Art in the Library

West Coast Bone Game II, “La Hal” by Patrick Amos (1982, Limited Edition 133/150)
Kwa-Gulth Thunderbird with Sun’s Face by Richard Hunt (1984, Limited Edition 112/175)
Medium: Prints

Artist Biographies: Patrick Amos comes from the Hesquiat Band of the Nootka nation and was born in 1957 in Friendly Cove on Nootka Island, on the West Coast of Vancouver Island. He attended Christie Residential School on Meares Island and studied at the Provincial Museum of British Columbia where he came into contact with other First Nation artists. He worked closely with Tim Paul, also of the Nootka tribe.
Richard Hunt, a Kwa-Gulth of the Kwakiutl people, was born in Alert Bay, although he has spent most of his formative years in Victoria. Here, he absorbed much of the traditional Kwakiutl culture through his family’s involvement in totem carving projects at the British Columbia Provincial Museum. These projects were directed by his grandfather, the late Mungo Martin. He began carving in his teens and has worked extensively with his brothers perfecting the technique. He has served as chief carver a the Provincial Museum. The dance of the thunderbird with sun mask is displayed during the secular ceremonies of the winter dances. The sun in Kwakiutl art is personified as a human figure with a hooked beaklike nose and a corona of decorative rays surrounding the face. It is a major crest of one of the Kwakiutl groups.

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Seal with Baby

Inuit Hunter

Seal with Baby (artist unknown) and Inuit Hunter (David Kadrik, note spear missing) are a part of our library’s Native American Art exhibit. More items are on display in the Periodical Room (see #28).

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Topsfield Library
by Judi Milano
Medium: Print (numbered)

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Photo of Mural ‘Topsfield Reverie’ (photograpgh by Eric Roth) by David Fitcher, full mural is located in the Children’s Room. Please see #11 for full discussion on author and work.

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Untitled
John T. Northey
Medium: Painting, watercolor
Date: 1973
Provenance: Donated by the Northey Family

Artist Biography: John (1913-1995) was born in Salem, MA and studied at the Museum School (Boston), the Arts Students League (New York), Paris, and Rome. He held solo shows eight times at the Boston and New York Arts Festivals. He also showed his work at many galleries on the east coast.

Critics from the New York Times, the Christian Science Monitor, the Boston Herald, and Arts News hailed John as a profoundly creative artist whose style was highly individual and sensitive.

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Benjamin
by Beverly Benson Seaman
Medium: Sculpture
Benjamin is a bronze hare, created and titled by Beverly Benson Seaman of Marblehead, and given to the Topsfield Town Library by the New Meadows Garden Club in memory of Ruth W. Thompson, past president and active member of the club. Mrs. Thompson was a National Council Accredited Flower Show Judge, Chairman of the Topsfield Fair Flower Show for many years, an anergetic worker in the Essex Agricultural Flower Show, and an active member of the Massachusetts Federation of Garden Clubs at the state level. Mrs. Thompson passed away during the 1972-1973 garden club year.
Artist Biography: Beverly (1928-2012) is a sculptor from Marblehead, MA. She is known for her bronze figures of animals, birds, and children. Her interest in art was encouraged by her grandfather, John P. Benson, a well-known marine painter. She began her education at Sweet Briar College and finished at the Boston Museum School of Fine Arts where she studied under Peter Abate. Initially she worked in watercolor, but after studying with George Demetrios in Gloucester in the 1960s she turned to sculpture.

Her works are in the collections of Wellesley College, First National Bank of Boston, Beverly Hospital, American Cathedral in Paris, Museum of Science (Boston), the Peabody Essex Museum, and MIT in Cambridge. She has won many awards from the Copley Society, National Sculptor’s Association, and the Marblehead Arts Association.

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Yellow Sky
by Nancy Babson

Medium: Painting, Acrylic

Provenance: Library Purchase, Gould Fund for Art, 2007.

Artist Biography: “I grew up in an artistic family and always knew that art was what I wanted to pursue.”

