June 24-July 18, 2022

Hold your phone’s camera over the orange QR code. Click on the yellow rectangle for Cindy Tower on Artsy.

May 27-June 20, 2022

April 29-May 23, 2022

March 4-March 28, 2022

MARY ELIZABETH PETERSON
SHIFTING TIDES: ART THAT SPEAKS TO EVER-CHANGING TIMES
MARCH 4-28, 2022
OPRNING RECEPTION: SUNDAY, MARCH 6, 4-6 PM

The Friends of the Willoughby Wallace Memorial Library are pleased to present SHIFTING TIDES: ART THAT
SPEAKS TO EVER-CHANGING TIMES, an exhibition featuring recent paintings by New Haven artist Mary
Elizabeth Marvin Peterson.
SHIFTING TIDES unveils a series of mixed media paintings created by the artist over the last two years during
the pandemic. While the works embrace the artist’s expressive joy for her medium, they also reveal the
reclusive nature of maintaining a studio practice amidst the worlds' shifting tides and drastic societal changes.
Peterson’s signature paint-pushing technique, in which she applies thick deposits and watery wisps of paint,
demonstrates the artist’s ongoing dedication to chance and spontaneity. The saturated hues, serendipitous
paint movement, and mark-making create uniquely immersive spaces that the viewer can almost physically
enter. The artist’s works have been described as “dynamic, hypnotic, and meditative.”
“At the very core of my paintings are life experiences. Emotions are put forward in flexible forms, and
showcased as gaping cliffs, thick brambles, seaweed or large expanses of sea and sky. For me, there is a
profound link between emotion and landscape. Our country is so diverse, and it can be shaped and expressed
in numerous unique ways. I find it mirrors the human spirit. We all feel our senses heightened when we are
confronted by novel and breathtaking things in our natural world. Taking my life experiences and molding
them into my own landscape or taking an extremely close view of rocks or seedpods is my way of working
through difficult things. Sometimes my works are associated with nostalgia, or death and renewal. Taking
something that is intangible onto a canvas with paint and drawing materials solidifies time and encapsulates
that experience.”
Mary Elizabeth Marvin Peterson was born in Hartford in 1965. She has lived in Connecticut on and off for the
last 30 years. A 12th generation descendent of a founder of Hartford and Norwalk, she happily returned
“home” in 2019. She knows the state “like the back of her hand” and is passionate about coastal, marine, and
historic preservation. A multidisciplinary artist, her paintings celebrate process, spontaneity, femininity, and
various abstract art movements. Peterson also maintains an impressive art licensing practice, including
collaborations with Pottery Barn and Williams Sonoma Home. In 2021 she launched her own brand of
exclusive print reproductions, Abstract Fabulous®. She received her B.A. in Journalism and Art History from
The University of Connecticut and an A.F.A. from The Corcoran College of Art + Design in Washington, DC.
She is a member of the Silvermine Art Guild and maintains a studio at Erector Square in New Haven. The artist
will be revealing a new series of paintings in early Fall. She lives and works between New Haven and the CT
shoreline.
The Willoughby Wallace Memorial Library is located at 146 Thimble Islands Road, Branford. For more
information, call Mary Elizabeth Marvin Peterson at 203-209-7614 or visit www.maryelizabethpeterson.com

January 7-January 31, 2022

Marjorie Sopkin

Paintings and drawings

December 3, 2021 - January 3, 2022

Art Opening Reception: Mary Murphy Taylor — A Collected View

photographs

Sean Murtha and Allison Maltese: Reflections on Nature

Sean Murtha has drawn since he could hold a pencil and been a birder since he got his first binoculars as a young teen.  Both have remained lifelong passions and are combined in his adult work.  He paints the birds of the Long Island Sound region and the landscapes they are found in, often using a kayak to approach his subject, and puts great importance in sketching and painting directly from nature.  Light, atmosphere, and mood are more important than detail, with the primary goal to capture the sometimes fleeting experience of seeing a bird in the field. 

Allison Maltese has been photographing the natural world since her teens. Growing up in the woods of Killingworth, the trees and leaves, glacial stone, frozen icicles, and the surface of her family pond were the roots of her creative inspiration, and fed her fascination for pattern and color. This body of photographs represents an exploration into the art of water as it moves, reflects light and color and creates a myriad of shapes and patterns. The water images uniquely capture that one moment in time, freezing the impermanent medium.

Stop by and check out the Stony Creek Art Show —local artists.

Subject: Stony Creek and the Thimble Islands

July 18 - August 21

Paintings and Drawings by Illustrators affiliated with the Yale Peabody Museum Natural Science Illustration Program

Opening Reception Sunday, February 2 from 4:00 -6:00 pm.

In Plain Sight —Photographs

Art Opening Reception: Sunday, November 24

4:00 - 6:00

Mickey Kavanagh

I have been painting with watercolors for about 15 years.   Having always been especially drawn to works of art in this medium, I was delighted to learn how to do it myself from a superb watercolorist, Laura Wilk, who is also, fortunately, my friend.

Still lifes, landscapes, and abstracts are what I enjoy painting, especially learning new techniques and getting more and more comfortable with the old.

Marja Watson 

I have always been inspired by nature. I grew up in Finland in a landscape of forests and rocky shores, I could freely wander under the transparent canopy of trees and rest on granite platforms honed by ice age.

Presently trees, especially without the heavy summer foliage, intrigue me. I try express the construction, transparency and patterns of background. I look out of the window and observe the shapes and light that varies hourly and daily.

There is an absence of man in these works but I recognize effects of his activity or neglect.

Kathleen (Cathy) DeMeo

Kathleen is a printmaker, painter, and mixed media artist. Her work has been shown in respected exhibitions including the Center for Contemporary Printmaking’s FOOTPRINT International, Connecticut Women Artists’ national juried exhibition, and the Connecticut Academy of Fine Arts annual juried exhibition. Her monotypes have merited several “best in show” prizes among other awards, and her work is widely collected.

“I’m drawn to monotypes because they are a painterly form of printmaking. I love the feeling of surprise and discovery with each pass through the press. Once an image is transferred, only a “ghost” remains on the plate rendering it impossible to duplicate. I’ve never been interested in producing a series of identical prints, preferring instead to create unique, one-of-a-kind works.

My subjects are imaginative landscapes and abstractions incorporating rich textures and color. I use transparent oil-based inks, layering colors to create new, unexpected hues, and varying richness to convey depth and energy. Unpredictability and chance are part of my process: I never know exactly how two colors will combine or the image will appear when I pull the paper away from the plate. I strive for evocative compositions that resonate with viewers on a personal level.”

Kathleen holds a BFA in graphic design from the University of Connecticut, and has studied printmaking at Creative Arts Workshop for over 20 years. More of her work can be viewed on her website at Kathleendemeo.com.

About Monotypes

 My monotypes are unique, one-of-a-kind works on paper created by applying oil-based ink onto a smooth Plexiglas plate using a brayer or brush, or by inking objects like stencils, leaves or other textural surfaces and applying them to the plate. Imagery is transferred to archival paper by “hand pulling” through a large etching press. My works are multi-layered and require numerous passes through the press as I add more color or detail and the image evolves. Technically a printmaking technique, monotypes differ from most prints because there are no carved or etched lines in the plate that can be repeatedly inked to make multiples. Each work is singular and original.

Artists: Pick up date is Friday, August 23 between 4:00 and 6:00 p.m.

Opening reception: June 30 4:00 - 6:00

Opening reception: Sunday, June 2 4:00 -6:00

Hot House: Painted Plants by Grace Hager