Utility Box Painting

More public art in downtown Manchester thanks to Carolina Chauvette Davidson.  The city funded three artists to paint the utility boxes in the downtown. We hope they continue this project next year. Carolina submitted a proposal and was accepted. Her box is located on Elm Street in front of the Radisson Hotel and across from Veterans Park.

Photos by John Mitchell.

Our next project -- Fundraiser

We will be painting these mini boxes as a fundraiser.  One of our members will be selling and exhibiting them in her shop for the Columbus Day weekend.  Six of our members have already confirmed that they would enjoy painting a box.  If you would like a box to paint, contact our Treasurer, Linda Feinberg.  If you would like to paint a box and keep it for yourself or give it as a gift, that is o.k. too.  The price will be $12.

Families in Transition-Men's Residence

Our paintings are finally up at the men's residence of Families in Transition.  While they were unable to host a reception for our artists, they gave me a tour and I took some photos.  Each painting has a beautiful label with the artist's name and the title of the painting.  The paintings on the left in the photo above are by Judy Gelinas. The one on the right is by Deb Funk.

The top painting is by Carolina Chauvette and the bottom one by Stephanie Bogalis Byrd.  I think their designer did a good job with arranging the paintings in the common areas.

Painting above is by Paul Davidson.

The designer put some paintings in the entry hallway. The one above is by Anthony Williams and the one below by Debbie Curtin.

All photos by Linda H. Feinberg.

If you missed it, the Hippo had a nice writeup about our laundromat mural at 720 Union Street in their August 7-13 edition on page 21 (The link on left will bring you to the digital edition. If you type Laundromat in the search box, it will give you a link to page 21. You can click on the article to enlarge it and read it.) Thank you, Kelly Sennott.

Men's Residence, Rest of the Paintings for FIT

Our second project for Families in Transition is finished.  These paintings will be going into their men’s residence soon. Thank you to the artists of Friends of Art Manchester for painting for this project. Great job!

Yins Yang by Paul Davidson

Acrylic, 16” X 20”

Pony Ride

by Carolina Chauvette

Acrylic, 16" X 20"

(For the clueless, this blogger

 included,this is a Mustang.)

Reception at Families in Transition

Friends of Art Manchester had a wonderful reception at the women’s residence on Lowell Street last week.  Our art was up on the walls and we were given a tour of the facility.  The residence provides interim housing for 11 families and permanent supportive housing for six chronically homeless individuals.  The interim units serve as a safe space for families to stay as they wait to enter Families in Transition programming.

Paul Davidson’s colorful mandala is hanging on the wall of the second floor.  Paul is also participating in our second project for FIT. We are painting canvases again to decorate the men’s residence. Those paintings will be done in February.

We were welcomed by Karyn O’Neil, Chair of the Board of Directors of Families inTransition. Our Treasurer, Linda Feinberg spoke briefly and introduced our Vice President, Anthony Williams who told us about his vision for more public art in Manchester.  Linda also introduced our new President, Stephanie Bogalis.

Left to right: Anthony Williams, Linda Feinberg, Carolina Chauvette, Paul Davidson.

As you enter the building you are greeted by a painting of beautiful flowers by our Vice President, Anthony Williams.  Anthony is also a muralist and will be in charge of a spring project. You’ll be hearing more about that in a few months.

Carolina Chauvette likes big paintings and this one fills an interior hallway.  She also does commissioned work, painting portraits of musicians on canvas or guitar cases.

Carolina is a member of the Arts Commission and Friends of Art Manchester will be providing art at City Hall in May and June.  

Sunrise painting on left is by our Treasurer, Linda Feinberg. The Birches painting on right is by member Frank Moulin.  These paintings are hanging in the living room.

Paintings by members Deb Funk (on left), Aline Lotter (below) and Colleen O’Connor (bottom) are displayed in the kitchen/cafeteria.  

Final Paintings for Families in Transition Project

Carolina Chauvette painted this beautiful butterfly for our project with Families in Transition.  

The final paintings have been delivered to FIT and we are waiting for them to notify us when they will be having a reception so we can enjoy seeing all the paintings hanging on the walls of the residence.

An interesting mandala by Paul Davidson. Acrylic painting 16” X 20”.

We will be having a meeting on Wednesday evening, October 23^rd and hope to pick our next project at that time. If you need more information, contact our treasurer or president. Contact information

Meters and Public Art

The meters are in place now with stickers explaining that the money collected will go to New Horizons of NH.  The August 8th Hippo had a good article about public art. On page 18, there was a photo of some of our artists. On the top right of page 19, there was another photo. If you do not have a printed copy of the newspaper, you can read it online: Hippo of August 8 2013

Meters painted by our talented artists, Anthony, Carolina, Colleen, Debbie, Paul and Lance.  These are located on Elm Street between Merrimack Street and Lowell Street. All photos below by Linda Feinberg. You can click on the photos to view them in a larger size.

 

Meter Project

President of Friends of Art Manchester, Colleen O’Connor and her interesting design on the meter. She said it was based on indigenous designs.

This project was initiated by Alderman Pat Long. People can drop their spare change in the meters and the money will go to New Horizons for New Hampshire. That way they don’t have to hand change to any downtown panhandlers.  This project has been used in other cities successfully.

Mark Hayward of the Union Leader wrote an article about this meter project. His article was posted online July 18, 2013. “Brother, can you spare a dime? Hand-painted meters will collect money for the homeless.” This is the link to that article: Union Leader

The whole crew, left to right: Charlie Sherman, CEO of New Horizons. For Friends of Art:  Colleen O’Connor, President, Anthony Williams, Vice President, Carolina Chauvette, member, friends Paul Davidson and Deb Curtin, Alderman Pat Long.

Please note that you don’t have to be a member of Friends of Art Manchester to participate in our projects. We also work with other groups. Of course, we would be happy to have you as a member since we are struggling to raise funds (for more projects) and the membership fee is only $5.00.

We are hoping that the meters are now up on the posts downtown.  As soon as we find out that they are, we will take some photos and post them here.

Our next project will be in August with Families in Transition. They will be donating canvases and our artists will paint them (donating their time) to hang in their new residences.

Photos taken by Linda Feinberg, Treasurer of Friends of Art Manchester.

Paintings by Carolina Chauvette

Carolina Chauvette is a member of Friends of Art Manchester and a community volunteer. She loves to spend time in her art studio. Whether she is painting on guitar cases, canvas, or walls, either way, she is passionate, creative, and willing to add art in homes or the community. She loves to inspire people to be creative and has opened up her studio in the past as a teen art summer program. 

Her dream is to operate and direct an art center available for all ages and collaborate with other programs to use as a open art space. Art is a form of therapy and tool for self expression. She looks forward to recruiting local artists for the "The O.B.E. Show". An eclectic music and art production she organizes with her partner. 

Always staying active with her art or inspiring others, is her life passion. Born and raised in the Queen City, she is determined to bring potential to the city by adding public art.

If you would like to contact Carolina, please email her at : wallartforyou@yahoo.com or visit her Facebook page:

SweetCarolina Art.