Mystic Art Center
9 Water Street
Mystic, CT 06355
860-536-7601
Gallery Hours:
11am to 5pm daily
Faculty Bios
Ralph Acosta
Deb Aldo
Frances Baldwin
Diane Barceló
Paula Bradley
Jack Broderick
Charles Estabrooks
Laura Gaffke
Guido Garaycochea
Pam Gordinier
Audrey King
Conam Lee
Sarah Stifler Lucas
Jack Montmeat
Amanda Oakes
Jacqueline McLaughlin Phillips
Christen Pratt
J. Susan Cole Stone
Kristen Thornton
Frances Topping
Jennifer Wheeler
Christopher Zhang
David Black
Gwen Basilica
Sophie Drouin
Karen Mangiacotti
Bernard McTigue
Ralph Acosta
web.mac.com/ralph.acosta
A native New Yorker of Puerto Rican Taino Indian descent now residing in Stonington, CT, Ralph Acosta is a member of the prestigious Samagundi Club, Hudson Valley Art Association, and various Long Island and Southeastern Connecticut art leagues.
His artistic ability began in his early teens, and after receiving a gift of oil paints he began painting portraits of family and friends. Ralph did not have the financial means to study art formally, but began a career doing freelance work as a display designer in NYC for Bonwit Teller, Bergdorf Goodman, Bendells and various interior decorators. During the slow economy in the early 1970’s, Ralph worked as an insurance agent until deciding to leave it all behind and become a “starving artist”.
Ralph then met and was introduced to many people in the art field. One of those people, a dear friend and fellow artist, Irving Kerr, introduced him to the teachings of Edgar Whitney the renowned watercolorist at the National Art League in Douglaston NY in 1979.
The freedom, transparency and spontaneity of watercolors along with Whitney’s direction of design laws opened Ralph’s mind and gave him the ability to develop his own technique. Ralph continued to study with Whitney for several years until his health no longer allowed him to teach.
It is because of Whitney’s intense love of teaching that Ralph felt the need to teach others the knowledge and hopefully the passion that he has for watercolors. Ralph has performed demonstrations for numerous art leagues throughout Westchester and Long Island, NY, has taught for 18 years at the National Art League, and has conducted many outdoor workshops including a week in Puerto Rico along with a Northeast coast painting cruise.
Deb Aldo
www.pietreduredesign.com
Deb Aldo is the principal of Pietre Dure Design and has been making mosaics for 12 years. She designs mosaic architectural installations and her specialty is pebble mosaics. She works for private clients throughout New England. Creating mosaics is a way to personalize your space, lend an air of permanence, bring color and pizzaz to your home.
Frances Boldwin lives in Stonington with her son, William. She completed a certification program at S.C.S.U. in art education. When she is not teaching at the MAC, she is working in her art studio or creating delicious deserts in her kitchen for local restaurants. Ms. Baldwin earned a B.F.A. from Manhattanville College in Purchase, NY and studied art in London for a year. Frances incorporates her interests, and enthusiasm in her well organized, lessons based on real artists, past and present.
Diane Barceló has been making mixed media sculpture and installation for the past 20 years. In 2006 she was a fellowship recipient for sculpture from the Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism. Since receiving her MFA in sculpture from the University of Maryland she has had residencies at the Banff Centre for the Arts (Banff, Alberta, Canada), The Woodstock Guild’s Byrdcliffe Artist Colony (Woodstock, NY), and an internship at Johnson Atelier (Trenton, New Jersey). Her work has been shown nationally and internationally in group shows most recently in Sophia, Bulgaria, the Mattatuck Museum and the Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism. Solo exhibitions and lectures include college galleries in Virginia, Pennsylvania and Connecticut. Her work hangs in the faculty stairwell at Three Rivers Community College in Norwich, Connecticut as well in private collections. She is currently collaborating with musicians and choreographers on new work. She maintains a studio at the ISAAC school in New London, Connecticut where she is an artist in residence.
