Category: Art & Theater

Relax and create at Art Escape

Here’s an idea for a first date: Break some glass. Then gather it up and fuse it into a work of art. It’s a great way to loosen up and find a creative impulse. That’s the idea at Art Escape, a Laconia walk-in studio offering everything from shattered glass and glass-blowing classes to working a pottery wheel, clay sculpture, ceramics and splatter painting.

Inviting your Bumble match to spin a clay bowl or paint and fire a ceramic fish not only has happened at Art Escape, but one such meetup led to an in-studio marriage proposal, owner Jean Cox recalled recently. Not only that; the couple later returned to celebrate their anniversary.

“This was his date’s favorite place to go,” she said. “He set it up with us ahead of time, so when she was in a paint class he walked in and said, ‘Will you marry me?’ We got it on video, it was very cool. Then they came back a year later to say, ‘Hey, we’re still married here.’”

Making art and memories is Art Escape’s mission. Cox and her husband, both Air Force veterans, opened a location near Laconia High School in 2007, and moved to Union Avenue 10 years later. The couple wanted a family-friendly studio for artistic creation, as existing spaces catered primarily to adults.

It’s become an intergenerational bridge, much to Cox’s delight.

“I’ve got a grandmother painting with her two grandkids right now,” she said. “It’s a way not only to spend time with the family, but one of the kids has a little ceramic axolotl she’s painting. Ten years from now they’ll look at it and remember doing it with their grandmother.”

Another popular attraction at Art Escape is the Splatter Room, where customers put on ponchos and shoe covers, then get their colors and a paint blaster with cups of paint. They stick the blaster in the cup, suck it up and spray it, not always aiming at a canvas. Jackson Pollock would likely be shocked, but it’s a great place to let off steam.

“You’re painting either a canvas or a shirt,” Cox said. “You literally throw paint at each other, or you throw paint at the canvas. It’s almost like family therapy if you come in with your kids … I mean, who doesn’t want to throw paint at their parents?”

When it debuted, Cox brought her two young sons in to test it out. “My son took a whole bottle of paint and threw it at me, and I was like, oh, this is how it’s going to go. We’re in there for I don’t know how long, and next thing you know, he’s like, ‘Gosh, mom, we never decorated our canvas.’ I’m like, ‘Well, let’s throw some paint on that.’”

It’s also a fun place for adults to unwind. Customers are allowed to bring food and beverages.

“Sometimes it’s a group of girls that just needs time off, since they work all week long. They just come in and hang out and bring wine. I had a group of them the other day. They brought a little charcuterie board, and wine, and stuff like that,” Cox said.

One thing it isn’t is a place for serious artists to work toward having a gallery someday.

“It’s not like fine art, it’s fun art, it’s a place to come with your grandkids or your girlfriends,” Cox said, while stressing that some of the higher-level classes that may seem daunting are surprisingly accessible.

“Everybody walks in thinking, I can’t do this, my project’s not going to look like hers, and when they leave, half the time, they’re better than mine,” she said. “They can customize them, and the projects come out so amazing. It’s nice that they’re going home with something that they can be proud of.”n front of a piece of artwork and whether you love it, or you don’t get it, or you hate it, you still have an opinion about it. It’s really interesting to me that people can get together and celebrate each other, discuss artwork, see where those ideas would come from. Part of my fun and part of my joy is making a space that’s really approachable and that is very welcoming…. So as much as it’s an experiment to showcase the artist, I also want to make sure that the patrons feel really supported and want to come in and check out and see what’s going on at See Saw,” Regan said.

Art Escape
Where: 636 Union Ave., Laconia
More: artescape.com

Featured photo: Courtesy photo.

Paintings capture the glow at NH Antique Co-Op

By Zachary Lewis

[email protected]

New Hampshire Antique Co-op will be presenting its exhibit “Light & Brush: Luminous and Tonal Paintings from the 19th Century ​to Present” until March.

“The show is on luminous and tonal paintings,” said Jason Hackler. He is the manager and co-owner of the Co-op. “The luminous movement, you know, was founded in the 19th century. The paintings themselves, these luminous paintings that were painted by the likes of Fitz Henry Lane, Albert Bierstadt, William Frederick De Haas, Asher Durand, some of the greats of the time.”

The artwork is electric. “The paintings really have their own inner sort of glow. I mean, some of them you feel like you need to put sunglasses on or they capture such a moment in the way they’re able to create the time of day, remember a sunrise, a sunset.”

“We’re also featuring contemporary artists, Erik Koeppel, William Davis and Dennis Sheehan. Their works capture a feeling, a time and place, and almost an emotion in a landscape. Some of the works you find very calming just standing in front of them. It’s sort of this kind of zen moment,” Hackler said.

Hackler talked about the styles’ history. “Tonal works really started in the late 19th century, where the luminous painting started a little bit earlier. There’s certainly crossovers with the two styles … we have examples of these done in like the Barbizon style, Impressionist style, and that earlier sort of Hudson River school, White Mountain school style.”

He also talked about the beginning of luminism. “The movement really started in Europe and then came to this country early on.”

Luminous art, especially the American version, is about the “wonder of nature, and the mystery of nature and our surroundings, pride of country … the early American luminous is really talking about the amazement and awe of our country, and looking at these grand scale landscapes,” he said.

One of Hackler’s favorites is a more modern piece titled “Autumn in the White Mountains.” “Erik Koeppel has one of the largest known paintings of this type. He was commissioned to do it for the Jackson Historical Society here in New Hampshire. Standing in front of the painting is pretty awesome…. The painting itself measures 78 inches by 135 inches.”

The exhibit is put forth through a community effort. “We’re fortunate to be able to network with collectors from all over the country and different ways to acquire these paintings.”

If one of these paintings lights up your world, you’re in luck. “All of the paintings are for sale. A number of paintings that have already sold … some will rotate in. There’s occasionally [a] new addition. We have a wonderful painting by Sanford Gifford. It’s a painting that’s been in the museum for a long time, which has sold, but we’ve been fortunate where he’s allowed us to keep it on exhibition. There will be some rotation in the show as some works sell. So it’s something that isn’t completely static.”

The entirety of the space is around 20,000 square feet and contains many pieces of art to get lost in. “There’s paintings and artwork throughout. The Tower Gallery holds approximately 40 paintings. The upstairs gallery has probably another 100 paintings on view,” he said.

“Each piece of each painting or sculpture or object that I have is something that I relate to. It might remind me of a certain time or place, something that was special in my life, might be an artist I have an association with, whether it’s a contemporary artist who I know and like very much or an artist from the 18th, 19th century who I’ve always admired or might have had and my art history and everything else. It’s just so enriching being surrounded in your own home with works of art,” Hackler said.

Light & Brush: Luminous and Tonal Paintings from the 19th Century ​to Present
Where: New Hampshire Antique Co-op, 323 Elm St., Milford
When: Now until March 2025. Open Tuesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Info: nhantiquecoop.com, 673-8499

Featured photo: Courtesy photo.

See Saw Art features a two-artist exhibition

Compiled by Zachary Lewis
[email protected]

From Saturday, Jan. 11, through Sunday, Jan. 26, a two-artist exhibition will be held at See Saw Art in Manchester that will feature selections from Ian Trask’s “Strange Histories” and Ryan Swedenborg’s “Winks” collection. An opening reception will be held Jan. 11 from 5 to 7 p.m.

Amy Regan is the heart and soul, owner and operator, of See Saw Art. She is no stranger to the gallery world.

“I opened See Saw Art in September of 2022, and I have been in volunteer arts curation and my community organizing in a way in Rochester, New Hampshire. I helped found and still operate and run the Rochester Museum of Fine Arts.”

Regan was compelled to do more with art and to bring it a bit closer to home.

“So around 2022 I was thinking, ‘I really love working in Rochester, but I’m here living in Manchester,’ and I wanted to try out a different sort of idea, where it was a little bit more of a commercial gallery and in a different city. When I started looking for studio spaces or places to have a gallery, I stumbled upon the Mosaic Art Collective, which was just absolutely perfect. It’s a great space … on Hanover Street, and it is really approachable for me to have, essentially, a smallish studio space. I discussed it with the owner, Liz Peroni, who instantly understood that I wanted to run a little gallery in that space. I’ve been really lucky to work with them and to have the two exhibition spaces in Mosaic Arts Collective,” Regan said.

See Saw Art holds two types of exhibits. “Mostly I’ll do invitational exhibitions, which is what I have coming up in January. I will pair artists together that I think are interesting and would kind of make a good conversation. I’m doing anywhere from two to 10 artists.”

Regan loves to include artists from different walks of life and backgrounds, and one way of finding them is by holding an exhibit where anyone can submit their artwork.

“Every once in a while, around six months or so, I’ll do an open call exhibition,” she said. “I just finished, it was a really short show in December, but I just did a 40-artist, 62-piece exhibition for our December show, ‘Small Works at Approachable Prices.’ So, kind of between those two styles, an invitational and a group exhibition are the ones that I’m typically running at See Saw.”

The exhibition in January is with an artist Regan discovered at one of her open calls, Ryan Swedenborg, and an artist she has worked with before, Ian Trask.

Trask is based in Brunswick Maine. “His work is vintage slide viewers that he has made custom platforms that they live on. They plug in so the light lights up. So he has made really intricate and unique for each slide viewer a style and a sculpture essentially. And when you look through the slide viewer, he has composed an image out of slides, so it could be three or four sort of stacked on one another of all different scenes. He was gifted a donation of slides from the Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players, which is a pop-up art family based in New York City,” she said.

Ryan Swedenborg is originally from California and is working toward a master of fine arts degree at the Maine College of Art and Design in Portland. “Ryan submitted to the open call I did in December. I reached out and said, ‘Hey, I love your work. Would you be interested in being paired with Ian in January?’ So it’s fun to be able to book shows based on that. They are working in ceramic, so we have a number of small ceramic sculptures that are going to be coming in, and she calls them the Winx Collection. It’s ceramic work created in appreciation of moments when nature winks back at you. So they’re really sweet, small sculptures.”

Regan finds joy in the curation of the exhibit. “So between the two artists, which are honestly pretty different ideas, that becomes my fun job of making sense and curating and installing an exhibition that is engaging and thought-provoking between the two works.” She also hosts artist talks on See Saw Art’s Instagram page.

But the real joy for Regan is using art and her gallery spaces to bring harmony to the community. “It’s artists from all communities. It’s a really great silo-breaker. You know, everybody can stand in front of a piece of artwork and whether you love it, or you don’t get it, or you hate it, you still have an opinion about it. It’s really interesting to me that people can get together and celebrate each other, discuss artwork, see where those ideas would come from. Part of my fun and part of my joy is making a space that’s really approachable and that is very welcoming…. So as much as it’s an experiment to showcase the artist, I also want to make sure that the patrons feel really supported and want to come in and check out and see what’s going on at See Saw,” Regan said.

‘Layers & Moments’ opening reception
Where: See Saw Art, 66 Hanover St., Suite 201, Manchester
When: Saturday, Jan. 11, 5 to 7 p.m. Exhibit open through Sunday, Jan. 26.
More: seesaw.gallery

Featured photo: Ian Trask Love Bug. Courtesy photo.