“Southern Presidentials Vista.” Courtesy of Linda Gray ’78.
About this exhibition
Museum Exhibition Dates: September 26 – October 26, 2017
Exhibition Locations: Museum of the White Mountains, Main Gallery; Silver Center for the Arts, Lobby Gallery; Lamson Library
Opening Reception: September 26, 4-6pm
Exhibition Design: Dani Cushing, MWM Student Exhibitions Designer
Artist Statements: MWM (pdf), Silver Center (pdf)
Lasting Impressions showcases multiple generations of PSC/ PSU art, writing, music, theater, and dance alumni, highlighting the importance of place as well as the University’s history of incubating critical thinking and artistry. Including recent graduates to established artists, writers, musicians, dancers, and actors, Lasting Impressions is a collection of works that convey the role the White Mountains, teachings, experiences, landscape, and ideas encountered here in influencing these artists’ creative journey and developing careers. This multi-site exhibit celebrates alumni achievement and inspires current PSU students.
Museum Gallery Shots (use arrows to scroll gallery, click to enlarge)
Silver Center Gallery Shots (use arrows to scroll gallery, click to enlarge)
Artwork Featured (use arrows to scroll gallery, click to enlarge)
Alumni Included (click name to see artist work, statement, and website)
Statements
Diane Olean Bannon is a Connecticut based artist specializing in cork these days. Diane discovered her lifelong love of drawing at an early age. After years of practice, across a variety of mediums and a BA in Art from Plymouth State College, she worked as a graphic artist for many years, continuing fine art pursuits in her own time.
For Diane, each cork she uses exhibits its own work of art on its surface, many with a memory attached. Although scarred and retired from their intended use, she felt there must be a higher purpose for these spent stoppers with a story to tell.
LENA
If you knew me as a student at PSC, you would know that I took a fairly detailed approach to art. Despite my desire to loosen up, it was very difficult for me to break away from my comfort zone… it continues to be something I have to practice.
Along comes Lena. Unlike her predecessors…and me, Lena likes to break the rules with a more abstract flow. Her canvas hails from a retired mannequin bone yard in California, along with each and every cork that adorns her.
My studies of the female form, both in sculpture and drawing, were with PSC Professor, Robert Morton. He gave me much confidence and encouragement as I attacked each figure drawing class with my green china marker.
He described my approach to drawing as draftsman-like. I wanted to learn to release that tight grip on my pencil and my mind. My favorite classes, and some of my best drawings of the human form, were through studies in foreshortening. It forced me to see with an abstract eye.
IVY
Ivy is tenacious! I remember how it grew up the side of Mary Lyons Hall back in the late 70’s. What’s more tenacious than Ivy? That would be PSC Professor, John (Terry) Downs.
What a huge impact this one man has made in my life as an artist over all these years. With his wit, his wisdom, and his undeniable talent, he inspired me. Through years of observing him and learning from him, he taught me what I consider to be the greatest lessons that one artist can bestow upon another… to keep working … keep creating. Always have a project in the works, or in your mind. Explore new approaches to art. Carry a sketchbook at all times.
I have been extremely fortunate over the years since PSC to maintain a relationship with Terry Downs, and to call him my friend. Over the years, my children would look forward to visiting his studio every summer, always in awe of his knowledge, generosity, and talent. Terry’s devotion to his art has always been a huge inspiration to me and continues to be so. Tenacious!
SPILL THE WINE
Try something different.
I had the greatest pleasure to study painting with PSC Professor, James Fortune.
Aside from painting, he experimented with paper pulp to create beautiful works of art. He was painting with pulp. I thought to myself, so original, so cool. These memories stick with you, and they guide you.
Fast forward. I wanted to take a new approach with the cork medium. I used cross sections of the cork, dyed in various red wines for various lengths of time to create my palette. I worked two dimensionally for a change of pace and I came up with my “Spill the Wine” series. Painting with cork, so cool. This diptych is a part of that series.
Statements
From 1976-1980, Michael attended Plymouth State College as an Art major, earning a BA in Art, concentrating in Printmaking, Sculpture and Art History, Michael received excellent formal training from an exceptional roster of professors, including John T Downs (Printmaking), Robert Morton (Sculpture), and James Fortune (Painting) This invaluable education armed Michael with the fundamental skills needed to pursue a life long career in stop motion animation production. Today, as the Director of Advertising Production for Bob’s Discount Furniture, Michael works with young artists to bring “Little Bob” to life.
When not mentoring and directing young animators, character sculptors and puppet fabricators, Michael spends his time honing his compositional sensibilities through the lens of a camera.
Illuminated Vortex
In this work, the subject matter happens to be the lights on a carnival ride, but what I find interesting is: The streaks of color define movement over time. I was able to distill the mechanical movement of the machine by controlling my exposure, creating simplistic, visual manifestation of the relationship of the volumes and their movement in space, without the distraction of the underlying structures. This “painting with light” approach to photography evolved out of an appreciation of the advantages that painting provides regarding the degree of abstraction. In addition to photography, I also paint, lifetime interest sparked by painting classes with Plymouth’s Professor James Fortune. Professor Fortune was instrumental in teaching me the difference between “Looking” and “Seeing”. He also displayed a seemingly limitless propensity for experimentation. Fortune would often incorporate new and different materials into his work, even painting with handmade paper pulp! His spirit of pushing the boundaries of and blurring the conventional lines of the medium still inspire me 39 years after studying under him.
Grand Canyon Sunset
In this image, I pushed the exposure and image processing to achieve the graphic style of a serigraph. Trained at Plymouth State as a printmaker, I have kept in touch with my teacher and mentor Terry Downs, so, in addition to having been influenced by his teachings in school, I have also had the benefit of being influenced by his work over the ensuing decades. Printmaking and design techniques such as: limiting the palette, repetition of form, flat areas of color and value and hard edges can lend a simplicity to a photograph that is usually only achieved through screen printing.
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- “Human vs. Nature: Nature Wins” Grace Bartlett, Mixed Media, 2015
Statement
Human vs. Nature: Nature Wins
During my years at Plymouth State (College) University, I was encouraged to think about relationships and how things interacted, whether in the biology lab, in mixing plaster in art class, in anthropology, or in English composition. The wonderful setting in the foothills of the White Mountains also influenced that dialogue, through hiking and through beauty. These threads of relationship and natural setting have continued to weave their way through my life and my artwork.
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- “Moonlit Graze” Olivia Benish, Acrylic on Schabin on Panel, 2017
Statement
Moonlit Graze
When I first drove over the Pemi into Plymouth, I fell head over heels for this quintessential college on the hill with vine covered, brick buildings and lush green quads tucked amidst the picturesque White Mountains. My four years here were filled with an abundance of memories; those experiences significant or trivial often put me into a nostalgic trance and leave me longing for days gone by. The countless hikes up and down High Street hill back and forth from D&M seem much less of a bother in hindsight. It’s these days spent in the studios, days of exploration, self-focus yet surrounded by peers with guidance committed diverse professors that I miss the most.