For more information about Barcelo’s work, visit:
picasaweb.google.com/dianebarcelo
Paula Bradley states that her philosophy of life and her art is to “Open up, practice, feel, practice, learn, and more of the same”. Reflecting back on fifty-five years of living, she realizes that art is not only about ones natural talents, but also about the progressions of teachings, and learnings, and (mostly) the desire. Paula has a desire that motivates, and pushes her to express and create works of art that makes herself and others feel.
Paula Bradley’s background in art began as self-taught. In 1975 she received her first formal art education- graduating with a B.S. in Art Education. The following years were devoted to being wife, mother, and part time artist, taking classes whenever possible. Paula returned to school in 2002 and attended Lyme Academy of Art, graduating with a BFA in Painting, and a minor in Art History. She has had work displayed in several art shows in Connecticut and Vermont, teaches private and public classes, and has a commercial enterprise painting murals on various surfaces. Paula’s goal is to have a Masters in Pastel…and, “never stop learning, practicing, feeling… and more of the same”.
An accomplished plein air painter and a studio painter, Jack uses both image and feeling in developing his paintings. To him, painting is a collaboration of artist and subject whether the subject is a model, a landscape or a still life. He has traveled and painted extensively in Ireland, Argentina, Spain, Cuba and Italy. He has exhibited internationally in Paris, Tokyo, Buenos Aires, Palermo and Tilcara. He has won the Robb Sagendorph Award at the Copley Society where he is a Copley Artist. He is also a member of the Salmagundi Club, the Mystic Art Center and the Lyme Art Association. In 2004, he was awarded a residency at the Fundacion Valparaiso in Mojacar, Spain. Jack teaches painting and drawing at the Mystic Art Center and at the Lyme Art Association. He is a graduate of Marist College, the University of Notre Dame and the University of Connecticut.
Originally from Mystic, Connecticut, Charles Estabrooks attended Rensselaer’s School of Architecture in Troy, NY (class of ’87). Upon graduation, he teamed up with three other RPI alums to launch a startup venture developing software for architects and engineers. His childhood passion for black and white photography gradually “developed” into a rewarding career as Estabrooks began shooting for fellow alumni who had gone on to become architects. In 1994, he left Image Systems Technology to pursue photography on a freelance basis. Always interested in expanding his skills, Estabrooks later spent two years as Staff Photographer at Blass Communications in Old Chatham, NY where he studied under renowned industrial photographer Tracy Woodworth. In 1996, Estabrooks relocated to Rhode Island. He presently operates out of “Above Elite Studios”, a loft in downtown Westerly, RI which he shares with three artists.
To view works by Estabrooks, visit his web site:
estabrooks.org/photo.php
Laura Gaffke grew up in New Hampshire and now resides in Southeastern Connecticut. She currently maintains her studio practice at Above Elite Studios, in Westerly, Rhode Island. She is an interdisciplinary, visual artist, recently graduated from Goddard College with an MFA. Her work during this time was primarily concerned with the creative process and how it can be used as a catalyst to learn, stretch and grow.
Nature, place, meditation, self-reflection, relationships, and life experiences all inform Laura’s creative practice. She is interested in the potential of art as a gift and seeks ways to share it, teach it, nurture it and communicate it in a positive way, therefore encouraging the human spirit. Laura uses paint, mixed-media, photography, and found objects to ask questions and engage in a conversation with life.
Laura is experienced teaching adults and children. Her goal as an educator is to encourage each individual’s unique way of seeing and expressing the world. She values an open dialog with students and enjoys seeing their own unique perspectives on the world. Sharing knowledge allows for new discoveries, new interpretations, and a new journey for herself and her students.
www.lauragaffke.com
lauratwotina.wordpress.com
Guido Garaycochea
www.guidogaraycochea.net
Guido received his BFA in Peru with honors in 1987. The 80's for Peru, however, were a difficult time because of Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path), and Peruvian terrorism. At the beginning of the 90’s, Peru was virtually in a civil war.
