PHOTOS: Family Ties Lead to Gallery Exhibit at Newbury Court

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When Irving and Bea Fins moved from Florida to Newbury Court about a year ago, their daughter Bonnie Fins Stoddard never expected to exhibit her paintings at the senior living facility’s South Café Gallery. Stoddard, who recently lost her mother, said, “My dad is pleased about the show.”

Stoddard’s show, Nature’s Bounty, will open on Sept. 9, and run through Oct. 20. An opening reception will be held on September 9, 2012 from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. According to Stoddard, “A classical guitarist from Brazil will perform during the opening.”

Nature’s Bounty will feature 30 representational oil paintings that are floral, landscapes, and still lifes. They range in size from 8 by 10 inches to 30 by 40 inches, and are priced from $150 to $700.

The show is an assemblage of work that came later in life to Stoddard. She was a career school psychologist who found art right before she retired in 1996. Stoddard said, “I had to take a workshop (through her job), which I did every year.” That year, she chose to study art instead of psychology.

Stoddard said that she and her classmates did contour drawing, without looking down at the paper. When she was done, Stoddard said, “There was something that captured the person.”

It comes as no surprise that Stoddard found her passion in art. She comes from a family of artists, including her maternal grandmother, Mina Samet, a prize-winning painter, and her Acton-based sister, Arlene Fins, a prize-winning sculptor.