GNew novel by Manchester author explores life in 2090
A year and a half after the release of his debut novel, The Light Years, Manchester author Rob Greene is back with his sophomore effort, Twenty-five to Life — though, technically, it’s the novel he wrote first.
“I started writing it 10 years ago as an MFA student at [Southern New Hampshire University],” said Greene, who writes as R.W.W. Greene. “It’s just changed a lot. It had a different name, it was bigger, there were three point-of-view characters. Over the years I just kept picking at it. I unraveled it and stitched it back up again.”
Twenty-five to Life is set in 2090 and follows 23-year-old Julie Riley, who is forced by law to live with her mother until she turns 25. With climate change making it harder and harder for humans to survive on Earth, a humanity-saving mission brings some of the population to Proxima Centauri, but Julie is one of the 9 billion people left behind. Not wanting to be stuck inside with her mother for the next two years, interacting with others mostly through virtual reality, Julie runs away. She joins the Volksgeist, a group of nomads traveling American back roads in converted vans, trucks and buses, and partners up with an older woman named Ranger.
“Most good science fiction is based in reality and it’s kind of a metaphor for something else,” Greene said. “I don’t do a lot of space battles and light sabers.”
In this case, he said, the book delves into what life has been like for the most recent generations.
“The millennials and the Gen Y and Gen Z situation — [this book looks at] what those guys have been going through economically and socially and kind of projects it out to what it might look like in 2090,” Greene said.
Twenty-five to Life is also a work of climate fiction, so Greene focused a lot of his research on climate change.
“This area will have 90 90-degree days a year in 2050,” he said. “Sea levels will have risen. … Fenway Park will be under water. It’s kind of interesting looking at that and figuring out what kind of life [we might be living].”
Greene said the pandemic didn’t influence the plot, though during the editing process he did have to acknowledge it.
“Really I just had to make note of the fact that there was a pandemic and there have been other Covid varieties, that there might be a Covid-79 in 2079,” he said. “Any book that’s going to be set in the near future has to take into account that we had Trump, we had the pandemic.”
Other real elements of the novel are the main character’s name — Julie Riley is the name of a student Greene had when he taught at Nashua High School South — and where she travels during her road trip.
“I got a U.S. map and I kind of plotted out the entire journey and researched where she might stop,” Greene said. “Some of the places I’d actually been to, but most of the places I just did research on.”
Greene is currently working on what might end up being a trilogy; he’s already sold the first two books to his publisher, U.K.-based science-fiction and fantasy publisher Angry Robot Books.
“One is done, one is almost done,” he said. “I hope to start [the third one] in October.”
The books are an alternative history set in the 1970s to 1990s, and aliens have destroyed Cleveland. He expects the first two to be published in May 2022 and May 2023.
Greene’s writing process hasn’t changed too much with the pandemic, though it did throw him off early on.
“The first three or four months I had a hard time getting anything going. I kind of felt creatively empty,” he said. “I played a lot of guitar and finally managed to get my writing going again.”
He also created an ad hoc online writers group after throwing out the idea to a couple of people he met on Twitter. Word spread, and now the group gets together via Google Meet a few times a week, sharing tips and encouragement.
“It’s almost like going to the bar with your friends except there’s no bar,” Greene said, “and for some people it’s 5 o clock at night and some people it’s 10.”
Twenty-five to Life was scheduled to be released Aug. 24, with a U.S. launch at Gibson’s Bookstore in Concord. An event at the Bookery in Manchester is scheduled for Aug. 31, and Greene is hoping it will still happen in light of the surge of Covid cases — it might be a replay of 2020’s The Light Years launch.
“We got four live appearances out. The last one was I think March 11 at the Bookery, and then the next day the world shut down,” he said.
Meet Rob Greene
Where: The Bookery, 844 Elm St., Manchester When: Aug. 31, 5 p.m. Twenty-five to Lifeis available for purchase at local bookstores and on amazon.com. Visit rwwgreene.com.
More than 50 artists will display works ranging from watercolors and photography to wood and glass pieces at the annual Greeley Park Art Show in Nashua, which, now in its 68th year, has grown to draw thousands of visitors over the course of two days.
“I think it’s the history of the show that brings people to Nashua,” said Lauren Boss, co-president (with Jackie Berry) of the Nashua Area Artists’ Association, which hosts the event. “It’s a great park, and we get a great turnout. We’re very fortunate that it’s the same weekend every year, so people know we’re going to be there.”