In 1956, Nancy graduated from the Boston Museum School with highest honors. She also studied at De-Cordova and Montserrat. She has exhibited her acrylics with the Hamilton-Wenham Rotary Club, the Reading and Newburyport Art Associations, the Beebe Estate in Melrose, Melrose and Topsfield Libraries, Framemakers, and the North Shore Unitarian Universalist Church (Danvers). Her work is also in private collections in the United States, Canada, and England.

Her working career encompassed everything from technical illustration to graphic and product design, culminating in the development and invention of games for Parker Brothers.

Awards include: Newburyport Art Association Award for painting (2001)
Mary Alice Arekelian Award for Best in Show (NAA Members Annual Juried Show, 2004)
Institution for Savings Charitable foundation award (NAA Members Winter Juried Show II, 2005)

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Jammin’ by George O’Connell

Artist Biography: George (1926-2015) was born in Madison, WI. He draws from extensive education and experience to create his prints. He studied on a Fulbright Scholarship at the Rijksakademi Van Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam. He returned to complete his BA in Art Education from the University of Wisconsin and went on to complete his MA at the University of Wisconsin in Applied Arts. He was then appointed Professor of Art at the State University of New York.

He has also author five publications and is listed in Who’s Who in American Art. The Smithsonian holds many of his drawings in their collection.

A major theme in his work is jazz.

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Minton’s Place
by George O’Connell
Artist Biography: George (1926-2015) was born in Madison, WI. He draws from extensive education and experience to create his prints. He studied on a Fulbright Scholarship at the Rijksakademi Van Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam. He returned to complete his BA in Art Education from the University of Wisconsin and went on to complete his MA at the University of Wisconsin in Applied Arts. He was then appointed Professor of Art at the State University of New York.

He has also author five publications and is listed in Who’s Who in American Art. The Smithsonian holds many of his drawings in their collection.

A major theme in his work is jazz.

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2-4 On the Road
by George O’Connell
Artist Biography: George (1926-2015) was born in Madison, WI. He draws from extensive education and experience to create his prints. He studied on a Fulbright Scholarship at the Rijksakademi Van Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam. He returned to complete his BA in Art Education from the University of Wisconsin and went on to complete his MA at the University of Wisconsin in Applied Arts. He was then appointed Professor of Art at the State University of New York.

He has also author five publications and is listed in Who’s Who in American Art. The Smithsonian holds many of his drawings in their collection.

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Topsfield Reverie
by David Fichter
Date: 1999
Medium: Acrylic on plaster wall
Dimensions: 32 feet by 5.5 feet
Provenance: Comissioned courtesy of the Gould Fund for Arts
Artist Biography: “Murals have always spoke to me as a way to push change in society without shoving it down people’s throats. What I like is that people can find their way in – they feel empowered when they participate in the process or see themselves or their stories represented in public.”

David is a local artist living and working in Cambridge, MA. He is a well-known muralist creating public art for over 30 years both nationally and internationally. He has created over 200 permanent murals including an award winning environmental science mural about the Mystic River in Somerville, MA; Further the Dream: The Legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, a mural with students at the King and King Open Elementary Schools in Cambridge, MA; Lamitye: the Hatitian/American Friendship Mural, a ceramic relief mural at the Graham and Parks Elementary School.

During his undergraduate time at Harvard, he visited the Mexican muralist Jose Clemente Orozco’s mural Epic of American Civilization at Dartmouth College’s Baker Library. He then went on to travel throughout Latin America which as a strong tradition of murals as social commentary. At the time there was no place to study mural painting formally, but he knew a Chilean muralist, Victor Canifru, which lead to his first commission and he has been a muralist ever sense.

His projects usually works with neighborhoods and public officials to determine the design of the work overall. They usually take about a year to complete. He begins with a scaled drawing on paper and overlays it with a numbered grid that he uses to blow up the size of the work.

Mural Preperation: In preparation for the project, David made several visits to Topsfield. He consulted with the Library Trustees and interested parties about their ideas, toured the town, visited the Audobon Sanctuary, canoed down the Ipswich River, visited the Historical Society to view their collections, attended the Topsfield Fair, and talked with children and parents whenever possible.

