''Tribute to Tradition: Artists who Serve''

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FROM: NORTH SHORE ARTS ASSOCIATION 07/12/2014 TO: Regional Media Outlets CONTACT: Linda Cote, Gallery Manager Submitted By: Susan Britt Staff Writer North Shore Arts Association 11 Pirates Lane Gloucester, MA 01930 978 283-1857 arts@nsarts.org FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: www.nsarts.org North Shore Arts Association mounts special "Tribute to Tradition: Artists Who Serve" Exhibition of the work of eight notable and multi-award winning artist members: Trudy Allen, David Curtis, Michael Graves, Christine Pitman, Dolores Erickson Reid, Peter Tysver, Robert Stephenson and Andrea Protzmann van Gestel. It is designed to honor any living artist members who have distinguished themselves by dedicated long-term service to the association, worked to achieve the goals of the mission statement, and provide a generosity of labor and intellectual service to the association. "Tribute Exhibition" opens on July 30th and runs through August 10th, 2014. Gala Reception July 31st, 6 – 8 pm. Open Free to the Public. If you are among those who believe that reflecting and creating beauty through the medium of the visual arts is essential to a thriving human existence, then you might create - on a harbor that was named in 1606 by sea captain Samuel de Champlain, "Le Beauport" - a living tribute to that credo. That tribute, in the form of a community of artists committed to the advancement and preservation of the fine arts, took shape in 1922 as The North Shore Arts Association overlooking light filled Smith Cove in Gloucester, Massachusetts. This community of artists grew over its ninety-three years into a dynamic arts organization comprising over three hundred contemporary members. Like many of the original founders – some of the great lights of the American art world: Frederick Mulhaupt, Cecilia Beaux, Charles Grafly, Anna Hyatt Huntington and Paul Cornoyer; the tradition of nurturing an association of artists continues today as each generation of artists builds on the contributions of those who came before. In honor of that tradition, the current Board of Trustees of the North Shore Arts Association is celebrating eight artist members in a special "Tribute" exhibition, July 30th through August 10th, 2014 - the third such tribute since 1983. What better setting than on a harbor once named "The Beautiful Port" to honor these nationally notable and multi-award winning creators of splendid art who work in a variety of mediums including oil, acrylics, pastels, watercolor, pen and ink, mixed media, stone and clay, and who serve the fine arts not only with their visual mastery, but also with dedicated hearts and supporting talents. The honorees include: Trudy Allen - her work, in all mediums, is in private and corporate collections; she is a former NSAA Gallery Director, Board Member, and community outreach activist; David Curtis – a Copley Master member of Boston's Copley Society whose work is shown and collected internationally; he has been for many years an active Board Member and Chair of Arts and Exhibitions, and instructor in the Stobart Funded program; Michael Graves – honored for his work in oil, a Grumbacher Gold Medalist Salmagundi Club, with work in a variety of permanent collections; he has been a dedicated volunteer and committee member for special historic exhibitions; Chris Pitman - winner in Best of Watercolor III with works in many mediums in private and corporate collections; a former active (since the 1980's) Board Member and devoted volunteer; Dolly Reid – oil and watercolor painter, and sculptor in stone and wood, recognized and exhibited internationally; a Copley Society Artist since 1989; she has been a Board Member since 2008, current Executive Committee Co-Vice President, Arts and Exhibitions Chair, and served on numerous committees; Robert Stephenson - painting mostly in oil, he was an Artist-In-Residence at Fitz Henry Lane House, Gloucester, member of the International Society of Marine Painters and Academic Artists of America and a former Board Member, served on exhibition placement and nominating committees; Peter Tysver - Air France landscape award, Copley Society awards and fine arts restorer; a current Board Member and Conservator and Curator of the NSAA Permanent Collection; Andrea Protzmann van Gestel - noted watercolorist in numerous exhibitions; former two-term President, Treasurer, Recording Secretary and principalfundrraiser, and a founding trustee of the NSAA Endowment Trust. Clearly, without the founders' seminal devotion both to cherishing and nurturing the advancement of artistic beauty and to those artists, like the current honorees, who create it, the North Shore Arts Association could not have become the galvanizing center for the visual arts it remains today.