Plymouth and its surrounding beauty has largely affected my work as I focus primarily on natural subjects. However, as I submit this work, Moonlit Graze, one specific interaction from college comes to my mind. I was a freshman, looking to get more involved with the Art Department and had stumbled upon the Art & Art History Club. There I met a dynamic group of students who encouraged me to pursue my creative path and immediately got me involved.
The meetings and events were just as entertaining as they were enlightening and, of course, I looked up to the upper classmen, especially those in the BFA Program. One evening early in the semester we were discussing painting and one of the BFAers stated they hated equine art. This person said they did not understand it, didn’t enjoy it at all and spoke as if it was lesser art, something only an amateur would create. My heart sank. Having been a horseback rider since I was seven, I have always had a deep connection with horses. I find them to be incredibly stunning and powerful animals that I often drew. I said nothing but for the next three years I repressed the urge to draw anything equine related. While I took this unintentionally offensive opinion personally, it encouraged me to explore other ideas and push myself out of my comfort zone. I created work that was more abstract, focused on the human figure and really did not commit to one specific, style or medium. However, after years of critique and discussion you learn pretty quickly as an art student what to take to heart and what to let in one ear and out the other. By my senior year, I slowly started integrating the equine back into my artwork because at the end of the day, that’s what it is, MY artwork.
Today I work a 9 to 5 office job that is less related to art than I would like to admit. However, I work at a Paint and Sip studio part time. And, I started a brand for equine & canine portraiture and gifts, The Pony & the Pooch, on Etsy. I do my best to spend time in my studio creating for myself as much as possible and I am also exploring my options to get back into the art classroom full time as well as possibly make my way back to New England. So when I do find the time to create for myself, alone in my studio, you can bet I am going to paint whatever my heart desires. Whatever makes my heart full. And for me that is horses. At least some of the time!
Statement
Nectar of Knowledge
“Our treasure lies in the beehive of our knowledge.
We are perpetually on the way thither,
being by nature winged insects and honey gatherers of the mind.”
-Nietzsche, 19th-century Prussian philosopher and poet
This body of work was inspired by a dream I had, where I envisioned skulls drowning in gold. I often have the sensation of being drowned by knowledge. I want to convey the anxiety I go through when I’m truly absorbing something to the core. It is an overwhelming, yet a rewarding experience.
I chose porcelain, a diamond and honey as my materials to produce this work. The porcelain skulls are a vessel that one can only fill on one’s own. The use of porcelain was obvious with its luminous white, fragile nature. In this piece, honey represents knowledge. I chose honey as a material because of its ancient historical significance and its immortal qualities. The ancient Egyptians used honey as a currency, food, as antibiotics in healing ceremonies and in fertility rituals of wedding vows.
The diamond represents the valuable gem that forms when one truly obtains knowledge.
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- “Venetian Moments” Katie Cotnoir, Oil on Canvas, 2017
Statement
Venetian Moments
During my undergraduate studies at Plymouth State University, I studied Art Education and Oil painting. My paintings included large studies of the human facial features, as well the exploration of painting with a few simple marks to create a form or structure. After graduation and finding a full-time position as an elementary art educator in central N.H., I quickly discovered the challenges of continuing to create my own work while simultaneously teaching our young artists.
As a graduate student through Boston University, I decided to take advantage of a 6 week study abroad opportunity, allowing me to paint and draw in Venice, Italy. It was through these courses that I began to truly understand how to engage a viewer in my work. I focused on the people of an environment and the objects that make that place unique. Each painting can be characterized as a memory, rather than an exact replica of that place. What did the atmosphere feel like? What colors contrasted against others, and where was the light prominent?
Today, I am working to continue studying the environment that surrounds me in my beautiful home state of New Hampshire.
Statements
I think of myself as a life-long learner and a visual artist.
In 1983 and 1984 I took courses at Plymouth State College to complete my Bachelor of Fine Arts degree at University of Illinois.
From 1985 through 1987, I completed a program in Art Education with instruction from Ellwyn Hayslip and William Haust. While teaching, I continued to take summer courses for personal and professional development.
In 2002 I completed a Certificate of Advanced Graduate Studies Program in Educational Leadership.
Following my retirement from teaching, I have pursued my education in watercolor painting and printmaking. I continue to take studio art courses in the summer. Landscape painting courses with Kathi Smith have taken me to sights around Plymouth and to Ogunquit and Monhegan Island, Maine. Living in the Plymouth area and my studies have both influenced my artwork.
I try to capture the beauty of the landscape of the Plymouth area and coastal Maine in a moment of time. It is an act of recreation, based on observation and previous experience.
I approach a scene as I approach a work of art: opening to its emotional draw, noticing carefully the elements that give it power, then applying my knowledge and experience. I can see how I would paint or print it. Sometimes creating something in one medium shows new ways of expression with another medium.
During a course with Annette Mitchell, while synthesizing viewing, techniques and media, I created a new printing process. I print using a polystyrene printing plate that has been coated with gesso. The image is pressed or carved into the foam. One area at a time is painted with watercolor paint and the paper is pressed onto the plate. Then a new area is painted and the paper is pressed in position again, continuing until the image is complete.
This new process has brought new experiences. These experiences have been added to previous experiences as a base for further experimentation, creating a spiral of creativity.
This spiral includes viewing art of my own and that of others, noticing, questioning, making connections, painting outdoors, using those paintings as subjects for printing, and reflecting on the results.
Working with this process is leading me to a feeling of incompleteness, paintings and prints not yet imagined. There is a compelling sense of tension, a push to continue exploring and learning, not only about making art, but about art and all its connections with my Plymouth community. Like Maxine Greene, “I am not yet, still not done inside myself” There is so much left to learn.
Whitehead
This print was created on a trip to Monhegan, Maine organized by Kathi Smith, whose landscape painting class I took at PSU. Four other students from the class also came on this retreat.
Ogunquit Arch
This was painted on the grounds of The Ogunquit Museum of American Art on a trip with Kathi Smith’s class.
Statement
Trimming
Throughout my undergrad career, I struggled with a battle between exposing personal issues and attempting to conceal a fundamental fear of being “flawed” by overcompensating with technical skills in my art making. With the help of mentor relationships developed during my time at PSU, I was able to overcome the need to make “perfect”, meaningless artwork in order to validate myself as an artist. My journey to the development of an artistic voice allowed me the ability to use art making as a cathartic experience to work through interpersonal issues by visually articulating them in a way that married narrative qualities and refined craft to create works that were truly meaningful and engaging.
My current work exposes a lifelong battle of the need to be in control and how this cognitive dysfunction manifested itself in physical ways. This installation represents the disconnect between how I measured perfection and validated myself based on these beliefs. This piece is broken up into segments, intertwining geometric and abstract shapes, which illustrate the tension I experienced with body dysmorphic disorder throughout adolescence and adulthood. The ability to visually articulate this experience encompasses the skills that I learned during my time as PSU and works to demonstrate the ability to effectively translate an emotional experience into a relatable visual manifestation.
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- “Wentrus” Tom Driscoll, Acrylic and Oil on Canvas, 2015
Statement
Wentrus
This painting exemplifies many aspects of my development from my PSC days forward. It contains a lot of the general mark-making (not necessarily the calligraphic part) that I began to explore as a student at PSC. It functions as an abstract image, while also referencing the landscape; something that I pursued, but in a much different manner, in my BFA Senior Thesis work.
