Shoot Local.

This show will be a collection of my favorite images from this year quickly coming to a close. It will cover subjects ranging from my favorite landscape, Mt. Tom, to a jar of gummy teeth and everything in between, so long as it's local. You may likely recognize a few of my favorite walks, waterfalls, and ponds. Stop by for a look, a bit of chocolate, and a hot cup of coffee.

Small artwork by BIG talented local women artists: Esthela Berger, Anne Burton, Elizabeth Caine, Sharon Carty, Gineen Cooper, Sally Curcio, Karen
Dolmanisth, Rita Edelman, Oriole Farb Feshbach, Rachael Folsom, Peggy Grose, Nona Hatay, Lee Hutt, Ticia Kane, Deborah Kruger, Laura Mills, Susan Montgomery, Holly Murray, Nancy Natale, Lynn Peterfreund, Marcia Reed, Terry Rooney, Diane Savino, Belinda Lyons Zucker & Elizabeth Pols.

This multi-artist show is held in conjunction with a cyber event with Key West, Florida artist Barb Benson.

Artist in space - cyber space, that is! Meet artist, author and whack-job, Barb Benson at the Nashawannuck Gallery, when she brings her silly-pants antics to town by way of a virtual book signing! That's right. Meet the fruit loop in person, as she gets spicy on live web cam, signs your copy of her book "The ArtSlut's Guide to Making It as a Visual Artist" and answers the question, "What's an ArtSlut?"

This event is being held in conjunction with a multi-artist show of 2-d and 3-d works entitled, "small artwork by BIG talented local women."

Special orders are available. If you are interested in an item, but in a different color, I will be happy to make it for you.

I have decided to add some gifts that I did not make myself, but thought were very nice items. I have also added a Kid's Corner.

Jazz is America's indigenous classical music and we're proud to continue the tradition. Our repertoire includes Swing, Latin, Clay Jazz: Sophisticated Jazz with a Latin Twist, Nova, Ballads, Spanish love songs, Blues, and standards from the American Songbook -- works by Cole Porter, George & Ira Gershwin, Thelonius Monk, Charles Mingus, Hoagy Carmichael, Duke Ellington, Antonio Carlos Jobim, and many others from the 1940s to the present.

Sarah Clay's sultry vocals and sweet flute put you in the mood to relax and celebrate. On guitar, Karl Rausch swings with richly voiced chords. Together they create a special sound that is unmistakably jazz: smooth, lively, mellow, fun. They perform as Clay Jazz throughout New England at restaurants, parties, business events, weddings...what about your next event?
BOOKING:
Contact Sarah at 413-586-9564 or Sarah@ClayJazz.com

A series of paintings expressing the small often over looked moments that define an individual

"What If?" this question gives birth to every piece, these words begin the transformation of a blank piece of paper into a window to a new world, familiar, yet unknown. Every time this happens I get this feeling of looking at the world for the first time, with fresh eyes without the curtain of routine hiding my surroundings. The need to preserve this feeling is what motivates me to paint. My goal is to never lose this sense of amazement for the world that surrounds me. I find myself drawn to day to day scenes, objects and places that I see everyday before my eyes until they become intriguing. I like to observe and analyze these "familiar" scenes from unexpected angles and unusual positions, even uncomfortable ones, until they become unknown, new, intriguing to my eyes. When I'm painting I try to capture the colors that appear as reflections, lasting just one second, shadows that appear in the corner of my eye but disappear when I try to look at them. It is when they come together as one: shadows and reflections, that the world around me is forgotten and its possibilities begin, once again, to amaze me.

Marilyn Marquez-Mercado

Join us for a fun evening of making your own felted holiday ornaments!

Accomplished fiber artist Sue McFarland will be teaching a wet felting technique that will result in a beautiful one of a kind felted ornament to add to your tree or give as a special gift.

Feel free to stop by and try your hand at felt making or just observe. Either way there will be hot cider to sip and plenty of Sue's lovely ornaments available!

*Sue McFarland of Conway Mass. is a longtime weaver and weaving teacher for whom felting is her 'change of life baby'.

