Artist gallery heading to Storrs Library Dec. 1

Date: 11/25/2014

GREATER SPRINGFIELD –  Adult student artists from the Springfield Museums will have their paintings and drawings displayed at Storrs Library as part of an exhibit that begins on Dec. 1 and ends on Jan. 5, 2015.

Storrs Children’s Librarian Heather Marchetta said this is the fourth year in a row that the students from the Springfield Museums have had their work exhibited in the library’s Betty Low Gallery.

“Some of [the artists] are total beginners all the way to, what we call emerging artists, who are hoping to get their work out [and into] more of the public [view],” Springfield Museums Travel and Courses Curator Jeanne Fontaine said.

Fontaine said the Betty Low Gallery has had paintings ranging from watercolor pieces to oil paintings, as well as pencil drawings.

One student who has been taking painting courses at the Springfield Museums for more than three years is Beverly George from West Suffield, CT., Fontaine added. George’s work consists of a large portion of water colors and is stylistically inspired by the impressionist art movement

Two works by George were submitted to the gallery this year, Fontaine noted. The first is called “Morning Light” and consists of a placid body of water with a warm pallet of colors. The second is called “The Glades” and shows an area of swampland, most likely the Florida Everglades.

Louise Boston-White, a Longmeadow resident and retired preschool teacher, also submitted three pieces to the exhibit.

“I was an art major in college and went to Bradley University and I really loved and became a preschool teacher and used my art with the kids,” White said. “Just recently, in the past 10 years, I've gotten back into it and it’s just great.”

White said her layered watercolor painting “Afternoon at Quabbin” was inspired by the vibrant natural colors at the Quabbin reservoir.

Chester Palerma, a 69-year-old resident of Chicopee who takes art classes with Springfield Museums teacher Joan Steinmeyer, said since he retired about ten years ago he has been creating water color paintings and other art pieces

Last year, a total of 711 students took courses at the Springfield Museums, which included both adults and youth for art-related programs, as well as courses on creative writing, genealogy, and art appreciation, Fontaine said.

Winter semester registration will start at the end of November, she added. For more information call Fontaine at 314-6482.    

“I think intrinsically a lot of people want to create,” Fontaine said. “A lot of people feel a desire to create and it’s a lifelong learning process and our students are all ages and we find that many people, when they retire, really find time for themselves and one of the things they really want to do is tap into their creative side.”