Coastal conversations in paint

VALERIE APONIK & ROBIN RIER have painted plein air side by side for many years but with different points of view and styles. Yet there is a visible common thread throughout their work. Robin and Valerie strive to capture the character, history and uniqueness of the places they paint in oil. They want to become part of the scene — at one with nature and all that surrounds them — by preserving their impressions and memories in paint. Valerie scans the scene all over and improvises by moving parts of the scenery around until it feels right. On the other hand, Robin finds and focuses on a scene that appeals to her as it is. And for both of them, painting outside is both a passion and an adventure. ‡‡‡ Aponik and Rier are both New Englanders and moved to Downeast Maine in the late ‘70s. In time, they raised families, had careers and reinvented themselves in the second half of life as landscape painters. They love the shore, the rocks, the timelessness and beauty of the Bold Coast, with its old wharves and buildings, and rugged scenery. ‡‡‡ Valerie gave up her nursing career to paint full time, and exhibits her work with Roux and Cyr Gallery in Portland, Archipelago in Rockland and Blue Hill Bay Gallery in Blue Hill. Her work has received multiple awards, and is in the institutional and private collections across the US and abroad. ‡‡‡ Robin graduated from the University of Maine at Machias with a B.A. in Interdisciplinary Fine Arts with a concentration on Visual Arts. Her work has exhibited at the Maine Farmland Trust Gallery in Belfast, Schooner Art Gallery in Milbridge, Mulholland Market Gallery in Lubec, John Edwards Wine Cellar Art Gallery in Ellsworth, and The Whitney Galleries in Wells.

Oil painting by Valerie Aponik

DAVID VOSBURGH was born into a family of artists in the Berkshire Hills of western Massachusetts, and began to study art at the age of 14. His quiet, light-filled paintings possess a profound sense of place, perhaps not surprisingly as his family has lived in New England and the neighboring Hudson Valley for nearly four centuries. Since beginning to focus exclusively on landscape, his work has enjoyed growing popularity among collectors. ‡‡‡ Originally David was inspired by his love of the artists of the first truly American art movement, the 19th century Hudson River School. “I suppose it was inevitable that I should be drawn to that particular group” he says, “since my Dutch and English heritage in the border area between Western Massachusetts and the Hudson Valley stretches back more than 350 years, and that’s the area where the first-generation Hudson River painters lived and worked.” ‡‡‡ A member of several art societies in the Northeast, David is an Elected Artist member of the American Artist’s Professional League. His painting Berkshire Nocturne: Lime Kiln Road was awarded the Hudson Valley Art Association’s prize for landscape at the AAPL’s 93rd Grand National exhibition at the Salmagundi in the fall of 2021. He also exhibits as an Associate Member of the Lyme Art Association in Old Lyme, Connecticut, as well as the Rockport Art Association on Cape Ann and the Bryan Memorial Gallery in Jeffersonville, Vermont.

Oil painting by David Vosburgh

DUTAV, RAHN & SUTHERLAND: The gallery kicks off its 2023 season with a show of three painters featuring the New England landscapes of Kathleen Sutherland of Portland, ME; Vera Rahn of New Canaan, CT; and Dutav of Woodstock, NY — all mothers of MOTHERS Art Gallery. As its name proclaims, MOTHERS Art Gallery is, first and foremost, a celebration of mothers and mother nature. ‡‡‡ Dutav, born Augusta Blessman Pirrung, emigrated with her family from Germany to America. She studied at the Art Students’ League and Silvermine School of Art. Dutav painted and taught painting in the Woodstock area throughout her life, particularly at the Woodstock School of Art where she often exhibited her work. Less attracted to abstract expressionism than her fellow Woodstock artists Milton Avery and Philip Guston, Dutav used color to affirm nature’s own forms and radiance. ‡‡‡ Vera Rahn’s and Kathleen Sutherland’s biographies are below.

Oil painting by Dutav

KATHLEEN SUTHERLAND paints landscapes of Maine and Egypt—and the many places in between. She works in watercolor, pastels, and oils. Kathleen was born and raised in Cairo, Egypt where her father was Dean of the American University of Cairo. He later became the President of Ricker College in Houlton, ME. Her parents retired to Jonesport in the 1960s, where her mother, Muriel, a concert pianist and organist, played at the Methodist Church on Sawyer’s Cove. ‡‡‡ Kathleen has exhibited at the Pastel Society of Maine in Bath, Harpswell, and Brunswick, the Plein Aire Painters of Damariscotta, and in other group shows in Bremen, Yarmouth, and Topsham. Her work was juried into shows by the Pastel Society of Maine in 2019, and the Arizona Pastel Society in 2021. In addition, Kathleen gives workshops on water-based oil at the Osher Life Long Learning Institute Gallery, University of Southern Maine (OLLI-USM), where she also teaches courses on the Middle East, women in Muslim countries, refugees, and sub-Saharan Africa. Her paintings showed at the OLLI-USM’s Gallery from 2010 to 2019. Her work was also published in the OLLI-USM’s Annual Arts and Literary publication Reflections in 2020 and 2021.

Oil painting by Kathleen Sutherland

VERA RAHN, a third generation artist, grew up in a family of professional artists in The Hague, Holland. Her grandparents were both painters — her grandfather, Floris Artnzenius (1864-1925), was a prominent member of The Hague School, which inspired Vincent van Gogh how to paint, and his paintings are in top collections and museums in Holland. ‡‡‡ Vera has a world of experience; she has lived in The Hague, Paris, Washington D.C., New York City, Colorado, New Jersey, Connecticut, Tokyo and London. She studied art in Paris, sumi painting in Tokyo, portrait painting in London, landscape painting in Nova Scotia, Santa Fe, the south of France and at the Silvermine School of Art. ‡‡‡ As a member of the Rowayton Art Center, Vera has won well over 30 prizes, including “Best in Show” and numerous “Honorable Mentions”. She has also won prizes at the Darien Art Show, the Art Society of Old Greenwich, The Greenwich Art Society and the Spectrum Art Exhibition. Her work has been featured by many newspapers and magazines including New Canaan Magazine and Artists and Artisans. Vera’s work is in private collections in Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Washington D.C., Michigan, California, England, Holland, Germany, Australia and India.

Oil painting by Vera Rahn

Art and antiques are in our blood.

Our gallery director is Whitney Vosburgh who is a fourth generation artist and gallery owner. Having lived and worked all over the world, he brings an artistic and global perspective to MOTHERS Gallery. His Dutch mother, grandmother, and great-grandfather are / were all painters and antique dealers.