The title, “Wentrus” is an ancient term that simply means “winter”. However, it has Germanic and Celtic roots, which I relate to my heritage. The choice of using a term that is @2000 years old also references another interest of mine; speaking visually in a raw and visceral manner to evoke a connection to our common primitive roots. It was executed in January, so it was a direct, felt and visual response to my immediate environment, which I believe allowed me to communicate that light, mood and sensibility most effectively. Creating that type of genuine conduit from myself to my audience was definitely something that I learned from my professors in the art department.
Statements
Cup
I am drawn to simple, beautiful forms in my ceramic work. I believe this is because I see the work as a distillation of my personal experience with the material and act of creation. Those moments with material are then translated to the finished object, an intimate expression of the relationship between artist and creation. When the work is then used or given away it takes on another layer of meaning and life in the hands of its new owner. Each time the cup is used it becomes associated with the context of that experience. One of these cups is chipped; rather than looking at it as damaged I like to think of it as well-loved. After all, it is my favorite cup and gets used quite often.
These ideas crystallized in a transcendent two week workshop I took with Alleghany Meadows at Haystack Mountain Crafts in Deer Isle, Maine in the summer of 2015. It was there that I was able to come back to my roots as a potter, to interact with the clay and the place that is coastal Maine, to create this cup. I went not only as a potter but as a teacher, eager to learn whatever my instructor bestowed upon us. I found inspiration in his work and philosophy as an artist as well as his methods of teaching and facilitating our art experiences. It reminded me of my love of interacting with clay as a medium.
I graduated with an M.Ed. from Plymouth State University in 2004 and I have been teaching art in public schools ever since. In the art classes that I teach at Plymouth Elementary School I, too, strive to create space for the transcendent art encounter to take hold of my students. Whether they are a kindergartener inspired by making new colors or an eighth grader bookbinding, I hope to expand not only their knowledge of art but also allow for resonant, transformative creative experiences.
Book
I am drawn to nature as my primary inspiration for my books. I love to play with color and pattern when creating a book in all of its parts, whether it be the cover, the sleeves, or the thread. Most of my books are given away as an expression of love or appreciation for the receiver. The act of holding a book, writing on its pages creates a deeper relationship, an intimacy, between the object and the owner. The colors and textures reflect my love of this place, the wildness of the mountains.
I graduated with an M.Ed. from Plymouth State University in 2004 and I have been teaching art in public schools ever since. In the art classes that I teach at Plymouth Elementary School I, too, strive to create space for the transcendent art encounter to take hold of my students. Whether they are a kindergartener inspired by making new colors or an eighth grader bookbinding, I hope to expand not only their knowledge of art but also allow for resonant, transformative creative experiences.
Statement
These three pieces were the first in the series of my work that took place in late 2016-present as an exploration of limited color palette, perspective, and movement. All three pieces included in this entry were created from the fascination of natural phenomena involving light and elements, and the wild dark beauty of the natural world. These works also reflect a concentration with the fast paced and layering processes of working with acrylic painting.
Statements
My experience prior to attending Plymouth State University was a unique one. I started with a general interest in the *idea* of graphic design after working a lot with medium format film photography. My passion for photography morphed into a curiosity for graphic design, with the help of attending a Technical school while in high school.I was not the greatest student in high school—but I finally found my niche. Senior year I began speaking with my guidance counselor about my options for continuing my education. This was where I was told I could not make a career in photography and design, nor did I have the grades for college acceptance. Funny enough, I actually believed him for a while. Luckily, I found a community college in Massachusetts that accepted all students.I attended community college in a city, driving 45 minutes to and from class daily. I didn’t necessarily find a point in graphic design there. With that, I transferred to the University of New Hampshire to study business. It felt wrong… again. I transferred back to community college to finish an Associate’s degree in graphic design. This was a stressful time, and at that point my goal was to graduate and get it over with. Reluctantly, I made the decision to continue with school and so I applied to Plymouth State University.Living in quiet Plymouth, walking 5 minutes to class and recognizing my surroundings, I was able to focus more on the point of my art and the significance of design. I began taking more studio art classes and truly experimenting with different forms of art—a delicacy I did not obtain in community college. Everything that Plymouth had to offer felt so right. I couldn’t have asked for more exceptional professors, more of a beautiful campus and more suitable surroundings. To this day, I still reenact Richard Hunnewell’s enthusiastic lesson on how Freud’s Id and Superego coincide with the some of the ideologies of art in ancient societies.The Plymouth way of life helped me tremendously to get to where I am now—senior designer at a firm in downtown Portsmouth. While in community college, if you were to tell me I would be running a design office at this point of my life, I would have laughed at you.If you were to tell me that during my time at Plymouth, I would have still laughed at you, but secretly believed you might be right.
Statements
Cosmosis
For this piece I continued a process of testing what various metal oxides will do in interaction with glaze at high temperatures. I spent many hours on this experimentation both during my BFA studies and over the course of this summer. This platter is the result of numerous trials and reflects my interest in the mystery and magic of high fire ceramics.
Round
The work I have done this summer while taking my first ceramics course in 6 years allowed me to pick up on threads left behind at the D+M studio many years ago. These works indicate my appreciation for historical ceramics and the forms and decoration are decidedly simple for this reason. Many of the pieces I did during my BFA walked the line between appearing as historical objects and contemporary art. This spirit continues in forms that although more refined than past works, still embody that vision.
Communication Breakdown
Communication Breakdown is a video work that relates to my experience at Plymouth in many ways.
The impression of the “”communication”” manhole cover was taken across the street from the D+M building, an innocuous piece of the cityscape that goes largely unnoticed, but has resonated with me for the last 8 years, a lingering idea that I always intended to revisit. It seems fitting that I completed the project during my return to campus for a summer studio course as part of my work toward my MAT.
My BFA thesis work while at PSU centered around the permanence of fired clay. The role of ceramics in archaeology and anthropology always intrigued me. These and other notions led to a body of work which aimed to appear to have been relics from the past, perhaps ancient pots dug up from the past. The video Communication Breakdown offers an interesting juxtaposition as the unfired clay lacks the permanence of its counterparts fired to temperatures of vitrification. The ephemeral nature of this work is a striking contrast to the vessels I have made in the past.
When I filmed the video, over a 10 hour period, I used my iphone for the timelapse. The inability to communicate with others during this time was felt in a way I hadn’t anticipated and seemed to harken back to the underlying concepts at play in the project. When played at approximately 600X speed this results in an apx 1 minute playback intended to be looped.
The planned presentation of this video is to play it on the large old box TV via my VHS atop the A/V cart collecting dust outside my classroom. As we consider education as an element of the prospectus I am reminded how excited I was as a kid to see those ubiquitous A/V carts rolled in with a VHS queued up for the class. Nowadays my students can’t focus on a laser projected video due to being distracted by their phones, an addiction that I condemn. However, when the time came to disconnect for 10 hours to film this video, I felt the noted lack of connectedness. As we think about the rapid pace communication evolves at, it is interesting to consider the ways it breaks down, or perhaps the way it breaks down our ability to feel connected without it. Technological and infrastructural advances can create barriers as easily as they break them down.
