Shows

2007

Arts at Canal Place, 2D Featured Artist
Nossa Segunda Mostra
Showing with Mary McCunn, metal artist and jeweler
16 Howard Street, Cumberland, MD 21502
(301) 777-8199
April 2 - June 9
10 to 6 daily
Opening Reception: Saturday, April 7, 6 - 8 p.m.

Nossa Segunda Mostra is the second show that jeweler/sculptor Mary McCunn and I have done together.  For each of us the subtleties and colors of the textures and rhythms of nature are the focus of our work.  Mary’s exquisite 3D forged metal work delightfully compliments my hand-pulled prints.  My new work highlights new monoprints and monotypes of realistic floral subjects from woodcut and linoleum blocks.  These are printed on simply textured abstract monotypes.  Nature continually fills me with wonder, and at this time of year I am particularly drawn to the extravagant show of newly emerging growth.  Lavish blossoms of lush color push their way through the monochromatic decay that is left from the winter.  The exuberance of floral blooms in the monoprints will be offset by a selection of new abstract monotypes interpreting the larger landscape.

Mary McCunn finds her inspiration from twigs, pods, insects and things caught in webs or trees, and pokes in eddies along rivers’ edges exploring.  “Sometimes I bring home the actual items to incorporate in my work and other times I bring back the creative inspiration that I found, in particular the textures of our lush country”, says McCunn.   Her featured sculptural, but wearable, jewelry has an antiqued as opposed to polished finish and will include earrings, necklaces, rings and other items made of silver, brass and copper with a subtle primitive appearance.  You can learn more about Mary’s work by visiting her website.

Garrett County Arts Council
A Circle is Cast
206 E. Alder Street, Oakland, MD 21550
(301) 334-6580
October 8 - November 17
10 - 5 Monday - Saturday

Mountain Maryland Artists Studio Tour
Friday and Saturday, November 3, 4, 10 and 11
10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
40 participating local artists will host visitors in their
studios with demonstrations and artwork for sale. 
This event is free and open to the public. 
Booklets for Mountain Maryland Artists Studio Tour
are available through the Allegany Arts Council,
at many Cumberland area merchants, or by emailing Solitude Studio.

2006

Mountain Maryland Artists Studio Tour
Friday and Saturday, November 4, 5, 11 and 12
10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
40 participating local artists will host visitors in their
studios with demonstrations and artwork for sale. 

Reverence for Wood
2D artist paired with 3 other artists doing 3D work
Arteco Gallery
Cumberland, MD 21502
Click to see photos of the show

Show Statement - Reverence for Wood

A tree retains a deep serenity.
It establishes in the earth not only its roots system but also
those roots of its beauty and its unknown consciousness.
Sometimes one may sense a glisten of that consciousness, and with
such perspective, feel that man is not necessarily the highest
form of life.
                                         Cedrick Wright

I have loved trees from the time I was a small child.  The huge heart-shaped leaves of a catalpa shaded my sandbox, and seedpods provided “beans” for stirring mud pies.  Its lower branch held my “trapeze swing” made from a large broom handle.  I often shinnied up the trunks of the large Maples in our front yard to peer into a robin’s nest, and once was surprised by a well-camouflaged tree toad resting in the crotch of the tree.  Walking alone in the 40-acre woods on our farm was a favorite pastime as a child.  The austere beauty of the branches of a lone winter tree in an open field, the swaying in the winds of huge summer-leafed trees, walking through piles of colorful leaves dropped in the fall still bring great joy to me. 

I often wish I could go back in time to walk the eastern half of our country when it was nothing but dense virgin hardwood forests.  I can only imagine the awe I would experience to see a Michigan white pine so large that only one when cut could fit on a sled pulled by horses or an American Chestnut so large that only one could fit on a railroad car.  As they efficiently clear cut every virgin timber stand in this country, did our forbearers ever experience awe or sadness for the loss?  Even today the depth of life-giving elements – both physical and spiritual – imparted to us by trees is not fully understood.