“Salty Dogs” Exhibit, a Summer Send-Off

Painter Elizabeth Stewart considers her “Salty Dogs” exhibit of pet portraits a celebratory “last hurrah” for the dogs of Seapoint Beach, Maine, before the popular spot limits canine traffic for the “dog days” of summer.

The exhibit will be shown as part of a group show tentatively titled “Salt of the Earth” at Kittery Art Association, April 30 to May 24. An opening reception with live music will be held Sunday, May 3, from 2:00 to 5:00 p.m.

The “Salty Dogs” series features oil on canvas and clayboard animal portraits, most of them private commissions. Seapoint Beach is still open to dogs in summer’s morning and evening hours (before 10 a.m. and after 5 p.m., if on a leash). But the more carefree days of running the pebbly beach and swimming in the sun come to an end for our furry friends on June 15. With that timing so close to the exhibit, Stewart thought a dogs-only selection of her work would be a perfect send-off for the season.

“What is it about these animals that are worth so much to us?” Stewart asks herself, and explores the answers in her custom pet portrait series. Observing people-pet relationships through the lens of art, she’s concluded that it’s about healing.

“Our pets remind us of our simpler nature; a part of us that enjoys a good meal, a loyal friend and a refreshing walk or run on the beach. In our busy lifestyle, we all benefit from the reminder to allow ourselves to enjoy these basic pleasures and be grateful for the simple things in life.”

Stewart’s unique style uses traditional Celtic design as a visual language, often revealing and amplifying complex patterns in an animal’s fur or surroundings. The result is sytlized and layered, and creates a new “conversation” between viewer and subject. These animals have stories to tell.

The “Salt of the Earth” reception on May 3 will include light refreshments and live Irish music by the local band Toad in the Road. Stewart-a trained Irish folk singer as well as self-taught painter-will likely sing a few numbers, as will her fiance, Steve Carrigan. He and Stewart’s son, Noah McCormick, will also exhibit their own original art. Dean Diggins and Anastasia Maertens round out the group show.

Gallery hours are Thursdays, 3:00 – 6:00 p.m.; Saturdays, 12:00 – 6:00 p.m.; and Sundays, 12:00 – 5:00 p.m. KAA is located at 8 Coleman Ave., off Route 103/Pepperell Road, just south of the now-closed Cap’n Simeon’s Galley in Kittery Point, Maine. The gallery can be reached at (207) 451-9384.

Stewart’s work was featured in a solo exhibit in March at the Elysium Arts Folk Club in Rollinsford, N.H., and has earned awards including the “Alpha Dog Award” at the 2006 “Who Let the Dogs Out?” show at Heartwood College in Kennebunk, Maine; “Honorable Mention” in the Omer T. Lassonde Juried Competition at the Robert Lincoln Levy Gallery in Portsmouth, NH; and “Most Original” in the Maine Women in the Arts’ 2006 Fine Art Competition in Kennebunk, Maine.

Giclee prints and greeting cards are available at her Web site, www.elizabethstewart.com.

Painter Elizabeth Stewart
Solo Exhibit at Elysium Arts to Launch New Business and Website

Emerging Seacoast painter Elizabeth Stewart will be featured in a solo exhibit titled “It’s Raining Cats and Dogs” during the month of March at the Elysium Arts Folk Club, in the Lower Mill at Salmon Falls in Rollinsford. The opening is free and open to the public on Sunday, March 1, from 4 to 7 p.m., and will also offer Celtic music and song by the artist. The gallery is open by appointment and for three additional concerts by local musicians throughout the month.

The exhibit coincides with the launch of Stewart’s new business, Elizabeth Stewart Art, and its accompanying website, www.elizabethstewartart.com.

Specializing in traditional Celtic designs, Elizabeth Stewart Art steps off with an unveiling of the artist’s series of pet portraits: whimsical portraits of people and their pets, integrating Celtic spirals, knots, and mazes to create a stylized texture and symbolic context for each painting. The series has been shown in solo and group shows around the region, and is now available both in greetings card collections and giclee prints online.

In her pet series that treats animals as diverse as dogs, cats and rabbits, “Cecil’s Locusts” is one installment that embodies the layered stories Stewart crafts with her brush. Setting about to paint a friend’s dog named Cecil, Stewart learned that the mischievous Springer Spaniel had been trained as a hunting dog, only to ignore all birds in favor of a trail of locusts on his first hunt. The painting in verdant greens and rich blues renders a testy quail biting on Cecil’s tail while he nonetheless pursues his own prey of choice. Surrounding the scene with a frame of Celtic knots, the painting harkens back to traditional Celtic designs of dogs and birds entwined in decorative art.

“Celtic designists of old who crafted the now famous illuminated manuscripts drew their inspiration from the beauty of the world around them and the activities of their time,” Stewart explains. “Honoring nature and our relationship with it by celebrating even its everyday moments is a rewarding and meditative endeavor that hopefully brings joy and inspiration to those who look at it. That’s very sacred to me, and I also love honoring the humor in life,” she says.

Other painted series of Stewart’s include “Human Trees” and “Work in Progress,” an exploration of ordinary but unique moments during various types of work. These series also incorporate Celtic designs and principles, and are available for sale as greeting cards and giclee prints through the Elizabeth Stewart Art website.

Born of English, Scottish, Mic Mac, Abenaki and other unknown bloodlines, the self-taught painter weaves many ancestries into her work, and is drawn primarily to ancient Celtic traditions of art, music and dance. She views Celtic design as no less than a visual language. Drawing from such revered sources as The Book of Kells and other ancient Irish and Scottish artifacts, she explains, “I am honored to be part of the evolution of this tradition. … The way these designs happen is very hypnotic. Hopefully people will find it soothing and also invigorating at the same time.”