Statements
Linda Gray has made a career in New Hampshire’s arts and nonprofit fields since graduating from Plymouth State College in 1978 with a BS in Art Education. For a decade after college, Linda was a freelance fiber artist whose large applique wall hangings sold in galleries and juried shows and were commissioned by collectors throughout New England. For the past 29 years, Linda has worked professionally in three North Country nonprofit organizations while creating art in her free time. In 2006, Linda began painting in oils, inspired by the landscapes she loves. She is largely self-taught and paints outdoors in locations off the coast of Maine and in the White Mountains as well as in the studio from her own photos and memory.
Her work has been exhibited in a number of group and solo shows as well as being included in several private collections. Her paintings can be found in Portsmouth NH at Valerie’s Gallery, and occasionally at WREN’s Local Works Gallery in Bethlehem and at the Mount Washington Hotel and online at lindagrayartwork.com.
Linda works full-time as a senior philanthropy advisor at New Hampshire Charitable Foundation, building charitable assets to benefit nonprofit organizations and scholarships in NH’s Lakes and North Country Region. She lives in Intervale, NH with her husband. She paints as often as possible.
While at PSU as an art education major in the mid-1970s, the Outing Club was the primary formative part of my social, recreational, and artistic development; and that experience has resonated throughout my adult life. Living in the heart of the White Mountains since college has provided both unlimited outdoor recreation and endless inspiration for landscape painting. I have especially enjoyed plein air painting above treeline on the Presidential Range – the setting for countless Outing Club expeditions – as well as painting from photographs taken while hiking, Nordic skiing, and kayaking.
My early career positions in the nonprofit field were aligned with my outdoor interests – at the New England Ski Museum and the Mount Washington Observatory. The natural environment has also been the focus of my volunteer work for organizations such as the Upper Saco Valley Land Trust, Jackson Ski Touring Foundation, and Tin Mountain Conservation Center. I am looking forward to the day when I can retire from my current work with the NH Charitable Foundation and return to the relative freedom of my college days – spending even more time in the mountains and on the Maine coast making art!
Statements
Jennifer L. Heater is a freelance artist and teacher of art in several disciplines.
Jennifer, a life long resident of Chelmsford, with over ten years of
Graphic design and illustration experience. She has also serves on the board for the Chelmsford Art society for the last ten years and is charge of yearly scholarship awarded to a student going to art school.
Her education includes a Bachelors of Fine Art in Graphic Design (1993) from Plymouth State College in Plymouth, New Hampshire and a Masters in Illustration (1997) from Savannah College of Art and Design, in Savannah, Georgia, where she graduated Magna Cum Laude.
Jennifer’s works have been published in academic magazines and trade journals.
Jennifer’s works have been published in academic magazines and trade journals.
She has also has several award winning pieces from the Chelmsford Art Society and the Parish Center of the Arts
Art has always been a motivating force in my life, even before I chose art as a livelihood. I have gathered my inspiration from many different sources and have taken concepts from them in many different ways. First, Eric Carle, a children’s book artist, his use of color and texture through simple shapes and playful composition has made me think one can say a lot with a little, it is better to under state. Another great artist was Marc Chagall whose use of intuitive use of color and light in his work creates an almost ethereal feeling. I have also been moved by many of my friends who are also artists; something that amazes me is that everyone who is given a problem comes up with a different solution. I feel that my use of geometric and organic shapes interact to create a dramatic use of space, color, and balance.
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- “Beneath Substance” Mike Heitz, Oil Graphite Ink on Panel, 2017
Statement
Beneath Substance
Everything from how the paints are layered, the various ways the inks were applied, to the construction of the wood panels they are on, I learned from my professors and peers while here at Plymouth State.
Had you talked to me eight or more years ago the only thing I would consider to be art would be purely the representational. My ideas of what art was were not confronted here at Plymouth but instead I was given the opportunity to try and understand why I liked what I did. Over the years what I eventually found was that I gained more understanding of myself and the world through the non-representational. Concepts of chaos, determinism, time, and many others I still find myself thinking about could be evoked and portrayed in a more conducive setting of abstract painting.
This piece, Beneath Substance, brings together many of the techniques I learned and tried as a student with the ideas I continue to develop and insert into my work. The word beneath can refer not only to the orientation of the two dimensional lines but also the beneath of the piece that is beyond the physical.
Statement
Remembering and Forgetting
We are immersed in a visual world, and yet only a small amount of what we see on a daily basis impacts is enough to become an experience. There is a fundamental difference between passive and active seeing, and this transition of awareness is what I am specifically interested in. I investigate and recreate these moments of engagement, drawing from my own instances of active seeing, and then manipulate them in a variety of ways in order to explore and express the wonder of experience, memory, and the human mind. What results is an expression of spaces that rests in both life and the human consciousness. By deleting, amplifying, and rearranging certain elements of each image, I aim to provoke emotion, recollection, and experience, calling upon the viewer to delve into themselves in order to form an understanding and relationship with the work. I strive to discover how these experiences impact understandings of the world, how imagery is changed or interpreted based on memory, and how present experiences are indivisible from the past. Through image, one is able to tap into their deepest sense of self and understanding. It reaches through our known and explained and into the depths of our subconscious in order to speak to us using both what we are aware of and what we are not. It pulls out all of us.
When I first arrived at Plymouth, I had no concept of what printmaking was, and was uncertain of my identity as an artist. My courses in printmaking and relationships with my professors helped me to find who I am and flourish. They pushed me to grow, to question myself, and to continue to make work, even when I was unsure. These experiences, mingled with the environment around me, cumulated in this body of work. Even while in graduate school in the flat Mid West, I continued to draw from my past. Craggy rock formations, caves, and mountainous formations shape my prints, exposing my roots. A lasting impression.
Statements
HumaNatureScapes Series
Landscape equals serenity, mystery, and within it a story of all who have been there previously. Our contemporary landscape, as much as we do not want to believe, contains fragments of people’s lives, thus is not truly pristine. From this, comes the surrealist touch of which I am attracted – objects out of place within a natural space. While in Plymouth, I took my first photo course and felt a passion, an obsession for photography; I found myself photographing and developing massive amounts film in the D&M Building’s darkroom to painstakingly create photomontages with two to three negatives to create one image – before Photoshop was being used. This was also the point that a surrealist style entered my work and has remained. This image was part of my thesis at Savannah College of Art and Design, where I went on to earn an MFA in Photography after teaching visual arts in an international school for three years in South America – and since then in three other international schools.
Swiss Clock
I wonder how it is time again… for the cows to descend from the Alps, the long autumn shadows to arrive, the first dusting on the mountains to appear; and how it is time again for the rapeseed fields to pop with yellow, the hills that we once skiied on are filled again with cows eating green grass, the cows to ascend to the Alps- again soon descending.
Time is very important in Switzerland and it has become especially prominent to me via the seasons; the changes to the land and to me as a mother, wife, teacher. And perhaps it is because of my own children, I notice time passing faster; the sizes of mittens increase quicker each year.