David captures his subjects in photographs, then plans the sequence of images he thinks is most worthwhile. He presented his sketches to the Library Trustees. The mural is then sketched on a transparency. Next, it is projected on the wall for direct copy to the surface. Then, the painting begins at last.

The Mural: The beginning of the mural over the doorway shows a part of the river with the Japanese footbridge located behind the Coolidge property. A Great Blue Heron accompanied David all the way down river and so is shown emerging from the pages of a book. Scenes from the Topsfield Fair show a young man reading to a pig, who is (of course) Charlotte from Charlotte’s Web, by E.B. White.

Above, the carousel carries young riders while mirrors of the carousel show reflections of the 1893 Town Hall and the Topsfield band of the early 1900s. Also shown are the typical sack races, the Ferris wheel, and the collection of pumpkins ready for the judging of the “Great Pumpkin” contest.

Further along in the mural, the historical Parson Capen House appears above the girl reading on a quilt. We see the intriguing rockery caves of the Audobon Sanctuary and the tree that invites you to sit. Scenes along the river depict wildlife native to the area.

This is followed by scenes from Hood’s Pond, where many Topsfield children cool off in the summer. A grandfather reads to his grandchildren as they imagine a ship sailing across the pond. The mural would not be complete without the inclusion of Topsfield’s favorite sledding place, Wheatland’s Hill.

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River Road
by Meg Black
Medium: Painting, four panels
Provenance: Courtesy of the Gould Fund for Arts
Artist Biography: Meg has been an artist working with handmade paper for over 22 years, becoming something of a pioneer. She focuses on nature and the environment creating beautiful landscapes, seascapes, and garden views. Her paintings are acclaimed for their freshness and luminosity.

She received her PhD in educational studies from Lesley University (Boston), her MA in studio art from the Massachusetts College of Art, and her BA in fine arts from the State University of New York at Oswego. She has had extensive teaching experience at both the graduate and undergraduate levels, including a term as a visiting instructor of artist books at the Studio Art Center International in Florence, Italy.

Meg has had several solo exhibitions in New York and New England. Her work is in many private and public collections including Fidelity Investments, General Foods, Smith Barney Investments, and Meditech Corporation. In particular her artist books can be found in many prestigious special collection libraries in New England: Houghton Library (Harvard), Rhode Island School of Design Print Library, Boston Public Library, and Smith College Library.

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Pansies
by John Gentile
Dimensions: 48″ by 48″
Medium: Oil on canvas
Provenance: On loan from the artist
Biography: Born in 1937 in a little mountain town in Abruzzo, Italy, Gentile was drawn to art as a young child as a method for expressing his creativity and finding comfort during his war-torn youth. John first developed his artistic skills by plucking pieces of charcoal out of the fireplace in his two-room house to draw the beautiful nature and scenic landscapes in his homeland. Gentile studied at the Istituto Statale D’Arte in Sulmona, Italy before attending the prestigious Institute of Fine Art in Florence, Italy. He moved to the United States in the 1960s and bought a house on a lake in Massachusetts with his wife. He built a studio there and has been painting ever since. Gentile has been honored by numerous museums including the National Museum of Monte Carlo, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sulmona, Italy, the Duxbury Museum, MA, and the Bentley College Art Museum, MA, among others. His artworks are held in prestigious private collections in Europe, South America, and North America.

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George Lambert Gould
by Cameron Bennett
Medium: Painting, oil on canvas
Date: 1998 Provenance: Commissioned courtesy of the Gould Fun for Arts
Artist Biography: “I am inspired by the great artists of the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, especially the portrait-painters. My goal is to improve myself as a painter and artist to a degree comparative to my heroes in art, so that I can better represent the people, places, and situations around me. I spend as much time as possible working on figurative drawing and painting, and building my portfolio of portraiture. I enjoy posing my friends and family members for my pictures, and I try to work from life as much as possible whenever painting. I believe that what makes representational art exciting is knowing that what is represented in the painting or drawing was captured from a primary visual source. “

Born in Brooklyn, NY in 1971, Cameron got his MFA from Lesley University (Boston), BFA in illustration from the Massachusetts College of Art (Boston) and now lives in Sussex, England. He has done illustrations for many well-known publications including Boston Scientific, NH Magazine, the Hippo Press, and the Salem Observer.

