All Things Important Monthly Newsletter - October 2022
Wednesday
October 12, 2022

     7:00-8:00PM     
Lawrence Barn
28 Depot Rd
Hollis, NH

We are joined this month by the captivating Ekaterina Creed who has prepared a presentation for us on how Impressionism, and specifically Van Gogh has informed her work.
Ekaterina paints with bold strokes on canvas and has an online shop where she sells her work, you can visit it HERE.
She is also our Voices of Emerging Artists columnist this month so please keep reading her story of growing up in Russia and how she found a personal connection to the Dutch painter.



Our November Art Show is coming up!
We finally were able to confirm the dates of our huge November Art Show and they are ... NOVEMBER 12-13, 2022 from 10am-4pm both days.

Please mark your calendars and stop in to see what your fellow HAS members have been creating and meet the artists themselves. It is the perfect opportunity to purchase unique local gifts for this holiday season as well as get inspired yourself!
You will find us at the Lawrence Barn on Depot Rd.

We still have a few spots left for artisans to set up a space to display their work but they are filling fast. If you are interested, please fill out and mail in the application form ASAP.

PS - If you have made arrangements with us to post signs in your yard on that weekend we will have them available at our member meeting this Wednesday 10/12 at the Lawrence Barn
Voices of Emerging Artists:
Meet Ekaterina Creed
The expressive works of Vincent Van Gogh inspired me to take brush in my hand and create. During the pandemic, I struggled with my mental health as I know a lot of us did, and I started looking for ways to express my feelings through a healthy outlet. Growing up in Saint-Petersburg, which is known as the Cultural Capital of Russia, I regularly was able to experience many talented artists creations, surrounded by the beautiful architecture and arts museums of the city. I took some classes in high school on watercolor, but never thought I could try to conquer painting on canvas. 
I first learned about Vincent Van Gogh and his work from my mother, who deeply admired his paintings, she would always tell me about his beautiful works and one of her prized possessions is his autobiography, a rare book in the USSR when she got it. She finally took me with her to see some of Van Gogh’s most famous paintings when they were lent to the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg. It was love from first sight! I loved his bright colors and unique shapes and forms; his works were different from those academic paintings I always saw in my birth countries art galleries. They spoke to me through the expression and touched strings of my soul. But it was not until 2 years ago, near the beginning of the pandemic, when I fully discovered Van Gogh and the impressionism movement for myself.
On one of the gloomy winter afternoons, I stumbled upon a book in the bookstore about the life and work of Van Gogh. This is where my journey as an artist truly begins. I learned that he was self-taught artist who struggled in life and suffered from depression. I also realize that most of his best work was created while he was institutionalized and his paintings are expressions of his feelings. He never made it big while he was alive, but found fame after his passing and influenced so many modern artists of the 20th Century. 
  Around 1911, some art critics invented the phrase “post-impressionistic” to describe the work of several artists who changed Impressionistic standards. Post-impressionism was a new movement followed by a group of artists in search of new ways to create art. The movement shifted standards of Impressionism in favor of more ambitious expression of color and light. Those artists created styles that influenced additional abstract styles and lay the foundation to the 20th Century Modernism.
  Post-Impressionists artists took impressionists standards to the next level: putting extreme emphasis on the movement of color and light rather than concentrating on the significance of the artwork. Artists set a goal to find more depth in the roles of color, form, and solidity in their painting. This brought more powerful, bright, and contrasting colors to life and experimented with properties of brushstrokes.
  Post-impressionism used ideas from impressionism, such as using brilliant colors and broken brushstrokes, but went away from painting scenes exactly as they appeared. The goal of Artists who fall under this post-impressionism style is to express more than just visual interpretation but also portray emotion and intellectual meaning in addition to imagination. Paintings in post-impressionism style tend to show more expression and emotion as well as additional form and structure. The most famous post-expressionism paintings have expressionistic qualities and often abnormal use of color to portray the emotional state of the painter. 
Vincent Van Gogh was the most influential post-impressionist Dutch painter. His work influenced expressionism in modern art. Van Gogh’s desire to create stunning works of art came from within, as well as his desire to reach those around him through his paintings. Vincent Van Gogh was influential in expressionism because his work is filled with emotions, mostly due to the fact that he suffered from depression. His brushwork, curvy forms, and color is a reflection of his feelings as he painted. He developed his impasto technique which provided his paintings a sense of energy through plain texture surface. Van Gogh used color as a means to express emotions and add symbolism to the paintings rather than use it to reproduce light and literal surroundings. Vincent Van Gogh’s work is still very influential in the work of modern artist, including mine, and continues to be an inspiration for so many of us. 
Van Gogh’s journey and his work helped me to realize that I too could try express myself through color, bring something new or even develop my own painting style, and I didn’t even have to be academically taught on how to hold a brush. I can just create and hope that my art will touch a fraction of the hearts that Van Gogh did, or even just one, all while expressing myself and working to improve my own well-being.
Gallery on West Pearl
Our Gallery on West Pearl is hosting a show called “Two Sides to Every Story” with the beautiful and creative works of art by Carolyn Maul, Chris Bower, and Ron Weiss.

Along with the images, there are also thought-provoking questions and conversation starters about relationships and how in every relationship there are, indeed, always two sides to every story. How often have you and your partner, friend, relative, etc. experienced the same thing but have two totally different recollections? 
Can you imagine that there are 7 billion people on this planet at this moment and no two of us are seeing the same thing from the same angle and with the same vocabulary and cultural norms? Considering this, it’s a wonder we all get along as well as we do! And sometimes, we don't. The deepest layer of Two Sides to Every Story is the story that often doesn't get told...the story of domestic abuse and one woman's way out.

Carolyn Maul, this Gallery show’s Featured Artist has an extensive background in Life Coaching and a passion for people and all their bizarre quirks and facets. She has put her kaleidoscopic Ecoprint art alongside dialogues that she hopes will help others respect and revere the lives of others as well as help create communication breakthroughs in relationships.

Chris Bower is a skilled photographer who uses his digital photography expertise to produce creative and artistic images. Many of his works have originated from his travels to the National Parks in New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona, and the California Sierras, along with photography journeys to Africa and Iceland. His work has been published in Smithsonian magazines and book covers by a South African Book Publisher. Chris is also a long-standing member of the Hollis Art Society. 

Ron Weiss is a watercolor artist disguised as a practicing Physicist. His creative life revolves around science, art, and the beauty of Outer Cape Cod. Ron and his wife Marcia are both long standing members of the Hollis Art Society and share their time with fellow HAS artists of what may be the “best kept secret” of Southern New Hampshire. 

Show Hours every week are Fridays from 4:00PM to 7:00PM and Saturdays from 11:00 to 2:00PM. Additional Show openings and times will be posted on our Website, (www.HollisArtsSociety.org ) and our Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/HollisArtsSocietyNH ).

The Hollis Arts Society’s “Gallery on West Pearl” is located in the GNMH Building at 100 W Pearl St, Nashua, NH 03060.

Are you ready to be a part of HAS?
Hollis Arts Society Mission
Support a creative arts and performance environment for emerging and producing Artists that focuses upon professional development, access to economic opportunities and social interaction among other artists and art patrons resulting in the cultural betterment of the larger Hollis, Southern New Hampshire and Northern Massachusetts community. 
Connect with us