Though the coordinates are different, as is the topographic map, the power, beauty and adoration I have for the mountains has not changed since when I lived in Plymouth; in fact, that is when this love started. I remember the frigid mornings walking to the Frost House for my English class or jumping off a rock into the rolling Pemi River, or taking a quick jaunt up Rattlesnake Mountain to clear my mind. My world is very different 20+ years later, though I can draw many parallels. I knew I would have to return to the mountains after exploring the world; I just didn’t know which mountains. “
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- “E Pluribus Unum” Chris Lee, Red Oak and Steel, 2008
Statement
I create mathematically constructed forms to produce works that are only simple from the outside. Those works have been ones that have come from a visualization of the mechanical and constructed world.
Statement
After I graduated from Plymouth State University in 2012, I still had an Internship to complete in order to truly fulfill all my needed credits as a BFA major. With the help of PSU, I landed an internship at Select Design, a graphic design firm in Burlington, VT known for their work with Magic Hat, Nalgene, Pepsi and Teva. After finishing my required internship hours, they kept me on for the remainder of the summer to gain additional experience in the fast-paced world of design. Sadly at the end of my internship they didn’t have any job openings, but the opportunity gave me the hands-on experience I needed to continue pursuing a job as a designer.
Although I spent over a year not working in the field of graphic design, I continued to do freelance work on the side to keep building my portfolio. After continually applying to design jobs in the area, in May of 2013 I was hired as an entry level designer at Yipes, a graphics shop that specializes in large format printing. Towards the end of 2014 my manager decided to leave the company. This opening gave me an opportunity to step up and take over as the Graphic Design Manager/Creative Director. Currently I have 3 designers and a team of 5 production/installers under me. We do everything from logo design, branding, signs, vehicles and promotional goods for local and national companies. PSU’s BFA program gave me the skills and knowledge to advance in my career as quickly as I did. My experiences since PSU shows that persistence pays off when you’re passionate enough to work towards a specific career goal.
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- “Teapot” Tamara Mann, White Stoneware Glazed and Oxidation fired, 2017
Statements
Since graduating from Plymouth State University I have been following my passions as a ceramic and studio artist in my spare time. Shortly after completing my student teaching practicum I opened the Community Clay Center in Plymouth with two of my friends. We offer ceramic studio space, ceramic lessons and kids classes to aspiring ceramic artists ages 6 and up.
I joined The Women’s Caucus for Art, an art organization whose mission is to create community through art, education and social activism. I was grateful to be able to serve two years as a board member at the NH state and national levels. This opportunity afforded me a window into the arts for women not only in our communities, but also at the institutional level as exhibitors in galleries and museums worldwide and how difficult yet rewarding it can be to apply for exhibition opportunities.
I have also spent time as a local gallery member and continue to make art a practice in my daily life.
Statement
As a graduate student from Plymouth State University, I have been given opportunities to expand my career on various levels. My degree had qualified me to teach, participate in local, national, and international programs, and expanded me personally as an artist. The support that the University has given me has been invaluable to success and continues to encourage me grow as a life long student.
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- “Coming Soon” Elysia Holland Michaelsen, Flashe and Graphite on Paper, 2017
Statement
For the last several years, my studio practice has been centered on the idea of place. Using found objects, personal imagery, and site-specific installation, I document my experiences, interactions, and findings with my immediate landscape. While I would love to take full credit for this methodology and say that it developed very organically, hindsight is 20/20 and I can trace it back to a conversation in my Painting I course at Plymouth State University. Professor Tom Driscoll asked the class to spend time in the landscape, take a photograph, and bring a copy back to the studio from which to complete a painting. The objective of the assignment, I believe, was to learn how to navigate painting from a photographic reference; when to use it and when to resolve the painting without it. A fellow classmate forgot to complete the initial part of the assignment, so she brought in an image of a beautiful view of the changing leaves along the Pemi River from a last minute Google search. Unfortunately for her, it was April… and the leaves were not blaze orange at that time. Obviously, this was not lost on Professor Driscoll. In a very diplomatic way, I’m sure, he discussed the importance of sourcing one’s imagery and how that impacts the content and success of the work. While it was not the main objective of the assignment, that lesson has stuck with me and only strengthened the conceptual ground of my practice.
Statement
Living in Plymouth has always had a profound impact of my development as an artist. Being surrounded by the mountains and nature, I think a lot of the forms I use in my work are forms present in and around the nature found in Plymouth and New Hampshire in general. Nature has always inspired me, and living in Plymouth with the peace and tranquility that I found was inspiring at another level.
My experience at Plymouth helped form critical thinking and practical ideas about how to follow my path as an artist. Above all, how to look at my work in a more subjective way, honestly critique the process and outcome, and more clearly think about presentation and the formation of written explanation about my work.
I think the evidence that Plymouth is present in my work is every time I’m creating something, at some point through the process, I reflect back on conversations I’ve had with professors and echoes of how they helped spark that critical thinking component that has carried me through until this point.
Themes from a painting that I worked on while at PSU has continued to also follow me though my body of work throughout the past years.
Walking in the woods has always inspired me, the shapes, forms, shadows and light are things that help to spark my imagination.
All the experiences, studio visits of artists in the area during my thesis year. Meeting other accomplished visiting artists through visits and talks at PSU, and the professors have all inspired me to continue working and a lot of those memories are moments that resonate while I’m creating.
Statement
New Hampshire wildlife is a huge part of what attracts people to this place. This body of work was a new exploration in watercolor combining my views of NH animals and their habitats. When I was thinking about the NH animals that I enjoy seeing, I broke them into three categories; sky, land,and water. I wanted to pick one animal from each that I could use the most vibrant colors in my watercolor pan for. I also decided that I wanted to draw something inside of them that was more meaningful than random zentangle designs. I wanted to keep the drawings whimsical making them similar to my style while still capturing where they live in their environment.My style started my sophomore year at Plymouth State University. I took a printmaking course with Kimberly Ritchie where I learned the versatile techniques of Monoprinting using stencils.After that trimester, I wanted to continue but didn’t have the resources. When I expressed that to Kimberly, she told me how I could change the medium but still use the same technique. She explained, if I replaced the printmaking ink with spray paint, I could still use stencils in my work. That summer I spent all my free time creating stencils, using spray paint, and playing around with different styles. The following school year, I learned about zentangle and started experimenting with designs over the images I was spraying. It was at that point that I had started to develop my style. Over the past four years I have done several art shows, sold pieces in multiple shops, and even started a small sticker business using the style I developed in college.This summer I found myself away from home where I couldn’t bring my spray paint with me. I thought back to my conversations with Kimberly and reminded myself that I could still do the same techniques just using a different medium that I could travel with. I bought a pan of watercolors and spent the whole summer experimenting with them. It really excited me discovering how vibrant I could make the colors, how the different colors would blend together when I used them next to each other, and how to mix the colors to make new ones.I am now going into my first year as a full time art teacher following two years in two part time positions. It was definitely challenging trying to balance teaching and making my own artwork. As my first year went by, I realized how important it was for my students to see that I made my own artwork outside of the classroom. Every now and then I do an art lesson on zentangle and bring in my artwork to show the students. They love looking at it and recognizing the different zentangle designs that they just learned. I think it helps teach them that art isn’t just something you do in school, but is also something they can enjoy on their own and can even be turned into a career. I have to say, the most rewarding moments in my life have been from teaching, however, seeing most of my students holding water bottles with my stickers on them definitely comes in close second.