In 1998 he was commissioned to paint the portrait of George Gould for the library. He worked from a small photograph from the New England Historical and genealogical Society.

Information about library benefactor George L. Gould can be found on the library’s History page.

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Three Muses: Art, Literature, Science
by Harold Field Kellogg
Medium: Bas relief with gold leaf

This work was planned and executed by Harold Field Kellogg, also responsible for the design of the 1935 building, and the Mural of Topsfield in the old library lobby. Information about Harold Field Kellogg can be found on the library’s History page. It is believed from the artist’s son that Kellogg’s wife was the model used to create this piece of art. It was originally in the lobby, and relocated during the library’s 1999 renovation.

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This plaque commemorates donors that helped to fund the library’s newest addition, which was opened in 1999.

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Our library’s Activity Room features a monthly exhibit by local artists. Please contact the library’s director, Dan Tremblay, about displaying items in the library’s Activity Room. See more information at the top of this page.

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Mural of Topsfield
by Harold Field Kellogg
Trustee’s Statement: “In the above mural painted in 1934, artist Harold Field Kellogg depicted a scene with a Native American based on the attitudes from his era. That this depiction was broadly acceptable in 1934 gives us today the opportunity to consider the bias against Native American people from that time. We hope viewers will reflect on this legacy.
A series of eleven murals executed by the architect of the library building, depicting life in Topsfield from the 1600s to the 1800s. Depicted in this painting, from left to right: Town Hall, the Congregational Church on 9 East Common St, the Parson Capen House on 1 Howlett St. These murals were cleaned and restored during the library expansion and renovation project of 1997-1999.

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Daydreamin’
by Charles Hahn
Medium:Sculpture
Date: 1998
Provenance: Courtesy of the Gould Fund, Marble top compliments of Universal Marble and Granite, Ipswich.
Artist Biography: “It is exciting to take clay, which comes from the earth, and make it into an image of something living, figures with a presence, and then bring it to bronze which will last for generations. My goal as an artist is to create highly representational depictions of pleasurable sights and sensations. I try to find things that interest me. It may be a person or it may be an activity. They are usually commonplace things such as my wife sitting quietly or a neighbor trying to ice skate, those intimate, informal or private moments rather than the standard ceremonial poses.”

Charles started sculpting in the mid-1970s teaching at the Johnson Atelier and Tech School of Sculpture (New Jersey), and working at studios and foundries across the country, including the New England Sculpture Service in Everett, MA. His works have received many awards regionally.

He strives to create works that capture a moment in time, depicting moments in time that are casual and lifelike.

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Chicago Merantile Exchange
by Thomas Seawell
Medium: Screen Print, Artist Proof
Artist Biography: Thomas was born in Baltimore, MD in 1936. He is known nationally and internationally for his prints. He has been in over 100 solo and group exhibitions around the world and won numerous prizes in that time. Today his works are in numerous museum collections including The Brooklyn Museum, DeCordova Museum of Art, Portland Museum of Art (Oregon), and the Library of Congress.

The series of eight prints in the library’s collection depict different country’s financial exchanges. They were originally commissioned by the Chicago firm Geldermann securities to give as gifts. 

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New York Stock Exchange
by Thomas Seawell
Medium: Screen Print, Artist Proof
Artist Biography: Thomas was born in Baltimore, MD in 1936. He is known nationally and internationally for his prints. He has been in over 100 solo and group exhibitions around the world and won numerous prizes in that time. Today his works are in numerous museum collections including The Brooklyn Museum, DeCordova Museum of Art, Portland Museum of Art (Oregon), and the Library of Congress.

The series of eight prints in the library’s collection depict different country’s financial exchanges. They were originally commissioned by the Chicago firm Geldermann securities to give as gifts. 

