Upstairs Downstairs Antiques will host an artists’ reception on Saturday, Oct. 26 from 6–8 p.m, featuring nine local artists from Boston, the North Shore and South Shore. All are invited to meet the artists and enjoy an evening of art, champagne and camaraderie. The exhibit includes works by Andrea Guay, Niki Farrell, John Young, Robert Hunter Douglas, Cate Hunter Kashem, William Cloutman, Marcia Corey, Theo Francis and Nancy O’Hearn.
The artists represented hold an impressive roster of local and national acclaim, including solo and group gallery shows, awards, auction sales, and professional and academic recognition.
Cate Hunter Kashem is a Boston contemporary Impressionist who studied with her father, nationally acclaimed Boston School painter Robert Douglas Hunter, and with Robert J. Cormier, both students of R.H. Ives Gammell. Kashem is a member of the Cambridge Art Association and the Cape Cod Art Association, where she held a term as artist-in-resident. Her work has been exhibited nationally. She works en plein air or from life in the studio.
Andrea Guay works in Newburyport and Dallas, and holds a degree in architecture from Wellesley College, as well as a certificate at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture Planning and Preservation. Guay has studied portraiture and plein air painting. Her works have been shown at the Monterey Museum of Art in California, The White Rock Lake Museum in Texas, and at numerous galleries in five states. She has sold paintings to collectors worldwide.
William Cloutman, a Marblehead native, has been painting since childhood. He attended Vesper George School of Art in Boston, studying under Robert Douglas Hunter, last of the Boston School of Artists, and Don Stone. With a degree in commercial art, he became creative director at an ad agency in Boston, but missed the freedom of fine art. About 1990, he went back to Hunter, long retired, to study and hone his en plein air skills. He has been outside ever since, painting in New England and Europe, solo and leading groups. Monhegan Island called to him a few summers ago and he, Frank Costantino, Jack Haran and some artist friends made the trek to Don Stone’s favorite island to paint together. An acclaimed exhibit on the South Shore followed that outing. Cloutman’s work hangs in galleries and private collections.
John Young is a self taught artist from Duxbury who currently has a studio and gallery on Cape Cod. For nearly four decades, Young has been a noted artist featured in shops and galleries along Charles Street, as well as Cape Cod, Rhode Island and beyond. His distinctive work depicts natural themes of fish, flowers, coastal scenes, pears and more. Young’s works are in galleries and private collections throughout New England and beyond.
Nancy O’Hearn is a familiar face on Beacon Hill as she has worked delivering mail to Beacon Hill residents for many years for the U.S. Post Office. O’Hearn has returned to her brushes and paint after a 45-year hiatus. Her works often feature whimsical interpretations of traditional subjects and she’s a local favorite at Upstairs Downstairs Antiques.
Marcia Corey is a self-taught artist who began oil painting about nine years ago. The subject matter of her colorful works varies widely: boats, animals and seascapes often find their way onto her canvases. Corey has shown her works in Boston, Cape Cod and Naples, Florida.
Niki Farrell is an oil painter from the North Shore. At 15, she began her career as an artist when she began to professionally show and sell her artwork at the Rockport Art Association and Marblehead Festival of Arts, where she twice won Best of Show. Farrell earned a bachelor’s degree in painting at Pennsylvania State University. Farrell also studied abroad and was highly influenced by European culture. Her paintings of European scenery have been exhibited in several solo shows. She continues to paint the Boston, Marblehead and Gloucester scenery. Farrell also works in the healthcare industry, and is currently a R.N. at Mass General Hospital where she specializes in cardiac surgery critical care. Farrell states that her experiences with patients and witnessing the fragility of life influences her artwork and contributes to her passion.
Robert Douglas Hunter (1928-2014), born Dorchester, graduated from Boston’s Vesper George School of Art in 1949. He studied with Henry Hensche at the Cape School of Art in Provincetown and with R. H. Ives Gammell in the 1950s. Hunter taught art classes at the Vesper school and at the Worcester Art Museum, and his work is represented in 19 museum and public collections, including the MFA in Boston. In 1979, Hunter received an award from Massachusetts Gov. Edward King in recognition of his many years of painting in Provincetown and Boston, and for his contribution to the education of youth. In 2010, Hunter was honored by WGBH for his continuous support for 30 years; and in 2011, The Arts Foundation of Cape Cod gave Hunter their Lifetime Achievement Award in the Arts.
Theo Francis studied art at Mass College of Art, Schuler School of Fine Art, Cape Cod School of Art and more. She started painting at the age of six. Growing up in the rolling hills of Maryland dairy farms and wheat fields gave her an intense love of nature, wide open spaces and wild desolate wilderness. At the Schuler School, Francis began studying the Old Masters technique and the formulas used by the Old Masters. She finds it is both a joy and a challenge to explore those techniques and the genius of the Old Masters. Her work has been exhibited in galleries around Boston, including Bromfield Gallery, The Exchange Building and The New Gallery.
Upstairs Downstairs Antiques opened its doors in 1992 on Charles Street in Boston’s historic district of Beacon Hill. The shop offers five rooms with an ever-changing eclectic mix of antique, vintage and sometimes new home furnishings, fine art, vintage decor, china, silver, unique gifts and decorative accessories. Open seven days a week, the shop is located at 93 Charles Street in Boston. For more information, call 617-367-1950 or visit online at www.facebook.com/upstairsdownstairsantiques.