In 1992-93 Guido moved to Chile and to teach and further his studies. He spent 12 years studying History of Art, Aesthetics and Theory of Art. He also taught for more than 7 years in two important Chilean Universities. At the same time he had more than fifteen Solo Art Shows and additional group Art Exhibitions in countries such as Germany, Spain, Austria, Peru and Chile.
What the artist initially wanted to accomplish with his paintings was to depict his historical Peruvian and South American legacy. He wished to reveal the greatness of the pre-Colombian cultures and the incredible philosophy of their life. Guido studied the funeral masks of the Chimú people, realizing the masks showed more about human beings in general than about the Chimú. Those masks and the use of some materials, like gold, showed him a new face of the human being that seduced him: “the duality of the being, that interior turmoil which exists permanently inside humanity.”
Duality has been the principal theme of his work. He has been trying to explore the depths of the human being, particularly inside himself, expressing through his visual work, his own contradictions, his own dual feelings, and also his deepest human characteristics.
When he paints, he is thinking of visual spaces and interior landscapes where freedom is given in amounts he allows to flow. With his use of gold, Guido tries to invite the spectator to discover the duality of the human being that has been present throughout history. He also invites the viewer to search for a balance and discover fragments caused by permanent fractures in the being.
Guido Garaycochea moved to the United States in 2003 as International Artist in Resident at The Griffis Art Center and later at I-Park. He has since lived between Connecticut and New York while developing his art that founds a unique deep and meanings in her. He also teaches at UCCON, Mitchell College, and TRCC.
Pamela Pike Gordinier has been an elected artist member of the Connecticut Watercolor Society, the Copley Society of Boston, and the Connecticut Academy of Fine Arts. Her watercolors have been included in the corporate collections of Solomon Brothers, Pfizer, Northeast Utilities, Traveler’s Insurance and SNET.
Gordinier was recently selected as a featured artist in the Fall issue of Watermedia Focus for her creative use of shape and design. “With distorted shapes and subtle color, Pamela Gordinier creates a quiet mood in her painting…” It is “her effective and eccentric design” that carries the mood of her recent work. The article referred to the work of Cézanne, Picasso, and Matisse who also used distortion to give their work a personal and expressive feeling.
Particularly well known locally as a gifted teacher, Gordinier has taken student groups to study with her in Paris, Provence, Venice, Portugal’s Algarve, and the American Southwest. She is an elected artist member, past board member and a member of the Mystic Arts Center faculty
It has been Gordinier’s searches for new techniques and new styles, however, which have gained her notice as of late. Winning three awards at exhibitions in the Mystic Arts Center, her best in show, “Red Beach Lady” was described as “both fresh and original.”
Audrey King
www.audreyking.com
Audrey King holds a BFA from Rhode Island School of Design, where she focused on figurative painting and has exhibited in several group shows. She has studied in Rome, Venice, and Florence. As a painter, she concentrates on figurative subjects, often with abstract and pattern based elements. Previously, Audrey has taught at the Green Street Arts Center in Middletown, Connecticut.
Conam Lee is a professional illustrator dedicated to children, literature and picture books. Since 1995, he has worked as an illustrator and graphic artist. Majored in illustration, Conam graduated from Rhode Island School of Design with a degree of fine art. He’s also taken classes at Rensselaer at Hartford and Three Rivers Technical Community College. Lee spent his childhood years in Hong Kong and has a diverse artistic background with experience in caricature, computer graphics and costume design.
Sarah Stifler Lucas grew up in Nashville, Tennessee and received her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Washington University in St Louis, Missouri in 1970. She has maintained her studio in Connecticut since 1973, living currently in Stonington.
Sarah works in oil, pastel, and pencil; her style combines the representational with the abstract, giving the viewer an ever-changing focus on the human form. Besides her figure paintings, café scenes, and delicate renditions of children at play, she specializes in commissioned portraits, many of which hang in both public and private collections throughout the United Sates and abroad.