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- “Mt. Liberty” Liz Mosher, Oil Paint, 2014
Statement
Mt.Liberty
This painting happened because I made some hot cocoa, slung a camp chair over my shoulder, and dragged my supplies across campus to the pond in Fox Park out past Lamson Library. I drew until my fingers went numb and then brought that rough sketch back to class so I could paint it. I was irrationally afraid of drawing or painting landscapes. So I dove in head first and with some help I found a way to love it. This painting would never have happened without that experience of my first successful landscape. Most of the things I ask my young students to do are for the first time. They are afraid of that blank page. So I remind myself of that first landscape.
Statement
After six years of art teaching at Inter-Lakes Jr./Senior High School in Meredith, NH…I attended Pratt – Phoenix School of Design in NYC, taking courses in textile design and at Parsons School of Design a course in greeting card illustration. This leads into the explanation of this second entry…a custom fabric design I did while working as a colorist and designer for Bloomcraft, Inc.in NYC. I was also a freelance colorist for Wamsutta and Burlington Industries.
Statement
My work is an evolving exploration of how our physical interactions with nature meaningfully bind us to the world. I am an avid walker who is deeply influenced by my physical environment. This aspect of my artistic process is rooted in my experiences at Plymouth State, which introduced me to the inspirational beauty of the White Mountains region. My current body of work is primarily composed of silver and porcelain pieces that fit in the palm of my hand. Here, I am transforming found objects from my environment in an effort to preserve them and, in effect, a single moment in time. My goal is to distill these experiences down to their very essence. During the firing process, where the porcelain is vitrified and the silver is sintered, the original decomposing organic form that had been coated in these materials is destroyed and leaves behind a permanent reminder. The intimate scale of this work is intended to draw the viewer in to investigate these complex forms and make personal connections to ideas of fragility and preservation. Ideas that were first introduced to me as a student more than two decades ago in the 3D Foundations course at Plymouth where we were challenged to create a sculptural installation in nature from natural found materials and observe its transformation over time.
Statement
Merging the act of creation with life experiences had traveling, hiking and my studies contributes to my desire to transfer visceral imagery from memories into something tangible. I establish familiar and reminiscent environments, yet often unidentifiable. There is beauty and allurement in vagueness. Encouraging the viewer to create their own understanding. And bringing to focus what I consider to be the most uncontrollable and powerful, a freedom to your own thoughts and memories. All of my developed landscapes are reminiscent of the past, relevant to the present and potentially a tale of the future.
Statement
Since becoming a printer, I have found sanctuary in the print workshop. No matter which workshop I am in, the familiar smells, machinery, tools, and ink let me know that I am always welcome, and have a place to call home.
These prints focus on the small, familiar sights present in every workshop, anywhere in the world. Paper ends are the part of the paper the printer will tear off when creating the correct size of paper for the current print they are working on. These scraps, or ends as we call them, are then used to make draw downs for prospective ink colors to be used in the editioning process.
In this series, I’m using these everyday objects found in my personal place of refuge as a talisman of sorts. By worshiping the small and acknowledging the synergy brought about by the many roles paper plays in the workshop, I can begin to understand the greatness in the humble and the true value of the process, not just the product.
Statement
Ready to attack and protect his young or comfortable with the space between us?
This male Canada goose was poised for either response. After sitting quietly for several minutes observing him with his mate and young family I thankfully concluded it was the later. I love the position of his leg as he decided there was no threat and his extended neck relaxed into his chest. This painting became the centerpiece of several in a series of the pond and its goose family.
Having spent my adult life in this area, after graduating PSC in 1974, has given me a love and devotion for its vast subject matter. My artistic maturity can be attributed to the natural world that calls to me daily and teaches me lessons about observing, about color, space, and relationships of space and matter. The educational process never ends and is endlessly rewarding. I merely have to show up, pay attention and deliver with great joy!
Statements
Forest Floor
Forest Floor is an ongoing project where visual phenomena is simplified utilizing photography and printmaking.During time spent in forests I have cataloged 6″x6″ units of the forest floor. Working from photographs I breakdown the complex information into a black and white binary. Working in this controlled format I am able to deduce the complex interweaving into a pattern where structural relationships are highlighted.
Plant Study
These works are a series of drawings. I am comfortable showing them all as a group, just one individual, or any other iteration.The drawings are a continuation of the tracing /drawing work that I started as an undergraduate. Playing with light, object, and mark to record time and effort.
Paved
I am in the process of etching the final tiles (identical the the ones shown) and mounting them all the the red pavers. The final gallery installation will be a rectangle of twelve green 4″ x 8″ tiles laser engraved with clover and grass imagery arranged 1 inch apart in a 20″ x 36″ rectangle. In between the the bricks will be a 1/2″ layer of dark brown topsoil that will extend 4″ around the perimeter of the rectangle. All of this will be set on an impermeable floor covering to protect the gallery floor from dirt/scratches or other harm.This work is a culmination of my studio practice since graduating from Plymouth State University two years ago. It combines the close observation of my surroundings, learned and fostered by PSU Faculty both in and outside the art department, with an awareness of materials innate ability to hold meaning.
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- “A Wrinkle in Time” Kara Smith, Wood, 2008
Statement
In pursuit of my Master’s in Art Education, I took an Assemblage class with Santiago Hernandez at the Art Institute of Boston now known as Lesley University College of Art and Design. The assignment was to create an abstract assemblage that reflects the idea of nature through the use of found and constructed objects. I reflected on my undergraduate education in the White Mountains, and all the time I spent hiking, and communing with the trees in Plymouth, NH. I reflected on my coursework at Plymouth State: Art with Professor Kressey, Astronomy, Conservation, Weather and Quantitative Reasoning.I thought about nature, circles, spirals, math, time and mankind’s relationship to nature. Now, in the heart of Boston, I was looking to express the idea of nature through art. I love trees. I rode the green line to Brookline Village and walked about the neighborhood looking for a tree stump. I had seen some tree stumps along the T tracks and thought that’d be a cool juxtaposition to get a city tree stump to be the foundation of my sculpture.This tree stump which became the foundation of my sculpture rode the green line back to Kenmore Square with me where I walked it up Beacon Street back to the AIB building and the woodshop in which this class was located.Each element of this sculpture is meant to express this interdisciplinary idea of nature that had been formed in my undergraduate studies.
Statements
Demens Draco
Although this sculpture was created in 2016, it speaks to a lifelong trauma that I am only now sharing about. The sculpture is about mental illness and it is quite raw to me although I have spent my life trying to help and cope with a parent with mental illness. Only recently has my mother dealt with paranoid schizophrenia after decades of denial. It has been a dark cloud for my whole life. However, when she agreed (after numerous interventions) to seek medical care, forgiveness washed over me and I am trying to enjoy my mother now for the first time.