The event takes place Saturday, Aug. 21, and Sunday, Aug. 22, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day.
The artists represent a variety of media, many traditional and some unexpected, like colored pencil fine art artist Tina Gagnon.
“They’re amazing,” Boss said of Gagnon’s pieces. “You wouldn’t believe that they’re colored pencils.”
Visitors get the opportunity to watch Gagnon at work when they visit her tent.
“I set up a ‘studio’ for the two days and demonstrate my process and technique for the public,” Gagnon said.
Boss said all of the works are juried in and include fine art and fine crafts, like jewelry — Boss herself will have a tent set up to show her jewelry — plus pottery, glasswork, woodwork and soapwork.
“I enjoy creating a multitude of unique turned wooden objects for the yearly show, including bowls, lidded vessels, pens and other odds and ends,” said woodturner David Bower. “Each piece is a unique one-of-a-kind item.”
Bower attends the show each year with his daughter, Katie DiTullio.
“She enjoys painting and I enjoy woodturning and the two different art mediums complement each other in our joint display booth,” he said.
Carl Cooley of Concord calls himself an “eclectic photographer” but said that in recent years he’s been focusing his camera on birds.
“Photographing birds provides a challenge both for the amateur birder to find and recognize them and for the photographer to capture sharp evocative portraits of subjects that rarely stand still,” Cooley said.
Boss said one of the benefits of attending the Greeley Park show is that you get to talk to artists like Cooley, who is a retired pediatrician.
“You get to know a little bit about their story and how they create,” Boss said.
The event is a highlight for the artists too.
“I love the outdoor venue,” said Deb Wolf, who does oil on canvas, wood and tile, often using repurposed materials. “It’s a beautiful wide open park with such a wide array of talented local artists.”
Jessica Perez, an en plein air painter, said she loves interacting with the people who attend.
“The art show offers a window to what the community desires, and how they respond to work is an element key to success,” Perez said.
Bower agrees.
“It’s always inspiring seeing other artists’ work and receiving feedback on our own creations from the general public,” he said.
This will be Ian Bailey’s first time attending the Greeley Park Art Show, and he’s enjoyed the process of getting ready to show his work, like building his booth and framing his artwork.
“My artwork is … fairly large, so I had to plan to transport it safely,” he said. “I create emotionally charged abstract paintings using mixed media such as acrylic paints, plaster [and] foil.”
On Saturday, any of the participating artists can take part in the show’s adult art competition. Their work will be on display in the competition tent, and judges will go through the tent in the early afternoon and give out awards.
On Sunday, there’s a kids art competition for ages 6 to 18. Boss said participants can drop off their art Sunday morning, and it will be judged later in the day. There are four age categories, and winners will receive ribbons and prizes like art supplies.
“We want to encourage them to keep on creating, to keep on growing,” Boss said.
The show will also feature a raffle and an auction, a puppet show, woodworking demonstrations and a hands-on art project called “Kindness Rocks.”
“We’ll have rocks there for people to paint and they can give it to someone who might need some extra love or leave it out for a stanger to find,” Boss said.
Boss said she’s looking forward to having a full slate of artists back this year, since last year’s show was about half the size because of Covid. She said she’s always amazed at what the artists can create.
“We have some newer artists that we haven’t seen before so that’s going to be nice to go around and see new work, fresh work,” Boss said. “I genuinely like all our artists … and I enjoy going and trying to stop at everyone’s booth.”
Boss encourages everyone to come out and support local art.
“They need it and we all need to get out and do something normal and do something that makes us happy — and you’re going to find something there that makes you happy,” she said. “There’s something for everyone.”
Greeley Park Art Show
Where: 100 Concord St., Nashua When: Saturday, Aug. 21, and Sunday, Aug. 22, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily Cost: Free to attend More info: nashuaarts.org/greeleyparkartshow
Schedule
Saturday All day – raffle/silent auction tent (blue tent on sidewalk) 9:30 a.m. – adult participant competition dropoff at art show tent 10 a.m. – 68th annual GPAS opens 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. – kindness rock painting (near Booth 1) 11:15 a.m. – marionette show (near Booth 98) 2 p.m. – marionette show (near Booth 98) 5 p.m. – Greeley Park Art Show closes for the day
Sunday All day – raffle/silent auction tent (blue tent on sidewalk) 10 to 11:15 a.m. – student show dropoff at art show tent 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. – woodturning demonstration with Ron Marcoux (near Booth 65) 10 a.m. – 68th Annual GPAS opens 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. – kindness rock painting (near Booth 1) 11:15 a.m. – marionette show (near Booth 98) 2 p.m. – marionette show (near Booth 98) 3 p.m. – scholarship, student show awards 4 p.m. – Greeley Park Art Show closes for the year
Featured photo: Art by Jessica Perez. Courtesy photo.
