During the month of January, the work of artist Anne-Marie Taylor will be on exhibit in the Neil Hammer Gallery at Meekins Library in Williamsburg.
Taylor, 52, said that the show is a celebration of light, particularly the “Northern light that one uses in the studio.”
A relative newcomer to the art world, Taylor began painting in 2010 and studying with painter Nancy Fernald, an artist who paints in the tradition of the “Boston School.”
The “Boston School” is a method of teaching representational painting, which embraces both academic draughtsmanship and an impressionistic approach to color. This style is a branch of what is frequently referred to as “classical realism.”
Taylor’s paintings follow in this tradition. In this show, her subjects include fruit, vegetables, and flowers, juxtaposed with items like bowls, pitchers, and cooking pots.
“I concentrate on still life, and paint every day objects in the kitchen and garden,” Taylor said. “Many of the items in the paintings are old family objects, things that have been in use for over 100 years. They feel like they have personalities to me.”
Taylor had wanted to be an artist from the time she was a teenager but was discouraged from pursuing art as a career.
Instead, she earned an master’s in French and a doctorate in history.
Taylor has taught French in universities in the US, and English at universities in France. She is also the author of the book “Young Charles Sumner and the Legacy of the American Enlightenment, 1811-1851.”
“When you see the paintings it is hard to believe that she hasn’t been doing this for that long,” Library Director Katie Kroll said. “They are amazing.”
Taylor said that she has drawn all of her life, but becoming a painter and being able to make art her life’s work, is a “dream come true.”
“It is very exciting to me to find the thing that I dreamt of the most as a teenager,” she said. “Studying with Nancy Fernald was my second chance at life.”
That second chance is bringing the joy of light and color into Taylor’s life, and it is this that she hopes to share with others through her art.
“Still life catches the serenity and the calm that we all crave. In a busy world it can be very therapeutic.
Taylor has shown her paintings at the Bryan Memorial Gallery in Jeffersonville, Vermont, the Greenfield Gallery in Greenfield, and at the Hope and Feathers Gallery in Amherst.
The RH Conwell Elementary School in Worthington has begun hosting an innovative once a month “Parent Café,” which is designed to work in conjunction with the new MindUp curriculum that the school began utilizing this year.
MindUp is a teaching strategy that focuses social, emotional and self-regulatory strategies and skills. It was developed for pre-kindergarten through middle school students, and includes the participation of teachers and parents.
“The café helps keep the parents aligned with what we are talking about in school,” Principal Gretchen Morse-Dobosz said. “We offer free homemade soup and bread and there is also free child care.”
Morse-Dobosz said that group discussions are led by her co-facilitator Kim Savery, director of community programs at the Hilltown Health Centers.
“It is a nice way to bring parents together where they can connect and discuss parenting strategies and share stories,” Morse-Dobosz said. “We really have some rich conversations that help parents understand the curriculum and what we are doing.”
Morse-Dobosz said that by including the parents in the program, they can then reinforce and reflect the strategies that the students are learning in the classroom.
According to Morse-Dobosz, the first two Parent Cafés have had a “very healthy turnout.”
The next event will be held on Thursday, Jan. 19, at 5:30 p.m. at the Conwell School.
Residents in Cummington now have the opportunity to keep items out of the landfill while also giving a “second life” to things that may be of use to others in the community.
A “Take it or Leave it Shed” is now available at the transfer station. Items can be placed in the shed for others to take. Things will be available for two weeks and if not taken, will then be thrown away.
Attendants at the transfer station are authorized to determine what is suitable for the shed. All items need to be in reasonable condition and no mattresses, large appliances, large furniture, threadbare or damaged items will be accepted.
Ideas for this column on life in the Hilltowns can be sent to Fran Ryan at Fryan.gazette@gmail.com.