Who's Jess??

Over the summer, you may notice a bright, new face at the gallery -- that's Jess Holley, our intern!  Just to give you all a head start on getting to know her, we asked her a few questions:

Hometown: Born and raised in Andover, Massachusetts.

High School: Phillips Academy Andover.

College: Bowdoin College -- Anthropology and Art History double major!  

Jess Holley

Favorite Book: The Great Gatsby. 

What do you do with your free time?  I enjoy painting and drawing as well as traveling and spending time with family and friends.  And I can’t forget my love for the beach in the summer!

Favorite beach: Lambert’s Cove Beach, Martha’s Vineyard. 

Favorite work of art: Sistine Chapel.

 How did you develop your interest in the art world? As a small child, I grew up admiring the work of local painters.  Some of my favorite childhood memories are my frequent visits to museums and galleries in the Boston area with my mother. Throughout high school and in my first two years of college I pursued my passion for the arts by taking several visual art classes.  I eventually decided to focus on oil painting.

Best museum in the world: The Louvre.

Artist you would choose to be re-born as? Edward Degas.

Favorite painting in the gallery currently: ‘White Light’ by Daniele Cestari.

Favorite summer treat: Coffee Oreo Ice Cream.

Favorite Food: Chocolate.

Super power if you had one? To fly of course!

Favorite word: Elegant.

Least favorite word: Moist.

Daniele Cestari, 'White Light', 30 x 30, Oil on Linen

What do you want to do when you graduate? It is my dream to pursue a career in a gallery [or museum] after college and establish myself as a powerful force in the art world.  I am excited to see what this summer has in store at Sloane Merrill Gallery!

Favorite thing about the gallery: The opportunity to meet and chat with local artists -- to learn about their passion for art and how they go about creating their work. 

We are so excited to have Jess join us before she heads off to Rome for her fall semester.  We hope that you can stop by the gallery and meet her!

Back to Back: A Call for Artists

Sloane Merrill Gallery and the Boston Figurative Art Center (BFAC) announce their first collaboration in the form of a themed group exhibition titled 'Back to Back' opening Friday, April 12th at 75 Charles Street, Boston.  

Below is the call to artists to submit for the juried portion of the exhibition. 

​Please feel free to contact Sloane Merrill Gallery with any questions at 617.227.1775 or by email at info@sloanemerrillgallery.com

Beacon Hill Seminars: Object, Manner, and Means: The Rebirth of Representational Painting

For seven Wednesdays, starting February 6, 2013, Ali will be orchestrating a lecture series through Beacon Hill Seminars.  To quote the Beacon Hill Seminars website, this is a great organization composed of people 

“who have a vigorous interest in continuing their intellectual growth. It is dedicated to a concept of learning with and from peers. Members of Beacon Hill Seminars create, participate in, or lead a diverse group of courses designed to follow a seminar format of small group discussions and learning.”
— Beacon Hill Seminars

Gregory Prestegord, 'Green Door', 35.5 x 37, Oil on Panel.

Here's the rundown on the course:

Aristotle used three terms to delve into the meaning of representation: object, manner, and means. Applying these terms to the twenty-first century painter, one might have a vibrant, pulsating city as the object, the desire to capture this vantage in a distinctive realist style as the manner, and a fresh palette of Winsor and Newton oils as the means. Through representational painting, the artist conjures the electricity and power of a city.

In seven sessions we will share our visual experiences with representational paintings, discuss the current reengagement with realism taking place in the art world, and hear from experts whose passions range from the techniques of the Dutch Masters to the camera obscura and from John Singer Sargent to the use of the iPhone 5 in capturing images for painting.

Expect several prominent guest lecturers and at least one excursion as the seminar advances. Open minds and spirited conversationalists desired.

James Welu, Director Emeritus of the Worcester Art Museum, has the unique perspective of someone who trained as a studio artist before entering the world of art history and eventually specializing in seventeenth-century Dutch and Flemish art. With many con-temporary representational painters focusing on the aesthetics and skills of the Dutch Masters, Jim will share his knowledge of the period and its immortal marks on the production of art. 

David H. Lowrey, 'Vermeer's Studio c. 1667', Oil on Canvas.

David Lowrey, Fenway Studios artist, preserves the tradition of Boston’s finest realists – Benson, Paxton and Tarbell – through traditional painting. David has built working models for the camera obscura, which he employs in his creative process and we will experience during his guest lecture focused on the enduring techniques of artists past. 

