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New Hampshire Art Association & Robert Lincoln Levy
Gallery
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Story and photo by Bill Moore
PORTSMOUTH –
On the first Friday of every month, the art community from
around the New
Hampshire and southern Maine shoreline gather in Portsmouth
to attend a grand
viewing of new art at ten different galleries in the heart
of the city. Known as the Art 'Round Town Gallery Walk, this month’s event is
Friday, September 7, and runs between 5 and 8 p.m.
“We describe it as a self-guided walking tour of art in
Portsmouth,” said Wendy Clement of Kennedy Gallery & Custom Framing. “It's
a simultaneous open house. Each gallery is different, featuring their own
specialty of art and offering different food and wine (and non-alcoholic
beverages).”
The occasion brings art fans from all over, offering great
art and artists, and free food and drink, all in sight of the great white North
Church.
“It's a lot of fun,” said Clement.
To highlight a couple of places to check out, start with the
New Hampshire Art Association, a huge statewide organization with a wealth of
artists and photographers displaying their work. On First Friday, a new photo
display will be going up.
Next door is the McLaughlin-Hills Gallery. Catherine McLaughlin-Hills
is a practicing midwife at York Hospital. She volunteered to do work in the
Dominican Republic, but needed to sharpen her Spanish skills. So, she wound up
in Oaxaca, Mexico. There she discovered artists whose work you can see in her
gallery. Her gallery is introducing something new to the Seacoast - beautiful
functional art, the renowned and highly sought-after organic Colombian black
clay cooking and serving vessels that are produced in
the village of La Chamba, whose origins can be traced back
700 years on the banks of the Magdalena River in Central Colombia.
If you like South American artwork, you should check out
Nahcotta where the “Enormous Tiny Art Show” - the one and only archetypal
exhibition of all-original small art - is in its sixth year of existence.
Jay Schadler Studio and Gallery has just been added to the
First Friday tour, and
they have two interactive ipad stations and will be
featuring new artwork from
the Seacoast and Boston. Plus, you can meet Schadler,
himself, a two-time Emmy Award-winning photojournalist and artist while there.
The Three Graces will be featuring new works by Anne
Buckwalter in September.
“Anne's current
body of work explores the translation of narrative. She uses characters and
objects from nightmares, news stories, traditional folklore and fiction and
spills them onto a blank page to construct a complex, new situation. Anne is
particularly interested in masks, mutations, arctic temperatures, vessels,
armies, amputations, uniforms, misgivings
and aftermaths,” according to a press release.
First Friday is the best time to catch the latest artwork
and meet the artists, but if you can’t make it on Friday, September 7, there
are plenty of other times to take it in.
“The shows are up for the rest of the month , so you can
stop by and
see it anytime, if you miss the party,” Clement said.
Here's the list of galleries participating in the art walk.
Because there is so much to see, starting at any of the galleries will work,
although a natural place to begin is with the New Hampshire Art
Association/Lincoln Levy Gallery on State Street, then moving to the west after
stopping at the nearby McLaughlin-Hills Gallery.
- The Banks Gallery 32 Daniel Street 603-431-9799
www.thebanksgallery.com
- Discover Portsmouth Center 10 Middle Street 603-436-8420
www.portsmouthhistory.org/discover_portsmouth_center
- Kennedy Gallery & Custom Framing 41 Market Street
603-346-7007
www.kennedygalleryandframing.com
- McLaughlin-Hills Gallery 110 State Street 603-319-8306
www.mclaughlin-hillsgallery.com
- Nahcotta 110 Congress Street 603-433-1705 www.nahcotta.com
- Piscataqua Fine Arts 123 Market Street 603-436-7278
www.dongorvettgallery.com/
- New Hampshire Art Association/Robert Lincoln Levy Gallery
136 State Street
603-431-4230 www.nhartassociation.org
- Portsmouth Athenaeum/Randall Gallery 6-8 Market Square
603-431-2538
- Three Graces 105 Market Street 603-436-1988
www.threegracesgallery.com
- Jay Schadler Studio 82 Fleet Street 603.501.0416
www.jayschadler.com