Summer Haze group art exhibition at Concord studio
Diverse pieces that capture the essence of steamy summer days will be on display during a group art exhibition at Jess Barnett Art Studio in Concord. The art is hanging now through Sept. 3, with an opening reception on Friday, Aug. 13, when the artists will be in the gallery to talk about their work.
The Summer Haze exhibition features pieces from five artists and is the first group exhibition Barnett has hosted since she opened her studio in November 2019.
“Covid kind of put a damper on [the studio opening],” Barnett said, “so this is really exciting to be able to have the group show.”
Earlier this year Barnett put out a call for entries to New England artists, asking for submissions that were based on the Summer Haze theme.
She ended up working with artists from New Hampshire and Massachusetts, plus one from New York, and between the five of them — Barnett included — there are about 10 to 12 pieces in the exhibition.
“It’s a good size for the gallery,” Barnett said. “It was pretty easy to fit everything in there and make [it] look good next to each other. It takes up one wall of the gallery, and then I have [my work] hanging on the other walls.”
Barnett’s pieces include a couple of new paintings that she hasn’t shown yet, including an abstract painting called “Lilac Season,” plus a couple of older pieces that go well with the theme, she said.
The exhibition is diverse, Barnett said, with paintings, drawings and glass art.
“I can’t really do installation art [because of space], so I wanted to have two-dimensional pieces and glass,” she said.
Karen Mehos, a glass artist from Boscawen, produces mainly stained glass and small glass works. She’s showing a glass bowl called “Small Town Sunset,” featuring a cityscape against a sunset background. It was made by melting glass in a kiln, using colored glass powders on a clear glass base, fusing them together into a flat disk in the 1,450-degree kiln, then softening them with heat again before using a ceramic mold to give it shape.
“It’s pretty innovative and cool how she did that, and she made it just for the show,” Barnett said.
Kathy Bouchard from Nashua has two acrylic paintings of kimonos in the show.
“It’s a cross between realistic and abstract,” Barnett said. “Her art is just really cool.”
The other two artists are Jason Michael Rielly of New York and Lorna Ritz of Massachusetts. Rielly’s art represents both the abstract and expressionism genres of artistic style, Barnett said. She said the work he put in the exhibition highlights these styles and communicates strong emotion, mood and vibrancy.
“They’re almost floral, but more abstract,” she said.
Ritz is a third-generation abstract expressionist-impressionist who paints landscapes.
“I paint the changing seasons as they occur, the light that emanates from seasonal color combinations that occur in landscape,” Ritz wrote about her work.
All of the work in the show is for sale, and for those who can’t make the reception and meet the artists, there will be labels with the artists’ information on the pieces for anyone who wants to learn more about them and their work.
For the reception, Barnett will be giving out a small gift bag with a piece of art to everyone who attends, and she encourages the general public to check it out.
“It’s a very laid back atmosphere. [We] aren’t snobby art people,” she said.
Barnett said she hopes to have more group exhibitions in the future, and she will invite artists of all levels, even those who are just dipping their toes into art, to participate.
“I just really feel that everyone, if they want to, should experiment with art,” she said. “Art can be a really good release for people to express emotion. … You don’t have to go to art school [to be an artist].”
Summer Haze group art exhibition
Where: Opening reception Friday, Aug. 13, from 7 to 8:30 p.m. When: Jess Barnett Art Studio, 4 Park St., Suite 216, Concord. The reception is free, and light refreshments will be served. RSVPs are encouraged on the gallery’s Facebook page but are not required. The exhibition will be hanging through Sept. 3.
Featured photo: The Summer Haze exhibition is on display now at Jess Barnett Art Studio. Courtesy photo.
League of New Hampshire Craftsmen celebrates return of its annual fair
After a year without an in-person fair, artisans from the League of New Hampshire Craftsmen overwhelmingly agree about one thing: They can’t wait to see the crowds and their fellow artisans at this year’s annual fair at Mount Sunapee Resort.