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NY Commodities Exchange
by Thomas Seawell
Medium: Screen Print, Artist Proof
Artist Biography: Thomas was born in Baltimore, MD in 1936. He is known nationally and internationally for his prints. He has been in over 100 solo and group exhibitions around the world and won numerous prizes in that time. Today his works are in numerous museum collections including The Brooklyn Museum, DeCordova Museum of Art, Portland Museum of Art (Oregon), and the Library of Congress.

The series of eight prints in the library’s collection depict different country’s financial exchanges. They were originally commissioned by the Chicago firm Geldermann securities to give as gifts. 

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Test of Time LIFFE
by Thomas Seawell
Medium: Screen Print, Artist Proof
Artist Biography: Thomas was born in Baltimore, MD in 1936. He is known nationally and internationally for his prints. He has been in over 100 solo and group exhibitions around the world and won numerous prizes in that time. Today his works are in numerous museum collections including The Brooklyn Museum, DeCordova Museum of Art, Portland Museum of Art (Oregon), and the Library of Congress.

The series of eight prints in the library’s collection depict different country’s financial exchanges. They were originally commissioned by the Chicago firm Geldermann securities to give as gifts. 

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Chicago Board of Options
by Thomas Seawell
Medium: Screen Print, Artist Proof
Artist Biography: Thomas was born in Baltimore, MD in 1936. He is known nationally and internationally for his prints. He has been in over 100 solo and group exhibitions around the world and won numerous prizes in that time. Today his works are in numerous museum collections including The Brooklyn Museum, DeCordova Museum of Art, Portland Museum of Art (Oregon), and the Library of Congress.

The series of eight prints in the library’s collection depict different country’s financial exchanges. They were originally commissioned by the Chicago firm Geldermann securities to give as gifts. 

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Tokyo Stock Exchange
by Thomas Seawell
Medium: Screen Print, Artist Proof
Artist Biography: Thomas was born in Baltimore, MD in 1936. He is known nationally and internationally for his prints. He has been in over 100 solo and group exhibitions around the world and won numerous prizes in that time. Today his works are in numerous museum collections including The Brooklyn Museum, DeCordova Museum of Art, Portland Museum of Art (Oregon), and the Library of Congress.

The series of eight prints in the library’s collection depict different country’s financial exchanges. They were originally commissioned by the Chicago firm Geldermann securities to give as gifts. 

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Paris Bourse
by Thomas Seawell
Medium: Screen Print, Artist Proof
Artist Biography: Thomas was born in Baltimore, MD in 1936. He is known nationally and internationally for his prints. He has been in over 100 solo and group exhibitions around the world and won numerous prizes in that time. Today his works are in numerous museum collections including The Brooklyn Museum, DeCordova Museum of Art, Portland Museum of Art (Oregon), and the Library of Congress.

The series of eight prints in the library’s collection depict different country’s financial exchanges. They were originally commissioned by the Chicago firm Geldermann securities to give as gifts. 

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Chicago Board of Trade
by Thomas Seawell
Medium: Screen Print, Artist Proof
Artist Biography: Thomas was born in Baltimore, MD in 1936. He is known nationally and internationally for his prints. He has been in over 100 solo and group exhibitions around the world and won numerous prizes in that time. Today his works are in numerous museum collections including The Brooklyn Museum, DeCordova Museum of Art, Portland Museum of Art (Oregon), and the Library of Congress.

The series of eight prints in the library’s collection depict different country’s financial exchanges. They were originally commissioned by the Chicago firm Geldermann securities to give as gifts. 

