Marion Art Center celebrates landscapes of New England in new show

MARION — The Marion Art Center will open its new show, Salt & Light, celebrating the distinctive landscapes of New England on Friday, May 29 with an artists’ reception from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.

Salt & Light combines the works of Kim Gatesman, Christy Gunnels and Barbara Healy, whose art explores New England features like cranberry bogs, rocky shorelines and salt marshes. According to the Marion Art Center, each artist brings their own vision to the canvas, despite painting the same geographical area. 

Kim Gatesman is a Swansea-based painter, printmaker and creative who covers a wide range of artistic genres. Gatesman’s work ranges from realism to abstract, colorful to black-and-white art and traditional to esoteric pieces, according to the art center. Gatesman grew up in Western Massachusetts.

Christy Gunnels was born in Magnolia, Ark. but has lived and worked in south coast Massachusetts for her entire adult life, including as an art instructor and director of fine arts at Wareham High School. Gunnels’s work has been featured in collections internationally and in the United States, according to her website. Gunnels is a realist painter who is inspired by her surroundings, creating oil paintings from her garden featuring birds, marshes and the ocean outside her home, according to the art center.

Barbara Healy is a Dartmouth-based artist who works with oils and acrylics, according to the Marion Art Center. According to Healy’s website, her paintings “reflect the quiet beauty of the New England coast.” Originally from Connecticut, Healy moved to the South Coast after studying at the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth and now keeps a studio in Dartmouth. 

According to the art center, the show featuring these three artists runs through Friday, July 3. The center will also host artists’ talks at 5 p.m. on Thursday, June 25. 

Interested participants can find more information at marionartcenter.org/events.