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Artists – Barbara Materna, Andrew St. John, John and Tish Whipple
Sun, August 16 - Mon, August 31
Opens Sunday 4pm with Reception
BARBARA MATERNA: After 20+ years as a technical writer, Barbara turned her energy to designing and creating unique and unusual handbags and travel bags.
The BABS brand has been featured in the Providence Journal Style section, Rhode Island Monthly, Providence Monthly and was a “Best of Rhode Island” winner. The BABS brand includes Jack + Cookie (felted wool bags), Coastal Cruisers (map and chart bags) and WAXT (waxed canvas bags).
After a couple of years sailing the Bahamas, Barbara has rekindled the design flame and continues to design and create out of her studio in Essex, MA. www.BABSetc.com
JOHN WHIPPLE: Paintings that appeal most to me have three qualities: beauty, craft, and intrigue. The measure of beauty is that I want to hang them on my wall and live with them. Craft means to me that they can’t be made by just anyone: they go beyond a photograph or a digital image; they are more intentional than a random bunch of lines or colors.
Intrigue includes mystery, humor, emotion, and an invitation to enter a different world. Emotion is the hardest part for me. As a person of a certain age, I feel I should have something to say about emotions. Expressing them in a painting, however, is as hard as painting wind. Saying anything significant is an elusive goal for all of us. Yet we keep trying.
I look for beauty in my own environment. The rocks and trees and water, people and animals, sky and seasons that we see every day are a microcosm of the larger natural world. Insights into the small part of the world that we inhabit apply to the universe beyond us. I look for inspiration from things that I experience in daily life.
ANDREW ST. JOHN is a retired architect who spends his creative time depicting things that mean something to him, mostly in pen and ink and watercolor. He’s looking forward to exploring new media.
TISH WHIPPLE: I’m a water colorist who enjoys seeing what color and water do on paper. It makes me happy.