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Native American Art Collection
Provenance: Donated by Hazel and William Pizzano

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Window
by Carol White
Date: 1979
Dimensions: 37″x33″
Medium: Painting, oil on canvas
Provenance: Purchase by the Gould Fund for Art and Carol White, 2023
Biography: Carol’s initiation into the art world began in high school when she worked summers with the Monomoy Theater in Chatham creating, painting and building theater sets. She graduated from Tufts University in 1960 and the Museum School in Boston in 1961. Before settling on the North Shore, she worked for a number of years in the South and traveled in Europe and North Africa. Once Carol moved to the North Shore and started her teaching career in Gloucester, she spent her summer breaks on Monhegan Island in Maine, an historic artists’ colony. Carol worked for several summers in Robert Semple’s Stitchery Studio both learning and creating fiber art works. During her summers on Monhegan Carol created annual Journals describing her life and observations there. These include drawings and watercolors of her surroundings as she experienced them on the island. Since her retirement from teaching in 2001 Carol has spent more time painting and drawing in our area. She has been particularly drawn to Meredith Farm in Topsfield and the Spirit Tree which grew there. She has also each summer, until Covid, travelled with other artists to visit the Chateau Pourpry in Damaites, France. There the artist owners of the Chateau have welcomed her and others artists allowing them to immerse themselves in the surroundings and draw inspiration for their works from the Chateau, its gardens and the countryside. Currently Carol continues to work from her home studio in Topsfield.

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Plants on Shelf
by Carol White
Dimensions: 34″x28″
Medium:Painting, oil on canvas
Provenance: Purchase by the Gould Fund for Art and Carol White, 2023
Biography: Carol’s initiation into the art world began in high school when she worked summers with the Monomoy Theater in Chatham creating, painting and building theater sets. She graduated from Tufts University in 1960 and the Museum School in Boston in 1961. Before settling on the North Shore, she worked for a number of years in the South and traveled in Europe and North Africa. Once Carol moved to the North Shore and started her teaching career in Gloucester, she spent her summer breaks on Monhegan Island in Maine, an historic artists’ colony. Carol worked for several summers in Robert Semple’s Stitchery Studio both learning and creating fiber art works. During her summers on Monhegan Carol created annual Journals describing her life and observations there. These include drawings and watercolors of her surroundings as she experienced them on the island. Since her retirement from teaching in 2001 Carol has spent more time painting and drawing in our area. She has been particularly drawn to Meredith Farm in Topsfield and the Spirit Tree which grew there. She has also each summer, until Covid, travelled with other artists to visit the Chateau Pourpry in Damaites, France. There the artist owners of the Chateau have welcomed her and others artists allowing them to immerse themselves in the surroundings and draw inspiration for their works from the Chateau, its gardens and the countryside. Currently Carol continues to work from her home studio in Topsfield.

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Books, Facade, and Stairs
by John Gentile
Dimensions: Books (14″x11″), Facade (12″x11″), Stairs (12″x11′)
Medium: Mixed Media on Paper
Provenance: Gift from John Gentile
Biography: Born in 1937 in a little mountain town in Abruzzo, Italy, Gentile was drawn to art as a young child as a method for expressing his creativity and finding comfort during his war-torn youth. John first developed his artistic skills by plucking pieces of charcoal out of the fireplace in his two-room house to draw the beautiful nature and scenic landscapes in his homeland. Gentile studied at the Istituto Statale D’Arte in Sulmona, Italy before attending the prestigious Institute of Fine Art in Florence, Italy. He moved to the United States in the 1960s and bought a house on a lake in Massachusetts with his wife. He built a studio there and has been painting ever since. Gentile has been honored by numerous museums including the National Museum of Monte Carlo, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sulmona, Italy, the Duxbury Museum, MA, and the Bentley College Art Museum, MA, among others. His artworks are held in prestigious private collections in Europe, South America, and North America.

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Blue and White
by Patricia B. Wright
Medium: Painting
Artist Biography: Patricia is from Keene, NH. She studied art history at Wellesley College and painting at the Sharon Arts Center. She paints still lifes most often and her preferred medium is oil on canvas.

She has also been recognized by the Copley Society of Boston as a Copley Master. This distinction is achieved by those who have won three major awards in juried exhibitions. The Copley Society is the oldest art association in America, having evolved from the Boston Art Students Association formed in 1879.

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Living Log by Tom Price
Date: Circa 1880

Haida Sea Monster by Argillite Plate
Date: Circa 1880

Haida Blockfish by Tom Price
Date: Circa 1880

Images: Past and Present by Marianne Wieland

Inva Mask by Chura

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