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Arts on Main

Community Arts Center in Gloucester, Virginia

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Artist in Residence Talk: “How to Study Paintings…Your Own and Others”

February’s artist in residence, Stephen Doherty, has had a distinguished career editing art magazines and books, lecturing about art, and also painting. In Gloucester, he will give a lecture intended for both artists and collectors that will include a power-point presentation on ways to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of composition, paint handling, subject matter, and style.

Light refreshments will be served.

Reservations are required for this event. Please call the gallery, 804-824-9464, to reserve your seat. Maximum of 25 people.

About Stephen Doherty

Stephen Doherty majored in art at Knox College in Galesburg, IL, and graduated summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa. He then earned a Master of Fine Arts degree in printmaking from Cornell University in Ithaca, NY; taught art in public schools, a community college, and at Knox; worked in the marketing department of a company that manufactured screen printing art supplies; and then moved to a suburb of New York City. For 31 years, he was the editor of American Artist magazine and launched three other art magazines: Watercolor, Drawing, and Workshop. In 2011, he became Editor-in-Chief of PleinAir magazine and moved to the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. He continues to edit PleinAir, participate in plein air events, judge art shows, teach workshops, exhibit paintings, and give lectures. He writes a blog http://pleinairstories.wordpress.com.

Stephen frequently gives lectures and demonstrations.

Tagged With: AiR, artist in residence, gallery talk, Steve Doherty

AiR Mail from Mensah Bey

Graphic designer, printmaker and painter Mensah Bey is known for artwork based upon his interacting with a new community. How, he wondered, had Gloucester’s Main Street fared during the pandemic’s shut-down? By focusing his residency on this question, Mensah created a video featuring Kelsick Specialty Market’s owner, Paige Drewery. He then painted a complementary narrative painting, which will be on display with his other Gloucester-based works at Arts On Main through August.

Artist in Residence Director, Mollie Stewart, previewing some of Mensah Bey’s creations from his time in Gloucester. These and other paintings will be displayed at Arts on Main through August.

The Artist in Residence Program is sponsored by the Cook Foundation. For more information on the program please visit the Artist in Residence portion of our website.

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: Agency Arts, AiR, AiR Mail, artist in residence, Cook Foundation, Mensah Bey

AiR Mail from Poe Dismuke + Sam Woolcott

Artist in Residence sculptor, Poe Dismuke, with his wife, painter Sam Woolcott, will be rescheduling their time in Gloucester for after the pandemic. While the SAM-POE Gallery in Bisbee, Arizona, stays closed, Poe has been collecting dead flies from the window sill and drawing them. He shared this photo of his work space in the window at the gallery.


The Artist in Residence (AiR) program in sponsored in part by the Cook Foundation. To learn more about the AiR program click here. 

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: AiR, AiR Mail, artist in residence, Poe Dismuke, Sam Woolcott

Online Two-Day Portrait Workshop with Abigail McBride

Online via Zoom, Two Day Workshop, 6/27 & 6/28

Abigail will conduct her lecture, demonstrations and show the model via Zoom in real time. All the costs of participating in the Zoom class and the services of the professional draped model are included in the cost of registration. Abigail also will connect with each student to provide 1-on-1 critiquing in a way that works for each particular student: either through facebook or directly using cell phones or through an additional Zoom.

Abigail McBride will teach her unique approach to the portrait. This workshop is designed to help you not only paint and draw what you see but also to have a deeper understanding of your subject. Work in Oil or Charcoal. Class size is limited to promote plenty of one-on-one attention. First come, first served. Last day to register for the workshop is June 26th.

Interested in what you might expect from a class with Abigail? Head over to this special blog post she wrote for us featuring several videos that give a peek into her teaching style!

 




Tagged With: abigail mcbride, AiR, artist in residence, oil painting, oil painting classes, online class

AiR Mail from Novelist Dan Berne

“[Here] are a few paragraphs I wrote two weeks ago. It takes place in 1937. Needing to escape the tedium of life, with her maiden aunts, my 17 year old protagonist Lydia secretly absconds to New York City with her friend Mary Ellen to meet up with Mary Ellen’s older cousin. Their plan is to attend a weekend dance marathon. After sneaking on a train from Cincinnati, they arrive at Penn Station.”


New York, October 1937

Mary Ellen’s cousin Freddie met them at Pennsylvania Station. Or rather, they met him. They had to step off the train and into the main waiting area before seeing him leaning against a marble pillar, hands in his pocket, a half-smoked cigarette cornered in his mouth. He was wearing a russet-brown suit and a chestnut fedora that was tilted toward his left ear. He barely straightened up when the girls approached him. He nodded toward his cousin, a “Hi ‘ya” barely escaping from under his cigarette. He looked Lydia up and down, nodding in apparent approval. 