Terry has been making jewelry for the past 20 years. Her jewelry incorporates semi-precious gemstones; Swarovski crystals, sterling silver and hand made lamp-work glass beads. Using a distinctive style, her earrings, bracelets and necklaces are uniquely balanced and bring out the beauty in the pieces.

Terry will be on site at the December Artwalk displaying and talking about her jewelry during our Artist's Opening. Light Refreshments will be served.

Deshria is known for her visionary paintings that capture the Unseen World present here in the known World.Inner Visions, Outer Expression This body of work is an exploration of spirituality and being connected with the earth. These paintings invite the viewer to experience the emotions repressented with the subject of the painting. In Each painting here is an abstract 'frame' that is broken into by the realistic painting in the center. The Colors are vivid. Deshria studied Illustration and graduated from MassArt.
AwenTree will host an art opening for Deshria. Light Refreshments.

A special acoustic performance of Moose and the High Tops

One common passion, three different styles: Marjorie Tauer, Suzette Alsop Jones and Marsha Lieberman combine their talent for the Elusie Gallery's last exhibit of 2007

December is an exciting month for Easthampton City Arts. We will be hosting a group show of ECA member's work. Come see us at our second Art Walk!

photo by Bruce Barone

Folk singer Chris Wilhelm has a voice that rings with a certain vulnerable sense of conviction. And indeed, this Boston-based singer/songwriter has seen a lot during his 16-year music career: In between his relocations from Hudson, New York to Albany and now to Boston, he has spent time busking for change in subway stations, singing open-mic nights in coffee shops, and altogether honing his delicate craft. His current songs reach a rare level of emotional urgency, steeped in a palpable sense of hope and understanding. He began his music career, he says, as a child of 10 in Hudson, NY, making his first guitar out of a piece of cardboard with strings drawn on with permanent marker, so he could play along with his favorite music. He made the decision to make music his primary focus after moving to Albany in 2000. But that childhood sense of innocent musical wonder hasn't seemed to change over the years, as he is happiest to live his life simply: traveling around town-to-town spreading his message of breezy acoustic melodies that echo the best of early Bob Dylan and American blues and roots music.

One common passion, three different styles: Marjorie Tauer, Suzette Alsop Jones and Marsha Lieberman combine their talent for the Elusie Gallery's last exhibit of 2007

One common passion, three different styles: Marjorie Tauer, Suzette Alsop Jones and Marsha Lieberman combine their talent for the Elusie Gallery's last exhibit of 2007

Born and raised in Central Minnesota, Aric Bieganek grew up infused with the belief that music can both tell stories and inspire personal and social change. His perspective and his songs -– from the introspectively placid to the passionately outspoken -– all embody this belief, just as they have since he was a little boy playing his first plastic guitar. Although Aric has traveled as far east as Japan, as far north as Iceland, and across the United States in his trusty Ford, his connection to his roots is evident in all the poetry and fervor of his songwriting.

Featuring Non-Objective works that explore relationships between the man-made & inherent creations of nature. PLUS!A fun time & several additional examples of my work from the studio.

Please drop by my open studio in the Old Railroad Station to see completed pieces and works-in-progress.

It is important that my landscapes in oils and watercolors convey a sense of place. Nature is my influence but then it becomes something more. I don't want my work to capture the exactness of nature or my brush marks to be predictable. I have been told for years that I have an unnatural landscape palette. Color is important to me, but I also am intrigued by the absence of color as in my nocturnal moonscapes. I want to embrace a mood for the piece, and challenge the viewer to look deeper. In the process of painting on location or in my studio I strive for the balance of when to intervene and when to leave well enough alone.

Every day I am thankful for having adventures around the world that allow me to experience and convey that sense of place. I have taught workshops in Tuscany, Italy, Burgundy, France, and in the US Virgin Islands. I have met many fascinating people of all ages, including artists who have enhanced my life and work with their personal stories. I invite you to observe my watercolors and oils with their open vistas, storm swept skies, full mysterious moons, and contemplative moods. It is my hope that you will experience the world I envision through the fusion of paint and experience.

Come hear jazz vocalist Carol Abbe Smith in PACE's cozy cafe!

