Massachusetts, and in Europe.
Along with a BFA in Art Education from Boston University she has completed Fellowship and residencies at C.A.M.A.C Marnay Sur Seine (France), The American Academy Rome (Italy), Visiting Artists and Scholars Program, The Contemporary Artists Center, North Adams (Usa) and Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, VT.
McCagg’s work has been collected by private individuals and is also in the Alliance Capital Management collection. Her abstract compositions, rooted in figurative concepts are made with oil, graphite and collage. Her artist statement and work can be seen on her website:www.xandamccagg.com
She balances her time between painting and running her business: Art Introductions, art tours and events with a social twist. Launched in 2014 McCagg began:“Xanda McCagg Project Gallery “; a subsidiary of Art Introductions. As an extension of her studio practice this gallery setting is a forum for exhibition and events highlighting artists and art forms that embody and framework for education, discussion and inspiration for the public. McCagg keeps a studio in Chelsea, NYC where her work can be seen by appointment.
www.artintroductions.com
See Some Examples
Sarah Cooper gallery artist and Decoupage Teacher
Sarah Cooper is a Watch Hill native who splits her time between New Canaan, CT and Watch Hill, RI. Sarah is awed and inspired by traditional crafts such as decoupage, sailor's valentines and knitting. She attended art school in Florence, Italy and architecture school in Boston. She currently works as a decorative painter and sell her decoupage items in several local shops.
Sarah Cooper is a Watch Hill native who splits her time between New Canaan, CT and Watch Hill, RI. Sarah is awed and inspired by traditional crafts such as decoupage, sailor's valentines and knitting. She attended art school in Florence, Italy and architecture school in Boston. She currently works as a decorative painter and sell her decoupage items in several local shops.
The Park Family Artist Exhibitors
H. GRAY PARK, IV
H. Gray Park, IV started oil painting at a young age and attended the Norwich Free Academy where he majored in Art and his interest in and love for painting grew. In 1994 he received his BFA from the Maryland Institute of Art in Baltimore, Md where he focused on painting nocturnes and cityscapes. During his third year in college Gray spent four months in England at the Winchester School of Art and at a later date he returned to Europe and spent several months plein air painting in Scotland. Here he was inspired by the the colors and shapes in the fishing villages.
As a Plein Air painter, Gray is known for his large marsh and coastal landscapes. He lives in Ledyard, Connecticut where he has a studio, but the majority of his work is done outside. He has been inspired by the works of Fairfield Porter, Edward Hopper, George Nick and Wayne Thiebaud. His other interests include: Willy’s Jeeps, rebuilding wooden boats, sailing and coaching ice hockey.
Gray’s work can be found at Park Fine Art Conservation Framing, Stonington, CT; Louisa Gould Gallery, Vineyard Haven, MA; Arnold Gallery, Marblehead, MA; and in private collections around the world.
Since 1989 Gray has participated in multiple group exhibitions and one-man shows, winning several major awards including: Best in Show, 1994 Mystic Arts Center, Mystic, CT; Award of Excellence, 2005, the Stobart Foundation Award, 2004, 2011 & 2012; and the Museum Purchase Award, 2009 at the Maritime Gallery at Mystic Seaport, Mystic CT.
HOWARD PARK
Howard Park, Gray's father lives in Stonington, CT with his wife Rieta Park where he owns HgPark Fine Artlocated in the old Velvet Mill. He attended the Masters of Fine Arts program at Tufts University and studies at the School of The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, MA and continued his studies in France at L'Ecole d'Art Decoratif de Nice, where he won a National prize in photography.
Howard Park lives in Stonington, CT where he owns HGPark Fine Art located in the old Velvet Mill. He attended the Masters of Fine Arts program at Tufts University and studies at the School of The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, MA and continued his studies in France at L'Ecole d'Art Decoratif de Nice, where he won a National prize in photography.
