This month's exhibit will feature works done by local artists, "The Five Friends"! Head to the Hoxie Gallery from 5-7 pm Wednesday, October 7th for an opportunity to meet the artist and enjoy light bites. Works can be viewed in the Hoxie Gallery October 7th-29th during library hours. 

For the last three years, the artists of the Five Friends painting group have been visiting local land trusts and public and private spaces of great natural beauty, creating art that will be on view at the beautiful Hoxie Gallery this coming October. Landscapes of luminous color, summer skies, bright fields, shady glens, coastline and autumnal trees will be on view as well as pieces of the more 'inner landscape' conceptual/abstract type. 

About the artists:

Mara Gillen Beckwith is an artist in Stonington CT, and paints plein air works at places that are close to her heart, finding solitude on walks and travels around her native town. She embraces these natural places and enjoys painting these beautiful scenes. She enjoys exhibiting her artwork and friends' work at her gallery and frame shop Studio M, llc on Cottrell Street in Mystic. She received a BA in Studio Art, Connecticut College. Previous and current memberships include Artist Member of the Mystic Art Museum, Artist Member of the Norwich Arts Council, Stonington Printmakers Society, and Monotype Guild of New England Juried shows include Slater Art Museum, Mystic Museum of Art, Hoxie Gallery, Hygienic Art Gallery, The Hollow Art Gallery, and Studio M Art Gallery. She has studied painting and printmaking abroad in Pont Aven, France, Venice, Italy and Prague, Czech Republic.

Appreciating the Connecticut and Rhode Island countryside, Elaine Mills works in multimedia, reflecting a world that is in constant motion. She enjoys the act of painting en plein air, watching the birds, clouds, the tides, the people in everyday life.

Linda Peduzzi lives in Pawcatuck CT, where she paints in her studio, surrounded by overgrown gardens, trees, wildlife and birds. She works in oil and mixed media, creating poetic paintings of color, light, mystery and imagination. For the last few years she has also been painting with watercolors en plein air with a small group of friends, exploring nature and developing her style with that medium. She earned an Associate's degree in liberal arts from Mohegan Community College and a graphic design certificate from Eastern Connecticut State University. She has studied at Woodstock School of Art, Mystic Art Association, Lyme Academy of Fine Arts and has taken many private workshops.She has exhibited at the Artists Cooperative Gallery of Westerly, South County Art Association, Wickford Art Association, Spring Bull Gallery, The Hoxie Gallery, Classic Framers and was represented by The Cassidy Gallery of Jackson New Hampshire. She is currently exhibiting at Studio M Gallery and Frame Shop in Mystic CT.

Charles Shaw was born and lived most of his life in the Kalamazoo area of Michigan. He's resided in Southeastern Connecticut since 2007 with his wife Phyllis and their furry pets. "Rural scenery has always been a love of mine, country boy at heart I am. I've been greatly influenced by the Canadian Group of Seven, Richard Diebenkorn, Wolf Kahn and of course Vincent Van Gogh. My style of painting incorporates the beauty of New England's landscape scenes. I am partial to using vibrant colours to enhance my paintings. The uniqueness of my art is brought on with the use of a palette knife." 

Eleanor Tamsky "I am a painter and have lived in Mystic, CT for the past 40 years. I grew up in a family of painters and musicians and was surrounded by the arts from a very early age. I have explored many different craft and fine art media throughout my studies. In the 1990’s while attending Lyme Academy College of Art I rediscovered my love of oil painting. It was there that I was introduced to plein air painting. I loved the concept of setting up my easel outdoors and painting amidst all of nature’s glory and surprises, ie. bugs, wind, rain, sun and cold. For me, there was a visceral response to painting directly from nature, an urgency to get information down on the canvas as the ever-changing light slowly shifted, to capture the magic of the moment. I painted the landscape for the next 10 years or so until life and work took me in other directions. In 2021 I returned to painting and in 2024, I was invited to join a local plein air painting group and have rediscovered my joy of painting from nature. While much of my work is painted on site I also work in my studio exploring the abstract nature of the natural world. I feel fortunate to live in an area that offers endless subject matter with its many beautiful nature preserves and shoreline. I have studied at Philadelphia College of Art, Rhode Island School of Design (continuing education) and Lyme Academy College of Art. My work has been exhibited in Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts."