Welcome Exhibiting Member Megan Stride

The WSA is happy to share the news that  associate member Megan Stride was recently juried in as an exhibiting member. Megan is a representational painter, with a sensitive eye to subject matter and moments. To see more of Megan’s paintings visit her WSA artist page. We look forward to seeing more of Megan’s paintings in our upcoming shows! Welcome Megan!

October Artist Spotlight – Meet Hannah Nersasian

October Artist Spotlight

Meet Hannah Nersasian

 

Hannah Nersasian creates playful acrylic paintings of animals, birds and bugs, using vintage papers or reclaimed boards as her canvases. Originally from Somerset, England, Hannah moved to the USA in 2010. She now lives in Framingham MA with her husband, 9yo son and 5yo daughter. 

Tell us a little about your background as an artist…

Art and painting have been a refuge for me since childhood. In highschool I’d camp out in the art room as a survival tactic. I studied Art up until A-level but decided English Literature was a safer degree choice – a decision I now seriously question!

I ended up working in the non profit sector but would always find a way to steer my work back towards creating – be it decorating a dolls’ house for a family shelter playroom or organizing mural painting for corporate volunteers. When my son Wylder was born I stopped work and threw myself head first into motherhood. I found it all consuming and overwhelming and soon started painting regularly during his nap time as a way to reclaim my sense of self. 

 

 

What do you paint?

I almost always paint animals, birds or bugs – they just spark my interest more – and I use fun backgrounds as a way to say something about the subject. When I first started selling my work I tried to paint what I thought would sell rather than what I found most appealing. Unsurprisingly, I’m not the biggest fan of this earlier work! It wasn’t until I started painting things that delighted and amused me that I really found a style that felt true to me. I often paint pieces designed to interact with each other – a fox staring at a squirrel, an owl hovering above a tiny mouse. 

 

What is your process? 

I love to find interesting backgrounds and reclaimed things (record sleeves, chopping boards, sheet music or maps) and to use that as a jumping off point for the subject. A map of North America sparks the migration of Monarch Butterflies or the musical direction “Lento” might inspire a snail painting. 

Once I have the background and an idea for a subject, I’ll search for a reference photo. Where possible I take my own photographs, but often use Pixabay, Unsplash or buy stock photos. Then I decide on the placement of the image and when it’s sketched out I’ll start laying down paint. A painting will take many different layers of color and texture before it has the depth I’m happy with. And for a bird or animal with feathers / fur, it can take ages to build up those layers. I tend to paint as much detail as a can and I use tiny brushes. 

Why do you paint?

I’m an introvert living in a house of noisy extroverts and I have a very busy mind that can teeter into anxiety at times. Painting is the closest I get to meditation. When I’m immersed in painting, I concentrate fully and time zooms past at an unbelievable rate (not that that’s necessarily a good thing!). I also see it as a way of putting my whole quirky self out there for the world to know – and I like to highlight nature and all the tiny incredible things around us that are so often overlooked. 

 

What are your painting goals for the next year? 

My daughter started Kindergarten this September and I’ve found myself with more time and quiet than I’ve ever had. I’m hoping that this year I’ll form relationships with more shops and galleries, join additional local Artist groups, answer Calls for Art and really try to sell my work consistently. First up is the fall show “FRESH” at Gallery Twist in Lexington, where I have a number of pieces. I’m also trying to grow my instagram account in a meaningful way – forming connections with other artists and nature/art lovers rather than just follower numbers. My Instagram handle is @wyld_woodland

Need a little inspiration? Look no further than “Art Sparks”

WSA members Nan Rumpf and Carol Bershad created the Art Sparks card deck to inspire watercolor artists to explore different ideas and techniques, and to create more accomplished paintings. Their project also got a nice review from watercolor artist Shari Blaukoft and Art Sparks will be featured on the New and Notable page of the next issue of Watercolor Artist Magazine. 

They started their small female owned business on a shoestring and they would appreciate any help in spreading the word.  
Check out Art Sparks!
 
Congratulations Carol and Nan!

September Artist of the Month – Meet Nelson Hammer

September Artist of the Month

Meet Nelson Hammer

Growing up on Long Island in the 1950s, one of the few elementary school-related assignments I remember was given to us at end of each school year: We had to draw a picture of a child running after a truck. The results were kept by the schools (no copiers then!) to measure the artistic progress of each student over the years. My teachers and friends always thought highly of my efforts, and it was one of my favorite assignments to do. I’ve enjoyed drawing for as long as I can remember, and still own many sketches I did as a teenager.

My parents bought me an oil-painting set when I was in college, and I took to it with relish. I also supplemented my parents’ allowance at school by doing charcoal portraits of my friends, with my best friend standing behind me to give me real-time critiques of my progress because I had a tendency to err on shapes and forms. I charged $2 a pop. Not much of a supplement.

I graduated with a BS in landscape architecture in 1969. Upon graduation, getting job, earning a living, getting married and having a family became roadblocks to my work in oils, especially because I painted so slowly. Despite my interest, I never took art classes during or after college. After my two children left home for school, I created a few more oils, but was becoming less interested in it due to the odors of turpentine and linseed oil…and the lack of ventilation.