After a stint in the Merchant Marine, Howard returned to Boston to work as a photographer and Art Director, but the love of the sea eventually led him to Connecticut to manage a boatyard and raise a family. Ultimately, he realized his dream to sail around the world and paint. After restoring COMET, a 1946 Sparkman & Stephens 52’ yawl, Howard completed the circumnavigation in 2001. His one hour lecture of the voyage, a presentation of watercolors and photographs, is popular at yacht clubs and civic organizations.
Since his return from the voyage twelve years ago, Howard owned and operated the Four Starr Gallery and Frame Shoppe located in the Velvet Mill in Stonington, but just recently he has handed the business over to his daughter-in-law, Sarah Park and now is concentrating in Conservation, Restoration and Appraisals of Fine Art, including: Original oil paintings, Works on Paper, Objects, Etchings, Murals and Antique Frames. Howard teaches adult art classes at the Mystic Museum of Art, and watercolor painting to children ages 6-11 at the North Stonington Christian Academy. Mostly he enjoys painting in his studio at the Velvet Mill and his love of the sea and maritime culture is evident in his oil paintings and watercolors.
Howard has participated in numerous group and solo exhibitions. He is an Elected Artist at the The Mystic Museum of Art, Mystic, CT and his works hang in galleries and private collections throughout the world and which include:
The Maritime Museum in Auckland, New Zealand.The Arnould Gallery, Marblehead, MA, Park Fine Art Conservation Framing, Stonington, CT,The Louisa Gould Gallery, Martha's Vineyard, MA, Courtyard Gallery, Mystic, CT
After a stint in the Merchant Marine, Howard returned to Boston to work as a photographer and Art Director, but the love of the sea eventually led him to Connecticut to manage a boatyard and raise a family. Ultimately, he realized his dream to sail around the world and paint. After restoring COMET, a 1946 Sparkman & Stephens 52’ yawl, Howard completed the circumnavigation in 2001. His one hour lecture of the voyage, a presentation of watercolors and photographs, is popular at yacht clubs and civic organizations.
Since his return from his voyage twelve years ago, Howard owned and operated the Four Starr Gallery and Frame Shoppe located in the Velvet Mill in Stonington, but just recently he has handed the business over to his daughter-in-law, Sarah Park and now is concentrating in Conservation, Restoration and Appraisals of Fine Art, including: Original oil paintings, Works on Paper, Objects, Etchings, Murals and Antique Frames. Howard teaches oil and watercolor workshops, in Mystic, Fisher's Island and at Avondale Arts.
Howard Park lives in Stonington, CT where he owns HGPark Fine Art located in the old Velvet Mill. He attended the Masters of Fine Arts program at Tufts University and studies at the School of The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, MA and continued his studies in France at L'Ecole d'Art Decoratif de Nice, where he won a National prize in photography.
After a stint in the Merchant Marine, Howard returned to Boston to work as a photographer and Art Director, but the love of the sea eventually led him to Connecticut to manage a boatyard and raise a family. Ultimately, he realized his dream to sail around the world and paint. After restoring COMET, a 1946 Sparkman & Stephens 52’ yawl, Howard completed the circumnavigation in 2001. His one hour lecture of the voyage, a presentation of watercolors and photographs, is popular at yacht clubs and civic organizations.
Since his return from the voyage twelve years ago, Howard owned and operated the Four Starr Gallery and Frame Shoppe located in the Velvet Mill in Stonington, but just recently he has handed the business over to his daughter-in-law, Sarah Park and now is concentrating in Conservation, Restoration and Appraisals of Fine Art, including: Original oil paintings, Works on Paper, Objects, Etchings, Murals and Antique Frames. Howard teaches adult art classes at the Mystic Museum of Art, and watercolor painting to children ages 6-11 at the North Stonington Christian Academy. Mostly he enjoys painting in his studio at the Velvet Mill and his love of the sea and maritime culture is evident in his oil paintings and watercolors.
