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March 3rd – March 28th

Artists Statement:

Painting in different mediums of watercolor,  acrylic, and oil encourages new avenues of exploration. With a flat surface and a little paint, I combine the wonder and discovery of childhood with experiences I’ve gained over time.

By initially exploring abstract forms the paint determines the image’s composition and formal relationships.  I become the observer of my own painting and then expand upon what the paint has already provided. Using this method I get to enjoy the image as a viewer and author. As the artist, I actively enhance the journey the paint has taken me on. Then as I get closer to completing the painting, I delve into the technical aspects of more realistic elements. It is my turn to balance out the composition and influence the viewer’s experience.

The common thread of this exhibit is the interplay of the paint’s and the artist’s contribution. I get to be both the observer and the creator of each painting.

About Sharon Loehr Lapan:

Sharon has degrees in fine art and special education. She has lived and taught across the country in western Massachusetts, Delaware, Utah, and Missouri. Now back in Massachusetts, Sharon is a resident artist at the Sawmill River Arts Gallery. She enjoys working in the mediums of oil, acrylic, and watercolor.

PLEASE NOTE: walk-ins are welcome for the gallery. Masks are required indoors. 

January 14th – February 28th

Artists Statement:

My work takes the form of a visual allegory which pulls from the endearments of craftsmanship and reaches to the ethers of spirit and folklore. Regarding the freedom of a fixed moment and the constrictions of eternity, the work ebbs and flows between the familiar and the foreign.

I cultivate inspiration from historical and personal narratives that are visually coded in handmade objects. I consider my process an act of remembrance through amplifying histories documented through textile, craft, and accessible means of expression. My work conveys human experience without a corporeal body, believing that the depicted body invites subjection from the viewer. In capitalism, the body carries burdens of identity, of objects, and of labor. My work encourages a release from our own lived experience, and into the subconscious mind; where we are free to associate with multiple overlapping narratives and tales – free of linear time and analytical thought. I document the maker and show their hand and mine. While the hand is often purposefully concealed and forgotten, I choose to meditate on the process, the material, the context and the story; asynchronously remembered and felt across barriers of language, body, time, and space.

About Mairead Clifford Dambruch:

Mairead Clifford Dambruch is a painter and a weaver. She is a failed multitasker and an amateur rug collector. She walks fast and paints slow. Painting, for her, is an extension of the self; a living document that absorbs a spectrum of energy and sentiment from the maker. She is a teacher of art to all ages. Her work is informed by research in the fields of cultural textiles, anthropology, folktale, and the sustainable and ethical practices of herbalism and farming. She believes in building upon the roots of other’s learned labor. She received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 2020 at the School of Art of Carnegie Mellon University.

PLEASE NOTE: walk-ins are welcome for the gallery. Masks are required indoors.