Among other honors, Stewart’s paintings have won the “Alpha Dog Award” at the 2006 “Who Let the Dogs Out?” show at Heartwood College in Kennebunk, Maine; “Honorable Mention” in the Omer T. Lassonde Juried Competition at the Robert Lincoln Levy Gallery in Portsmouth, NH; and “Most Original” in the Maine Women in the Arts’ 2006 Fine Art Competition in Kennebunk, Maine.

More information on the artist is available at www.elizabethstewartart.com. Details about the opening of “It’s Raining Cats and Dogs” at the Elysium Arts Folk Club in Rollinsford can be found at www.elysiumarts.com/folkclub, or (603) 743-4700.

This interview was conducted right after Ethel opted not to have a long and complicated surgery, and to have hospice care instead.  I  brought her her favorite Chinese food, we had a wonderful meal together, and then we recorded this interview.  The first few minutes were somehow lost.  She talked a bit about her family and relatives and painted a scene of what it looked like growing up.  The remainder has been split up into the four parts below.  Also, there is a link to her obituary inn word document form.  Thank you Ethel for sharing these stories with us.

Ethel Stewart Interview Part1

Ethel Stewart Interview Part2

Ethel Stewart Interview Part3

Ethel Stewart Interview Part4

Ethel Mae Stewart Obituary

Below is the press release:

March 18, 2010
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Press Contact: Hilary A. Niles, h@nilesmedia.net, 603.332.9029

Painter Elizabeth Stewart
Art Sale to Benefit Injured Painter

For one afternoon only, a special exhibit and sale of paintings by Elizabeth Stewart will be held on Saturday, April 3. All proceeds will benefit the painter, who suffered a major stroke in January just six days after giving birth to a healthy baby girl.

The exhibit and sale will be held on the upper floor of The Press Room on Daniel Street in Portsmouth. The location is significant: Elizabeth and the baby’s father, Steve Carrigan, met at the venue’s longstanding Irish music session in 2008. They were married last year.

“I’m incredibly grateful that she’s alive,” Carrigan says. Elizabeth could muster almost no movement on the right side of her body after the stroke, and now Carrigan is seeing her recover a little bit at a time. Her smile, for example, is coming back, he says. She no longer drags her foot when she walks.

Elizabeth tires easily and doubts that she’ll be able to attend the benefit, but her husband Steve will be there on her behalf, perhaps with the couple’s baby Saoirse. Pronounced “SEER-sha,” her name is Gaelic for “Freedom.” Elizabeth’s other children, Gabe, Noah and Forrest, may attend, as well.

Elizabeth, a self-taught painter, has developed a unique style of portraiture that incorporates Celtic patterns and design concepts. Best known for her series of pet portraits, Stewart’s work resonates with a chord of deep connection to nature. She paints on both canvas and clayboard and her work is often self-framed, meaning that she paints a visual frame-sometimes quite intricate-around the image.

“In a way,” says Carrigan, “this show will be a retrospective of her work before the stroke.” She recently started some simple line drawings and they both agree that her style will no doubt change as she continues to regain fine motor skills. She is now working hard with speech therapists to regain her command of language.

“It’s one line but it covers the whole page,” Elizabeth slowly describes her new work. She says that it’s symbolic of the aphasia-an inability to process language-she’s dealing with now. “All I can keep track of is one line, and some of the pieces really speak to how I was feeling,” she explains. For example, she drew one line with “teeth” because she felt like someone was chewing on her words. “It was a way I could express myself without having to talk to anybody. It feels good,” she says. She plans to send some of these new line drawings to the show, as well.

Original paintings in a full range of sizes will be exhibited. Giclee prints and her own line of greeting cards will also be available. “There will be something for everyone there,” says Elizabeth’s brother-in-law Jim Carrigan, who is coordinating the benefit efforts. His intention is to offer enough of a range to match anyone’s price point, so that no one is left without the opportunity to help the family.

He also intends to streamline the purchasing process to make it easy for buyers. He will collect contact information from those who wish to purchase paintings, and will deliver them personally after the show for no charge. Payments in cash or check can be made at the show, or a bill can be requested. The show is not an auction. Items will have a set price from $3 (for cards) to $40-$60 (giclees) to several hundred dollars for original paintings.

Elizabeth’s work has been featured in shows from Newburyport to Concord to Kennebunkport, including juried exhibitions at 100 Market Street, the Robert Lincoln Levy Gallery and Heartwood College of Art. Her pet portraits were featured in a very successful solo exhibit at the Elysium Arts Folk Club last year, and Elizabeth’s work has won many awards, including “Most Original” at the Maine Women in the Arts Fine Art Competition in 2006. Elizabeth has donated many paintings to the NHSPCA’s fall auction (her love of animals in action), including a special portrait of a much-loved homeless dog named “Shadow” last fall.

The April 3 benefit sale at the Press Room will be graced by the live jazz music of Larry Garland and Friends, who will perform for their standing Saturday lunch gig downstairs starting at 1:00 p.m. (no cover). The family is grateful to The Press Room and manager Bruce Pingree for making the upper room available for the benefit.

A Pet Portrait usually begins with a reference photo, which I use to create a very stylized drawing,

using my own Celtic Design visual language to tell the story of a moment.

Colors are layered thinly at first,

and built up gradually to achieve depth and balance.