Howard has participated in numerous group and solo exhibitions. He is an Elected Artist at the The Mystic Museum of Art, Mystic, CT and his works hang in galleries and private collections throughout the world and which include:
The Maritime Museum in Auckland, New Zealand.The Arnould Gallery, Marblehead, MA, Park Fine Art Conservation Framing, Stonington, CT,The Louisa Gould Gallery, Martha's Vineyard, MA, Courtyard Gallery, Mystic, CT
After a stint in the Merchant Marine, Howard returned to Boston to work as a photographer and Art Director, but the love of the sea eventually led him to Connecticut to manage a boatyard and raise a family. Ultimately, he realized his dream to sail around the world and paint. After restoring COMET, a 1946 Sparkman & Stephens 52’ yawl, Howard completed the circumnavigation in 2001. His one hour lecture of the voyage, a presentation of watercolors and photographs, is popular at yacht clubs and civic organizations.
Since his return from his voyage twelve years ago, Howard owned and operated the Four Starr Gallery and Frame Shoppe located in the Velvet Mill in Stonington, but just recently he has handed the business over to his daughter-in-law, Sarah Park and now is concentrating in Conservation, Restoration and Appraisals of Fine Art, including: Original oil paintings, Works on Paper, Objects, Etchings, Murals and Antique Frames. Howard teaches oil and watercolor workshops, in Mystic, Fisher's Island and at Avondale Arts.
SARAH PARK

Sarah Park is a fine art photographer from Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. She graduated from Maryland Institute College of Art with a BFA in General Fine Arts & Photography in 1996. In 2002, Sarah moved to Connecticut, where she and her future father-in-law, Howard Park, opened a frame shop & gallery in Stonington CT. She continues her photographic experience and education with workshops and classes, ranging from the Photographers Formulary to Rhode Island School of Design. She exhibits her work in local galleries & local art institutions. Her work is held in private collections Nationally & Internationally.
Sarah lives in Quakertown, CT with her husband and fellow artist, H. Gray Park IV and their cat, Starr.
RIETA PARK
For over 50 years, Rieta’s career as an artist has focused on color and design. While studying Illustration in Boston, she was introduced to gouache, an opaque water based paint, and ever since then she continues to paint with this medium.
Rieta has also created many works of art in a variety of mediums including; sewing machine appliqué where her work is featured in The Book of Quilting; hand painted wooden boxes and frames, and during a circumnavigation of the world with her husband on their own boat, she spent several years painting the exotic flowers of the many countries they visited. Upon their return in 2001, she started up a ceramic tile business called “Tierra Tiles” where these organic studies developed from the Art Nouveau style.
In 2003, Rieta entered a contest where her design “Lily on a Plate” was selected from over 9000 entries. As only one of the 100 selected the plate was on exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Craft and Design in New York City.
Most of Rieta’s gouache paintings are done from her own photographs, and although she has painted from life, she finds that spending as much time setting up a still- life and photographing it, or going out in the field to capture that perfect scene, is as exciting as the time spent on the painting itself. Her works can be found in many private collections, have been in exhibitions at the Two Pears Gallery, Santa Fe, NM; the Gene Arnould Gallery, Marblehead, MA; the Courtyard Gallery, Mystic, CT, and Park Gallery in Stonington, CT.
Rieta lives in Stonington, CT, with her husband Howard, where her heritage dates back 10 generations. For the past 15 years she has been the Assistant Director at the Maritime Gallery at the Mystic Seaport in Mystic, CT.
Rieta has also created many works of art in a variety of mediums including; sewing machine appliqué where her work is featured in The Book of Quilting; hand painted wooden boxes and frames, and during a circumnavigation of the world with her husband on their own boat, she spent several years painting the exotic flowers of the many countries they visited. Upon their return in 2001, she started up a ceramic tile business called “Tierra Tiles” where these organic studies developed from the Art Nouveau style.
In 2003, Rieta entered a contest where her design “Lily on a Plate” was selected from over 9000 entries. As only one of the 100 selected the plate was on exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Craft and Design in New York City.