“The craftspeople are as excited to be back at the mountain as you can possibly imagine,” said Laury Nichols, a woodcarver from Chichester.
Lisa DeMio of Hampstead, who makes fiber wearables, echoed that sentiment.
“The artists are super excited to be back there,” she said. “It’s one of those places where I feel very at home. … This particular show has so many amazing artists. I’m looking forward to being able to see and touch and feel everything and connect with friends.”
The 88th Annual Craftsmen’s Fair is happening Saturday, Aug. 7, through Sunday, Aug. 15, and is one of the few arts events of its scope and size this year, according to Miriam Carter, executive director of the League of New Hampshire Craftsmen.
“We’re in New Hampshire and we’ve gotten through Covid in a way that a lot of states haven’t,” Carter said. “I’m expecting a great response from the public.”
The fair will look a little different, with booths spaced farther apart and fewer artisans, and visitors are encouraged to buy their tickets online to get through the gate quickly. But beyond that, the fair should be everything it has been in past years — and then some.
“[The artisans have] had a year off to create work, so I’m really excited to see what they’ve done in that time,” Carter said.
She said she’s already seen some of the work that will be in the Art, Craft & Design Exhibition — a gallery that’s set up in the middle of the fair — and it’s some of the best she’s seen.
“I think they took advantage of their time off the road to … be creative and innovative,” Carter said.
There will be demonstrations this year, Carter said, following Covid precautions. Instead of the more intimate clay turning booth, for example, they will have precreated clay tiles, which people can use to create a textured piece that they can bring home and paint. Many of the demonstrations and hands-on activities are free, Carter said.
There’s also the Art, Craft & Design Exhibition and the Sculpture Garden, plus new food offerings, and, for the first time, alcohol will be available for purchase on the fairgrounds. The Adventure Park at Mount Sunapee Resort will be open, and the lift will be running for people who might want to ride up and hike down. But that’s all gravy.
“The best part of the fair is you get to meet the artists and you get to see what they’ve been up to,” Carter said.
Meet five of those artists, who talked about their work, what’s new this year and why they can’t wait for the fair.
Clay
Pottery by Michael Gibbons.
Michael Gibbons of Derry
What he makes: Functional stoneware for everyday use, like coffee mugs, bowls and teapots. “I’ve been making pottery since about 1980 and I love doing it,” Gibbons said. “I love the fact that it starts off as almost nothing and transforms into something nice and functional.” Gibbons’ work focuses on nature, with mountains adorning many pieces and a line of products made with white clay that look like birch bark.
What’s new this year: With a year off from fairs, Gibbons said he focused on producing, and he developed some new glazes. “My color palette is much broader than it was two years ago,” he said. “I have a red raspberry glaze, and I have a green glaze that I introduced. … I came up with a different glaze for my birch [products] too — less shine and more matte.”
Why he can’t wait for the fair: “It’s the highlight of my year just being around so many talented, great people,” he said. “I’m also excited to see how well-received the new colors are.”
Fiber wearables
Lisa DeMio of Hampstead
Bag by Lisa DeMoi.
What she makes: Accessories, predominantly for women, like handbags, totes and cosmetic bags. They feature hand-printed linen, leather, cotton and waxed canvas. DeMio started sewing years ago, and as her four children got older, she became interested in fabrics and textiles. She found a handbag pattern and made one for herself, then was promptly asked by one friend after another to make bags for them. “It’s one of those things that everybody needs,” she said. “Everybody needs to [carry stuff], and you might as well look good doing it.”
What’s new this year: “I have some new hand-printed fabrics that I’m really excited about,” DeMio said. She said one of the artists that she admires has started to make hand-printed fabrics again, so she’s been able to create some of her products using those. “I have a very limited number of those bags,” she said.
Why she can’t wait for the fair: “Just seeing people again — this is the first live event I’ll have done since February of 2020,” she said. “It’s one of those places where I feel very at home — with my products in my booth and [on the fairgrounds].”
Fine jewelry
Kristin Kennedy of Concord
What she makes: One-of-a-kind jewelry pieces made with precious metals and gemstones. Her inspiration is based on nature and her outdoor experiences, like hiking the mountains and swimming in the ocean.
What’s new this year: Kennedy has a few new collections, including the Everlasting collection that features pieces with rose-cut emeralds and London Blue topaz, and a Nuevo Deco collection that features pieces with rose-cut aquamarines, step-cut chocolate diamonds and champagne diamonds.
Why she can’t wait for the fair: “I’m definitely looking forward to seeing lots of familiar faces, being able to celebrate being together, enjoying art together,” she said. “Most of my customers I’ve had for 20 years, so it’s fun to see them.” Kennedy said she typically checks out the fair herself on the last day. “It’s fun to get to know the artists and handpick some of their special designs,” she said. “It’s a great opportunity to support local artists and appreciate some of the finer things.” This is Kennedy’s 20th year at the Craftsmen’s Fair, and she said it’s the only one she participates in. “I think it’s one of the most highly acclaimed art shows in the country.”
Wood carvings
Laury Nichols from Chichester
Badger by Laury Nichols.
What she makes: Whimsical woodland animal characters and custom woodcarving projects. The carvings are mainly characters she designs herself, and she has a few characters from children’s books like The Wind in the Willows and Beatrix Potter’s tales. With the carvings just inches tall, Nichols said she’ll be bringing about 500 of them to the fair.
What’s new this year: Nichols said she always has new carvings, and this year her booth itself is brand new. She took an online wooden puppet making class during the pandemic, so she’ll have a few puppets and will be taking orders for them. She has also created cards with pictures of her woodcarvings, but since she’s juried as a woodcarver, she’s not allowed to sell anything but woodcarvings. So instead, she’s giving away a free pack of “Celebrate” cards to anyone who asks.
Why she can’t wait for the fair: “I’m so excited to see everyone again, and I know the public is excited to be back to the fair,” Nichols said. “I [especially] love it when children come into my booth. They are so great. … I make free stuff for kids — I was an art kind of kid, and talking to real artists was very inspirational and influential.”
Wood sculptures
Donna Zils Banfield of Derry
What she makes: Sculptural art made out of wood. “Most of my work will appeal to about 10 percent of the people who will be at the fair,” Zils Banfield said. “It’s sculptural art — it’s not utilitarian, it’s not functional.” One example is her Wood Ffolkkes, a community of sculptural wood people that come in various shapes and sizes, with different moods, personalities, wardrobes, loves and hates, but all created from the same core. “At our basic core, we’re all the same,” she said. Zils Banfield started participating in the Craftsmen’s Fair in 2012 as a bowl turner. “I’ve slowly moved into the more nonfunctional artwork,” she said. “I knew early on that I had to be more than a bowl turner.” Zils Banfield said this kind of work is much more intricate, taking days, weeks or months to complete one piece, so she usually has several pieces going at a time. “Nothing is done quickly, which is unusual for the wood turning world,” she said.
What’s new this year: “I have a new sculptural piece that is going to be titled ‘Cityscapes,’” she said. It features 3D images carved into the wood with small particles of 24k gold leaves and silver leaves for the skyscrapers and the stars.
Why she can’t wait for the fair: “Seeing the people that I miss, both my fellow peers and the people who come to the fair to see me and to see my work,” Zils Banfield said. She said she loves showing her new pieces to past customers. “Every year I have at least one new idea that appears in my booth.”
More than a craft fair Woodcarver Laury Nichols shared her recommendation for how to approach the fair. “If you go to the fair only to buy stuff … you miss a huge amount. If you look for only acquisition you will miss the staggering artwork and craftwork. If you go with the mindset to just marvel … it is just amazing. … If you buy something and you’ve talked to the person who made it … there’s something about knowing that it’s handmade and knowing the face of the person who made it and having the conversation with that person.”
The 88th Annual League of New Hampshire Craftsmen’s Fair
Where: Mount Sunapee Resort, 1398 Route 103, Newbury When: Saturday, Aug. 7, through Sunday, Aug. 15, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day, rain or shine Cost: General admission for one day is $16 for adults, or $24 for two days. Seniors are $14, and children under 12 get in free. Online ticket sales prior to the event are encouraged at nhcrafts.org.
Featured photo: Wood Ffolkkes by Donna Zils Banfield. Courtesy photo.
Nashua’s arts scene is expanding in the coming months as the whole community teams up for Creative Union, an art project designed to bring people together and showcase all of the programs the city has to offer.
“We’re amplifying and highlighting Nashua’s diverse community and the history of the city and the spirit of the city,” said Samantha Cataldo, Curator of Contemporary Art at the Currier Museum of Art, which co-organized the project as part of the museum’s Nashua Endowment, created to support Currier-organized arts programming for Nashua. “Everything about the project is in and for the communities of Nashua.”
