Richard Eyster’s “Dawn Frost,” dry brush watercolor, will be among the works at the “Ringing in the New Year” exhibit at the Richard Boyd Art Gallery on Peaks Island this month. Contributed / Richard Boyd Art Gallery
The works of more than 25 artists from Maine and around the country will be featured this month in a “Ringing in the New Year” exhibition at the Richard Boyd Art Gallery on Peaks Island.
With myriad styles and mediums, the show opens Friday and will run through Jan. 28.
“I want to ring in the new year with beautiful art that’s calming, or just makes people stop and think for a second,” said Pam Williamson, who has owned and operated the gallery with Richard Boyd for nearly two decades. “All the paintings have to play well together,” but “it doesn’t matter what genre of art they’re working with,” she said.
The works range from those that evoke an invitation to slow down and bask in the beauty of the natural world to thought-provoking pieces on the state of society and the world, she said.
“The paintings drive you to want to see what’s around the next corner,” Williamson said. “It’s an amazing group of artists.”
Deena Ball’s “Silence – Gilsland Farm Maine Audubon,” watercolor on aluminum panel. Contributed / Richard Boyd Art Gallery
Participating Massachusetts-based artist Richard Eyster often paints scenes from nature in microdetail, which can be time-consuming.
“I’ve spent a month painting one maple or oak leaf,” he said.
He hopes his work reminds people that “in our busy, blurry world, we can take a moment to appreciate the frosty edge of a leaf.”
Eyster said he believes 2024 will be “a year that demands that we focus, breathe and stay in the moment.”
“Everyone recognizes the value of breathing and being in the moment, and few of us do it on a regular basis,” he said.
He’s “honored” to have his work exhibited in the “Ringing in the New Year” show, he said, because the Boyd gallery provides unique care and sensibility to the work they display and in their relationship with the artists.
“It’s a testament to the power of their work that they’re on an island in the middle of the harbor, and they’ve still been able to make it through COVID,” he said.
Patricia Chandler’s “Moonlight Pond,” oil and cold wax medium on panel. Contributed / Richard Boyd Art Gallery
Pat Chandler of South Portland also said she’s happy to be showing at the exhibit because she enjoys working with the gallery and appreciates Williamson’s support.
Many other galleries expect artists to pigeonhole themselves once a particular style of theirs attracts buyers, she said.
“I’ve stayed out of galleries because I refused to do the same kind of work all the time … I do my work for myself first, and then it fits here or there,” Chandler said.
“It’s a really beautiful gallery and a great community,” she said.
Her work at the show includes natural Maine landscapes.
Falmouth landscape artist Deena Ball focuses on watercolors because “you can’t always control it, and that’s sort of nice. Anything can happen, and I love the colors melding together,” she said.
Ball lives near an area preserved by the Falmouth Land Trust and recently had an exhibition of works depicting conserved land. “I’ve painted as many land trusts as I can get to,” she said. Maine Audubon’s Gilsland Farm features largely in her works in “Ringing in the New Year.”
Williamson said that galleries like theirs “give us a place to go when we need to remove ourselves from the unpleasantness that goes on around us.” She hopes that people will “come and enjoy, or just relax. I think we need more of that.”
“Ringing in the New Year” will be open from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays through January. Further information can be found at richardboydpottery.com.
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