April Highlights

A Fine Beach Day -Ellen Kingsbury

Rye Marsh – Marcia Trahan

  • Our gallery is open:
    Wednesday-Saturday 10am – 5pm
    Sunday 1pm – 4pm

The Seacoast Artist Association is an all-volunteer non-profit completely supported by donations, exhibition fees, and sales commissions. Consider becoming a member, or support the arts by mailing your donation check to: Seacoast Artist Association, 130 Water Street, Exeter, NH 03833 or by using this link to our secure Square payment site.

SAA Scholarship Fund Donation

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Body of Work Exhibits in April

Marcia Trahan
Taking the Long View

For as long as I have been painting, landscapes and big skies have drawn me in. I may set out to create a scene with a closer horizon, but inevitably the question of what’s beyond that hill, field, or tree intrigues both me and my paintbrush and off we go to find out.

As a native New Englander and recent transplant to New Hampshire my heart and mind are full of beautiful images and lovely palettes with which to experiment. Many of my paintings begin with a reference photo or sketch of a scene and then morph into something imagined or intuited. My preference is to work in oil as I love the richness, depth of color and versatility I find in this medium.  I’m mostly self-taught, but have taken classes with Amy Brnger, Kathleen Robbins, and Erin Spencer of late. Having such an inspiring arts community on the Seacoast has brightened many a day and helped me meet the challenges of these last several years with a sense of purpose and optimism.

Whether I’m painting in my home studio space or attempting to capture a moment in plein air, for me, the unique characteristics of each brush stroke and mix of color present both challenges and satisfactions in equal measure.

Ellen Kingsbury
Nothing But Blue Skies

I am a life-long hiker, skier and tennis player who loves being outside in all kinds of weather. As I have learned and enjoyed making art, I have especially enjoyed painting and collaging skies, clouds and the light. This show highlights my recent work here I have spent time in Plein Air as well as working with cut paper and collage.

I have been drawing and painting for 15 years and have studied with many teachers over the years. I don’t make any one kind of art. I have loved drawing the figure and have been in figure drawing groups for 10+ years. 
I love working in encaustic and once set up my garage with all the equipment needed to make encaustic paintings.  I have enjoyed collage and have bags of printed papers in boxes with scissors and glue. There are some times when I paint sharp edges with acrylics and other times when I use loose washes of watercolor for an abstract piece. I love printing with Gelli plates and creating funky designs for collage or a get-well card for a friend.
I’m not sure if the journey will end with expertise in representational art or whether I’ll make a big name for myself in abstract expressionism, but I know that along the way I’m having a ball!

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March Highlights

Still Searching by RSBense

Lovelock Fence by Judy Arnold

Our gallery is open:
Wednesday-Saturday 10am – 5pm
Sunday 1pm – 4pm

The Seacoast Artist Association is an all-volunteer non-profit completely supported by donations, exhibition fees, and sales commissions. Consider becoming a member, or support the arts by mailing your donation check to: Seacoast Artist Association, 130 Water Street, Exeter, NH 03833 or by using this link to our secure Square payment site.

SAA Scholarship Fund Donation

Donate

Body of Work Exhibits in March

RSBense
Isolation and Inspiration

These hauntingly familiar, otherworldly pieces were born out of the isolation experienced from the recent pandemic. The stay-at-home guidelines gave me lots of time to create. While I was cleaning and organizing my studio, I stumbled across some strangely sized ultra-high quality watercolor paper. In keeping with my New England roots, I just had to find a way to use it. Thus, this series of long and skinny landscapes was born. 

As usual, I am engaged in the process and not really doing any deep thinking. I am just playing around. I taped off a section of the paper for the “real” art and used the sides to test my colors. I was being particular about the testing, making deliberate areas of color. I was taking a class with Doris Rice, and she saw it and said, “Those look like remarques.” I quipped “What is a remarque?” It turns out that artists will sometimes paint in the margins of the print, thereby creating a remarque. “Cool,” I thought, and I kept doing my color studies on the sides of the pieces.  I then took the body of work to the framer, and I have to thank Rob at The Gilded Edge Frame Shop for telling me to keep these remarques in the framed piece. I am sure I would have covered them up! 

Judy Arnold
For Granted

You don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone. So Joni Mitchell told us, and as I age, those words ring even truer. Change is constant and inevitable. But what once progressed at a sluggish creep, now assaults us at an epic pace. The cost and availability of goods. The state of our union. Restaurant survival. Ease of travel. Sustainability of our planet. Shifting politics. The past few years have raised the curtain on so much that I once took for granted. It makes my head spin.

When a building and business that I loved and depended on was suddenly lost to fire, personal change was thrust upon me, leading to a new appreciation of the every day places in my world. I began to look at everything around me with fresh eyes, and questioned my assumptions that familiar sights would be everlasting. They won’t.

Basements of some Strawbery Banke Museum buildings are sustaining water damage from the rising sea and crumbling. Almost thirty 80-year old trees in a Portsmouth neighborhood are being removed to install new sidewalks. Large residential developments are rising like mushrooms all over Southern New Hampshire.

Each day I pass by pastoral scenes, antique barns, quirky shops and centuries old homes. I practice appreciation of those sights which bring me joy — and I take nothing for granted.

Judy Arnold is a proud lifelong NH resident and UNH graduate. Retired from an engineering career, she now pursues buying and selling antiques. Her photography journey began with some blurry B&W Instamatic snapshots in the 1960s.

During the 2020 Lockdown, Judy found the time and inspiration to begin more serious study and practice of photography. She enjoys capturing New England scenes, details of the nautical lifestyle and new takes on the mundane.

Combining her passions for antiques and photography has led to a growing collection of vintage camera lenses. Her favorite is a 1930s Russian collapsible Fed 50mm lens with a red star on the lens cap. The timeless images from Polaroid-style film are a growing area of interest.  One of Judy’s images can be found in the Portsmouth 400th Anniversary 2023 calendar.

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