Who We Are: Meet Bruce Backman Turner of the North Shore Arts Association!

"My primary goal as a plein air painter has always been to capture the elements of the outdoors...the essence of light, atmosphere, time and place...and to create paintings which interpret that experience in a compelling and heartfelt way." -Bruce Backman Turner

With our special thanks to Joey Ciaramitaro, author of the award-winning blog Good Morning Gloucester, who, in September of 2011, recorded the following interview with Bruce Turner in the Gordon Grant Gallery of the North Shore Arts Association:

Bruce Backman Turner

Born in Worcester, MA in 1941, Bruce Backman Turner became interested in art early in life through the influence of his late father, who had studied at the Columbia School of Art in New York City. On frequent family visits to the coast, he became intrigued not only with the majesty of the sea, but with the shimmering effects of light upon its surface.
In 1972, Turner and his young family moved to Rockport on Massachusetts' North Shore, where he established a studio and gallery to paint and realize his life passion.
Living and working along the New England shores, he could experience the full vitality of the sea with its powerful atmospheric changes that would challenge the artist's brush. Later, the intricately winding village streets, local quarries and peaceful harbor settings of Cape Ann became interesting subjects of his paintings.Bruce explains, "To expand the shoreline, I added its boats, harbors and residence perched upon its rocky cliffs, especially here in my own local Cape Ann community. To incorporate the human elements with my knowledge of the sea, I introduced people into my work by spending many afternoons painting smaller oils on location to catch the interplay of moving human form against the changing tide. With its harmonious and dominant color influence by the sky, the sea provides a great stage for the variety of contrasting color introduced by human activity."
"In between painting coastal marine oils, I enjoy working outside with the change of seasons that the New England countryside offers through the awakening of spring, the warmth of summer, the vibrant burst of color in autumn and, finally, the quiet serenity of winter." 
In 1979 Bruce was among selected art instructors whose articles were published in American Artist Magazine, and was featured in Grumbacher's Palette Talk in 1983 and 1990. Listed in Who's Who in American Art, his work has also appeared in Monhegan-The Artists' Island, The Best of Oil Painting, Portrait Impressions, and A Gallery of Marine Art.
Some of the exhibitions in which Turner's paintings have been represented are the Mary Bryan Memorial Gallery in Jeffersonville, VT, Butler Institute of American Art, The Salmagundi Club, Academic Artist Association at the Springfield Museum, Marietta College's International Exhibitions, American Artists' Professional League, Hudson Valley Art Association, Chautauqua Art Association, The Maritime Gallery at Mystic Seaport, Ogunquit Art Center, North Shore Arts Association, Rockport Art Association and the American Fortnight Exhibition in Hong Kong where paintings by invited American artists were shown in 1975.
Throughout the years, Turner's work has brought him numerous national and regional awards including the prestigious Louis E. Seley Purchase Prize for first place in the Salmagundi Club's annual oil exhibition.
His work is included in such public collections as the Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in NYC, Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, the 4H National Headquarters in Washington, DC, the MBNA corporate collection, The Picket Collection-Carol Woods Center, Chapel Hill, NC and in private collections throughout the US, in Canada, England, France, Belgium, Sweden, Saudi Arabia, and Australia.
Bruce has conducted workshops throughout the years and has been invited by numerous art organizations to lecture and demonstrate his approach to painting.
While continuing to enjoy the inspiration of the beaches of Cape Ann, Turner has traveled far and wide, painting across the breadth of America to the canals of Venice, Italy and the countryside of Alsace, France.

The North Shore Arts Association is very proud to count Bruce Backman Turner among our renowned  and accomplished artist members. Look for his newest works in our summer exhibitions!
See more of Bruce's work at http://brucebackmanturner.com

Exhibition III Award Winners and July Events at the NSAA

Exhibition III of the North Shore Arts Associations 2015 Season opens July 2 through July 25th. Public reception Sunday, July 12 at 2-4 p.m. Opening along with Exhibition III, we present Steve and Nella Lush "A 40 year Collaboration" and a stunning solo .by Carol Loiacano "Reflections of Cape Ann".
Three power packed exhibitions that you don't want to miss!

An Important Reminder for our Artist and Associate Members: The NSAA Annual Fundraising ART AUCTION is fast approaching! We count on each and every members participation in  this fun and vitally important event. Put on those finishing touches and bring us your best work on receiving day, July 12th. The North Shore Arts Association needs your help to keep serving you, the artist, by building a better and more effective platform to showcase your artistic efforts and bringing it before the public. Be an active member of the NSAA and you'll be surprised what we can accomplish together!

Congratulations  to all our participating artists and especially to our Exhibition III Award Winners.

Award Winners: Exhibition III (July 2 through July 25)

'Monhegan Painters' by Marilyn Swift - Vermont Community Foundation Mary Bryan Memorial Award and Medal for Excellence in Watercolor  ($1,000.00)

'Fall Tapestry' by John Terelak - Donald Allen Mosher Memorial Award for Excellence in Landscape ($300.00)

'Low Tide, Cape Ann' by Tom Nicholas - Paul Strisik Memorial Award for Excellence in Landscape Painting ($300.00)

'Hurricane' by Judythe Evans Meagher - J. Tweed Hill and Josephine Petrus Award for Traditional Still Life, Seascape or Landscape ($200.00)

'Chatham Light' by Michael Graves - Henry Kaplan Memorial Award for Representational Oil Painting of Cape Ann ($100.00)

'Janes Koi Being Coy' by J. Lee Benson - Art Supplies Wholesale Award Gift Certificate ($50.00)



Anita Johnson - Popular Award Exhibition II

Selections from the Museum Collection of the North Shore Arts Association

The newly refurbished Members Room of the North Shore Arts Association provides a gallery space for selections from the NSAA Museum Collection and a resource and meeting room for our members. The paintings on the wall include three recent additions to our permanent collection, very generous gifts by our artists and their family members.

The watercolor by Jack Jones is the gift of his widow, Phyllis Jones. The watercolor by Ann Williams is the gift of her cousin, Patricia Cassola. These two paintings were given in 2015. The small oil by Ken Gore, former President of the North Shore Arts Association, was painted circa 1950, and donated in 2013. The portrait of Jeff Weaver was the winner of the Art Supplies Wholesale Award and was donated in 2013 by the artist, B.J. Wayne.
Two works by artist Will Roland Davis, from our extensive holdings by this artist, underwent conservation treatment in 2014 and are also on display in the Members Room.
The North Shore Arts Association is always interested in increasing the holdings in our Museum Collection. We welcome new donations. Anyone interested in donating works can contact our gallery manager, Linda Cote.
With the acquisition of works to form a permanent collection comes a commitment to maintain and preserve works in good condition for the enjoyment of future generations. The conservation of works of art requires the expenditure of funds. Any donation, however small, for the conservation of works in our Museum Collection, would be most welcome. Please see Linda Cote if you are interested.
-Peter Tysver, Chair, Acquisitions Committee

'From Back Beach'  by Jack Jones

'Bandstand'  by Ann Williams

'New England Barn'  by Ken Gore

'Man With Mustache'  by Will Roland Davis

'Portrait of Jeff Weaver'  by B.J. Wayne

 'Ipswich Bay'  by Will Roland Davis

A Great Success: 'North Greets South Paint-Out'!

Watercolor sketch by Jody Regan

At the invitation of The Board of Trustees of the North Shore Arts Association, artists from communities south of Boston mixed and mingled with NSAA members in a full day of plein air painting in Gloucester, on Tuesday, June 23rd.
Seventy artists, many of whom are nationally and internationally  known, painted en plein air at six private property locations on Rocky Neck, opened only to them for this special event, and at the harbor side grounds of the historic North Shore Arts Association overlooking East Gloucester's sparkling Smith Cove.

In spite of brief mid day showers, it was a fun-filled day for all. The visiting artists were captivated by the beauty of Gloucester harbor, it's coves and street scenes. A special thank you goes out to the private property owners who graciously invited our artists to paint from sites with  access to some of the most beautiful views of our historic, coastal city. The artists were all smiles, enjoying the North Shore Arts Association's hospitality and the opportunity to form new and lasting relationships that will enhance the already formidable reputation of the eastern Massachusetts art community and add to our region's creative economy.
By all accounts the North Greets South Paint-Out was a great success and one that we hope will become a yearly event!

Paint Out Coordinators Nancy Colella and Judythe Evans Meagher

With special thanks to the originators and coordinators of this enormously successful event: artist Judythe Evans Meagher, coordinator for the North Shore; jemeagher@comcast.net, and artist Nancy Colella, coordinator for the South Shore; saltydogstudio@comcast.net. Paint On!

Carole Loiacono: Solo Show, "Reflections of Cape Ann"

'Serene Moment' by Carole Loiacono

The North Shore Arts Association announces the solo show "Reflections of Cape Ann" by award winning Cape Ann Artist, Carole Loiacono, which opens Thursday, July 2nd through Saturday, July 25th,  with the Artist's Reception to be held on Sunday, July 12th, 2 – 4pm. This event is free and open to the public.

Carole Loiacono declares, "I'm always in love with Cape Ann!" She is an award winning plein air painter who has fulfilled her dream of living, teaching and painting on Cape Ann for the last 30 years, also following the sun to paint in Tarpon Springs, Florida in the winter months.

Carole works in watercolor, acrylic, pastel, pencil, pen & ink, and oils, and can often be seen painting on site throughout Cape Ann and Tarpon Springs. She likes to absorb the feeling of the moment. "Sometimes," she says, "it takes me in a weird direction which leads me to start with a color I don't normally use, and let the painting evolve from there." Often described as a Romantic Impressionist, she likes to exaggerate the moment, the feelings, the experience of the day, pushing the envelope through color and texture. "I'm trying to be a conduit through the painting to convey to the viewer the essence of the moment by experiencing the energy of the scene. If I am able to express some of the feelings of excitement and joy that I experience while painting the beauty of Cape Ann, then I feel I have created a memorable piece of artwork."
Loiacono earned a B.S. in Art Education from Pratt Institute and has taught art classes in the New York and Long Island school districts. In addition to numerous art show awards she was commissioned to create a twenty panel acrylic series and a fifteen panel acrylic series for the Rockland Psychiatric Center in Orangeburg, New York.

'Harbor Sails' by Carole Loiacano

North Greets South Plein Air Paint Out!

The Board of Trustees of the North Shore Arts Association cordially invites Artists from the communities south of Boston to join NSAA members for a day of plein air painting. Available painting venues will be announced and include the harbors, coves and street scenes that define Gloucester. In addition, choice spots on private property will be open to artists where they'll have access to many unexpected views of our beautiful coastal city.
This day-long event takes place on Tuesday, June 23, 2015 from 10:00 a.m - 5:30 p.m. rain or shine.  **This event is full; however,  interested parties may request placement on the waitlist.

"Gloucester Harbor" Wm. L. Metcalf

The day begins with light refreshments and a welcoming reception.  Artists will then leave to paint at their choice of sites alongside painters from both shores. At the end of the painting day, the artists reconvene at the North Shore Arts Association from 3:30 p.m.- 5:30 p.m. to informally display their day's work and mix with and meet their fellow artists. Again, refreshments will be served.
This will be a wonderful opportunity to meet artists from the South Shore whose work you may admire, but have never had the chance to meet. All are invited to attend regardless of previous plein air painting experience. Try a new skill and meet some new painting partners!
This is a no fee event! **This event is full; however, interested parties may request placement on the waitlist. Please contact the appropriate coordinator as listed below.

North Shore Coordinator:  Judythe Evans Meagher - jemeagher@comcast.net

South Shore Coordinator:  Nancy Colella - saltydogstudio@comcast.net

Remembering Robert "Bob" Blue

The "Bob Blue Retrospective" opens this month at the North Shore Arts Association's Gordon Grant Gallery from May 7 through May 30. We hope you'll visit the exhibition and experience the breadth of Bob's talents and his love of Cape Ann through this collection of his art. His good humor, generosity and companionship are sorely missed by those who knew and loved him.

Robert G. "Bob" Blue
(1924-2008)

Bob Blue was born in Newton, MA on March 13, 1924. He received his formal training from the Vesper George School of Art in Boston and for 42 years he pursued a very successful commercial art career in industry.

During World War II, Bob worked at MIT's Draper Lab in Cambridge, an integral part of the team charged with pioneering and advancing the development of radar. For 28 years Bob worked as a lead illustrator in the publications department of Jackson & Moreland Engineers in Boston. He completed the very first illustrations of the groundbreaking Nautilus submarine in 1968. Later, Bob joined GTE's government communications systems and created scientific illustrations for the space program, for GTE's magazine advertisements and for technical journals such as the U.S. Army's Signal and the U.S. Navy's Sea Power magazines. In 1970, his illustration of the General Electric GE12 Turboshaft Jet Engine was on display at the 7th Annual Technical Art Exhibit at the Museum of Science, Boston. During his ten years illustrating for GTE's trade exhibitions, his full-color illustrations traveled around the world.

During these years, he had always found the time to paint landscape and seascapes, working in strong and vibrant colors that captured the essence of the scene. Nan Blue says of her husband, "He was always painting, even during the years when he was working full time as an illustrator. He would be working on a painting or a drawing from the moment he woke up, sometimes even while he was still in his pajamas! He had a sketch book with him wherever he went; when we would go to the market, Bob would pull out his sketch book, have it in his lap, working on a quick sketch while I did the shopping. He was thinking about art and painting all the time." She recalls, early in their marriage walking with Bob in Rockport one very snowy, wintry day, when "Bob stopped to knock on the door of Stanley Woodward's studio. Bob had never met Mr. Woodward, but greatly admired his work. Stanley graciously invited us inside, where Bob spent the afternoon with Mr. Woodward, just talking about painting."
Emile Gruppe set Bob up with the easel and paints best suited to plein air work, following a chance meeting between the two men at Cape Hedge Beach around 1954. That encounter began a long and memorable friendship between the two men; Bob and Emile painted together for over thirty years, until Gruppe's death in 1978. They shared a similar interest in subject matter as well, primarily seascape, the activity of harbors and docks, and when traveling to rural parts of Maine and Vermont, the villages and vast mountain vistas.

Bob was a well respected member of the Cape Ann arts community and enjoyed memorable friendships with the artists whom he mentored as well as those who worked alongside him as friends and painting partners. Ron Straka says of Bob, "I met Bob Blue through Pat Civale. Bob Blue was just the nicest guy you'd ever hope to meet. He was a very gentle person and a good friend." "An excellent painting partner", together he and Ron "shared a lot of laughter, but not a lot of idle chatter", both men being completely absorbed in the process of painting en plein air. "Bob was always willing to help if I needed help and openly shared any knowledge that he had." Ron credits Bob Blue for introducing him to Gruppe's palette and because "Bob was such a close friend of Emile Gruppe, and had painted with him for so long, Bob knew all of the best painting locations on Cape Ann and up in Jeffersonville, which saved us all a lot of time driving around!" Bob traveled with his painting partners to Vermont, often in the company of Ron Straka and Harold Kloongian, and would spend days on end painting the landscape and villages around Jeffersonville, VT.
Paul Ciaramitaro says of his friend, "I often think about Bob - I miss him. I feel fortunate to have known him. He was very kind to me. Bob was an excellent artist and a soft spoken man. More importantly, Bob was a generous, sharing, and giving man. He was a person that I could look up to and try to emulate. I wish he was still here."
In 2008, Bob died at age 84 in Rockport, Massachusetts and is survived by his wife, Nancy "Nan" Blue, who still lives at their home on Eden Road where she enjoys gardening and is active in the gardening club in Rockport.

From the studio of: Ron Straka

On a bright early spring day, a few days after the opening of his "Straka 80" exhibition at the Rockport Art Association, Ron Straka was found in his Rockport harbor view studio, already hard at work at his easel. His is a very genial personality, soft-spoken and kind, whose intelligence and wit shines from his bright blue eyes. Ron celebrates his 80th birthday this year, and he still works as he always has, in bursts, when an idea takes hold and must come to fruition.

He speaks fondly of his mentors, among them Paul Strisik, Zygmund Jankowski, Bob Blue and Pat Civale, with whom he's enjoyed not only memorable friendships, but also the excitement of shared ideas and influences.

Straka was introduced to two of his life-long artistic pursuits by his uncle, whose interests in photography and painting piqued Ron's interest at a pre-teen age. Ever inventive, Ron made his own enlarger from tin cans and a discarded photographic lens while still in middle school. At the middle school the art teacher recognized his talent and made it possible for him to attend weekend high school art sessions at the Reading (PA) Public Museum. He remembers he "couldn't wait" for Saturdays to arrive to go to the Museum to sketch birds and animals in the natural sciences department. These weekly art sessions also exposed him to the work of the Pennsylvania School of Artists, roaming freely through the collection of plein air works by Edward Redfield, Daniel Garber, Fern Coppedge and Walter Baum absorbing their brushwork and bold color, and then drawing copies of these great works. 
Upon graduation from The John Hopkins University Ron went on to a highly successful career as a government physicist at the Air Force Research Laboratory with travels throughout Europe, South America and South Pacific areas. During these years, he was still active in painting and photography.
He studied with the celebrated photographers Ansel Adams in Yosemite and Paul Caponigro in Boston. Ron's photographs have been exhibited at the Museum of Fine Arts, the DeCordova Museums and in national exhibitions and collections.