Sarah’s accolades have included: Best in Show, Madison Art Society; Best in Show, First Prize and Juror’s Choice, Mystic Art Association; Best in Show, New England Invitational; Viewer’s Choice, Essex Art Association. She has taught portraiture at the Mystic Art Association for many years and has been selected as a juror and guest lecturer for many art organizations throughout New England. Her paintings are currently featured in the 2001 edition of New Art International.
Jack Montmeat
www.jackmontmeat.com
Jack Montmeat is an award-winning artist, resides in New London and exhibits his works in this region. Jack graduated from Columbus College of Art and Design in Ohio, studied at Lyme Academy and overseas in Paris and Florence. He has won the Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Grant three times and recently the 2004 Art of New England drawing award juried by Burt Silverman. Mr. Montmeat teaches drawing at the Mystic Arts Center where his works receive recognition on our regional exhibitions.
A member of the MAA faculty for the past five years, Ms. Oakes earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Skidmore College in Art/Education with a concentration in Ceramics. She has chaired our Young at Art exhibition for several years and is a loyal volunteer here. Ms. Oakes teaches art at the MAC and two schools in the area. She enjoys teaching pottery classes at the Stonington Come. Amanda is one of our VTC trained teachers and conducts classes and assists with workshops. Amanda enjoys children, animals and donating her artwork for local fundraisers.
Jacqueline McLaughlin Phillips
Jacqueline McLaughlin grew up on Block Island, and now resides in Southeastern Connecticut. Jacqueline has shown her work and exhibited at numerous art shows and galleries including at the Lyman Allyn Art Museum of New London, Lyme Art Gallery of Old Lyme, Slater Museum of Norwich, the Pfizer Art Show and the Pacific Street Gallery in New London.
In 1998, she chaired a Silent Art Auction and Cocktail reception at the Garde Arts Center for Hygienic Art, Inc to enable that charitable organization to purchase and renovate the historic Hygienic Restaurant building in New London, Connecticut, She is working to make this a gallery in New London.
Jacqueline has more than ten years in commercial art and advertising design, and thirteen years experience in jewelry design. She has studied painting for over twenty years. For the past five years, Jacqueline has been chosen by her peers to paint the official Hygienic Art Show Poster.
Christen Pratt, a former resident of East Hampton, CT, now resides in Mystic, CT. Following graduation from East Hampton High School, where she participated in many art classes and activities, Christen attended Manchester Community College. Always passionate about culinary arts as well as studio art, Christen earned an A.S. of Science in Foodservice Management and a Certificate in Culinary Arts. Christen continues to be involved in the foodservice business and developing her cooking skills. She then attended Central Connecticut State University where she earned a B.S. in Art Education and is now a certified teacher in the State of Connecticut. Christen has conducted numerous internships in various school systems and continues to substitute teach in her home town of East Hampton.
Christen has taught MAC’s School Outreach programs as-well-as many of the Children’s Studio classes. She strives to develop unique lessons that combine studio art education with museum style teaching. Christen considers herself an organized advocate for the arts, as an active artist and teacher in the community.
Susan Stone attended Paier School of Art in Hamden, Connecticut, majoring in illustration and fine art. She has also taken various classes at Rhode Island School of Design and has been a working artist since 1975. Her interest in rendering birds, particularly waterfowl, was sparked by her first art-related job illustrating a weekly column “Wings ‘N’ Things” for the Waterbury Republican newspaper in Connecticut. Soon to follow was Birds of Connecticut Salt Marshes, published by the Arboretum at Connecticut College. Since then she has illustrated many more books and scientific journals, worked as a graphic artist and illustrator and exhibited in galleries including the Maritime Gallery at Mystic Seaport, Noah’s Art at Noah’s Restaurant in Stonington, Connecticut, Hartford Fine Art and Framing in East Hartford, Connecticut and Picture This Gallery in Westport, Connecticut.
