Mural Finished!

Thank you to everyone who participated. Great job! This was a first time painting outdoors and on brick for many of us.

Photos above by Linda H. Feinberg

Our artists are continuing to paint outdoors. Many of them are working with the Eagle Eyes group painting a boat house on the west side.

Photos above by John Mitchell.

Mural is almost done!

We had a great time working on the mural this past weekend.  We are hoping it will be all finished by next weekend. Great project!  And it was a delight to see Colleen O'Connor again, our original president who has moved out of the area.  She was in Manchester over the weekend, saw our group and borrowed brushes and paint to join in. Thank you, Colleen (photo below).

Bea Bearden jumped in when the opportunity arose. She loves to paint portraits and it appears flowers too.

Linda Feinberg (this blogger) with her first time painting on brick. Anthony Williams is a great coach and this was the first time painting on brick for several others too. Thank you to Bea for the two photos above.

Our newest artist, Shirley Perry. She has been a photographer for a long time and has just started painting lessons this year. She's not afraid to learn something new and loves it. Stop by the location and see how much she has finished now.

Don't forget, 48th Annual Art in the Park show September 20th, 2014 at Veterans Park in Manchester. This annual event is hosted by Manchester Artists Association.  If you sign up before July 31st, they are offering an early bird special to members of $50 per booth. Contact Dee Lessard for more information and an application: 603-661-8305 or by e-mail: deelessard@yahoo.com
Application is also available online:  http://www.manchesterartists.com/downloads/2014/aitp/AITP_2014application.pdf

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.  

Colleen's Gift

Our president, Colleen O’Connor, has left us to move closer to her family up north.  She has done a great job guiding us to an actual organization and we will miss her.

As a going away present, she left us some artwork to sell and use the money for our projects.  As treasurer, I don’t really know how to price these items, so please make an offer.

Please forward this post to your friends. If the items are not sold, they will be displayed with our first pop-up gallery, hopefully this spring.  Contact Linda Feinberg, Treasurer to pay for your item and pick it up (in Manchester). lhfeinberg@myfairpoint.net  or 645-6762.

Photo above: left item is “Draped Vessel”, ceramic. Low fire clay and layered glazes stoneware. Bottom right is “Circle, Square, Drip”, acrylic on canvas. Top right is “Iris”, ceramic: stoneware with red art added & glaze. Comes with candle inside.

“Ice Princess”. Watered down acrylic on canvas on sturdy frame.  18.5” X 18.5”

“Corner of Beech and Brook”, Pastel on paper, matted and framed under glass. Framed size, 14.5” X 17.5”

“Mushrooms by the Pond” Acrylic on canvas board, matted and framed under glass. Framed size, 10” X 12”

Project Updates

Finished paintings are coming in now for our project with Families in Transition. This one is by our Vice President, Anthony Williams.

I'm sure FIT will be happy with this horse. Painting by our President, Colleen O'Connor.

Two other paintings were posted earlier, on August 27th.

Our last project, the meters on Elm Street, has raised over $300 for New Horizons. That will pay for about 100 dinners.  Pat Long, the downtown alderman who initiated the project has ordered additional signage to be attached to the posts so people will be clear on why those meters are there. We've received lots of positive feedback on the meters.

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.

A Beautiful Winter Morning by Colleen O'Connor

A Beautiful Winter Morning was done with watered down acrylics on watercolor paper after Linda Feinberg shared her Stephen Quiller video with me (Acrylics the Watercolor Way: Stephen Quiller Paints a Landscape) and we used the technique with the students in my program (21st Century Community Learning Center at Henry J. McLaughlin, Jr. Middle School). (See photo in first blog post on this site to see what the students accomplished.)

I worked from a photo I took one morning when I went out ice fishing with "the boys" at Pillsbury State Park in Washington, NH. 

The second is of a few cards I whipped up this week. Not sure if they look that great... I like to use scraps from other projects, so even when the papers are the same, every card is different. 

The third photo is of some of my hand painted Easter eggs. Every year I blow the insides out and paint a unique egg for everyone in my family. None of the designs are planned, it's just what I feel like painting at the time. Although delicate, they can be completed rather quickly and I love the variety of my designs. 

Colleen is a teacher in Manchester with the 21st Century Community Learning Center at Henry J. McLaughlin, Jr. Middle School.  She is also looking for a full time art teacher position in the fall.

To contact Colleen O'Connor: cmoconnor9@yahoo.com