Going off to college was something I had looked forward to and I saw it as a way to escape what was happening at home. I saw Plymouth as an opportunity to define myself in positive ways. My artistic vision was not fully developed but I carry some formative memories from that time. Mr. Jim Fortune, my all-time favorite professor, took my brand new painting brushes and marveled at their beauty. I felt his passion for art making and must admit, the fact that he loved my early paintings was quite validating. I remember Mr. Terry Downs demonstrating how to silk screen without making a mess. We all made a mess! Mr. Warren Angle taught ceramics, my specialty at the time. I loved clay making and made my sculptures in clay for years. However, the weight of shipping clay sculptures to shows and the amount of breakage has led me to work in mixed media. I still teach wheel thrown pottery in the summers at Wolfeboro Summer Boarding School. My elementary students find clay magical and I have published articles on their work.
Demens Draco was inspired by a 1940’s book titled Psychopathic Personalities. Excerpts from the book line the edges of the red dragon. Members of a percussion band bang drums and smash cymbals inside the dragon’s head. The dragon is has two tails. The second one is an antique crumb tray that is tagged with a message of hope.
Non-Utilitarian Object #1 & #2
My first use of this tomb shape in sculpture was in ceramics class at Plymouth. I made a large slab sculpture in the shape of a historical gravestone. To this, I added a wheel thrown neck to the top, creating an opening to the object. This is a shape that has reoccurred in my work many times and it would seem that I am drawn to it for some reason.
This sculptural work is in two pieces because I have been integrating antique crumb trays into my work for the past couple of years. Many crumb trays have a second tray or a brush. My first crumb tray sculpture was pure serendipity – a crumb tray I had picked up at a barn sale came together with an altered book piece I was working on. I now have quite a collection of crumb trays and often use them in my work. This set of crumb trays are pewter and are attributed to the Nekrassoff Company. This work of art features covers of antique books with their embossed surfaces. The embossings are evident to the viewer upon close inspection.
Upon thinking about Plymouth and my artistic beginnings, it would seem that I have always been drawn to old items, relics and objects that have a history. In my time at Plymouth as an art student, I was painting old carousel horses with an added layer of brown patina to show age. I was photographing abandoned cars in the back woods of Plymouth. I recall Mr. Batchelder (the photography teacher) liking them enough to inquire where the cars were. Additionally, my Grandpa Brown’s house was eclectic (bordering on hoarding) and there were many treasures there as well. Perhaps at one time, losing myself in these objects was an escape. Now, they provide extraordinary inspiration to me.
Art and Zen
I have two degrees from Plymouth State University. My first degree was a B.S. in Art Education, 1980. My second in 2014 is a M.Ed. in Neurodevelopment. Both degrees have served me well as I define who I am, devoid of positive family memories. Plymouth has helped me to see the positive, find role models and internalize information via the written word. Early on, I began collecting art books and went to every book sale I could find. My collection began at college and has grown exponentially.
My second degree was intellectually inspirational. The professor who taught the lion’s share of neurodevelopment courses was Beth Reed. I hung on her every word! Content on Growth Mindset, Grit and more has honed my teaching. Neurodevelopment has helped me teach students who come from low socioeconomic conditions. The content has helped me too. I now understand, for example, that my upbringing was seen through the lens of a fixed mindset. A mindset that was fixed and distorted.
This book was originally a book on Prehistoric Art. I have saved all the beautiful images for my art teaching, something I have been doing since 1980. The blotter edges and pencil holder are from my Grandpa Brown’s estate (my father’s father) and were crafted by an unnamed artist using the technique of repoussé. The two fit together to represent my past and my future. The utilitarian purpose of the piece is to achieve a positive end.
I have held on to the desk set for decades. I wasn’t ready to use them until now. During my freshman year at Plymouth (1976), my father died suddenly at 45. I was paralyzed by the events in my life but now I can use these objects for good.
Statement
Seeing what becomes of physical objects over time has always fascinated me. The natural world transforms metal, glass and wood through falling rain, growing vines and blooming fungi. Those objects that were once lovingly formed change with years and distance from those who care for them.
My mentors at Plymouth State College guided me with words, tools and devotion. I went off into the world believing that this was what I was meant to do. Years later one questioned “You are still making art?” I was stunned. My mind raced – “What? People stop?” Not making art seemed impossible, like losing my life.
That last visit to PSU was with my first born. Life was suddenly something more than mine.
Plymouth state gave me an insatiable need to create. Every professor opened my eyes wider. Memories of technique, material, stories, music, encouragement and scoldings are all fresh in my mind 20 years later. They are like a slide show I wish I could share but is watched only by me with longing to re-live it. Oh, what I could do with that time.
This work represents not the amazing beauty of the people and the place but the feeling of being away from it.
Statements
In musing of my time in Plymouth, my professors bore on me the desire to consistently beg the question, “Why?”. This question has led me on a journey of seeking steadfast intention as I not only reflect on my artist practice, but also within my pursuit of the art of living.
I find the quiet to create connective moments between communities. Whether it is within the subtle rhythm of a carving, or tucked away amongst the branches of the blooming bougainvillea bushes, I seek sacred spaces for my work to create a ‘flashbulb’ moment for another. A happenstance, providing others with the breach from their daily routine, an occurrence that we only long for within the deep dreams of our mundane tracks. By orchestrating intentional deviations in the everyday, we diverge from the static path, stop, pause, and become present.
Rabbit
The development of my public art practice stems from a consistent desire to embrace all communities through my work. My dedication to my street practice not only challenges me to release my artwork to the public consistently, without fear and hesitation, but to consider what equity through the arts means for all communities. Finding a deep sense of our national community during my studies at PSU, I continue to search the pathways that connect our varied societies; national, global, environmental, and human. My street practice allows me to embrace this facet of the equity within my work by not only placing the prints back within their inspired environments, but also engaging the public in an opportunity to interact with art in free and open spaces.
Raccoon
The nature of the raccoon is the scavenger. Under the guidance of my professors, I was challenged to consider how my own habits of resourcefulness are reflected in my work. My practice has since developed into one that not only embraces the environmental community, but considers how my own art making effects the environment as a whole. From my inks, to sealants, to papers and pastes, I have developed ecologically friendly techniques that allow to make, create and release my work with minimal impact to our natural world.
Fawn
Patience seeps into my life in every aspect of living- whether I am cooking a meal for my family, teaching a child active listening skills, waiting for deer to appear on a hike, or watching paint drip and dry. One of the greatest tests of patience I have found to be seeing artwork into full fruition, letting go of fears and apprehensions from what we anticipate our work to become, and embracing the process as the practice of growth. My time within the mountains of New Hampshire incubated the seedling of patience within me. And, in allowing for time to manifest, I allow myself to let it bloom.
Statements
View from Rattlesnake Mt.
Attending Plymouth State, and being surrounded by mountains, still influences my work today. This print of the view from Rattlesnake Mountain was inspired by a photo taken by my youngest daughter, Emily, who also attended Plymouth, and recently graduated with a BFA in Graphic Design. Being able to express our love of nature and art, through our shared connection to the university, is special to me. As a high school art teacher for over thirty years, I am thankful that my time at Plymouth State brought me into a career I love. I also found life-long friends, and recently I had the opportunity to exhibit my prints alongside several of my professors who greatly influenced my work while I was a student.