Susan has a studio at Above Elite Studios in Westerly, Rhode Island. Watercolor is her favorite medium followed closely by pen & ink. She has received Second Prize at the H2O Show of the Portsmouth Arts Guild in November 2007, the Ann Lewis Parker Award for Best Watercolor at South County Art Association’s Open Juried Show for Behind the Wall, as well as honorable mentions for On the Morgan I, and Light at Mystic. She also received an Honorable Mention for Barn Owl at The Wickford Art Association. A book she recently illustrated, Kid’s Easy-to-Create Wildlife Habitats, written by Emily Stetson, won a 2006 Teachers’ Choice Award and received critical acclaim in the School Library Journal. She was accepted into the prestigious 2006 International Show at the Maritime Gallery at Mystic Seaport in Mystic, Connecticut.
In addition to natural history, Susan is an accomplished artist of architectural subjects and is able to render a detailed drawing from blueprints or from life. She accepts commissions for custom drawings and watercolors of homes and businesses.
Susan is a longtime member of the Artists’ Cooperative Gallery of Westerly, an Elected Artist member of the Mystic Art Center, a member of the Portsmouth Arts Guild, a member of the New England Chapter of the Guild of Natural Science Illustrators, and an artist member and past president of South County Art Association.
For more information on Stone’s artwork, visit:
profile.guru.com/741292
Kristen joined the MAC faculty in January of 2009. She earned her BFA at the University of Connecticut, with a focus on graphic design and illustration. She has over 10 years of teaching experience in schools and other educational organizations. She teaches all ages of children, ranging from Pre-K through 12th grade. Kristen also teaches for the Tracy Art Center and is an art resident for LEARN at several regional schools. Kristen works on commission for murals, invitations, and logo work. In her free time, she enjoys working in mixed media in her studio based in Essex, CT.
Frances Topping, a native of England, has resided in the USA since 1970. She recently moved to Charlestown, RI. She has a degree in Geography with Botany and Zoology from Sheffield, England and a BFA in Graphic Design with Illustration and Photography from Akron, Ohio. Previously an interpretive naturalist with a park system she now freelances natural history illustration and fine art in mediums such as pen and ink, scratchboard and watercolor with some acrylic and oil. She enjoys informal teaching to encourage students to persist in their interests, learn skills and appreciate the world around them. Her past experience has dealt with all ages and she welcomes beginners or more accomplished students
A resident of Salem, CT, Jennifer Wheeler is a recent graduate with a BFA in painting from the Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts. Jennifer has been teaching drawing for over 6 years at Norwich Free Academy, and has worked as a freelance artist/illustrator for the past 16 years. Her current work centers on narrative still life, and focuses on feminine imagery and the role of women in American society. When not painting, drawing, and teaching, Jennifer is spending time with her husband and two daughters, preferably laughing and hiking.
Christopher Zhang, an Elected Artist Member and teacher at the MAA is scheduled to lead an outdoors workshop in oils as well as Figure and Portrait classes this summer. Christopher received his initial art training at the East China Normal School before coming to the U.S. in 1990.
By 1993, Mr. Zhang graduated with a master’s degree from Rhode Island College. A figurative artist, Zhang combines East and West training and traditions into unique and powerful works on canvas. A May of 2001 exhibit at the MAA of his works titled “Soul of the Dancer” revealed the skills and intensity with which he works.
Months of study, photographs and studio time resulted in intuitive and dramatic compositions with skillfully rendered figures of working ballet dancers. “A Personal Journey to Tibet”, exhibited in 1999 by the New London Art Society contained huge canvases of Tibet landscapes and people.
David Black is a painter who has recently been involved with Tunisian Collaborative Painting. He was awarded a Fulbright in 2008 and again in 2009 to work in Tunisia and as part of an effort to preserve the artistic freedom of Tunisian artists. In February of 2010, Black conducted the first American session in Tunisian Collaborative Painting at The Lyme Academy of Fine Arts and he is traveling the East Coast leading future sessions.