Mark Brown makes fun, one-of-a-kind mixed media sculptures and clocks in his backyard studio in Easthampton, Massachusetts. He was trained as a painter and worked on canvas for 25 years. This interest in color, pattern and figurative imagery can be seen in the current body of three-dimensional work. Each of his pieces are unique, stylized and engaging characters.

Most of the components in Mark's artworks have had another life and indeed much of what he uses is collected at tag sales and flea markets. This ensures that each individual piece has its' own identity. Mark Brown responds to the opportunities presented by the materials at hand. He believes that each object has it own power. These household items were designed with style and utility in mind. This dash of panache carries over into the new, transformed union of vintage bits and pieces and contemporary sensibilities.

d.Art Gallery Winter Solstice exhibition

A group of selected works of art in the winter solstice theme along with artist made gifts for the holidays.

Photograph pictured by Ashley Clark, available for purchase at d.ART Gallery

Large and small one of a kind painted items; boxes, mirrors, picture frames, art pieces and small tables. Mew mixed media ornaments. Lots of color and pattern blanket each piece. Colorful home additions and great gifts. During this Art Walk I will be displaying in the Marketplace at Eastworks.

Join us for our End of Season Exhibit featuring a collection of student work. Work on display are creations from our After School, Mommy and ME and Creative Visions programs.

NEW VENUE!

Maggie Nowinski is showing three large scale collage paintings that are aesthetically and conceptually inspired by the (un)natural disintigration of billboards. The paintings have been constructed through a build and reduce process she calls stick, peel, stick, peel.

Each painting has a different theme; pornography in relation to weekly sale grocery circulation adds, babies in relation to blueprints, and semiotic deconstruction in relation to personal sign systems. The paintings are playful and layered.

They are on view at Open Space (outside of the artists' studio) at the Paragon Arts and Industries building in Easthampton at 150 Pleasant St. The paintings will be up through mid December and are priced to sell. Her studio will also be open for viewers of work in progess and other work will be for sale at discount prices! For more information please contact the artist: maggienowinski@gmail.com, www.maggienowinski.com.

LARGE MULTI-ARTIST SHOW IN EASTWORKS, including:

All jewelry showcased is designed and made by me. I can custom make any jewelry to match your needs; color, style or any other specifications. Whether it is wedding jewelry, prom jewelry, birthstone jewelry or for any other special occasion, I will work with you to make sure your jewelry meets your needs and is that extra something you are looking for. I take great pride in my work and use high quality items to insure great looking jewelry that lasts.

These works represent the past three years of taking as many pictures as possible when the opportunities arose. As an artist I have expressed my inner eye in a variety of media - Oils, Watercolors, Ink, Pencil, clay, animation, 3D modeling, wood, graphic design, etc. Many of these photos were taken with the intention of using them as photo references for large scale Oil paintings. The evolved into so much more and became expression in their own right. Then the reference photos became snapshots of interesting things - then a compulsion to capture the dynamic and the interesting. Color and black & white, all digital images and all digitally processed and printed. From Key West to Mystic, CT, from New Orleans to New York City, from Hadley to Ft. Myers, these photos are only this step in the journey that is always evolving. And that is why I enjoyed it so much.

In my Quantiference work, I use an emotion that I cannot understand or handle, and using a visual language of pseudo-math and symbols, create something beautiful that can perhaps give me insight into the original feeling. I do not expect people to look at my work and understand what I am feeling. I rely on my artistic skills to create something that is visually appealing and compelling to the point where understanding the meaning is secondary. The art becomes an independent object of the emotions behind it.

My pleasure in creating these pieces comes from working with that tension between maintaining the imagery and creating a work that is pleasing or exciting to anyone who sees it.

Our music is a deep penetrating hypnotic sound with worldly rock beats.

Susan Harrison lives and works in Northampton, MA. Using multiple fabrics her bags are truly one of a kind - inside and out. Shoulder to Shoulder bags are shown locally and featured in the museum shop at the Albany Institute Of History and Art currently coinciding with a show on textile arts.

The concept that time and space are merely an illusion gives rise to a variety of thoughts and emotions that fill me as I create my art. Are we here at all? And if we are not here, then what exactly is it that I see, feel, touch, taste, and smell on a daily basis? If the world is a stage, then perhaps some of the most important people here are the ones who are working the lights, changing the sets, and drawing the curtain Behind The Scenes.

