BRENDA BETTINSON has exhibited extensively in Europe and the US. She has had one–person showings of her work in prestigious galleries and museums, such as in Maine, the Ogunquit Museum of American Art. Her work hangs in numerous public and private collections.
Throughout her more than 70 year career Brenda’s art has constantly developed; stylistic changes reflect her intense analytical interest in visual perception and her understanding of the human form as the vehicle of painterly expression.
Her biography may be found in Who’s Who in American Art and North American Women Artists of the Twentieth Century; in 2017 BETTINSON was named inductee, World Lifetime Achievement, Marquis Who’s Who.
image info: Bettinson with her Three Goddesses (Trojan War Series) water-based media, 22¾ x 29½ (57,6cm x 74,7cm), © 2008, Mathias Fine Art.
BRIGITTE KELLER’S paintings are made by the application of polymer egg-wax emulsion on canvas and have been exhibited internationally. Her exhibition record extends to participation in group shows in Germany, Italy, Japan and New York. One person showings of her work have taken place in Germany, New York, New Hampshire, Maine, Massachusetts and Florida. Most recently she has shown at the University of New England and Mathias Fine Art. The image behind Brigitte’s portrait shot is called Across the Pond #2 and measures 60 x 50″ (152.4 x 127 cm).
Her work has a serene and meditative quality and is almost entirely abstract. Speaking of her recent paintings she says “Mainly these are contemplative paintings focusing on joyful remembrances, calm acceptance and continuation. Flowers, leaves and spirals are recurrent metaphors to express life in its ongoing process of change………”
CHRIS ALEXANDER has been showing his finely executed realist graphite drawings and landscape paintings at Mathias Fine Art for more than eight years. His approach to landscape painting is emotional and frequently reminiscent of the 19th century English school.
His work is included in private collections in New England and Maryland, and a group of his paintings and drawings has been acquired by Merrimac College in Massachusetts.
Genetta McLean’s accomplished small still-life paintings of natural objects and birds have been acclaimed in exhibitions in the mid-western USA and in Maine. Her typical eye-level groupings of fruits or vegetables seen against light, frequently marbled backgrounds are reminiscent of Pompeiian frescoes or small Renaissance panels. Working in oils on seasoned wood her skilled brush achieves an eggshell-like finish. The small birds included in many of the compositions give the paintings great charm and attractiveness.
JOHN LORENCE is a recipient of fellowships at YADDO, the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation, and the McDowell colony. He has exhibited both his paintings and sculpture extensively in solo and group exhibitions in Europe, the Middle East and the U.S. A 40-year retrospective of his work was held at the Maine Art Gallery in Wiscasset, Maine. His sculpture and paintings can be found in private and public collections including the Bradley collection at the Milwaukee Art Museum.
MARTHA HOLLAND BARTSCH graduated from Rhode Island School of Design and later studied with Brenda Bettinson. From 1981-1993 Martha was a full time member of the art faculty of Pace University in New York. Her drawings have been published both in books and as visual material for the advertising industry.
As an exhibiting artist she has shown in New York City, the New York metropolitan area and in galleries in New England. Her studies of animals, her realist equine sculpture and her underwater photography reflect her passionate activity as a horseback rider and scuba diver.
MICHAEL CULVER has been critically acclaimed in the US for his dynamic colorist paintings. Taking landscape as a point of departure, his canvases glow with rich swathes of contrasting pigment. Some paintings hover between expressionism and abstraction; others hauntingly suggest recollections of places and people. Culver’s photographs take us into similar scenes: winding roads, landscape obliterated by mist, broad surfaces of reflecting water.
Michael Culver’s work is featured in numerous collections. His biography may be found in Who’s Who in American Art.
PATT FRANKLIN has a distinguished exhibition record which extends over 25 years. She is a painter of great accomplishment who draws her inspiration from the natural environment. A realist, who simultaneously suggests abstraction, her work is distantly reminiscent of the brushwork of the great J.M.W.Turner. Her oil paintings and watercolors evoke the intricacies and patterns of tide pools, wooded landscapes and the delicate mysteries of skies and caves.
Her work is included in many public and private collections, among them the Ogunquit Museum of American Art, Boston Library, and Tufts University. She is listed in Who’s Who in American Art.
PAUL FEYLING has won numerous awards for his documentary films; he brings the same excellence and vividness to his still photography. His prints of the night sky have been highly praised and are much sought after. During the summers which he spends on Barter’s Island in Maine he has produced many studies of the island environment which are redolent with coastal atmosphere. He has captured the flamboyant sunsets, the tristesse of misty evenings, weathered man-made structures and the never ending interaction of sky and sea.
Recently he and Brenda Bettinson collaborated to produce the exhibitions Double Vision and Double Vision Encore which featured comparative approaches to island subjects. Double Vision, a 14 minute DVD of the exhibit with commentary, is available from Mathias Fine Art.