Ultimately, his love of painting won out among his many interests and he later moved to Rockport. He found a home among the community of artists centered in Cape Ann who were drawn to this "spiritual center that fosters creative energy and nurtures the creative spirit".
Zygmund Jankowski, a bold and inventive colorist, was to Straka an "artistic guru". A man of few words, like a Zen master, Jankowski encouraged his students to follow their passion - to "do it", when the student proposed what they thought should be done to their paintings. Jankowski encouraged Straka to seek out Paul Strisik, N.A. (whom Ron knew from the 60's) and thereafter Strisik became a true friend and generous mentor to Ron. Strisk said that "A painting should not be an inventory of objects" and, importantly, that he "Couldn't teach me how to paint, but could only open the door so that you would find out what painting was really about". Tom Nicholas, N.A., who strongly advocates an artist must move on (from his early teachers) and "be him/herself in their art", has graciously also been most helpful to Ron.

Ron Straka, is a very fine and sought after teacher. His easy references and quotes reveal what essentials he has learned from many years of studying the Masters, and from taking workshops by well-regarded Cape Ann artists.

For twenty-one years Ron lived in Aldro Hibbard's Rockport Legendsea studio where he had a wonderful opportunity to closely study Hibbard's work. He takes to heart Hibbard's "out of the ether" statement Ron experienced in this studio that "if you can't see the brush mark from across the room don't put it in!" Straka has since observed that in many great artist's paintings an applied stroke of paint has real subject meaning. He feels the essential element of painting is that "the emotional richness, the poetry, the musicality of the artist's passion must reside in the painting to stir the viewer emotionally. Design is a key ingredient. Skillful use of the 'elements of design': color, values, composition, brushwork, harmonies of movement, shapes and shapes within shapes, are essential to communicate these emotional intentions". Straka wants his students to expand their historical knowledge of the world of art to increase their "visual language" lexicon for use in their artistic growth.
He advises to "Enrich your 'overall' life, find joy in what you do artistically, expand your skills to better express your passion and then seek to make an aesthetic and emotional connection with others through your work".

Be sure to see Ron Straka's exhibition '80' which can be seen at the Rockport Art Association through April 9, 2015. Please join with us here at the North Shore Arts Association in wishing Ron a happy 80th birthday and many happy returns of the day!

Welcome To Spring and the North Shore Arts Association's 93rd Exhbition Season

There are changes and new ideas aplenty for our artist and associate members and our valued donors as we prepare for the season's opening bell. "The Year of the Artist" is the theme as we open our doors to welcome and celebrate the gathering of some of the best artists in the Northeast to our community and harbor side galleries.

Exhibition I kicks off the 2015 season, opening on May 7 with a gala reception on Sunday May 17 from 2 to 4 pm. Join the celebration! We hope to see you there!

A few of the season highlights:

• Bob Blue Retrospective May 5- May 20
• NSAA New Members Exhibition, concurrent with Exhibition II
• Annual Gala Fine Arts Auction
• North/South Plein Air "Paint Out", a collaboration with fellow artists from the South Shore
• Artist Award Winners Exhibition and Past Great from the NSAA Permanent Collection
• Schooner and Seascapes Exhibition to coincide with the Annual Gloucester Schooner Festival
• Artist Workshops/ Demonstrations/ Gallery Talks, throughout the Season
• One Person and Collaborative Exhibitions by these outstanding artists:

                       Nella and Steve Lush                                  Carol Loiacano
                       Ann Murphy/Mary Callahan                    Phyllis Feld
                       Bonnie Gray                                                  Neil Linsenmayer

We're excited to greet our returning and new members, donors and visitors to the galleries. Your ideas, comments and participation are a key element in the growth and continuing success of the North Shore Arts Association as we enter our historic 93rd year. Welcome to the NSAA!