Most of Rieta’s gouache paintings are done from her own photographs, and although she has painted from life, she finds that spending as much time setting up a still- life and photographing it, or going out in the field to capture that perfect scene, is as exciting as the time spent on the painting itself. Her works can be found in many private collections, have been in exhibitions at the Two Pears Gallery, Santa Fe, NM; the Gene Arnould Gallery, Marblehead, MA; the Courtyard Gallery, Mystic, CT, and Park Gallery in Stonington, CT.
Rieta lives in Stonington, CT, with her husband Howard, where her heritage dates back 10 generations. For the past 15 years she has been the Assistant Director at the Maritime Gallery at the Mystic Seaport in Mystic, CT.
Karin Forde Whittemore |
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August 19 - September 1st
Karin has a Digital Photography Certificate from Rhode Island School of Design. She is a member of local and national art clubs and associations. Her photographs have been exhibited in galleries throughout New England and are held in private collections. In addition to receiving numerous awards, she was recently published in the prestigious Communication Arts Magazine’s Photography Annual which showcases photographers of international acclaim.
She has exhibited recently in the Mystic Art Museum |
Karin Forde Whittemore Artist Statement
Life as an artist and my passion for photography began at age nine when I received a Kodak Instamatic camera. In recent years I have transitioned from conventional film to digital photography. Viewing life through the lens of a camera connects me to our world. Taking photographs is a compelling force that elicits personal joy and satisfies a sense of purpose.
Although photography can be a documentation process for the photojournalist, I choose to use it as a vehicle for artistic expression. My intention when composing an image has many components. Subject matter, color, light, and texture are all important considerations. A moment is captured in time– be it person, place or object.
I invite the viewers to take away what resonates with them and if successful offer a perspective they may not have previously considered or elicit an emotion that connects to their personal experience.
I have always loved to travel and immerse myself in discovering a place and its people. Visiting developing countries in the Americas has inspired me to capture the essence of wonderfully diverse cultures. What intrigues me most is finding the beauty beyond what might at first seem ordinary. This could be found in abandoned, decaying buildings or dwellings where people reside. Currently I am exploring interior and exterior spaces to capture their provocative and inherent beauty.
When not traveling, I enjoy life in Mystic, CT at home on the water. The beautiful panoramic vista rejuvenates my creative soul, and inspires my photographic imagery. People have come to expect to see me with camera in hand, always searching for that next visual stimulus which may become the inspiration for my next photograph.
Karin Forde Whittemore
Life as an artist and my passion for photography began at age nine when I received a Kodak Instamatic camera. In recent years I have transitioned from conventional film to digital photography. Viewing life through the lens of a camera connects me to our world. Taking photographs is a compelling force that elicits personal joy and satisfies a sense of purpose.
Although photography can be a documentation process for the photojournalist, I choose to use it as a vehicle for artistic expression. My intention when composing an image has many components. Subject matter, color, light, and texture are all important considerations. A moment is captured in time– be it person, place or object.
I invite the viewers to take away what resonates with them and if successful offer a perspective they may not have previously considered or elicit an emotion that connects to their personal experience.
I have always loved to travel and immerse myself in discovering a place and its people. Visiting developing countries in the Americas has inspired me to capture the essence of wonderfully diverse cultures. What intrigues me most is finding the beauty beyond what might at first seem ordinary. This could be found in abandoned, decaying buildings or dwellings where people reside. Currently I am exploring interior and exterior spaces to capture their provocative and inherent beauty.
When not traveling, I enjoy life in Mystic, CT at home on the water. The beautiful panoramic vista rejuvenates my creative soul, and inspires my photographic imagery. People have come to expect to see me with camera in hand, always searching for that next visual stimulus which may become the inspiration for my next photograph.
Karin Forde Whittemore
Lisa Lyman Adams
August 19th - September 1st

--Lisa Lyman Adams is an award-winning illustrator, Fine Artist, and art instructor. Her signature style is a unique mix of super-realism, collage and artists' handwriting.
A regular contributor to mainstream publications, Lisa is also the author/illustrator of the popular holiday childrens' book, "The Twelve Days of Christmas in New York City" and the creator of the BabyGap teddybear, the store mascot since 1994.
