Curator's Choice
I hope you enjoy this brief, yet profound, aristic journey.
And when you are done, go make something.
Earl Schofield
Monadnock Lavender Spring
encaustic on panel
36” x 36”, $7500
I recently met Earl and saw his work at the opening of a mutual friend's piano performance studio and art gallery, Spring Hill Studio. He paints in encaustic, which is a technique that uses hot wax as a medium to create a luminous work of art. I hadn't seen wax paintings quite like this before, and it is not easy to get the full impact of this work with a digital image. It is sculpturally textured, grass, leaves, mountain and tree, rock, cloud and sky, dripped in perfect syncopation of Mother Nature's ardor. Everyone who has had the pleasure to view this painting in person, has also viewed the mountain. And Earl is mountain unto himself. With his inked arms and hipster beard, Earl presents as kind and engaging. This painting, as all of Earl's work, captures the serenity and ethereal moodiness of the rural landscape beneath the magnificence of New Hampshire's Mount Monadnock.
David Woodward
Kodachrome Summer
acrylic on wood
24” x 40”, $2,250
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David and his wife, LaGarie, came by on the Art Tour in October. Only two months before, they had moved into a home just down the road from us. We were thrilled to have another artist "in the neighborhood." And a pop artist, to boot! The couple remained loyal to David's reto style when they showed up to the party as Disco and Go-Go. Before they had even unpacked, I demanded his paintings for our holiday show. I love David's bold colors, and his fanciful use of popular icons, comics, phrases, and typography. A graphic designer by trade, he has perfected the art of composition. His paintings are layered with a fresh and engaging contemporary nostalgia. The viewer cannot help but smile.
Jay Mercado
Still Standing (Still Flying)
oil on hexagon panel
28" x 32"
$5775
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This piece from Jay's hexagon series has been in our own collection for quite some time for a reason. Helmet Rock was right off the cliffs of Land's End in San Francisco, where we walked almost daily. For us, it was an icon of our "impacific Pacific", of strength, of courage... of standing. The gulls remind us that there are always fishes in the sea - abundance can be ours. Jay's work deifies everyday (often overlooked) objects, presenting them as a powerful offering, a religious talisman, or an idol of worship. This painting calls for me to kneel beneath it. And breathe in the salty air.
The Other Quadrant
Carole Gourvellec
36” x 36”, $3,400
Carole is a dear, beautiful friend who we met while looking at funky antiques in a local shop where she works. After a short conversation, and discovering she was a fellow artist, I said, "You must come to our party this weekend, and you must wear those," pointing to a pair of vintage chaps that were small enough to fit only her tiny frame. She did, indeed, come to our party. And a friendship blossoms and trees. Carole is a talented painter, seamstress (fabric, filler and clothing designer), fine jewelry maker, collage master, cooker and giver. I had the privilege of seeing this painting in various stages of evolution. Layer upon layer of paint, sawed and scraped, schmushed and kneaded, worked over, ignored, obsessed over, and finally, yes, leave the blue, and it's finished. The viewer cannot help but feel the dedicated stratification as he works his eye through the shapes and textures and integrity of this fantasy land. It's a very cool work of art.
Chris Myott
Orange Honda in Some Weeds
oil & wax on panel
37" x 25" spoken for
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When we first arrived in New Hampshire, in the frosty month of February, we found a very cool coffee shop, with very cool coffee, very cool pastries, and very cool art on the walls. The paintings were of dinosaurs and motorcycles and flowers in vases. Chris Myott, local artist. We loved his unique technique pencil drawing graphic style, bold challky pastel palette, and whimsy. Feeling like I had landed in a land far, far away (from "cool-ness" and "culture" - harumph), I took in his work with approval and aplomb. How pleased we were to find that our new hometown was also his. Chris' work emotes his love for special old things, for the basic and magnificent, making the basic magnificent.