I've just returned to Western Massachusetts after spending three years living on the Big Island of Hawai'i. The island offers vast barren fields of black lava and dripping tropical rainforests, fiery molten lava flows and rolling green hills, majestic snow-capped mountains and sandy beaches. Huge hapu'u ferns share space in the green jungle with twisted ohia trees, while endangered green sea turtles rest on white or black sand beaches. My photographs try to capture the amazing contrasts of this stunningly beautiful place in the world, often from unusual perspectives.

Martina Robinson is a proud pro-choice, anti-selection feminist, as well an artist, activist, and academic, who lives in the Pioneer Valley of Massachusetts.

A poet since the sixth grade, and a creative writer long before, the Set on Freedom series, now at six volumes is her first collection of gathered poetry.

"I'm so alive! There's this passion inside. It's like a burning fire that cannot be quenched. I fight, but then I realize that pieces of my soul are being implanted on these vivid images of my dreams. I give in with the knowledge that when the time comes to let that eagle in me fly free,this images will remain as silent witnesses of my existence."

Bee Emily is a Nature and Wildlife Photographer who now calls Western Massachusetts her home. She was born and raised in a small town in Southern Indiana where she was introduced to all the beauty of the natural world at a young age. She fondly recalls the sunrise and sunset trips to the nearby Muscatatuck National Wildlife Refuge with her Grandmother to count the deer and she credits this to developing her photographer's 'eye'.

Trained as a Registered Nurse, she practices as a Psychiatric Nurse in many different settings. She finds that her passion for her photography balances the demands of nursing. A self-taught photographer, she now enjoys being able to share her images with others and has fans and collectors throughout the country and internationally. Bee says 'There is nothing like having someone look at one of my images and say 'Wow, this is beautiful'. She also states 'My hope as a Photographer is to get people to slow down, breathe and take in the beauty of this glorious world.'

Having been a systems analyst/programmer and designer for many years, I ventured into the world of art, my first and most cherished love. I don't remember a day going by in my life that I have not been the happiest when I was creating. This applied to my artwork and my systems design. Sixteen years ago, I decided to take a different path. I bought and operated an art store for several years in the state of Massachusetts. At that time, I also began studying anatomy, portraiture, memory drawing and printmaking techniques with Donald Wilhelm, formerly of the Student Art League in New York City. Studies in pastel and oil techniques with Jeff Kern, twice Copley Award (Boston) winner featured in 'Yankee Magazine'. Since that time I have been very involved with my fine art, whether I am involved in a workshop or privately teaching several high school students.

I strive to bring out the best in myself and my students. This can only be done if your heart and soul are firmly committed to the creative process. My students possess this devotion, as do I. My philosophy is to utilize the mind's eye in filtering the extraordinary from the ordinary and recreating those mental images onto surfaces. I try to take the viewer away to perhaps a peaceful, perhaps an even more turbulant time. Whichever it is, the purpose is to move the viewer, to please the viewer. For if artwork cannot achieve this, what would be the point?

I must quote, perhaps not per word, something I recently heard by a very famous director. Steven Sodenberg, upon accepting his academy award for best director lamented - He would save his 'thank you's' and deliver them in person - He then proceeded to implore any one who has any creativeness in them to indeed create, even if only for 1/2 hour each day, for you owe it to yourself and to the betterment of mankind. This quite profound statement mirrored my views and thoughts.

I immensely enjoy any of the arts - be it theatre, music, etc. We must never lose sight of our innerness and need for the beauty that humans can create. We must try to accentuate the positive and eliminate the negative more successfully than we are currently doing in today's society.

We must never lose touch with our ability to capture the rare fondness that is apparent in all life...to take the indescribable inner emotion to a level that everyone can understand, that being of substance.

Fused Dichroic Glass Jewelry that is handcrafted by melting together layers of glass coated with colored metal in a kiln.

Bright colors and lots of fun!

