Body of Work Exhibit
December 2024
Jane Copp
Evergreen
This exhibition is a collection of landscape paintings depicting the sublime greens of our natural world. The show’s title “Evergreen” is meant to be a metaphor for taking action towards climate change and for a more sustainable environment. I will be donating 10% of all the sales from this exhibit to the Nature Conservancy’s branch in New Hampshire. Their mission is “to conserve the lands and waters on which all life depends.” The paintings here depict locations in Wales, Scotland, Vermont, the White Mountains of New Hampshire and marshland in Maine.
Art has always held a certain fascination for me, beginning as a child walking through museums here and in Europe, as a college student wrestling with the challenges of art instruction and again as a teacher watching my students create. The process of art creation and the physical reminder of the beauty of our natural world motivate my interest in painting. My goals are to capture a visual segment of time where color, form, light and shadow provide aesthetic consideration and perhaps emotional content.
Body of Work Exhibit
December 2024
Barbara London
Outside the Lines
For me, art means self-expression, telling a story the way I see it or an emotion the way I feel it. I like the process of rendering what I imagine. As with jazz, I take an improvisatory approach. I like to see where a particular motif or sketch will take me, how a painting will lead me as it evolves.
“Outside the Lines” is a collection of my watercolors and mixed media that chronicles my adventures into abstraction. After years of representational work, I tried for more play, humor, and rebellion. I allowed myself more freedom, experimenting with color, line, shapes, design, materials, tools, and media.
Beyond my appreciation of the modernists, surrealists, and abstract expressionists, my influences include people, places and things in my life, my moods, music, poetry, and what strikes me funny. I am inspired by Mother Nature’s designs, textures, and colors, especially landscapes, bodies of water, biology, and the cosmos. Being inspired by another artist’s work ignites my energy to paint. I believe in the contagion of creating, of telling one’s story through art. I hope to spark people’s imaginations, to start a dialogue between the artwork and viewer.
Theme Show
November-December 2024
Big Gifts Come in Small Packages
In the spirit of giving, we challenge our artists to create beautiful yet affordable works no more than $100 that can become the perfect holiday gift for art lovers. Your art may be of any subject but must be 11”x14” or smaller including frame and priced $100 or less. Three small works, 5”x7” or less including frame may be combined as one submission. Thank you and Happy Holidays to all!
Monthly theme shows are open to all artists – see our SAA 2025 Theme Show brochure (PDF) and entry form (PDF).
Second Friday Reception
December 13, 2024 5-7pm
Music by: Dacha and Sava Thurber
Favorites of the SAA, these astounding Exeter brothers grab our hearts and souls with violin music for the holiday season. Let them put you in the spirit!
Receptions are FREE and open to the public. Refreshments will be served. Meet your local artists!
Upcoming Music at the Gallery Receptions
JANUARY 10 Betsy Heron
Don’t miss our favorite fiddle player, SAA member Betsy Heron, as she take us out of our post holiday doldrums at our Second Friday artist reception on Jan 10th, 5-7PM! Betsy grew up on a farm in central Massachusetts, and was brought up playing country music with her family’s band. Formerly of the duo Green Heron, she lives in NH and still plays alongside her three sisters in The Green Sisters and also leads the The Word Barn’s monthly old-time jam sessions. Betsy is also an artist with the SAA who often has work in our theme shows! “I’ve been doodling since I was a small child (in between reading books, taking care of the animals, and stacking wood of course). Halfway through engineering school, I nearly switched to a graphic design degree, but stuck it out. My heart is really in the music and art in my life. My work has primarily been in pen & ink for the past few years; I’ve long been drawn to animals and birds and they frequently find their way out.” Admission is free and donations are appreciated!
FEBRUARY 14 Cheryl Sager and Neal Zweig
Celebrate Valentine’s Day with a special program of love songs with the stunning vocals of SAA member Cheryl Sager accompanied by her husband Neal on guitar.
MARCH 14 Carol Coronis
Favorite local musician and longtime host of the weekly Celtic show on WUNH radio, “The Ceili,” Sundays noon-2, Carol returns with her annual St. Patrick’s Day show! Enjoy her passionate, energetic style on the cittern, “a lute-like instrument, kind of a mandolin on steroids.”
April 11 The Real Deal Jazz Combo
Jack Lianos on bass and Nick Valiton on keyboards were a big hit in October! Both members of the Perimeter Jazz Ensemble, an 18-piece big band playing music by the great bands of the 1940s swing era, such as Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Stan Kenton, Buddy Rich, and Woody Herman.
May 9 Ben Baldwin and Kent Allyn
We dare you not to dance! Legendary Seacoast swing, rock, R&B duo returns! Founding members of Ben Baldwin and the Big Note, they have been sharing the rich heritage of popular American music for over 25 years.
Second Sunday Demo Videos
Past demo’s recorded by Exeter TV
- Jane McDonnell – October 2024 – The Painter’s Process ~ Overcoming Creative Block
- Dustan Knight – August 2024 – Lets paint some Big Loose and Easy Florals in Watercolor
- Bill Paarlberg – May 2024 – Watercolor