November Artist Spotlight: Dylan Kim and Ayla Lin

The WSA Art Achievement is given in June to one or two rising seniors at Wellesley High School who have demonstrated both merit and commitment to their study and practice of the visuals arts. Recipients are invited to participate in the WSA Annual Wellesley Library Show in November. This award dates back to the early days of the WSA and was reestablished again in 2017. The 2025 recipients are Dylan Kim and Ayla Lin.

 

Dylan Kim artist statement:

“A few years ago, my mother found stacks of old photo albums in my grandparents’ house, and gave me a picture of my grandfather and his sister as young children in North Korea. His sister – “Komo,” as everyone called her – passed away recently. The flowers in the piece are a variety of mourning flowers (chrysanthemums, gladioli flowers, and lilies) to honor her memory.

Art History Club took a trip to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum a few months ago, and I found a piece of stained glass that depicted many themes from Christian theology. My grandparents are very religious people, which is why I depicted them as stained glass. However, the patterns in the painting are varying. In the “glass” sections of their garments, the lines are more rigid and straight, similar to jogakbo Korean patchwork, representing their attempts at assimilating into Christian and American culture when they moved to Kansas in the 70s.”

 

Ayla Lin artist statement:

“This painting depicts one of my friends. We took this picture at Wellesley College in the middle of winter. Despite the cold, she’s wearing a red strapless dress and open-toed shoes. These choices highlight her determination and perseverance. Her gaze at the viewer shows her intelligence, especially her social intelligence. Elements such as the size of the piece, her jewelry, and her dress all hold emotional significance for her.”

 

 

How Creative Expression Can Benefit Older Adults

Hear from three WSA members, Dayle Bodnar, Mike Murphy and Robert Savage on how their creative practices impact their lives. Join the WSA for an evening with Art Therapist and Professor, Raquel Stephenson, How Creative Expression Can Benefit Older Adults on Wednesday, October 15th, 7:00-8:00pm at the Wellesley Free Library. Light refreshments and conversation will begin at 6:30pm. This program is in partnership with the Wellesley Free Library and sponsored in part by a grant from the Wellesley Cultural Council. FREE and OPEN to the public. 

 

 

October Artist Spotlight – Meet Lynn Dennis

October Artist Spotlight

Meet Lynn Dennis

 

Lynn Dennis is a native Chicagoan, but she lived in Los Angeles and St. Louis before arriving in the Boston area twenty – four years ago.  She has an undergraduate degree in Political Science and graduate degrees in Social Work and in Jewish Studies.  Currently, Lynn resides in Wellesley.

Lynn began investing time in art shortly before her retirement seven years ago.  Prior to that, she had approached her careers as a psychotherapist, teacher and administrator with creative intention, developing a reputation for “thinking outside of the box.”   However, she had been well aware of a longing to immerse herself in color and pattern, a desire that remained on her bucket list far too long. 

Lynn tried a variety of local art classes in an effort to find the medium that was most gratifying to her.  And she took several art history classes to not only better understand evolutionary art trends, but to also better appreciate the possibilities that art affords.  Currently, she finds acrylic painting on fairly large canvases most fulfilling.  Ironically, despite her love of large swaths of color, Lynn burns through a lot of small brushes as patterns emerge in her paintings.  She is the sort of artist who sees the trees before the forest. 

 

Lynn’s artistic theme is “Life in Color.”  Most of her paintings are loose interpretations of her observations of our local area and of her visits elsewhere, particularly to Santa Cruz, CA.  Lynn is drawn to the stories our surroundings tell and she tries to capture these stories on canvas.

September Artist Spotlight – Meet Kris Shaffer

September Artist Spotlight 

Meet Kris Shaffer and her beloved gardening companion Cleo

 

I have been making art since I was a little kid.  We all did.  My Mom grew up on a farm and it seemed she could do anything!  She wielded the power tools in our home growing up and instilled in us that we could do anything also.  When I was in high school we moved from Prairie Village (suburban Kansas City) to a farm north of Marysville, Kansas.  Culture shock.  I spent so much time during my high school years driving around on country roads and still to this day I find comfort, adventure, and hope on those roads.  My mom is ninety-nine years old and still lives on that farm, alone!  She loves it and says it is her exclusive retirement home for one.  Rest assured, she is safe and checked on regularly by her community.

Kansas landscapes are in my blood.  I recently showed my work at South Coast Artist Open Studios where a woman who has ties to Kansas recognized the light!  We all have complex relationships to where we were raised and Kansas will always be in my heart.

