Hosmer Gallery

In Memory of Jean Elizabeth Hosmer
1954-1999

May 3-30  Northampton High School Student Photography Exhibit
June 3-28  Oil Paintings by Gary Kaskey, Kate Childs and Marilyn Allen

The Photographic Eye:
Northampton High School Student Photography Exhibit

May 3-30, 2008

RECEPTION: SATURDAY MAY 10, 2-4 PM

photo by Tyler Williams

The Forbes Library Hosmer Art Gallery, located on the library’s top floor, will host the first ever Northampton High School Photography exhibition from May 3-30, 2008. The public is invited to a reception for the student artists from 2 - 4 PM on Saturday, May 10, 2008. Many of the beautiful color and black-and-white photographs on display include landscapes, cityscapes, product photos, industrial interiors, and portraits that were printed on the High School's new large format digital printer. Come and meet our talented photographers and enjoy the exhibition. Refreshments will be served.

The photography program at NHS encourages students to be creative and to explore their potential as innovators. Students study the work of many influential photographers as well as the history and current practices of the medium. They make their own photographic slide shows and present their work on the school’s television monitors for all to see. Students learn about portrait, documentary, landscape, tabletop, industrial, advertising and other types of photography. All work is done with digital cameras and is graded during periodic portfolio reviews. Students learn complex technical skills including Photoshop and other editing software.


Oil Paintings by
Kate Childs, Marilyn Allen and Gary Kaskey

June 3-28, 2008

RECEPTION: WEDNESDAY, JUNE 11, 6-7:30 PM

Three Pioneer Valley painters who are inspired by the landscape of the region will exhibit their oil paintings at Forbes Library in June.

Gary Kaskey

About six years ago while in his early fifties, Gary Kaskey first started to paint after being excited and inspired by the scenery of Western Massachusetts. "I have been traveling the roads of this area by bicycle for decades and felt a spiritual connection to the rural environs that surround us. I thought that I might try and express this feeling through the use of oil paints. I took some classes with Barbara Johnson and others, read some books and spent an inordinate amount of psychic energy trying to accumulate the tools to express myself in this medium. Painting soon took on a life of its own and has been a new and fulfilling part of my life. I try to create enjoyable images that relate to the feeling of the world around us."

Overlooking Paradise, by Kate Childs

Kate Childs' impressionistic oil paintings are expressions of her feelings. "I love to paint peace, happiness and calm, a meditative presence." She does not work from photographs directly, rather,she uses them to remember feelings. She works in many layers, coming back to a painting many times and adding layers of paint until she can feel the emotional quality visually. Her vision is to project a sense of stillness in her paintings.

Marilyn Allen's paintings focus on the natural world. After attending college in Northampton, she settled in the mountains of southern Vermont. Fascinated with the local landscape, she turned to painting with the help of Ric Campman of the River Gallery School in Brattleboro.

Marilyn Allen

"The paintings included in this exhibition emerged during recent struggles to preserve the silence and beauty that are part of my relationship with this place. Vigorous logging transformed the mountain that shelters me to the north into a sparse remnant of its thickly forested former self. Noise and devastation crept into my studio and I discovered that painting could provide a path for transformation. My relationship to the natural world, whether here, in Yosemite among huge trees, or in my imagination is at the heart of my paintings. As they have become more abstract, the paintings speak of places I have not visited but which are familiar to us all."

Gallery Hours

Monday 9-9 ; Tuesday 1-5 ; Wednesday 9-9 ; Thursday 1-5 ; Friday & Saturday 9-5 ; closed Sundays and holidays

Upcoming Exhibits

2008 JulyCarolyn Yancey Kibeoil, pastel, & clay relief
  Gaddier Rosariooil & pastel paintings
 AugustJudith Wolfmonotype & drypoint prints
  Kim Saulacrylic & tempera paintings
 SeptStephanie Gerolatimosmixed media
  Mark Bodahmixed media
 OctoberBetsy Feickcolor photography: nature & landscape
  Marty Kleindigital photography: scanner prints, nature
 NovemberHannah Richardsabstract printmaking
  Anna Bayles Arthurabstract painting
 DecemberWalter Hamiltonoil paintings: still life, portrait, landscape
  Elizabeth Keyes textile art: landscape & garden
2009 JanuaryJohn Bidwellwatercolor & gouache: West Africa
  Diane Nevinsmithwatercolor: landscape
 FebruaryTom Pintocolor photography: landscape
  Carrie Bakercolor photography
 MarchEllen Augarten & Andrea Ayvazianportraits and psalms
  Annie Bissettukiyo-e woodblock prints
 AprilCarol Gobinoil paintings, landscape
  Jeff Waldroncolor photography, nature, reflections
 MayNorthampton High School studentsvarious media
 JuneRobin Marlowecolor photography: travel, New Zealand
  David Maxwellcolor photography: roadside America
 NovemberNorthampton Arts CouncilJuried exhibition: landscape

Artists: For general information about selection and scheduling, see
Gallery Policy/Information for Artists.
For further information, phone 587-1013.