The Belmont Gallery of Art (BGA) in conjunction with The Belmont Cultural Council (BCC) has created a permanent public art gallery, located in a light-filled exhibition space at the top of the Homer Municipal Building (formerly the Town Hall Annex). The Gallery opened in July 2005, shortly after renovation of the historic building was completed.
The Belmont Gallery of Art exhibits artistic works in a variety of two and three-dimensional media, including painting, drawing, photography, graphics, fabric art, collage, printmaking and sculpture. Exhibits are on an ongoing basis, changing approximately every 8 weeks. The Gallery Committee produces and manages the shows. A Curatorial Committee juries artwork submitted by local and regional artists, ensuring works exhibited are of high quality and appropriate for a general audience. No town funds are used in the operation of the Gallery which is self supporting through tax-deductible contributions and commissions from the sale of the artwork.
Gallery Co-Directors:
Rebecca Richards: gallery co-director, curator, publicity manager
“I’m passionate about all the arts: visual, cinematic, literary and musical—as well as an intense love of nature—all essential things that make life rich and interesting.
I’ve always processed the world around me visually. Color, light, texture, and pattern, delight my senses and bring a sense of beauty to my world. I love painting, but printmaking is something I continue to be strongly drawn to in making my own work.
I’m a founding board member of Belmont World Film and founding director of its Family Film Festival. I was also co-chair of the Belmont Cultural Council for six years.
My professional background includes serving as executive director for several small and mid-sized nonprofit arts organizations in the greater Boston area. For ten years I was also a contributing features writer and guest editor for a regional media arts publication. Since 2003, I’ve been a writing instructor at Boston University’s College of Communication. My dream project is developing a film on the life of French artist Suzanne Valadon.
Promoting the work of so many talented local and regional artists through exhibits at the Belmont Gallery of Art has been tremendously rewarding for me and my fellow BGA Committee members. It really has been a labor of love.”
Adine Storer: gallery co-director, graphic designer, social media manager
“I am a photographer and graphic designer living in the Boston, Massachusetts area.
Looking through the viewfinder of a camera slows the world down and helps me pay attention to the details. As the poet Rilke says, “Only when we tarry do we touch the holy.” Small things, plain things, temporary things are worthy of our attention. It is entrancing to press the shutter and feel one has captured something precious.
My work has been exhibited and sold at various galleries and venues in the Boston area and I am grateful to be involved with the Belmont Gallery of Art.”
Volunteer members of the Gallery Committee currently include:
Richard Hill: exhibits installation specialist
“My mother was an artist and creative dynamo. Our home was more like a workshop, with a project nearing completion or just under way in every room. I have no formal training but my upbringing was a sort of apprenticeship. Nonetheless, I did not take up painting in earnest until retiring from a 30-year career as an attorney and financial management consultant.
All art is self-discovery and self-expression. Every artist seeks his or her own authentic voice, something distinctively uniquely personal, even idiosyncratic. What makes my work distinctive is that it does not seek to engage the senses directly. Unlike a stirring landscape or a breath-taking abstract, which can be appreciated immediately for what they are, without reflection, my paintings oblige the viewer to think about the images in relation to one another in order to “get it.” My work is not sensual or sentimental. My objective, with each painting, is not to faithfully recreate the natural world or capture an instant of beauty but to is spark reflection and conversation — about what’s going on inside the four corners of the canvas or about the creative process behind it.”
Becky Holmes-Farley: consultant
“I still whisper the term artist when referring to myself. Only recently have I begun to share with others what I find beautiful in the world. I’m finding my early foray into the art world relaxing and exhilarating and, since it is seasoned with healthy a dash of satisfaction, just right for this stage of my life!
Many of my adult years have been spent in law and ethics, but art began to make inroads in my life when I taught art in my daughter’s first grade classroom the year that art was removed from the curriculum in her school. Later, I joined the Arlington Cultural Council; one thing led to another and I now own an artisan gift shop in Rockport, “JoyLi Gifts”.
I photograph many things but mostly in nature. My husband and I spend a lot of time outside and so I have learned to look closely at a leaf, an insect wing, and to, above all, appreciate light. Light, color and line, when captured perfectly, make me smile inside and that is what I try to convey in my photographs.”
Anne Katzeff: web maestro, web designer, social media manager
“My background is a blend of design, fine art, and teaching. I’m the creative director of my own web and graphic design business, ASK Design, and I taught for many years at Lasell College, as an adjunct professor. My twin brother, Carl, and I always joke about the two of us being eclectic: we each have a wide range of interests and skill sets, and that makes life very interesting!
I’ve always enjoyed creating art, but didn’t consider myself an artist until recently. I work with a variety of media (acrylic, gouache, colored pencils, ink, and collage); I began working with pastels right after swimming with wild dolphins. I wanted to be able to convey through my art the emotional, ethereal quality of this deeply spiritual experience. The vibrant colors and wonderful textures of pastels drew me right back into that ocean world as I painted. Soon I was led to paint other “landscapes” in nature that moved and inspired me.”
Helen Morse: photographer and curator
“I was born in New York City in 1954. I attended Sarah Lawrence College and then Kirkland College in New York, along with a brief stint at Rochester Institute of Technology’s master’s program for photography, also in New York state. Straight out of college, I worked for several years at the International Museum of Photography at George Eastman House, both in the exhibitions department and in the offices of the curator of Twentieth Century Photography. After the Eastman House, I led a patchwork career including working as an actor in children’s theater, an owner of a photographic art gallery, a real estate agent, an antiques dealer and even a president of the board of two homeless shelters. All the while, I have pursued my art.
I have been working as a photographic artist for over 40 years.”
Christine Arthur: board member, marketing
“I grew up amongst makers. My Dad made wood bird sculptures, my Mom sewed for herself and for our home, my sister painted and is now a fine artist, one brother made beautiful works in wood, another now makes wooden kayaks in his spare time, another is an occasional poet.
Making things gives me sense of peace and connection.
My present focus is painting from life with very deliberate strokes of color and paint in a framed view that captures light in a lively way. It’s specific and built on years of discovery of materials and methods. I used to think the architect in me would sometimes get in the way of the art I was making but I now believe the two disciplines are deeply connected and inform each other.”