During the summer of 2014, as I was strolling through a Michael’s crafts store with my wife and two eldest granddaughters, I spotted a starter watercolor kit and bought it on a whim. Now, what to paint? I digitally strolled through the web, keyed in beautiful, colored birds, and off I went. I had painted several  birds when a friend advised me that I could liable for copyright infringement by creating derivative images of published material. I thought my bird painting was over!

 

Enter two relatives who were excellent amateur photographers: my daughter’s mother-in-law, Brenda Robert, and a first cousin, Mike Funk. They were eager to offer me an endless supply of subject matter, and a year or so after that, I received permission from several professional bird photographers to use their photos without fee. Crisis averted….until I filled out applications to join the Wellesley Society of Artists (WSA), and later, the New England Watercolor Society (NEWS). Both forbid the use of photos by others as source material. Gotta use my own photos!

Since bird photography is an art form of its own of which I had neither the skill nor the desire to learn, I turned to landscapes several years ago, which my landscape architectural background had helped foster. When my wife passed away in 2021 after living in Needham for 42 years, I moved in 2022 to an apartment in Wellesley Hills  located across Route 9 from the Hemlock Gorge Reservation, home of Echo Bridge. If it is possible to fall in love with an inanimate object, I did just that, and have painted the bridge four times and counting.

However, the allure of painting birds and other fauna remained, yet I was resolute in wanting no part of investing in telephoto lenses and learning the nuances of DSLR and/or smartphone cameras. What to do? I know! Go to where birds and other fauna- having no fear of humans- casually interact with us without the need for a long lens! Off I went last December to the Galapagos Islands, had the time of my life, and took dozens of photographs of birds, sea lions, lizards, and giant turtles that have already been- and will in the future become additional- source material for my watercolors.

 

I was quick to realize that joining local associations would be very helpful me in both displaying my art and networking with other artists; I joined the Needham Art Association the same year I started painting. Since I was still as yet unable to wean myself from using others as photographic sources, I did not join NEWS until 2018 and was made a Signature Member in 2022. I also finally joined WSA soon after I moved to Wellesley Hills.

 

 

 

My painting style- realism with a focus on detail- dictates that I paint deliberately. I make no effort to hasten the completion of my pieces for a few reasons:

  • Painting is my life! It’s the journey, not the destination for me; my least favorite task is signing my name to a finished piece.
  • I am fortunate that I can support myself in retirement without the need sell my art. It remains a hobby. If I am able to sell a piece, all the better. I’m averaging about 1.3 sales a year. No financial reason to rush a piece.
  • I now live in a two-bedroom unit in which the second bedroom is my studio. The bedroom and living room walls are filled with my work not to display my ego but because of a lack of space to store pieces. Other framed and unframed art are stacked, not hung, in my studio, in closets, and in one unusual case, in my guest bathtub. Painting slowly extends the length the time available before I run out of space.

Lastly but most importantly, art has been by my side and in my head when I needed it most during the past few years. Since I started painting in watercolors in 2014, orthopedic issues have taken tennis, then golf from me. But I can still paint! In the last three years, I lost my wife of 49 years, sold my house, moved to an apartment in another town, and retired the day I moved. A lotta stuff to absorb, and I couldn’t have gotten through it as readily as I did without my art… a blessing NOT in disguise!

 

 

Remembering Maris Platais, Gifted Artist and Beloved Teacher

Maris Platais Age 87, of Carlisle, passed away peacefully on July 18, 2024, after a brief illness.  Born in Jelgava, Latvia, Maris and his family fled their homeland in 1944 to arrive in Boston in 1949. Maris was a graduate of the Boston Tech High School. After serving in the United States Marine Corps, he graduated from Tufts University and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts. Maris’ passion for art became his career, first at Dennison Manufacturing Co. in Framingham and later, his award-winning fine art was featured in galleries worldwide.

Art was his passion from the time that he was a child. He developed a highly skilled visual memory and combined that with his imagination to create exquisite pen and inks, etchings and light-filled acrylics. He was an active and  long time member of the Guild of Boston Artists. In addition to being  a gifted artist, Maris was also a beloved teacher at the Tolles Parson Center in Wellesley and  gave artist demonstrations for local art groups including the WSA. His joy of life was infectious and he will be missed enormously.

 

 

August Artist of the Month: Meet Robert Savage

August Artist of the Month 

Meet Robert Savage

Dr. Savage is a retired surgeon, assistant clinical professor at Harvard Medical School and Past President of the New England Society of Plastic & Reconstructive Surgeons. He is a life-long art lover and started a second career in 2016 as a local art historian, collector and now artist. He is eternally grateful to WSA for all the support and friendship he has received in these new art adventures. He is particularly proud to have been involved in 2023 writing of a 36-page booklet on the amazing 90 Year History of the WSA and celebrating its anniversary with a lecture on the topic at the Wellesley Free Library in conjunction with the Wellesley Historical Society.

Basically self-taught Bob is inspired by the Cape Cod folk art tradition of the Cahoons and Elizabeth Mumford, and the soulful Provincetown and Truro paintings of Anne Packard and Edward Hopper. His work concentrates on iconic scenes of New England, especially the Cape and Islands.  During his process he enjoys using different geometric shapes and color experimentation. His latest project is transforming classic, early works by the Provincetown Printers into what he refers to as “white line” acrylics.

He formerly curated two art blogs on Facebook: the Wellesley Collection Art Review and Friends of the Rockport Art Association and Museum.  He has published over one hundred brief biographies on AskArt.com and consulted for the Massachusetts Horticultural Society on art acquisitions.

His personal collection has been featured in the American Fine Art Magazine, and he is a frequent art history contributor to the Wellesley-Weston Magazine, where his career transition from physician to artist was featured in the 2022 summer edition. He is an exhibiting member and was a board member of the Wellesley Society of Artists. His current writings and lectures focus on women artists of the early twentieth century. 

Exhibitions:

Rockport Art Association Museum

Annual Grassroots: Emerging Artists Exhibition, July 2021, July 2022, August 2023, June 2024

Contributing Members Exhibition 2022

Osterville Village Library, Osterville, MA, Cape Cod

3rd Annual Plein Air Exhibit, July 2021

4th Plein Air Exhibit July 2022

5th Plein Air Exhibit, July 15,2023,6th Annual Exhibit July 20,2024

  • Wellesley Society of Artists-Annual Winter Exhibition 2021, Spring and Sunflowers for Peace Exhibitions in 2022; Fall into Art, Weston Library September 2022; Annual Wellesley Free Library (WFL) Show Nov.2022(Award-Honorable Mention). All You Need is Love Exhibition WFL,Feb 2023 ;Spring into Nature, Broadmoor/Audubon Wildlife Sanctuary 2023,2024;WSA90 Years of Art(WFL)June-Sept 2023(People’s Choice Award), Natick Morse Institute Library, MA July-Aug. 2023;Annual WSA Library Exhibition Nov 2023;WSA Weston Library Show Feb 2024;WSA Natick Center For the Arts April 2024
  • Provincetown Art Association and Museum-Annual Members 12×12 Exhibition and Benefit Auction. August-Sept 2022, August-Sept. 2023 & 2024 and Members Open Small Works Exhibition Nov.2022-Jan.2023, Members Open Exhibition March-May 2024
  • Zullo Gallery-New Visions/New Artists, Medfield MA, 5/6-6/18/2023
  • North Shore Art Association-Emerging Artists Exhibition, Oct-Nov 2023
  • Wellesley COA Inaugural Art Exhibition, Dec 2023, 2nd Exhibition Jan.2024

 

Contact:-wellesleycollection@yahoo.com

               

Congratulations to WHS Students Katie Gallico and Evelyn Harrison 2024 Recipients of the WSA Art Achievement Award

The WSA is happy to announce that rising WHS seniors Katie Gallico and Evelyn Harrison were awarded the Annual Art Achievement Award in early June. In addition to the award Katie and Evelyn will be participating in the WSA’s Annual Library Show in November. 

In 2017, the WSA reinstituted the Annual Art Achievement Award, which is a cash prize that is given to a Wellesley High School student who demonstrates both merit and dedication to their art studies.

 

 

July Artist of the Month – Meet Cathy Gruetzke Blais

July Artist of the Month

Meet Cathy Gruetzke Blais

 

Cathy Gruetzke-Blais is an artist and art educator. She works full-time at Fay School in Southboro, teaching children ages 3 – 14. Originally from Rhode Island, she has lived in Massachusetts for most of her adult life. She holds BFA and MAT degrees from Tufts University. A twenty-two-year resident of Framingham, Cathy creates mainly acrylic paintings and sometimes abstracted mixed media pieces in her space at Howard Street Studios in Framingham. Additionally, she has experience as a scenic artist for theaters and a designer for public art projects.
Cathy paints because she is compelled to. It makes her feel whole and productive. She is inspired by vibrant colors that can be found in nature, mainly in flowers. Something awakens her senses and makes her feel alive when walking in natural spaces where color becomes the dominant and uniting element. She often photographs her experiences and later determines which full scenery shot or small detail of a flower image will make the cut to become the inspiration for her next painting. Cathy starts by sketching and laying out colors as they were seen. But then there is something that happens in the creative process that is best described as meditative and intuitive. Call it the right brain or the left brain, or perhaps a mix of the two, intuition kicks in and it becomes clear what to do next on the painting, even if it is not in the photograph. Solutions in her paintings often come in the forms of color and texture. Cathy believes it is important to follow your intuition when working. It helps you achieve a state of “flow” in which interesting things can happen in your art.
 
 
 
Cathy is currently working on a 30” X 40” painting inspired by a spring walk at Garden in the Woods, Framingham. There were many vibrant layers of beautiful colors on that particular day. This painting will become part of a show called “Views of Framingham” that is supported by a grant from the Framingham Cultural Council through the Mass. Cultural Council. The eight painters at Howard Street Studios, most of whom are WSA members, are taking part in this rotating venue exhibit from late summer into the winter. Proceeds from sales of their art will support community based nonprofits. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
More about Cathy: