Gallery Seven | Frame Shop & Fine Art Gallery | Maynard, MA

Eva Barstow exercises the left side of her brain working as a healthcare systems analyst and the right side in creating expressive art.  She works in multiple media, to explore the science and beauty of nature. For the past several years, she has worked with seaweed, including one-of-a-kind pressings, digitally scanned images and her current series of mixed media interpretations, combining  seaweed images with printmaking techniques such as collographs, etchings and solar prints. She also works in clay, having studied with Mary Barringer in Connecticut, and with Makoto Yabe and Terry Goss in Massachusetts, and at workshops with a wide range of ceramicists.  Most recently, she studied print-making at DeCordova Museum School. Her husband Dan, a science educator, works with her on the digital side of the art. His years of photographic experience and technical skills, enable them to create high-quality limited edition enlargements that show close-up the extraordinary beauty found in nature.

When Peter moved to Boston, the opportunity to satisfy a life-long curiosity about painting presented itself. He took one oil painting class at the MFA Museum School, then another, and another after that for the next 9 years. He painted with Robin Paine, Barnett Rubenstein, and Ilona Anderson - all of whom were invaluable to the evolution of his sensibilities. When he moved to Westminster, continuing at the Museum School was no longer possible. Fortunately and fortuitously, he started drawing in charcoal with Richard Lagasse at DeCordova. These instructors live with him still - very much present as he stands in front of the easel applying the tools they gave him as he makes the works you see. These works are an expression of his response to the subject at hand. Since that response is not always the same, neither is the representation of it. The end result only has to be true to itself.

Dianne Bunis specializes in large format black and white photography of the New England landscape, utilizing the Zone System. She is a master printer of gelatin silver prints and is also an accomplished children’s portrait photographer. Dianne studied at the School of Visual Arts, Parsons School of Design, the Art Students League, Syracuse University and the New England School of Photography. She is currently a photojournalist for the Groton Landmark publication and Media News. She has exhibited widely in the New England area and has been in several exhibitions at the Fitchburg Art Museum. Light in nature is the inspiration for her subject matter. Photography allows her to create images that capture the beauty and simplicity of the natural world. She is inspired by nature’s work...freshly fallen snow on the ground of an apple orchard whose trees are bare and black. Morning fog in the wetlands of New England. Early morning frost on branches. Using black and white film, she makes a photograph that will have an affect on the people who view it. Perhaps it’s just capturing a moment that is often overlooked in today’s busy world.

Chris Flisher has been creating mandalas and spiritually-realized drawings for years. The inspiration for the artwork sprang initially from his love of astrology. Astrology uses circles and cycles to represent the changing universe. As the planets drift through the cosmos; as the seasons change; as the days come and go; the universe evolves and expands in a timeless swirl of circular motion. The drawings evolve from the subconscious and are created in a stream of consciousness involving concentration and meditation. All designs, patterns, and symbols are original and one of a kind. The swirl of color, textures, and spiritual symbolism are all part of the process. Although these are not typical mandalas, they evolve from the same spiritual center and are offered to the universe for the collective good of all.

Marie Forbes grew up in Leominster, MA and studied piano since age 7. She graduated from the Boston Conservatory of Music, married Edson Forbes and moved to Weston, MA where they raised their twin daughters, Ananda and Kate. When the girls were young, Marie purchased her first Nikon 35mm camera and enrolled in a few evening courses at the New England School of Photography. There, with the encouragement and patience of her teacher, Nick Johnson, a whole new creative world unfolded. Her musical interests are of the Romantic and Neoclassical periods. With photography, Marie is drawn to working with the effects of light, especially the muted tones inherent in fog and rain. She finds that both disciplines of music and photography deal with many of the same effects.