Creative Union got underway in June, and the free workshops have been a success so far, Cataldo said. There are still five public workshops left, and anyone in the city can come create festive paper sculptures and handmade decorations.
“The theme of the work is this idea of a community garden, so people have been making things like large-scale flowers that are made out of papier-mache,” Cataldo said.
The first workshop took place during the Black Lives Matter Nashua Juneteenth Celebration. Cataldo said that more than 100 people made paper freedom flowers and leaves.
Everything created during these workshops, which are Phase 1 of Creative Union, will be part of a final celebration happening this fall.
“By the end of the summer a downtown space that will have been [vacated] will be filled with all of these sculptures that the community has made, from the freedom flowers to the growing vines that people made at the farmers market,” Cataldo said. “It will be an explosion of color, of these really fun paper sculptures and decorations.”
That final installation is part of Phase 2, which will also feature nine days of community programming that may include performances, dance parties, community dinners, artmaking workshops and more. Cataldo said the exact location of the final art installation can’t be revealed just yet, and the exact dates are still being determined as well, though it will likely be sometime in October.
For now, the focus is still on getting the community together to create these paper works of art. Along with the public workshops, Cataldo said the Currier has been working with specific community groups, like kids’ camps, to create the paper flowers and decorations. The kids at Nashua Community Music School’s summer camp, for example, made bigger flowers on which they wrote the things they like about living in Nashua, and then made a smaller flower to write about what they think the community needs more of.
“It’s art-making, but everything has kind of a conversation piece,” Cataldo said. “It’s sort of encouraging … people to think about what’s special about their community and also be more engaged with what’s going on and what’s impacting them.”
For anyone who can’t attend any of the remaining five workshops, there are take-home kits for making triangular bunting, with special markers, blank shapes and instructions. Cataldo said so far about 150 kits have been given out.
The Currier is co-organizing Creative Union with the City of Nashua as well as Elisa Hamilton, a multimedia artist from the Boston area who was brought on to develop the project.
“Whenever I’m working with a new community it’s incredibly important to me to learn about that community before developing a project idea,” Hamilton wrote in an email.
Hamilton has worked closely with the Mayor’s Office throughout the process.
“Early on, I learned so much about vibrant arts initiatives already happening in Nashua, as well as other great public programs such as the Sunday Farmer’s Market … [and] the many fantastic nonprofits for Nashua doing such terrific things,” she wrote. “My work is very much about bringing people together, so the idea of a ‘Creative Union’ — a joyful, creative centerpoint that would bring all of these groups together, along with the broader Nashua community — was really the foundational inspiration for this project.”
Cataldo encourages anyone of any age to come participate in the remaining workshops.
“It’s a really fun way to come together, be part of a whole,” she said. “Everything is provided, and no experience is necessary.”
Upcoming Creative Union workshops
Nashua Farmers Market,Great American Downtown City Hall Plaza Sunday, Aug. 8, and Sunday, Aug. 29, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
YMCA of Greater Nashua 24 Stadium Drive Thursday, Aug. 5, 4 to 7 p.m. and Saturday, Aug. 7, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Grow Nashua Community Garden on Spring Street Thursday, Aug. 12, 6 to 8 p.m.
You can pick up the take-home artmaking kit at Arlington Street Community Center (36 Arlington St.) or at YMCA Greater Nashua (24 Stadium Drive in Nashua or 6 Henry Clay Drive in Merrimack). Art should be completed and returned by Aug. 6.
Featured photo: Community members make paper art at recent Creative Union workshop held at Nashua’s farmers market. Courtesy photo.
Henniker illustrator, photographer, author keeps on creating
It was the barn that Jerry LoFaro fell in love with when he bought his property in Henniker 25 years ago. Since then, he’s used the space as a studio for painting, digital artwork, photography, writing and live music performances, sometimes sitting alone in his well-worn office chair and sometimes surrounded by friends during the intimate concerts that he and his wife Kathleen host.
“This barn — this is why we’re here,” he said of the building, which was built in ’91 and had been used as a dance school. “It was perfect for me, really kind of idyllic.”
With a resume as eclectic as it is long, LoFaro’s recent projects include working on a follow-up to his first book of photography, Abandoned Vehicles of New Hampshire: Rust in Peace, and taking behind-the-scenes and onstage pictures of musicians as the official photographer for Tupelo Music Hall in Derry.
