Opening reception on Friday, March 27, 2026, from 6-8pm. Above: “Stop Ahead” by Brenda White Henriquez, First Prize winner.
Nancy Gruskin - Juror
Selected Artists:
Kimberley Majury, “Go-Go Girls”
Donna Keene, “Abandoned house in Raynham”
Barbara Canney, “Smile”
Dina Brennan, “you say the sun doesn't shine for you”
Janet Atkinson, “This Moment”
Mandy Fariello, “Sea Level”
Donna Goes, “Tulips on a Table”
Mary L Taylor, “Cultivating Heart”
Jenna Reedy, “Slow Swell”
Claudia Doherty, “Blue Trench Coat”
Susan Ahearn, “Shell Mystery”
Andree Brown, “Cinq Bean”
George Hancin, “Future Town Garage”
Brenda White Henriquez, “Stop Ahead”
Heather Carroll, “Fragments No. 9”
Mike Dick, “Roll Cloud. Beyond Bassing. Cohasset MA”
Page Railsback, “Chum”
Dan McLaughlin, “Blue Strait”
Erik Gunnar, “Île d'Orléans No. 9723”
Sheryll Reichelt, “Summer Calm”
Karen Cass, “Serenity Now”
Beverly Sky, “The BookWorm: Shakespeare and the Allegory of Evil”
Heather Quay, “Souvlaki Boys”
Sally Dean, “Highland Street, Ma., in Winter”
Joan Appel, “Glass Box”
Jim Henderson, “Char”
Alex Gerasev, “Ponder”
Lori Moretti, “Fenced In”
Marsha Gleason, “Milk and Ripe Banana”
Stephen Boczanowski, “Light in the Window”
Linda Zanetti, “Simplicity”
Nancy Colella, “The Sewing Lesson”
Nancy Howell, “Dreaming of Spring”
Melissa Diane, “Dahlias for Martha”
Stanley Pendrak, “Grist Mill”
Madeline Lord, “Alex in His Teahouse”
Andy Osborne, “Here's Looking at Ya”
Sue Casey, “Simplicity”
Kate Peretti, “Nature's Love Story”
James F. Earl, “Bluefish River Impression”
Catherine Kaijin Mayes, “The Sound of One Hand”
First Prize: Brenda White Henriquez, “Stop Ahead”
Brenda’s painting, Stop Ahead, is sensorial. I look at it and can smell that distinct scent of rain on pavement; I can hear the squeak as the driver adjusts the speed of the windshield wipers; and I can see the light that seems to suggest clear skies ahead. She’s taken a mundane moment and turned it into something quite magical.
Second Prize: Kimberley Majury, “Go-Go Girls”
Kimberly Majury’s Go-Go Girls made me smile. In form and subject matter, her painting evokes the Pop Art movement of the 1950s and 60s, with its embrace of advertising and its blurring of the lines between “high” art and “low” culture. The oversized purple font used for the word “Go-Go” matches the energy we’d expect from such entertainment and I think we can all appreciate free hors d'oeuvres.
Third Prize: Dan McLaughlin, “Blue Strait”
Dan Mclaughlin’s painting Blue Strait is of intimate proportions. It encourages close looking. The viewer is treated to subtle tonal changes and a range of interesting brushstrokes and mark making. I very much appreciated the freshness and unlabored quality of this painting, which reminded me a bit of Milton Avery and Marsden Hartley.
Honorable Mention: Sue Casey, “Simplicity”
Sue Casey’s mixed media piece is illustrative of the principle “less is more.” Subject matter is legible, but the push toward abstraction is clear in both the work and in its fitting title, Simplicity. I was delighted by the playful mix of materials and the push and pull of the shapes that both flatten and deepen the space depicted.
About the Juror
Nancy Gruskin (b. 1968, U.S.A.) lives and works in Concord, Massachusetts. She received a B.A. in Art History and Studio Art from Connecticut College and an M.A. and a Ph.D. in Art History from Boston University. Gruskin has exhibited throughout New England and New York as well as California and Washington State and is currently represented by the Nancy Margolis Gallery. She teaches painting, collage, and sculpture at a number of institutions, including the Concord Center for the Visual Arts and Black Pond Studio. Gruskin’s current work is based on direct observation, invention, and memory. Her paintings, collages, prints, and objects are informed by her interest in collecting and museum installations and displays. More of her work can be viewed at her website, www.nancygruskin.com, and on Instagram (@nancygruskin). Early on I began shooting my own photos for the projects we designed and over time Weymouth Design became one of the leading annual report design firms in the country. Photography played a critical role in our success, and when I retired I published my first book, How Photography Can Make You a Better Painter, with the goal of helping painters use their digital cameras to create better painting resource photos.
I followed the first book with Maine (Island Time), a book of paintings, photos and poetry by Belfast, Maine poet Elizabeth Garber. In the 90s, I built a wilderness camp in the Maine woods, where I shot many photos documenting my experience there, along with poetry that further expressed my connection to the natural world. This body of work was published in my third book, The Gentle Whisper of Living Things. I am now fully retired and pursuing my long-awaited career as a painter.