“This way.” He turned without offering to help them with their suitcases. Outside the station, the noise and sheer amount of people was staggering. It made Cincinnati seem like a small farm town. It was nearing five in the afternoon and already getting dark, cold in the shadows between the buildings. But Lydia barely felt the chill. She inhaled the smells of car exhaust and construction dust and hot dogs and Chinese food, all seemingly wrapped around the soles of leather shoes. She absorbed the honks of taxis, the shouts and yammering of jackhammers. New York was big and noisy and dirty and dangerous. She was so entranced she nearly lost sight of Mary Ellen and her cousin. What was his name again? Freddie?

After twenty minutes or so, he led them inside a brick apartment building on East 15th. Lydia was hoping for a view of the streets, but Freddie channeled them downstairs to a basement apartment at the end of the hall. Apartment was overstating it. There was one decent-sized room with a window that looked out onto a broken concrete patch broken up by weeds and a dead lilac bush. The light filtering in gave everything a bruised, leaden cast. One side of the room was fitted with a refrigerator and a small electric range that was crusted with what was probably dried spaghetti sauce and who know what else. To the right was a narrow hallway with a bedroom door on each side.

To Lydia’s surprise, there were already six or seven people in the room, mostly her age. Freddie introduced them quickly: Neil, Roberto, and Carter, Jocelyn, Tilly, and Gwynne. They were the kind of names you never heard of in Cincinnati. Lydia had the feeling they were also not the kind of people you met in Cincinnati, at least not the ones she knew. No one seemed to pay them much mind, though before she knew it, Freddie had placed a martini glass in her hand. The drink was the color of sunset and smelled slightly of oranges. He had a glass for himself as well, though the liquid inside it was colorless.

“Cosmopolitan,” he said, turning so that he flanked her on her right side. 

Lydia had drunk alcohol before of course. Stolen gulps of sweet wine at home and pilfered swigs of Crab Orchard Kentucky bourbon behind the school bleachers. Neither was particularly pleasant except for that feeling of euphoria. She tilted the glass and sipped. 

“Hokey smokes. This is really good.”

Freddie smiled, arching his right eyebrow. “Everyone is drinking them.”

“You’re not.”

“I prefer straight vodka.” He sipped his drink, staring at the top of her dress. “You do know you’ve popped a couple of buttons, don’t you?”

She laughed. It sounded so funny from him, the way his mustached twitched when he said it.

“It’s a long story,” she said, not wanting to get into what happened with the train cop. “Mary Ellen and I will them sew back on.” She looked around. “Where is Mary Ellen anyway?”

Freddie tilted his head toward the hallway and bedrooms. “Back there. Taking a nap, I guess.”

“Ah.” 

Lydia drank more of her cosmopolitan, turning her attention to the animated conversation in the larger room. Neil and Roberto were arguing as to whether Amelia Earhart could still be alive, Roberto sure that she was.

“Roberto, you’d masturbate to that photo of her in Life,” Tilly laughed.

“So would I,” Jocelyn quipped. 

They all laughed, but no one seemed aghast to hear her say it. Someone mentioned the Japanese and Chinese fighting somewhere. Everyone seemed worried about the rise of fascism and nationalism, though whether or not these were one and the same, Jocelyn and Carter thoroughly disagreed. It was also dizzying.


About Dan Berne

DAN BERNE grew up in a working-class family in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he worked in his way through college, with jobs in drugstores, warehouses, U-bolt factories, and cement plants. He moved to the west coast in 1979, settling in the Portland area in 1990. He has been an active member of a select writing workshop led by author Karen Karbo for ten years. His short stories and poetry have been published in literary magazines and has won a literary award from the Pacific Northwest Writers Association. Dan owns a market strategy consultancy and is currently writing a book on market transformation. He lives with his wife Aliza in Portland, Oregon. The Gods of Second Chances is his debut novel. More can be found at his website danberne.com.

Author Statement

Nothing energizes me more than the art and craft of writing. Shape. Sound. Sensuality. For me, a well-crafted sentence or paragraph is umami on the page. Storytelling is a deep part of what makes us human, of what binds us together down through the generations. 

I seek to create compelling tension in every scene, in every chapter, and in the spaces in-between. I then try to marry that with language that lifts off the page.

I love sharing the craft of writing with others. There’s always something new to experience. I conduct a weekly writing work group, as well as writing workshops and seminars. I also coach individual writers. 

Much of my writing focuses on character and landscape, and how those interact to create a narrative. My current novel, The Gods of Second Chances, is set in eastern Oregon during the late 1930s. The protagonist is a young woman. As a male writer, it’s been a good creative challenge to bring this character fully into life.


The Artist in Residence (AiR) program in sponsored in part by the Cook Foundation. To learn more about the AiR program click here. 

Interested artists may inquire about the program via email: Mollie Stewart, Director, Artist in Residence Program at Arts on Main: airdirector@gloucesterarts.org

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: AiR, AiR Mail, artist in residence, arts on main, Cook Foundation, Dan Berne, Historical Fiction, Novelist, Writer

Andrée Tullier, shares a few thoughts from her first week in residence.


October 21st: Studio Set-Up

Setting up my studio was effortless!