I studied art at Kansas State University and transferred to Massachusetts College of Art (and Design) where I received a BFA in painting.  I moved to Santa Fe, NM, for a year to paint more glorious landscapes, yet Kansas landscapes are the ones from my core.  After NM, I moved to San Francisco where I married and had two sons.  I also started working as an interior designer which kept us fed and occupied my time for years. In 1999, we moved back to Newton to raise the kids. After the boys graduated from high school, we moved to Framingham.  I still do some interior design, but now my focus has returned to pure art and it feels great!

During the years when the kids were growing up I started doing book paintings.  I studied with George Nick at Mass Art and really wanted to do urban landscapes, but I wanted to be close to the kids. I chose books as a way of achieving a similar structure as buildings, while controlling the light and climate in my small studio.  I might paint books intermittently forever!  They are a great subject in so many ways:) 

My other passion is figure drawing and painting.  I find drawing the human body, clothed or unclothed, restorative.  It is my balm to the chaos of today’s world.

 

I currently am running the working artist group space at the Natick Mall.  We offer figure drawing (clothed) twice a week.  Thursdays 7pm-9pm and Saturdays 3pm-5pm.  Sessions are currently $20 for two hours.  It is a wonderful space and so fun!  We hope to start a painting group soon as well as additional art workshops.  The mall project is so exciting.  It is an unexpected oasis of creativity where people wander in and find it surprising yet soothing, so they say:).  We are in the proof of concept stage so we really need support and participation to grow the space so we can stay.  We plan on offering all sorts of workshops for artists, creatives and people who want to make something of their own.  It is a super fun experience. Come visit or learn more the classes here.

August Artist Spotlight – Meet Bob Glowacky

August Artist Spotlight

Meet Bob Glowacky

 

Painting by my father Fred Glowacky

 

Born in New York City and raised on Long Island, my earliest memories of painting were of me, my brother and my father in our basement painting on side by side easels.  My father was a civil engineer, but also an accomplished oil painter.  He taught my brother and I the joy of painting, and while I had always wanted to continue painting, college, graduate school, work, marriage, children and other activities all kept me busy and away from my easel.

 

 

 

 

 

Fast forward to 2015, when I recognized that a part of me needed to paint.  I so missed the joy of laying paint on canvas and creating, so I picked up my brushes and went to work.  Largely self taught, I’ve also studied with Vincent Crotty at the New Art Center in Newton, and most recently, with Ron Krouk at the Danforth School of Art in Framingham.

I’m an avid gardener (both in Wellesley and at our Cape home in East Falmouth).  As such, many of my paintings are inspired by the gardens at both homes as well as the sand, sun and beaches of Cape Cod.  There’s also nothing like Cape light…trying to capture the magic hours when the sun creates a warmth that’s almost too beautiful to describe.

 

I work exclusively in oils, and while I work most frequently with brushes, I do enjoy every now and then picking up my palette knife and working in a way that is more free and loose.  Like many of you, I continue to search for inspiration in nature and my family and I are also avid travellers.  These trips serve to inspire me and to see the world in a new light…unfamiliar landscapes, seascapes, cityscapes and buildings.

 

 

 

 

I wanted to include a photo of another medium that I work with that highlights my diverse artistic interests.  Being half Ukrainian (and half Italian), I love making pysanky (Ukrainian Easter eggs).  My father taught me how to create these when I was approximately 14 years old and I still enjoy doing them to this day.  Each egg, which is raw, takes about 6-7 hours to complete and I have eggs that are 50 years old!  It’s a wonderful tradition and a beautiful example of folk art.

I’m now retired and aside from painting, I enjoy gardening, playing tennis, pickleball, going to the health club, reading, skiing, cycling and volunteering on a number of boards in the non-profit world.  My wife and I have two children in their twenties and we always enjoy spending time with them and their friends.  Last but not least, our 12 year old beagle Skipper keeps us on our toes and provides comic relief to many a family gathering!