Black’s paintings hang in the residences of U.S. Ambassadors under the ART in Embassies Program of the State Department. In 2004, he was among a group of artists honored at The White House for his participation in that program. He has had a one-person exhibition in London at The Royal Academy and has exhibited in galleries from SoHo to Stonington. In an introduction for his London exhibition, the curator wrote “David Black is a serious painter and his paintings are fun.” Black has also been called “an extraordinary natural talent and a voracious observer of humanity.” In 1992 The National Arts Club published a book of Black’s line drawings which the Guggenheim Museum requested for their permanent collection. Grace Glueck, writing in
The New York Times said, “Black’s oils, bubbling with color, unabashedly tackle everything from landscape to social mores…” Prior to his artistic career David Black was a Tony-Award winning Broadway producer. He produced eighteen shows with some of the theater’s brightest stars and wrote two books, The Actor’s Audition and The Magic of Theater. Black resides in Stonington, CT where he maintains his studio at the Velvet Mill. For more information on David Black, visit davidblacknyc.com.
Gwen Basilica
Gwen Basilica has been working in glass for over 25 yrs, from traditional stained glass windows to fused glass and glass mosaic. A large body of her art work involves mosaics. She has completed numerous large public installations which can be viewed at the Mohegan Sun Casino and Mystic Aquarium. For Basilica, the most interesting and fun part of mosaic work is incorporating other materials beside glass such as river rock, pottery, semi precious stone and hand painted tiles into the completed mosaic. She is inspired by things in nature and by other artists and is currently creating beautiful private commissioned mosaics depicting Tuscan vineyards, landscapes and ocean scenes for homes and businesses.
Sophie Drouin
Sophie Drouin is a second generation mosaic artist trained in the Modern Italian style. Her works can be seen in galleries and private residences in Canada, the US, Europe and Australia. She enjoys the diversity of mosaic possibilities when both teaching and creating, and particularly likes to innovate using both traditional and unique materials and textures, from marble to raw minerals, metallic elements and dimensional accents.
Visit her website at www.sophiemosaics.com.
Karen Mangiacotti
Karen Mangiacotti earned her B.A. in Art and Elementary Education at Wheelock College and an ESL teaching certification
at Rutherford College in England. She has recently served as Playgroup Coordinator for the MOMS Club International New London chapter. From 1994-2001, she owned and operated Geppetto Drama Studios in Massachusetts where she taught children ages 3 – 16 in art, acting, puppetry, dance, clowning and mime. Concurrently she served as a theater producer and director for the Natick and Newton schools systems. Most recently, she has enjoyed her involvement at the Children’s Museum
of Southeastern Connecticut as Chairperson for the Artrageous gala and as a member of their board of trustees.
Bernard McTigue
Bernie McTigue attended The Lyme Academy College of Fine Art in the spring of 1995.
A recipient of the John Stobart Fellowship while attending the Academy he graduated with a BFA degree in Painting , May 1997, culminating in a one-man show as a Stobart recipient in 1998. Previously, he was enrolled in the art program at The University of Connecticut in Storrs. He has displayed his work in various art shows in Connecticut, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and New York where he has received several awards. Bernard is an elected member of the Connecticut Plein Aire Painters Society (CPAPS) and the Lyme Art Association. He is currently a member of many local art associations, the New Haven Paint and Clay Club, The Lyme Art Association, Mystic Art Association, Essex Art Association, Guilford Art Society, Clinton Art Association, Southington Art Association, and the Madison Art Society. He has taught privately and professionally at several art centers and is currently teaching for the Old Saybrook Community Continuing Education program. Bernie enjoys painting on location and travels throughout New England, traveling to Nova Scotia, Maryland and Pennsylvania.
To view works by McTigue, visit his web site: www.bernardmctigue.com
MYSTIC ARTS CENTER | 9 Water Street, Mystic, CT 06355 | 860-536-7601 | Fax: 860-536-0610 | Email: info@mysticarts.org