AUgust 2024 First Friday:
The Dog Days of summer
featuring
Joyce Badanes, Bill Casto, Richard Griffin, Tomoko Hamada, Lawrence Hollingsworth, Jan Finn-Duffy, Judy Mays, Doug Mock, and Robert Schuler
Opening Reception: Friday, August 2
5:30 PM — 7:30 PM
Join Arts on Main this August for “The Dog Days of Summer"! The art in this show has been inspired by animals and is sure to delight both pet and animal lovers alike. As a special treat this month, the Gloucester-Mathews Humane Society will be attending the opening with adoptable dogs and paw-print paintings made by the dogs in the shelter!
The opening of this exhibition will take place at ARTS ON MAIN on Friday, August 2nd from 5:30 PM - 7:30 PM and live music will be provided by Ron Fetner. Light refreshments will be provided and beer + wine will be available for purchase. The show will be on display until Saturday, August 31.
Many Thanks to our August Exhibit Sponsor, Mary Jane Zander!
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
JOYCE BADANES
Joyce Badanes’ work is intuitive. She draws on what she has learned from quilting friends and well-known artists. Artwork with fabric is paramount in her life. She is continually learning and loving the process.
BILL CASTO
“I am an Interpretive Wood Sculptor concentrating primarily on wildfowl. I use driftwood from local waters and found weathered wood to carve interpretive or stylized pieces of art. I attempt to capture the essence of the wildfowl rather than a realistic duplication of the subject. My sculptures emphasize form, content, movement, and are totally original and one of a kind. I am a former College Football Coach and Athletic Director locally at the College of William and Mary and The Apprentice School. I have been carving wildfowl sculptures for over 20 years competing at the top level for the past level ten years at the prestigious “Ward World Wildfowl Carving Championships. In 2013 my entry “Crane Dance” placed “Third Best in World” (Interpretive Division). In 2014 my sculpture “Swan Dive” was judged “Second Best in World”. In 2015 my carving “Wild Riders” placed 1ST “Best in the World”. In 2016 “Arctic Tern” was awarded 2nd in “Masters” Interpretive Division. In 2017 “Wingman” placed 2nd in “Masters” and “Lil Egret” won 3rd place.”
Find his work at https://www.billcasto.com/
RICHARD GRIFFIN
“I am a Forensic Psychologist in private practice and I live in Gloucester on the Ware River with my wife Gail. About ten years ago I enrolled in art classes at Gloucester Arts on Main and received instruction in various mediums such as oil, watercolor, acrylics and began exploring various subject matter. As an avid sailor, boater and oyster grower I have a natural interest in anything that happens on or in the Chesapeake Bay. My subjects have ranged from catamarans to crabs. I love nature and enjoy immersing myself in the outdoors as often as possible. As I psychologist I have an innate interest in people and, consequently, portrait painting has had a strong pull for me as well.”
TOMOKO HAMADA
Tomoko Hamada, Ph.D., is Professor emerita of the College of William and Mary (WM) and organizer of Osprey Watch Alliance (OWA).
Osprey (Pandion haliaetus) is a migratory raptor that annually visits to lay eggs and raise the young in the Chesapeake Bay, which is the world’s largest osprey breeding ground. Live fish, particularly menhaden, make up almost 90% of the osprey’s diet in the lower-Chesapeake. However, in June 2022, WM Center for Conservation Biology researchers found that only 3 chicks out of 84 nests in the Mobjack Bay were alive, and that the rest had starved to death. In 2023, the Center found only 21 young were alive, among 167 nests studied. This reproductivity rate of 0.13 was worse than the peak of the DDT crisis in the 1970s. Tomoko paints osprey to raise the public awareness that the osprey crisis in our backyard is an important clue to the poor state of fish population such as menhaden in the Mobjack Bay. If interested in helping ospreys, please join osprey-watch alliance (OWA). hamada.tomoko.san@gmail.com.
www.://osprey-watch.org
LAWRENCE HOLLINGSWORTH
Lawrence Hollingsworth, a native of Norfolk, Virginia, derived his inspiration to paint from Country and Coastal landscapes and museum visits during his travels as an antiques importer in Europe and the U.K. He studied the styles and painting techniques of a wide range of past and present painters such as Turner, Corot, Courbet and Schmid, et.al. His primary medium is oil on canvas or linen and has patrons both in the Continental U.S. and Europe. He received his Doctorate Degree from the College of William and Mary in Virginia and he currently resides in Gloucester, Virginia.
Find his work at https://www.lawrencehollingsworthfineart.com/index.html
JAN FINN-DUFFY
“I have been making art instinctively and passionately since I was a child. Every artistic endeavor has been a learning experience, each building on the next to bring me to the point where I am today. I have learned how to paint from university classes, from extensive independent study, from artist-friends, from workshops, but mostly from trial and error .... and trial and triumph. It is one of the biggest joys in my life. In the words of Albert Einstein, which I have borrowed to apply to my view of art, each painting is a way of "opening up yet another fragment of the frontier of beauty."
Find her work at https://www.janfinnduffy.com/
JUDY MAYS
“I paint to tell stories! When I look at paintings, either in museums or various other places, I love imagining what is going on within those paintings. I love to think about why the artist might have been attracted to that particular subject or scene and what was so special about it that he or she was inspired to capture it on canvas.
Reading is my other passion, and like an author uses words with which to describe what he or she would like to share with his or her audience, I use color, light, shadow, texture, and a myriad of other nuances to describe what I want to convey within my paintings.
I particularly love figurative painting with a second love for still life. My medium of choice is oils. I am attracted to the vibrancy of colors found in oils, and I find them very rewarding in working towards my goal of telling my stories on canvas. “
Find her work at https://judymaysart.wordpress.com/
DOUG MOCK
“I paint watercolors that awaken memories of our youthful exuberance and happiness. People in their natural environment, especially children, inspire all that I love as an artist. I capture life's simplicity and innocence by using the beauty and playfulness of color and light to bring you joy...to make you smile!”
Find his work at http://www.dougmockfineart.com/
ROBERT SCHULER
Robert (Bob) Schuler has largely been a self-taught artist for most of his art career with some early limited formal training at a community college. Bob has been painting for approximately 48 years using acrylics, oils and watercolors; however, watercolor has been his preferred medium for the last 34 years.
He has participated in many shows and exhibits in Virginia and Maryland and has sold to collectors in the United States and abroad.
Bob’s journey as an Artist began in High School. As a boy, he didn’t have dreams of becoming an Artist, but he did dream of becoming an architect. He took Mechanical Drafting in High School where he learned to be very precise with his drawing. Much of that detail is evident in his paintings today.
Find his work at https://www.robertjschulerartist.com/
Many Thanks to our First Friday Music Sponsor, Martha Mathews!
Live music will be provided by Ron Fetner.
“...This irrepressible guitarist and singer draws on traditional folk, southeastern roots music and early blues and jazz to create his own earnest brand of Americana” Connect Savannah News, Savannah, GA
“...truly was phenomenal, overwhelming…a unique blend of New England folk and the soul of the South.” – Barry Graham, “Acoustic Highway”, WHRV
“...One of the greatest songwriters I’ve ever known. Ron is able to bring out the old movie projector and I settle in with the popcorn. He will take you there…Brenda Barkley, Talent Buyer-TFAM
"...If you are ever given an opportunity to see this songwriter and performer.... you will certainly be moved, both emotionally and physically'....The Virginia Gazette