Joseph McGurl, a graduate of the Massachusetts College of Art, has been referred to as one of the acknowledged leaders in the current American landscape school.  Joseph's paintings are often seen in relationship to the great 19th century luminist painters but with a thoroughly modern approach to style and subject.  For him, the process, rather than the product is the most important part of a painting.  Rather than relying on photography, this method gives him the freedom to create paintings based on his imagination, memory, and his sketches. 

Joseph McGurl, 'Last Light, Winter', 19 x 33, Oil on Canvas.

Gregory Prestegord, a graduate of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and youngest artist featured at Sloane Merrill Gallery, will discuss his desire to paint real visual experiences and his elaborate use of the iPhone camera as a tool. Be prepared for a studio demonstration in the gallery.

Gregory Prestegord, 'Spring Garden Ridge', 16.5 x 24, Oil on Panel.

Ali Ringenburg has a strong commitment to the tradition of representational work and the artistic profession. Before opening her gallery, she worked with Nashville-based interdisciplinary artist Adrienne Outlaw, at the Cincinnati Art Museum and the Contemporary Arts Center, and most recently was the director at Principle Gallery in Alexandria, Virginia. She holds a BA in art and art history and English literature from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee.

 

For more information on how to get involved with Beacon Hill Seminars, please visit their website.  Seminars are open to all Beacon Hill Seminars members.  Registration closes Wednesday, January 16th.  We are so looking forward to hosting the seminar!

Museum Visit: Worcester Art Museum

Just before the holidays, Ali had a chance to visit the Worcester Art Museum.  Joined by Beacon Hill Seminars collaborators, she met with Director Emeritus James Welu for a wonderful lunch and tour of the museum.  They talked about the gallery's upcoming seminar, Object, Manner, and Means: The Rebirth of Representational Painting, for which Mr. Welu will be a guest lecturer.  

Mr. Welu specializes in seventeenth-century Dutch and Flemish art, and was the WAM Director from 1986 - 2011.  Under Mr. Welu's direction, the museum was the first to: create an Art All-State program for high-school artists (1987), originate an exhibition of Dutch Master Judith Leyster (1993), and to focus its contemporary art program on art of the last 10 years (1998).  We cannot wait to hear what Mr. Welu has to share with us on February 6th to kick off the seminar!

Two postcards from the Worcester Art Museum. Left: 'The Fur Jacket: Arrangement in Black and Brown', James Abbott McNeill Whistler, Oil on Canvas, 1877. Right: 'Girl Playing Solitaire', Frank W. Benson, Oil on Canvas, 1909.

For those who haven't had the pleasure of visiting the Worcester Art Museum, the museum houses over 35,000 pieces that span over fifty centuries.  Opened to the public in 1896, the museum has seen a great number of firsts in growing its collection, including being the first museum in the nation to purchase works by Claude Monet.                                                                                    

In addition to the wonderful art and building architecture, the museum offers numerous educational programs for all ages.  The library, which is run in collaboration with the College of the Holy Cross, contains nearly 45,000 titles and an equal number of slides, available for loan.  The museum also has a state-of-the-art conservation department. 

If you are looking for a fun day trip we recommend checking out the Worcester Art Museum!  The museum is open Wednesday through Sunday, with late hours (until 8pm) every 3rd Thursday of the month. 

Our Newest Artist: Mary Sauer!

We are thrilled to announce the newest addition to the gallery: Mary Sauer!  Mary graduated from BYU, has taken classes at the Art Student's League in New York and The Grand Central Academy of Art, and apprenticed with William Whitaker.  Mary had a big 2012 -- she won "Best of Show" at The Portrait Society of America's International Portrait Competition, was featured on the cover of the August Issue of American Art Collector Magazine, and was named one of Southwest Art Magazine's "21 Under 31" Artists.  Expect to see Mary's work in the gallery before Christmas!

Here's what Mary has to say about her work:

"I believe there is beauty in every form which can be translated to the canvas by showing it as it appears naturally.  This pushes me to achieve representational color harmony, proportion, and value relationships via a traditional approach to oil painting."

A Wonderful Addition: Justin Hess!

We are excited to announce the addition of Justin Hess to our roster of artists at SMG! Justin studied and then taught at the Florence Academy of Art in Florence, Italy and recently relocated back to his home state of California after six years abroad. We are captivated by his paintings -- they will be arriving in the gallery in the next two weeks!

Take a look at Justin's work and background on our website: Justin Hess.