Lisa is represented by the Diane Birdsall Gallery in Old Lyme, CT for her Fine Art and MorganGaynin, Inc in New York City for her illustration. Lisa has been the recipient of numerous industry awards for both careers. This Vermont native holds a BFA from the Pratt Institute and her relocation to Mystic, CT from Manhattan has been a gratifying experience and has given her a renewed appreciation of the coastal life. Lisa is an instructor at Mystic Museum of Art where she teaches adults, young people and their various programs offered offsite.
ABOUT THE ARTIST:
"To call each thing by its right name. By its right name."
This is the simple principle that plays out on the canvases of artist Lisa Adams. Sometimes safe, sometimes playful, always a dichotomy of the obvious and the tacit, Adams uses familiar objects to challenge and explore the innocent deception in calling things by their right name. "I cannot paint or draw a flower without writing FLOWER somewhere on the canvas" says Adams, who credits her technique in part to the American lexicon of branding. Her work is both juvenile and distinctly complex, capturing a sense of playful innocence and nostalgic desire for simplicity. Occasionally wry and always clever, Adams marries words, images and colors to achieve a result that is both literal and fanciful, challenging our minds and our eyes to acknowledge the object and perhaps see beyond its name.
--Audrey Smith, Communications Manager The Armory Show
A regular contributor to mainstream publications, Lisa is also the author/illustrator of the popular holiday childrens' book, "The Twelve Days of Christmas in New York City" and the creator of the BabyGap teddybear, the store mascot since 1994.
Lisa is represented by the Diane Birdsall Gallery in Old Lyme, CT for her Fine Art and MorganGaynin, Inc in New York City for her illustration. Lisa has been the recipient of numerous industry awards for both careers. This Vermont native holds a BFA from the Pratt Institute and her relocation to Mystic, CT from Manhattan has been a gratifying experience and has given her a renewed appreciation of the coastal life. Lisa is an instructor at Mystic Museum of Art where she teaches adults, young people and their various programs offered offsite.
ABOUT THE ARTIST:
"To call each thing by its right name. By its right name."
This is the simple principle that plays out on the canvases of artist Lisa Adams. Sometimes safe, sometimes playful, always a dichotomy of the obvious and the tacit, Adams uses familiar objects to challenge and explore the innocent deception in calling things by their right name. "I cannot paint or draw a flower without writing FLOWER somewhere on the canvas" says Adams, who credits her technique in part to the American lexicon of branding. Her work is both juvenile and distinctly complex, capturing a sense of playful innocence and nostalgic desire for simplicity. Occasionally wry and always clever, Adams marries words, images and colors to achieve a result that is both literal and fanciful, challenging our minds and our eyes to acknowledge the object and perhaps see beyond its name.
--Audrey Smith, Communications Manager The Armory Show
Lisa Lyman Adams works examples:
David Bareford
David Bareford (b. 1947) was born and raised in New Jersey, but moved to New England after graduating from the University of Montana. He settled in Rockport, Massachusetts, a historic seaside artists’ colony, and has found success translating his own connection to the ocean through oil paintings that capture the depth of color, movement, and vitality he sees in the ocean environment. In his words, “If a picture is successful, it speaks for itself. I am a responder. I see things in the world that are beautiful and respond to that beauty on the canvas.”
Bareford seems to beckon his viewers to leave the hurried world behind and join him in the simple joys of sea and sky. With bold, expressive color, he conveys the ebullient feelings of freedom that come with turning one’s attention to the sea. He was the recipient of the Stobart Foundation Award at the 31st Annual International Marine Art Exhibit at Mystic Seaport in 2010.
Bareford seems to beckon his viewers to leave the hurried world behind and join him in the simple joys of sea and sky. With bold, expressive color, he conveys the ebullient feelings of freedom that come with turning one’s attention to the sea. He was the recipient of the Stobart Foundation Award at the 31st Annual International Marine Art Exhibit at Mystic Seaport in 2010.