The library will present a panel discussion with local artists Pamela Elias, Richard Keen, Buzz Masters, and Marc Swartzbaugh with moderator Margret Baldwin, on Thursday, November 13 at 7:00 p.m. in the library's Howard Room. These four local artists of abstract art will have a conversation on choices, processes, challenges, and successes, which are essential parts of conveying meaning in their work. This panel will complement the coming sessions of “Art History and Hands-on,” where participants will embark on six months of understanding art from the Impressionist period. This modern art form--purely abstract, expressionist, or surrealist--sometimes has people scratching their heads to find meaning. This discussion will help us understand this personal expressive art.

This event is free and sponsored by the library, and will be held in the library's Howard Room. For more information, please call the library at 374-5515 or email Assistant Director Kayleigh Thomas at kayleigh.thomas@bhpl.net. 

Pamela Elias - "I like to go to the studio in the morning before going to work and make a small picture, responding to intuitive marks, gestures, colors and applying principles of design and color to make something interesting. At work, I gather sales data, research product information and think about what customers might want for their kitchens, to make the store an interesting place to come to. Both involve solving problems, using different strategies with a combination of intuition and information and using different parts of my brain. And on my days off, I can spend more time making somewhat larger pictures or series of pictures. I work with Neocolor wax pastels, acrylic paint, monoprint collage, oil and cold wax."

Buzz Masters - "The past two years I have been recognizing how my work, now, is influenced by artists I knew in my childhood. This has led to the landscape seeping into my work as the majority painted what they saw around them. I have found I am drawn to the long, low horizon and the complex layering that open vistas provide. I use wood panels covered with my recipe of restoration plaster and crushed shells, with a nod to the Roman’s genius of plastering. This surface when ground down and sanded creates a hard, but porous, veneer that reacts with paint having a similar effect as a fresco. Using casein, gouache, and acrylic paints along with gold leaf, beeswax, and whatever I find on my studio tables, allows for much flexibility giving endless potential to layer materials to make a complex  surface. My work on paper or Yupo is simpler, using Casein, gouache, and acrylic, but I still work them with the same intent and mixture of imagery. The color and surfaces of my work often refer to influences of early Italian work, but the images narrate my current interests."

Richard Keen is a visual artist based in Maine. Originally from Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, he earned a BFA from Millikin University and an MA from S.U.N.Y. Albany. Specializing in abstraction, Keen’s work explores the relationship between place and perception through bold color, geometric forms, and the intersection of natural and built environments. His artistic vision is deeply influenced by coastal landscapes and his years of experience as a commercial diver. Keen’s work is held in public and private collections internationally and has been featured in the U.S. State Department’s Art in Embassies program. His recent solo exhibitions include the Midwest Museum of American Art, the Garage Art Center in Queens, Moss Galleries in Falmouth / Portland, and the Zillman Art Museum in Bangor. He also exhibits with Anita Rogers Gallery and The Painting Center in New York City. His work has been reviewed in Art New England, Portland Press Herald, Maine Home + Design, Dispatch Magazine, Fresh Paint Magazine, and Studio Visit Magazine.

Marc Swartzbaugh was born In Philadelphia, PA and grew up in suburban Cleveland OH. He received a BFA in painting from Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). During his senior year at RISD, Marc was accepted into the RISD European Honors Program in Rome, Italy, and was later a young artist in residence at the Glassell School of Art at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX. After living in NYC, NY for 20 years, Marc moved to Maine in 2000. After decades of pursuing a culinary career cooking in restaurants, Marc actively returned to making art and has exhibited at the Blue Hill Public Library, Deer Isle Artists Association, and other local venues.