White Mountain Stream
This print of a rocky stream embodies the concept of finding one’s peace in nature. To live in the small state of New Hampshire, and to be able to easily explore a wide variety of environments, from the lakes and streams, the ocean, and the mountains, is a privilege we share.
Goffstown Stream
For some reason, I am drawn to this small stream that I pass on my walking route around town. I frequently stop and take photographs of the seasonal changes that occur. During spring rains, the water rises dramatically, while in the summer, it trickles, and almost disappears behind the green foliage. In autumn, the leaves fall and the colors change again, red berries appear on small shrubs, and the Uncanoonuc Mountains are visible again. The first snowfall brings back a more monochrome palette, and sweeps away the detritus of the year.
Statements
I have lived in NH all my life with a one year exception where I studied abroad in England. I graduated as an Undergrad from PSU in 2006 and have more recently returned for my Master’s in Education which I received in 2016. New Hampshire provides so many opportunities for all the activities that I enjoy that it was easy for me to wish to stay in the are and attend PSU. Fishing, hiking, kayaking, snowboarding, biking, and nature photography. I am self-taught and self-employed as a digital photographer. I specialize in landscape, wildlife, and macro photography. I have created and maintained a website where I sell my pieces and have even exclusively decorated a large home with locally shot nature photos. I also love the outdoors and capturing my experiences with my camera.
I started off my photography career specializing in Macro photography, and really loved the challenge and creativity that went along with it. I could choose how abstract and/or detailed I wanted to be and I loved how many of my favorite photos were of nature from a new perspective and how Macro lenses allowed me to play with that. With Macro, I also started to focus on waterfalls and panoramic opportunities.
When I was able to afford my first long range telephoto lens, my main focus has shifted almost exclusively to wildlife photography, specifically birds. It is always exciting when I am able to shoot a new bird I had not yet captured. This has led to my involvement with birding surveys and national migration counting days, as well as an avid amateur ornithologist. The pieces in the gallery today are some of my newest photos taken just this past year and I hope you enjoy them as much as I have enjoyed the adventure of finding the opportunity to shoot them.
Can’t See Me
I love photographing these salamanders whenever I come across them and often focus on trying to get a Macro image that fills the entire photo with crisp detail. When I took this photo while walking a path in one of NH’s many wildlife refuges, I simply took it at first for a laugh. Now, even if I get that “perfect” salamander image, I think this will still be my all time favorite because of the better story this image helps set up.
Quincy Bog Beaver
I came across this guy walking the local bog in Rumney, NH. It was during the winter and he just happened to be set up right next to his lodge on the edge of the ice, and the open water by his home. I loved the reflection and I was so fortunate for his aid in posing so long for me to help me get a photo with the right light balance because of the snow.
Sunrise Merganser Juvenile
I think this is one of my new favorite photos of a local bird. I was kayaking early in the morning at Campton Bog and spooked this little guy out from under some low hanging branches at the water’s edge. The morning light created the glow around the top tuft of the bird and the reflection off the water made everything these little sparks around the duck. Plus the merganser is just adorable!
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- “Blau” Patrick Walsh, Acrylic on Canvas, 2017
Statement
Blau
A new endeavor. My latest works deal with color and human emotion. What the viewer feels when confronted with such vivid color on both large, imposing scale and smaller scales alike. These works blend edges and vibrate color fields to create a living, breathing feeling within the viewer, Encapsulating them in the moment. Close up, the intensity of the color pokes the antipodes of the mind and from afar, intrigues the viewer with their immersive, almost transcendental qualities.
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- “We’ll Be Here” Tonya White, Oil on Stretched Canvas, 2017
Statement
We’ll Be Here
Plymouth sets the scene on a hill surrounded by forests. It’s the kind of space that makes one feel peaceful and inspired. In We’ll Be Here, we are “held” by the tree growing over the couch, offering shade. The trees in the background offer protection. And we catch a glimpse of hope as we look to the mountains continuing to meet the sky. The mountains remind us of the vast possibilities that are out there, just waiting for us to explore.
At Plymouth, I studied in many areas of the arts (visual, dance, theater, writing, music). My professors were encouraging and supportive when I wanted to make connections between these methods and to bring the work all back to being a human in this world and our connection to the people around us.
In We’ll Be Here, there is an empty red couch in the middle of the beautiful college campus scene. For me, this couch specifically refers to the red couches that my evolving group of friends used to sit at multiple times a day in the dining hall. I found “the couches” by connecting with one person there, and quickly discovered that there was a real committed group of people who would gather in this central meeting place. I was swiftly welcomed into the group and continued to watch and participate in welcoming new people to it. This was my first real experience of finding a literal and physical meeting place where one could show up and know that “we’ll be here.” Through the rest of my life I have been striving to find this sense of community and full acceptance – not to mention playfulness, intelligence, and inspiration.
In creating the piece, I used the whole process as an act of reconnecting with this sense of community. Now a practicing Expressive Arts Therapist, I use art to actively engage others to promote self-reflection, connection with one another, and to address big questions. Sometimes I am leading others in their own artistic process, and in this case I was working through my own. I reached out to many “couch people” and asked for them to share reflections about their time in this community. I learned even more than I had already known about these dear friends. Many of them shared how this space grounded them through hard times and continues to inspire them in their lives going forward. And as their words add more meaning to the piece and the process, I have painted some of them into the piece itself.
One day in my senior year at Plymouth I had a conversation with Tom Driscoll that I remind myself of frequently. I have always been eager to do more and experience more and I love trying new things. I was participating in art, dance, theater, poetry readings, you name it. That was all great, except that I was starting to get overwhelmed and confused. Tom saw what was happening for me, and explained that I could choose to get to experience a little part of each of these, or I could make some choices to dive more deeply into certain areas. This helped me connect to what is important to me. Yes, I am still always trying something new, but these days, I center myself, remember this conversation, and check in with what is most important to me.
What is most important to me is to participate in and inspire change, creativity, and connection. Now when I feel the waves of possibility washing over me from every direction, I connect with the groundedness of who I am and where I stand in all of it. When I choose a direction to follow the flow of inspiration, I am now more fully present for it.
Statement
The First they taught me how to see. Seeing is the foundation of paintings. Seeing in nature at Plymouth, I was taken by beauty around there. At the same time, it was impossible for me to copy nature in paintings because nature is the greatest of all creations.
I recreate the nature with colors. Color has infinite possibilities with combinations and mixing. I feel joy when I put colors next each other on canvases and they talk such as poetry. I don’t create the nature but express beauty and feeling of the nature with colors.
In the time I spent in Plymouth States University was precious. Since, I learned how to see. I appreciated more beauty in nature and everyday became newborn experiences. I am still continuing practice of how to see and make more paintings.
In addition to the works on view at the MWM and Silver Center, visit Lamson Library to see their exhibit celebrating PSU Alumni who participated in the Ray Burton New Hampshire Executive Council Internship Program. Exhibited on the David A Berona Exhibition Wall through the end of October.