City Hall Opens First Portsmouth Public Art Review Committee Art Show Featuring 4 Seacoast Artists

PORTSMOUTH, NH — Portsmouth City Hall is opening a new public exhibition space with its first visual art showcase by local Seacoast artists, according to an announcement from the City of Portsmouth Public Art Review Committee.

The debut invitational show, “Summer Time Vibes - Burst Into Color,” is on view in the Portsmouth Room at Portsmouth City Hall, just outside the Eileen Dondero City Council Chambers. The exhibition runs from May 13 through Aug. 26 and is free to the public when City Hall is open.

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The Public Art Review Committee, known as PARC, said it expects to present three to four exhibitions each year in the space. A public reception to open the show is scheduled for Monday, May 18, from 6 to 7 p.m. in the Portsmouth Room. The four artists in the exhibition will be recognized, and the reception is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be served.

The show features Dustan Knight, Teresa McCue, Kimberly Meuse, and Darlene Furbush Ouellett.

Knight is a professional artist who lives on the Seacoast and has a studio in The Button Factory in Portsmouth. Her work often refers to Seacoast natural landscapes through abstracted scenes.

Furbush Ouellett is a painter and printmaker who uses experimental processes and mixed media, including collage materials, inks, charcoals, acrylic and oil paints. Her nature-based art is intended to communicate her fascination with the natural world and invite viewers into what she sees as a visual world held in reverence.

McCue received her BA in Art from Bridgewater State College and continued graduate studies at Massachusetts College of Art, New England School of Art and Design, and in Italy. She creates paintings in response to her spiritual connection with nature, with work aimed at capturing light, texture, and what the announcement describes as “all the quiet magic the natural world offers.”

Meuse received a BA in Applied Art from Iowa State University and is a Signature Member of both the National and American Watercolor Societies. She is a nationally acclaimed still life watercolorist whose work combines detailed representation with color-focused technique.

More information about PARC is available at portsnh.co/PARC. Artists interested in future exhibitions can contact the committee using the form on that page. Portsmouth City Hall is at 1 Junkins Ave. and is open Mondays from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., Tuesdays through Thursdays from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and Fridays from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. City Hall is closed on federal holidays.