The taboret (a small portable stand for holding supplies) on the far right is furnished with a glass palette (for mixing paint). A table for my computer and an amazing easel plus a stool makes for a great working environment. I am working from high-resolution photographs of subjects that I am photographing here in Gloucester with a Canon digital SLR. I view the photos on my iMac which I brought from my Maryland studio.


October 22nd: Gallery Talk

The gallery talk took place on Tuesday, October 22 at Arts On Main Gallery in Gloucester, VA.

I shared about my path as an artist from my interest in art as a young girl to my areas of concentrated study with my amazing teachers. I have been teaching for over 10 years at an art center in Annapolis as well as my studio. And, I also travel outside of Maryland for workshops. My foremost interest is in portrait and figure work, which keeps me busy and doing what I love.


October 23 – Sketches of Gardener at Goshen Farm

These rough charcoal sketches show my process of working out the design ideas from the images that I select. The gardener is shown in three different photographs. I like the one where it shows him taking the cart back to the garden shed. It tells a clear story. The top right design presents the gardener in a more contemplative state. As he gazes down the lane he surveys the work that is required to keep the garden healthy. The bottom right is the same image which was cropped and the perspective was changed to fit into a more vertical format. 

I chose the image of the gardener in his more contemplative state. The size is 12″ tall by 16″ wide and is oil paint on linen. This is my initial lay-in of paint. I am blocking in colors using the most basic abstract patterns. The decision to include the large crepe myrtle tree to the gardener’s right has not been decided. I like how the painting looks without it — giving the garden a more expansive feel. If I included the tree, it would act as a boundary and nestle the gardener within the scene.

This palette includes: French Ultramarine Blue, Cerulean, Turquoise Blue, Cobalt Blue, Veridian, Permanent Green Light, Lemon Yellow, Cadmium Yellow Medium, Cadmium Yellow Deep, Cadmium Orange, Scarlet Lake, Cadmium Red Light, Cadmium Red Deep, Permanent Rose, Permanent Magenta, Caput Mortem Violet, Indian Red, Yellow Ochre, Purple Madder Deep, Titanium White


The Artist in Residence (AiR) Program is generously sponsored in part by the Cook Foundation.

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: AiR, AiR Mail, artist in residence, Gloucester County Virginia, gloucester virginia, plein air

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Gallery Hours

Open Wednesday – Saturday
Noon – 5:00pm
Closed Sunday & Monday
Call: (804) 824-9464

Open Studio

Every Friday Morning, 9am-Noon
Free Painting Sessions!
Open Painting Studio

Art Classes

Ongoing classes in all mediums for kids of all ages.
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Facility Rental

Hold your next event in our gallery!
An excellent party and reception venue for up to 100 people.
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Volunteer Opportunities

Are you looking for ways to volunteer in the community? Arts on Main has wonderful volunteers and would like you to join them. Call the gallery for more information. 804.824.9464

Executive Director Opening

“It’s not easy saying good-bye to Betsy Henderson, our capable Executive Director for the past 5 years. If you have an interest in the arts and serving your community, please consider applying to fill this important position at Arts on Main!”

 

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❤ Valentine's Day is tomorrow...How do you plan ❤ Valentine's Day is tomorrow...How do you plan to show your love?! Here are two more ways to say "I Love You" with gifts created by our gallery artists:

Ceramic Sunflower Plate created by Stacey Posner ($40)

Lampwork Glass and Sterling Silver Necklace by Grace Llewellyn Designs ($325)

Whether it's a grand gesture or a small token, let your loved ones know you care. One can never say "I Love You" enough. Happy Valentine's Day!

Shop the full "14 Ways to Say I Love You" Collection at the link in our bio.
❤ Three days to go...Say "I Love You" with this ❤ Three days to go...Say "I Love You" with this artfully crafted Rising Heart sculpture ($300) by Patrick Andrews. This piece is currently on display as part of our Metal + Glass - Shaped by Fire exhibit, open through February 27th.

To purchase this piece, or others in our curated "14 Ways to Say I Love You" Valentine's Day Collection, follow the link in our bio.
❤ 4 days...Say "I Love You" with a different kin ❤ 4 days...Say "I Love You" with a different kind of "rock"...we think this Stone-Meld Crystal Sculpture ($250) by Bill Casto is particularly striking!

To purchase this piece, or others from our curated "14 Ways to Say I Love You" Valentine's Day Collection, follow this link or the one in our profile: https://gloucesterarts.org/product/stone-meld-crystal-sculpture/
UPDATE: CANCELLED DUE TO INCLEMENT WEATHER Join us UPDATE: CANCELLED DUE TO INCLEMENT WEATHER Join us this Friday, from 9am - Noon, for Open Studio as we work with a live model! Artists/students working in any medium are welcome and an $8 fee will be collected from each attendee to cover the model's sitting fees.
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Activities at Arts on Main are partially funded by the Virginia Commission for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Arts on Main is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.

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