Trail Series - Linda Feinberg

Linda Feinberg is the Treasurer for Friends of Art Manchester and one of the original organizers of the group.

She is a hiker and loves living in New Hampshire with all its wonderful trails.  She has been working on a series of small acrylic trail paintings this past year. These are also posted at her website and can be ordered as prints or cards there. 

 www.lindafeinberg.com

Fletcher Cascade Trail

This is the beginning of the trail to Fletcher Cascade in the White Mountains of New Hampshire.  The trail starts out easily enough, but then climbs and there is a stream crossing on the way up.  The cascades are waterfalls that go over a series of granite steps.  This hike was at the beginning of autumn, the trees just starting to turn.

Linda writes: “My thoughts on starting a trail series were varied. The trails can be appreciated for their innate beauty, or they can be thought of as a metaphor. We all walk on varied paths throughout our lives, some sad and sorrowful, others filled with joy.”

(Artist of the Month, March 2013, Manchester Artists Association)

View from Barrett Mountain

The painting on the right is the view from the trail on Barrett Mountain in southwestern New Hampshire. There were also some views from there towards Mount Monadnock, one of the most climbed mountains in the state.  This trail was much easier and a pleasant climb. It is part of a longer trail that runs north from Massachusetts and goes for many miles. 

Snowmobile Trail at Clark’s Pond

The snowmobile trail at Clark’s Pond in Auburn, New Hampshire follows the abandoned railroad bed for many miles. It is also used by many others, in winter for cross country skiers and snow shoeing. It is used in other seasons for cyclists, walkers and hikers.

Both sides of the pond have trails, but this painting was focused more on this winter trail.

Linda’s blog link is on the right.  She blogs about art, art process, poetry and her travels. Linda did not get to study art until late in life and is thoroughly enjoying her retirement now.

Membership will be opening soon in Friends of Art Manchester. We are just waiting for the IRS to approve our filing as a non-profit.  To find out about member benefits (including a posting on this blog along with your website link) and how to become a member send an e-mail to us at: FOAMANCHESTER@YAHOO.COM

We have a FaceBook link, but we do not have a page yet.  Our FB name is FriendlyArtists OfManchester.

Photography by John Mitchell

The first photo is of Santa and a child at a community Christmas party in Manchester in 2007. It was shot on 35mm film with a Canon AE1 camera with a mounted flash attachment.

The second photo was shot in Concord, N.H. at the Smokestack Complex on North Main Street. The complex was once a gravestone carving company and the cameo was left behind when the company moved. The new owners mounted it above their front door. The photo was taken in the Spring of 2008. This photo was taken with the same AE1 camera using the outdoor light.

These photos were taken by John Mitchell a member of Friends of Art Manchester.  John was born in Maine and received his B.S. in Film and Radio Sound from the University of Oregon. John has lived in Manchester since 1984 and has been active in the arts community for several years.

To contact John Mitchell: jacatols2@earthlink.net

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

Our posters are up

Our posters are up at Liberty Harbor Academy on Elm Street.  We will be able to put art in these windows next month too.  Unfortunately the school has to relocate, but hopefully they'll stay downtown. We hope to continue our good relationship with them.

We are pursuing other venues to host art as well. If you know of empty windows or walls, please contact us. We would love to work with you.

Anthony Williams

Anthony Williams has been an artist in New Hampshire for many years, and has painted murals all over Manchester and one in Nashua at the Nashua Soup Kitchen and Shelter. In Manchester, he's worked with inner city youth through a program called Eagle Eyes, graffiti artists painting negative graffiti to change their mindset and do some murals together in approved spaces to show that they can do work for positive reasons. The hope is to curtail vandalism while giving young people a constructive way to express themselves.

He has placed 20+ 'movable' murals in public areas in the city. He painted and oversaw the development of several murals covering the walls in an area of town referred to as Cat Alley  among many other projects. 

He recently finished the Mural on the Homestead Restaurant's Silo in Merrimack. 

Anthony is both a commercial painter and also a fine artist working in both watercolors and acrylics. He is the inspiration for bringing together artists and those interested in art to form “Friends of Art Manchester”.  We hope to have more art downtown and involve more children with art.

Friends of Art is currently partnering with LibertyHarbor Academy and Anthony for a fall project (possibly two). Anthony will be working with the students on creating a mural for their cafeteria space.

Contact: Anthony Williams [amwpaints26@yahoo.com]

Note: To make the photos larger so that you can see them better, just click on them!

To see some of the articles written about Anthony, go to these links:

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssfSnnYfVFk

http://eagleeyes1.org/services

http://eagleeyes1.org/page_2

http://www.newhampshire.com/article/20121124/NEWHAMPSHIRE01/121129501/-1/NEWHAMPSHIRE07

http://www.hippopress.com/read-article/art-is-drawn-in-manchesterand8217s-cat-alley

Welcome

Welcome to the new blog for Friends of Art Manchester.  We are a new organization in Manchester, New Hampshire.  We completed our first project in January of this year working with the students at the Henry J. McLaughlin Middle School and the 21st Century Learning Center. Intown Manchester graciously donated their display case for the artwork created by the students.

We are founding this organization to link artists within the community with the goal of educating children and promoting art in the Manchester area.  We would like to make art more visible in our city.  We have already contacted artists who are willing to work with children to make murals and we have commitment for space on Elm Street for the fall.  While many artists are willing to donate their time, there are always costs associated with art projects for materials and space.

In May of this year, we hope to put up posters in the windows of Liberty Harbor Academy on Elm Street.  Four of our artists have agreed to provide some interesting art. The Academy has interior wall space for both murals and exhibits and we will be working with them in the fall.

If you would like more information, please feel free to contact me at lhfeinberg@myfairpoint.net.  If you would like to join the group, our next meeting will be on Wednesday evening May 15th at 7:00 p.m.  I would like to invite other artists to submit appropriate blog posts.  I will try to post weekly and will need to review your post to make sure it is relevant to our purpose.  Since we have the goal of working with children, all art submitted will have to be age appropriate (I apologize to my artist friends in advance who like to do more figurative art, sorry.)