The Reading Art Association Puts On Its Autumn Art Exhibit

Local visual artists had a heyday at the semi-annual art exhibit and sale sponsored by the Reading Art Association and held at the First Congregational Church.  The event’s co-chair Evelyn Knox, who along with her counterpart Grace Cherwek was responsible for organizing all facets of the exhibit, explained that the 58-year-old organization hosts two shows a year, one for only the association’s members and one that includes all regional artists.  There were three ribbons awarded by outside judges, Nella Lush and Lawrence Pumfrey, in each of five categories: oils, acrylics, water colors, mixed media, and photography.  First place winners also got cash prizes.  In addition, a best-of-show was awarded.  For other worthy compositions, ribbons of excellence were also given.

There were 115 works submitted for judging.  Regardless of the medium, representational landscapes and still lifes predominated with very few abstract (or even more modern) compositions to be seen.

The winner of Best of Show was Karl Weld of Reading whose still life of deer carcasses being prepared for butchering bears the mysterious title, “Aunt Dud’s Mince Meat Pies.”  As he explained, this water color was of his aunt’s barn, and her husband and friends had shot the deer which were destined to be cooked into meat pies.  Sort of meat pies on the hoof.  A graphic designer, he showed his works in a gallery in Maine for six years, where coastal scenes and landscapes were his stock in trade.  His top prize winner showed the influence of another Maine painter, Andrew Wyeth.   While Weld works primarily in water color, he also draws in pen and ink.

The winner of the photo competition, Nancy B. Stewart of North Reading, received her first Kodak Brownie at the age of four and a half in Cape Cod and has been taking pictures ever since.  In a photojournalism course at B.U. she fell in love with black and white processing.  Although in color, her winning composition, “Tree Climber,” embodies her photographic philosophy of capturing the lives of those workmen such as plumbers, electricians, and carpenters, whose seemingly mundane jobs we cannot live without.  Stewart is a substitute teacher in North Reading and during the summer teaches photography to children at Kaleidoscope, an enrichment program for children in Andover.

As I passed Florence Como’s first prize winner in acrylics, it shouted out to me “Tuscany!”  Como gratefully confirmed my geographical acumen by noting that the title of her countryside portrayal was “In the Tuscan Hills.”  A retired fifth grade teacher, she now devotes all her time to art, working in oils and water colors as well as acrylics. She took some art courses in college but spent more time with music.  Today, she says, she wouldn’t think of singing.  A frequent traveler abroad, she is especially fond of Italy and goes there on group painting expeditions.  She has attended La Romita School of Art in Terni, Umbria, Italy.

While looking at Ginger Greenblatt’s impressionistic rendition of a Reading Civic Concert Band performance, I noticed in the band the trumpet soloist in a recent concert. My first thought was that this was genuinely contemporary art since the concert was only a couple of months ago.  She admitted that she had taken some artistic license with her portrayal of the band by providing a better background and taking out the clutter on the stage such as open horn cases, mic stands, and speakers, to say nothing of all of us saxophone players. Greenblatt, now retired from nursing and concentrating on painting, has drawn all her life, but has improved her technique through workshops and art shows.  Besides her second place oil painting, she also paints in water color.

The winner of the water color division was “Lifting Fog – Monhegan” by Lorraine O’Brien of Stoneham.  Now retired, art has been her long-time hobby but she started serious study when her children started school.  Originally she concentrated on oils but shifted to water colors and never turned back, although she also likes drawing in pen and ink.  She belongs to all the local art guilds and used to show in a gallery in E. Gloucester.  Today she has a studio in her home.

Employing a model on her first assignment, Judith Greulich of Wakefield translated her novice into a first prize winning oil.  The name of the work, “Expectant,” is derived from the not-so-obvious fact that the model was pregnant. Greulich had been an art student at Montserrat School of Art back in the ‘70s, but let it fall behind as she embarked on a career, resuming her interest about fifteen years ago.  Today she is retired from business but runs a sketch group in Malden.

Although he purports to like to describe motion in his paintings, Anthony Accettullo submitted a still life, “Rolls with Pitcher,” to this exhibit.  A retired pharmacist, Accettullo is from an artistic family; his father was famed for his stained glass.  He has been drawing all his life, and even after a life-threatening brain aneurism, he immediately started drawing during his recovery.  Today he teaches water color painting at the Revere Senior Center.

A member of the Art Association, Marty Marshall, donated one his works for a door prize.  An unusual view of low tide at the beach, he created a naturally occurring abstraction reminiscent of the more contrived compositions of the Surrealists Tanguy and Dalí.

Friday night’s crowd was entertained by pianist Robin Verdier’s constant stream of old favorites.