Contact: Anita Thomas: Work: 508-852-9007 Cell: 508-826-8075
www.briarwoodretirement.com
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Feb. 1, 2017
Worcester, Massachusetts The Briarwood Community is pleased to announce the second public art exhibit in a series of six for 2017. B. Eugene McCarthy’s exhibit of watercolor landscape and still life, entitled “Travels: New England and Beyond,” will be on display Sunday, March 5 through Thursday, May 4 at The Gallery at Briarwood located at 65 Briarwood Circle, Worcester.
The opening reception will take place Sunday, March 5 between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. Guests will have an opportunity to meet Mr. McCarthy in person. The reception is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be served.
The exhibit is open Mondays through Fridays from 10am-4pm. Group tours and those wishing to visit on weekends may make arrangements by contacting Anita Thomas at 508-852-9007 or by e-mailing amthomas@briarwoodsl.com.
In addition to McCarthy, the Gallery at Briarwood exhibits scheduled for 2017 will feature artists Sharon Smith Viles, Sue Sedgwick, photographer Ron Rosenstock and antique puzzle collector, Bob Armstrong.
Briarwood is a non-profit senior living community that includes Independent Living cottages & apartments, Assistance in Living services, and Knollwood Nursing Center for skilled nursing & rehabilitation services.
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Artist’s Statement
The first watercolor classes I took were with noted landscape artist Robert Duffy in Worcester’s “Night Life” in the early 70s. He provided the essentials, and with his influence I continued to work on and off in that medium. I taught English at Holy Cross College for thirty-five years, specializing in 18th century English literature, African-American literature, and poetry. When I retired in 2000, I wanted to pursue painting more seriously. Enrolling in Kat O’Connor’s classes at the Worcester Art Museum was my first best move: she guided me again through the basic steps and techniques so that I could understand how to work. She has continued to teach, support, and challenge me. Along with various painting groups who encouraged and assisted, no less valued are the steady encouragement and advice of my wife, Barbara, and of my children and grandchildren.
My subject matter is landscape and still life (also called “dead nature” or “silent nature”). Though most of my work is based on New England subjects, travel with classes with Kat O’Connor to Ghost Ranch, near Santa Fe, NM, stimulated and challenged me because that landscape has such strong, distinctive shapes and colors. Wherever I travel now, I make a point to sketch and paint on site because each locale has its own remarkable look and color.
My paintings are variously developed, from on-site pencil, pen-and-ink, and watercolor sketches, and from photographs. Most pictures are completed in studio. When I look at nature, I search for its inherent abstract forms, its color variations and textures. I do not copy a scene but work to catch what I see to be essential there and then create a design that is satisfying for shape, color, atmosphere. Nature always instructs. One observes carefully, then moves to the painting itself where it becomes its own end, not a copy of what is out there. Watercolor has its own mind or, perhaps, will, and one has to allow it to go its own way as the pigment acts with the water, which is of course at once unpredictable, exciting, and rewarding. B. Eugene McCarthy
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