The latter gig started with an iPhone and front-row seats to numerous shows. The self-proclaimed “music freak” would sit in front of the stage and take pictures with his phone, without giving much thought to their artistic quality. It was a far cry from his usual approach to art — LoFaro has been a successful painter and illustrator for years, with work that has graced the covers of books and magazines, advertising and promotional items for brands like Aflac, Coca-Cola and Disney, and, his proudest achievement, boxes of Celestial Seasonings tea. For that work, he uses techniques like airbrushing and digital art, but taking pictures had never really been a thing.
“Most of my photography [at that point] had been a [starting point] for my illustrations,” he said. “It was part of a process and wasn’t really a goal in and of itself.”
But LoFaro was posting his concert shots online, and people were commenting. Knowing that he had an audience, LoFaro started bringing a better camera to the shows, discreetly taking shots from his lap.
“I had no goal other than to have fun and take better pictures,” he said.
Tupelo’s social media director noticed the photos, though, and started posting them on Tupelo’s social media sites. When the venue moved from Londonderry to Derry in 2017, LoFaro was asked to be the official photographer.
“I kind of was grandfathered in,” he said, aware that he got the job over professional photographers with years more experience. “But I’m an artist — what I lack in skill, I make up for in editing and artistry.”
Abandoned Vehicles of New Hampshire, which was published earlier this year, is a new creative venture for LoFaro, one that started when he turned his camera toward rusty old cars he found throughout the state.
“It was just something that captured my interest,” he said.
One of his four Instagram accounts is dedicated to his rusted cars photography, and one of his followers happens to work for a publisher, America Through Time.
“I knew I had a book in me,” LoFaro said.
The star of the book is a Hudson Commodore, a car he found in the middle of a field in Loudon and later bought from the owner of the salvage yard for $200. The Hudson is now a centerpiece in his front yard.
LoFaro said the response to the book has been great.
“I was inundated with people sending messages and locations [of abandoned cars] all over the state,” he said. “I have so much material [for a follow-up book].”
In the meantime, LoFaro is working on a book of photography about Henniker — something never imagined doing when he left New York City in 1995, when he was still working with his agent and big clients in New York.
His favorite client was Celestial Seasonings; he did artwork for them for close to 20 years.
“The way they feature artists on the box, it really just spoke to me,” he said.
It started with redoing the image on the box of Morning Thunder, the company’s first caffeinated tea. LoFaro also, among other things, created several variations of the Sleepytime bear — and that’s when he started transitioning from painting by hand to digital art.
“I had no interest in digital art,” LoFaro said. “I’m in love with the process of painting: mixing the paint, preparing the boards, the tactile element.”
A good friend of his, though, owned what Lafaro says was a “pioneer” computer art school in Weare. After Sept. 11, 2001, LoFaro’s lifeline to work in New York City all but vanished, and he got no jobs for several months after. With extra time on his hands, he agreed to take computer art classes.
“I was the worst student in the class because I had no computer experience,” he said. “It was excruciating.”
But after he got past the initial learning curve, LoFaro realized how much he could do with digital art — and how good it could be.
“I reinvented myself. I was still painting, but I can do this a lot better,” he said.
LoFaro maxed out his credit cards to buy a used computer system, and the day he got it, he took a job making clouds for a video game — that had to be done the next day.
“That was my trial by fire,” he said.
Lafaro said the more he learned about the intricacies of digital art, the more he could relate it to his airbrush work.
“It really was an incredible natural evolution,” he said.
And then there’s the music. A band’s photo shoot in the barn morphed into a bigger idea; in 2016, the LoFaros started hosting concerts, with the musicians playing on a small stage that LoFaro built. They were well-attended, so he built a bigger stage, and they’ve had more than 100 people in attendance for some of the shows. Those stopped during Covid, but LoFaro is hoping to get them going again by fall.
He’s back at Tupelo, too, and looking forward to shooting a few good shows this season. Right now he and owner Scott Hayward are in the process of creating posters of the 52×60-inch mural on canvas of LoFaro’s photos that hangs on the venue’s front wall. That will be sold at the venue and online later this summer.
If that seems like a lot of balls in the air, LoFaro isn’t quite ready to stop juggling.
“I’m on this journey, and I’m open for anything,” he said.
Featured photo: Jerry LoFaro poses in front of the Tupelo tapestry of his photos. Courtesy photo.