Simple Pleasures of Mind Body & Spirit

Custom Hand-Made Jewelry for yourself or for a gift. Each piece utilizes the healing qualities of the stones used and is Reiki charged for added well-being. Each piece is unique and no design is ever duplicated. Come visit me and get an SP Original. Simple Pleasures of Mind Body & Spirit - exclusively offering you... Wellness... By Design

contact designer Mary-Anne DiBlasio @ wellness@simple-pleasures.com

Hi! I make kitchy stuff out of whatever I can find. My main focus now is making functional items out of old vinyl records. I'll be displaying vinyl clocks and bowls for sale, as well as some silk screened shirts! Come check out my newest shirt, which is zombie-oriented.

Come check this stuff out! Neat, cheap, and unique!

Beautiful Designs by Tian
Handcrafted Jewelry and Knit/Crochet Accessories for Your Everyday Life
website: www.beautifuldesignsbytian.com and www.beautifuldesigns.etsy.com

June Luippold, a longtime Easthampton resident and local artist, has been painting since she was 16 years old, and is still painting at 81 years of age, after a stroke and reconstructive hip surgery. She specializes in both oil and watercolor. Recently widowed since the death of her husband, retired Easthampton police officer Thomas Luippold, June is struggling with her grief and her uncertain financial future. She is in the process of selling sell her home and liquidating her assets so to be able to relocate closer to her family for their support. Although June has always painted for her own enjoyment, not just to make money, she is forced by current circumstances to sell her art and is hoping for a show of support from the community.

I've been writing poetry and children's books for 16 years. My first chapbook, DIVORCE PAPERS, published by Bull Thistle Press, was released in 2002, and my first children's book, WHEN THE COWS GOT LOOSE, was released by Simon & Schuster in 2006. I recently moved to Easthampton and am glad to be part of this artistic community.

I dream. My collection of art is a result of dreaming with my soul's eye for the perusal of anothers mind's eye. Subjects from different sources that do not necessarily belong together join to meld and blend and become one. I seek to create environment in which I choose to live, even if it is only in the soul.

Barbara Widmann is an artist from Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Barbara's horse paintings flow with color and life; inspire energy, power, illustrate beauty, and the elegance of horses. More of her art can be viewed at
www.barbarawidmann.com

Eric Erkkinen is a solo musician from Pittsfield, Massachusetts. With an acoustic guitar, Eric's style is reminiscent to the roots of Traditional Blues, Celtic and Folk music. His music can be heard at www.myspace.com/ericerkkinen

Emily Lombardo takes fused glass in a totally new direction. Her strong background in printmaking adds a fresh edge to this medium. Armed with her degree in sculptural glass from the Massachusetts College of Art, she has perfected the art of silkscreen enameling. Teaching at Diablo Glass Studios, she leads her classes down a more sculptural and painterly approach to glass working by encouraging students to experiment with text, photography and painting with light.

Eric Mauro paints contemporary landscapes, seascapes and interiors using some of the traditional techniques of the Dutch 'Old Masters'. He uses radical perspective to paint large subjects such as battleships and seaside amusement piers. He is a recent graduate of Mass. College of Art, and lives in Brighton with his wife and children.

Handmade sterling silver jewelry with semi-precious stones. My work has been described as 'industrial girly girl.' Wholesale customers include the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Sundance Catalog Company, Dharma Crafts, and more.

The Concrete Poetry series is the latest work by Stuart Cudlitz integrating painting and collage and the vocabulary of poetry with dynamic concepts from music and filmmaking. The result is a suite of new collage paintings and mixed media assemblage works aggregating torn street posters, torn drawings, personal documents and found objects with pastels, acrylics and oils on board that challenge the mind's eye.

Projected in the gallery as part of the exhibit 'Concrete Poetry', new collage paintings by Stuart Cudlitz, this is a rare screening of the Rock Hall Documentary Mural by Director Cudlitz and Editor Lili Cunningham. The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Museum commissioned this video/audio collage installation as it's main video wall exhibit and it is still shown as part of the permanent collection.

"Though much of the rock hall is about artifacts, the museum's centerpiece is a work of art...a spectacular art installation that draws as much from the traditions of the great muralists as from video." Joanna Connors Film Critic, The Cleveland Plain Dealer August 1995