Newsletter

Spring 2009 - 05/01/2009

NEW ARTIST SHOW

May 30 - June 25

The Harrison Gallery is excited to introduce five new artists that will be presenting their work in the New Artist Show, running along with the Still Life show.  Both of the shows will open May 2nd and continue through May 27th, 2009.  There will be an opening reception May 2nd from 5pm - 7pm with artists in attendance.  The public is enthusiastically invited!

Adriance De Groff

Adriance De Groff is a Connecticut native whose spectrum of painting style runs from basic primitive early American paintings to photo realism. She labels herself in an oxymoronic style you could call realistic folk art.  Primarily, she was influenced by two British animal portrait painters; George Stubbs and Sir Edwin Landseer.  As a member of multiple Breed Conservancies her interest mainly lies in endangered domestic live stock, so many of her paintings portray a heritage barnyard animals in a bucolic pastoral scene.  De Groff is an exciting addition to the gallery, offering a new perspective and subject.

Carol Gobin

Carol Gobin has always been  fascinated with architectural detail. She pursued studies in graphic design at the California College of the Arts in San Francisco, continuing onto a commercial art career.  She returned to her love for painting in 2003.  Gobin's new work focuses on the artistic preservation of local farms. Describing the new body of work with detail,  "the peeling, weathered wood exposed and decaying, windows remain broken, allowing the elements in to have their way.  These once sturdy post & beam structures, a testament to a strong farming community, are disappearing from our landscape and I attempt to honor this way of life by preserving their rich memories on canvas."

Greta Gunderson

Greta Gundersen grew up in NYC, and was educated at  UC, Santa Cruz.  Gundersen ended up back in New York where she became Director of the Downtown Center for the Visual & Performing Arts in Brooklyn and the Artistic Director of the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council.  She now enjoys a more rural atmosphere in Western MA where she paints full time.  She says her daily challenge comes from a quote by Peter Schjeldahl:  "Is painting's unique capacity to sensualize consciousness—translating mind into body with maximum precision—enough all by itself to merit our serious romantic participation?"

Ben Shattuck

Ben Shattuck, our  youngest member, graduated from Cornell University's School of Art in 2008.  His paintings are representational and  relish the qualities of oil paint.  As New Bedford Art Museum curator David Boyce writes,  "Ben's technique and brushwork bear many of the hallmarks of a looser Abstract Expressionism, albeit on a smaller scale, with thick paint applied in bold brushy strokes that work together with his color choices to describe and demarcate recognizable objects and images with often startling clarity and visual truth" (The Standard Times, August 2008).

Anda Styler

Anda Styler began painting when she was sixteen.  Acrylics soon became and remained her favorite medium, which she has worked in for over 35 years.  Educated at Parson School of Design in NYC she currently resides in Sherman, CT.  Styler started out painting en plein air but now enjoys the combination of on location and studio working.  She continues to explore subject matter, but is especially drawn to the magic of the New England landscape, mainly "the hidden places that are not often seen".