 

Follow Bob on Instagram 

@Bobglowacky

July Artist Spotlight – Meet Martha Marson

July Artist Spotlight

Meet Martha Marson

 

Born and raised in RI, a beautiful state (“the Ocean state”), I spent many days on the water with my father, and later my step father, both passionate sailors. The open water and sky, along with every summer spent up island on Martha’s  Vineyard, gave me my love for water, sand, dunes and boats. This is the primary reason why my work centers on these elements. My happy place has always been the Vineyard; and the places that ground me and reach my soul are being on a boat in the open ocean; and on the beach with majestic dunes. Most of my paintings are of the Vineyard, since it brings me such a sense of peace and beauty, and connectedness of childhood memories with family and friends, though Ive been known to also paint winding forest paths as well as open fields! 
 
 
My artistic side comes from several members of my family, and my daughter (I have two daughters) went to art school and now has a successful career in graphic design. While it was always fun to dabble in different mediums along this journey, like watercolor, ceramics, drawing and clay, I went to University of Vermont  and majored in psychology and writing. After many years in advertising as a copywriter and then in publishing, I jumped into grad school and received my MSW from Boston University. It wasn’t until many years later, when my kids were much older, that I was invited into a workshop by a close friend and artist that I started in pastel painting. I believe it was the medium that chose me. Just felt right!  (I also believe every single human has an expressive outlet waiting to emerge) I’ve been working in pastel studying under my fabulous teacher for over 15 years, and haven’t looked back!
 
I now have a thriving private practice with clients, and I paint one day a week. My painting is my therapy, as the world drops away when I’m in the zone in the studio. It’s important for everyone to have places to find their peace, and it’s painting the beauty of the natural landscapes of my life, that I’ve found mine. I have so much more to learn, because I did not have a formal art education, so I still get the names of the various blues, reds or yellows mixed up; but I paint more intuitively, and as my teacher says, “paint what you see with your eyes, not your brain”. My goal is to cut back on my practice and paint more. Life is short! 
 
I currently live with my wonderfully supportive husband and our Norwich Terrier Milo in Needham, and we have two amazing daughters that are my pride and joy.
 

June Artist Spotlight – Meet Theresa Christopher

June Artist Spotlight

Meet Theresa Christopher 

WSA Member Since 2017

 

When did you start making art?

 I do not remember exactly when I started making art.  It seems art was always there.  Sometimes in Elementary School,  friends would ask me when I had time to do “that,” “that” being when I painted a book of wildflowers and a year later, a book of birds.  These were not assigned projects.  I created them for fun, and later they proved handy when I needed to embellish a science project.  Art was my hobby. 

What type of art attracts you?

I gravitate to plein air painting in acrylics, which brings me close to nature.  I like being outdoors early in the day.  Capturing natural light and contrasting shadow by utilizing the value of other colors in the piece is a worthy challenge.  Fifty percent of the time I will complete a painting in a session; other times I sketch in paint, take a photo and finish in the studio.  Either way, capturing the ambience and rendering an image is satisfying.  Even better is conveying the feeling you captured so that others may see and feel it too. 

Where do you find inspiration?

 For me, nature provides the ultimate inspiration for creating art.  It provides fresh compositions every time.       

In retirement, I have had the luxury of travelling and learning how I see the world.  These discoveries inspire me to experiment with new ideas and media.  I’ve travelled to San Miguel de Allende in Mexico, where for the first time I sketched historic architecture a la prima utilizing a micron pen.  For two consecutive years I was the director’s guest at Civitella Ranieri in Umbria, Italy, where with other guests we painted plein air in acrylics and watercolor half the day and visited sites the other half.  As a result, we were inspired by viewing most of the original frescoes and paintings of Piero de la Francesca.  

 

 

What does art mean to you?

For me, art is relaxing and stimulating at once. It provides the camaraderie of artist friends. Whether in the studio or via Zoom, art friends are supportive and enjoy discussing and making art together.  Each time I view another’s art, visit a museum, attend an art demonstration or put a graphite pencil to paper, I learn something.  In addition to enjoying and creating art with friends, a best day might include painting a marsh from an overlook in Hingham, working in my studio or taking a portraiture class.  What a hobby!

 

May Artist Spotlight Meet Julia Greenway

May Artist Spotlight 

Meet Julia Greenway

 

Julia Greenway (she/her) lives in Needham, MA. As well as being an artist, she works in the Greenhouse at Volante Farms and is a certified meditation teacher.

View from Bowen Road Flat, Hong Kong, Circa 1972

 

One of my first memories (age 4) is practicing my number “8”s in crayons on the newly painted wall of my room, right before we were supposed to move out of the apartment.  Though a huge supporter of my work, my mother was not best pleased. As a family, we traveled a lot. My father was a foreign correspondent in Vietnam and then Israel. We lived in Hong Kong twice and I used to go with my mother to her friend Rosamund Brown’s house and paint. They are both artists.

