Island Street Studios at Union Crossing is a vibrant and diverse creative community of artists, artisans and entrepreneurs located in the heart of Lawrence’s historic downtown. Housed within one of the eco-conscious, redeveloped mill buildings, ISS is on the second floor with views overlooking the former Everett Mills on one side and the mighty Merrimack River on the other.
The group show features work by several artists, including Cornia Corneyjo, Cassie Doyon, Deycloud, Lynne B. Mehlman, Emily O’Hara, Elizabeth Peck, Jose Rodriguez, Jean Schwerdt Stewart, Whitney Stewart and Andrea Stoehr. Their work is installed in the Level 1 hanging exhibit area and in the display case in the Reference Room.
About the artists:
Corina Cornejo is an artist and fashion designer born and raised in Lawrence, MA. Graduating with a BFA in Fashion Design from MassArt in 2014 she would move to New York City and work as a designer for various brands such as G.H. Bass & Co. and Karl Lagerfeld Paris. After several years in NYC she decided to come back to Lawrence, MA and start her own indie brand known as Bag Lady Goods. Mostly creating one of a kind canvas totes and pouches but also experimenting with hand embroidery. While Bag Lady Goods is still in its very beginning stages she has managed to open up a small studio space in Lawrence, MA and continues to work on building her brand while still working as a freelance designer in the mass market industry.
Cassie Doyon is a local Merrimack Valley artist and art teacher who works with mixed media mosaic sculpture. Her art reflects a life long interest in primitive/tribal arts around the world along with the beauty of the natural world and is particularly focused in surface design, color and pushing the boundaries of sculpture with unconventional and repurposed materials.
Deycloud is a 25-year-old artist from Lawrence, MA. She studies Graphic Design at Northern Vermont University and loves her community of Lawrence, MA. When she’s not doing her homework, or expressing her anxieties and struggles on canvas, Deycloud spends much of her time mentoring Lawrence youth as an art instructor in addition to serving customers as a barista at El Taller Café in downtown Lawrence. She has been drawing since she was in the third grade and later, started painting in high school. Deycloud’s art is heavily influenced by surrealist Salvador Dalí. Her inspiration flows mainly from her love of psychology and astronomy, ie: how dreams interact with the human mind and its subconscious; the idea of a multiverse, portals, galaxies, alternate dimensions, and magical places. Deycloud believes that her art invites her to dig deeper into her own mind and come to terms with the reality of the world we live in. You can find Dey and her art on Instagram @deycloudart.
Drawn to the beauty of nature, Lynne Mehlman has been painting her whole life. Throughout her school years she took as many different kinds of art classes as she could, from ceramics to calligraphy to lithography. However, she never found the intensive and thorough training that she desired until she met Robert Cormier, the instructor of the R.H. Ives Gammell Studios in Boston, MA and a former Gammell student himself. Lynne subsequently studied with him for 4 years. Lynne then furthered her studies with Paul Ingbretson, another Gammell student, in Manchester, NH, for more than 5 years. Lynne’s training comprised as much focus on learning to see as on the craft of drawing and painting. Robert Cormier called it an impressionistic approach, based on what hits the eye first. Paul Ingbretson calls it painting in the visual order. She found truth in Gammell’s words, “A student’s progress seems to him like the falling of successive scales from his eyes… It is, in fact, only after his eyes have acquired a fairly high degree of sensitivity, which is to say, when he can paint fairly well, that a student realizes the overwhelming difficulty of painting.” Her studies began with charcoal cast drawing, as taught in the 19th century European atelier system. From cast drawing Lynne progressed to still life drawing and oil painting, figure drawing, and, finally, portraiture and figure painting. To complement her intensive studio work, she studied plein air landscape painting with David Curtis, yet another Gammell student.
Emily O’Hara of Silver Labyrinth Design is a self-taught metalsmith and fiber artist. She maintains a metals studio at Island Street Studios in Lawrence, MA and a weaving studio in her home in Andover, MA. In 1990, she took her first weaving class at East Lansing Community Education in East Lansing, MI. After returning east, she took classes in color theory and design and tapestry weaving at Harrisville Design in Harrisville, NH. She was a member of Hudson-Mohawk Weavers Guild in upstate NY and The Weavers Guild of Boston in MA. Upon reading a brief article about weaving with metal in Handwoven magazine, she became increasingly curious about metal weaving and found her first course in metalsmithing at Cambridge Center for Adult Education where she has taken classes for the past fifteen years. Additionally, she has taken courses at Metalwerx in Waltham, MA and MassArt in Boston, MA.
I believe that art is essential to our quality of life. Painting is my escape to an amazing place. It enriches me, soothes my soul, balances me, and gives me peace. I am passionate about painting, and hope my audience feels my excitement. I grew up on a farm in Poland, where life was both hard and simple. My art education began in the US, with classes and workshops taught by local New England artists. Eventually, I earned my Certificate in Fine Art from the New Hampshire Institute of Art. Then continued with several semesters at the School of the Museum of Fine Art, Boston. Today, I continue my educational journey by taking a little bit of something from many, different, well known artists, including David Leffel, Jeffrey Watts, Rose Frantzen, Robert Liberace, and Michelle Dunaway. My painting experience centers mostly in New England. However, I also travel extensively to paint in the American Southwest, Alaska, France, Netherlands, Norway, Italy and Scotland. I paint landscapes (mostly en plein air), trying to capture not only the light and color, but also the mood and energy of the scene. I like to paint portraits (from life), trying to convey the character, personality and spirit of the subject. With my still life paintings I try to evoke emotion in the viewer.
My abstracts give me the freedom to express my imagination and the emotions that I feel at the moment.
Jean Schwerdt Stewart invested most of her years in creating one-of-a-kind pieces of silver, gold & platinum jewelry,while still studying and working in the fine arts of watercolors and oils. After retiring from 45 years of jewelry design, Jean has been working exclusively in oils, and has invited other artists into her home studio to simply share the joy of painting together. They call their group, “Artists in Action.” Jean lived overseas with her husband, and educator with the Department of Defense, and she continued her art studies in many places, including Okinawa, Germany and Yugoslavia. Find her on Facebook.
Jean Stewart, accomplished fine artist, goldsmith, jewelry designer and co-owner of Whitney’s Custom Jewelry, has been creating one-of-a-kind silver, gold and gem creations both nationally and Internationally. Today, Jean continues this tradition of excellence along with her daughter Whitney Stewart, after whom Whitney’s Custom Jewelry was named. Whitney’s philosophy is simple – to create one-of-a-kind jewelry creations that are not only intriguing and beautiful in design but also are of the highest quality. Each piece designed by Whitney’s features only the best materials such as fine silver, sterling silver, gold, precious and semi-precious stones.
Andrea Stoehr is a self-taught fused glass artist who discovered the beauty of fused glass several years ago during a trip to New Mexico and a visit to a glass gallery. Fascinated by the changes of light and color, she vowed that this was something she just had to do. After taking a one-night workshop on how to make a fused glass tile, she was off and running. Over the following 10 years, and through various experiments, failures and happy accidents, Andrea came to understand the medium more and more. Most pieces are fired in a kiln to 1440-1500 degrees Fahrenheit, with a hold varying per piece being fired. Andrea works out of a studio at the Island Street Art Studios in Lawrence, MA. She has her creations for sale at Positive Images Gallery in Haverhill, MA, and at Pick’n Cousins home décor store in Hampton, NH. She also participates as a vendor in the Coastal Christmas craft fair in Salisbury, MA during the Blue Ocean Festival of Trees every November. Find Andrea Stoehr Designs on Facebook.