The history of pastels can be traced back to the Renaissance, orignating in Northern Italy during the 16th century. It quickly became a favorite of the masters, including Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo. In the late 1860’s, Edgar Degas started to use it – who is generally recognized as having transformed pastel from a sketching tool into a core artistic medium. Through the medium he created many of his notorious, luminescent paintings. It was not long before other greats such as Gauguin, Matisse, Monet, Renoir and Toulouse-Lautrec were using pastel. Today, pastel remains a favorite medium by professional artists all over the world.

The upcoming Regional Pastel Show will feature members of the Copley Society of Art as well as non-members of the Eastern Region.

The exhibition will be comprised of works selected by the jurors; Jeanne Rosier Smith, CM; Liz Haywood-Sullivan, and Kelly Milukas

 

Cindy Crimmin, Walk to Essex Bay, pastel, 26” x 38”

Through the pastel medium, Artist Member, Cindy Crimmin, creates a walk way to the light at the end of a tunnel. Crimmin’s says that throughout her career she has learned that the act of painting has helped appreciate the world around her even more. She now specializes in portraits, landscapes and still life. The light, texture and forms that in landscapes are enhanced in her portraiture through gestures and light in the human face.

 

Shelly Eager, CA, Once in a Blue Shrimp, soft pastel, 18” x 20”

Shelly Eager evokes a feeling of rarity in Once in a Blue Shrimp. The word ordinary is not a adjective you would attribute to the artist’s work, but to her subject matter. Eager strives to represent the beauty of everyday scenes, actions and items.

“I want my viewers to see that, if you look closely at all things, therein lie the colors, expressions and movements that are beautiful, even extraordinary” – Shelly Eager

 

Susan Hollis, CA, Blue Heaven, pastel, 20” x 26”

Susan Hollis, has spent most of her summers since childhood on Cape Cod. Now a professional landscape painter, the tranquil beach scene, sparkling waters and wind-swept dunes that have caught her artist’s eye throughout her lifetime figure prominently in her impressionistic oils and pastels.

 

Laurinda O’Connor, Shoreline, pastel, 24” x 24”

Artist member, Laurinda Phakos O’Connor, transports her viewer in to the great outdoors and creates a scene full of energetic brushstrokes. O’Connor is an award-winning pastel artist and educator. She teaches art to adults and children of all ages privately and at St. Mary of the Hills School, Milton Art Center, North River Art Society and the South Shore Art Center in Cohasset.

 

Roy Perkinson, Barn in Lincoln, pastel, 24” x 30”

Roy Perkinson brings his viewer to a rustic view of a deep red barn on Drumlin Farm. Perkinson has been painting his entire life and the artist’s deep fascination with the arts has led him to an art filled career. Working in paper conservation at the Museum of Fine Arts and always painting, this has given him the opportunities to explore the possibilities of oil, pastel and watercolor.

 

Maryann Mullet, Before the Slaw, pastel, 29” x 20”

It’s easy to find yourself absorbed into the realism of Maryann Mullet’s pastel painting of cabbage before the slaw. Mullet is a Signature Member of the Pastel Society of New Hampshire and a Master Pastelist through the Pastel Society of America (PSA). She has been an artist all her life and has studied under the nationally recongized, Richard Whitney, CM, in his oil and landscape painting classes. 

We are looking forward to you seeing these extraordinary artworks in person. 

The exhibition dates and opening are to be announced! Stay tuned to our Instagram at @cosogallery for updates and future exhibitions.