 

 

I never really stopped. All the way through school Art was my favorite subject. When I got to college, I majored in languages as it was thought that an art degree wouldn’t pay the bills but I took art classes for myself and later went to Mass College of Art (now Mass college of Art and Design) for my master’s degree in painting.

My artwork, like the number 8, follows no straight path. As an art student I mostly painted in oils and then moved to watercolors largely due to the space and clean-up time needed while raising three children, mostly on my own. I’d had prior training in watercolors with an illustration studio that produced work for Dorling Kindersley Books. Very detailed work – mostly animals and buildings. By comparison my oils tended towards expressionist.

One of the things I paint is Pet Portraits and I use that detailed style. I use multiple photographs in order to capture the essential personality of each creature. That is my goal.

I primarily work from nature – which is an endlessly fascinating inspiration for me. I love the capricious medium of watercolor. While my style is based on observable reality, reflecting how I feel about the subject and its composition and colors…etc…, the paint is speaking more for itself. I feel more like an accomplice rather than being in control.

It’s important to retain a childlike sense of wonder. I find painting to be an extension of self and paradoxically an expression of creative consciousness as a whole. When I am working, I am thoroughly immersed and present. The process quiets the chatty parts of my brain. Even when it is frustrating or a complete failure, I will have learned something.
In August I have a solo show scheduled at North Haven, ME. I will, therefore, be quite busy painting and cutting mats for the frames. I also show small pieces at Volante Farms.  If you happen by, come say hello!

April Artist Spotlight – Meet Cynthia Demir

April Artist Spotlight

Meet Cynthia Demir

 

I have been drawing as far back as I can remember. At the age of two I drew circles with smaller circles around the larger circles. I have vivid memories from nursery school of first using finger paints. I can still remember the magic of how the colors blended together as I moved the paint around with my fingers. My mother was an artist so there were always pens, pencils, and paints available.  She even had an easel set up in the living room with an oil painting of my sister and I. I remember the soft gobs of paint on her wooden palette and the smell of oil paint. We had paper taped to the walls of our playroom so as to be able to draw at any time.
     
During my summers in junior high school I took classes at the deCordova Museum. The emphasis was on experimentation with a wide variety of media. I used pen and ink with watercolor and tissue paper to create underwater sea creatures. In high school I took art every year as one of my major subjects. We worked with pencil, charcoal, oil pastels and oil paints. By senior year one of my favorite projects was a portrait I did in a woodcut. It was one of my first serious attempts at printmaking. I always knew I wanted to go to art school after graduation. When I arrived at Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, the drawing and design courses were very intense. It was the best feeling in the world to stay up all night working on design projects. One of my favorite classes was etching. An assistant professor told me to think of the etching plate as the universe. I approached painting and etching in the same way, creating an imaginary world, not just a rendering of something I see or feel. I also took an intensive course in lithography during winter session which was a six week period between semesters. Drawing with a lithograph crayon brought out the texture of the stone. The textures seemed to suggest images from my subconscious like some mythical beings from another world. By senior year I was majoring in painting. One of the studios was in an old bank building. It had a high glass ceiling with the sun streaming in, colors reflecting off the walls and metal framework. There was also a large paper sculpture of an elephant in the room which added to the atmosphere. The studio reminded me of some of Matisse’s interiors.
 
     

I received a BFA in painting from RISD and then worked for a while as a free lance artist. The following year I went to Simmons College to get a teaching degree. Eventually I worked at a newspaper and an advertising agency. I studied fashion design and worked at a childrenswear company but what I loved most was painting and drawing. After getting married and having children, I continued drawing and sewing. I sometimes did quick sketches of my husband and daughters. I joined a group of artists who set up drawing sessions where we all chipped in to pay for models. We added lighting, drapery and props to create interesting compositions. I was always inspired by Matisse and some of the expressionist painters. An exhibit at the MFA in Boston, “Matisse in the Studio” was especially interesting. On display along with his paintings and sculptures were some of the objects he used in his compositions. The way he incorporated some of the same objects in very different styles of painting showed what even the simplest object could inspire.

 

    
 
Recently I have been doing watercolor and ink paintings of the mountains and lakes of New Hampshire. I’ve focused on the effects of sunlight at various times of day and the shadows from the constant movement of the clouds as they are reflected on the lakes.