Heather Sawtelle & Tom Cameron

August 16 through September 8
Artists Reception August 16 from 5:30 to 8pm

Heather Sawtelle

After earning a bachelor of arts in Commercial Art, I began my art career working as a textbook illustrator.  After moving to Connecticut, I taught art to Junior High and High School students in a private school. Several years later, I decided to start my own business teaching private art lessons, and I also began working as a muralist.  Since that time I have painted many murals in homes and businesses across Connecticut including Ruth Chafee Elementary School, Martin Kellogg Middle School, and Webb Elementary School. I was also commissioned to paint a mural in the children’s department in the Lucy Robbins Welles Library in Newington.

Growing as a painter is my great passion. I  enjoy doing commissioned paintings, portraits, and other free lance projects.  Painting is more than drawing with a brush. The capture of light and edges on canvas constantly motivates me.  I have shown some of my work more recently at the Connecticut Academy of Fine Arts annual show, the Farmington Valley Arts Center, and at the Gallery on the Green in Canton, and the Granby Land Trust juried art show. 

Teaching art and sharing what I have learned has been one of the great joys of my life.  Most of my time over the past 18 years has been dedicated to teaching students the fundamentals of art and showing them how to expand their vision and grow in their knowledge of technique and materials to produce realistic artwork that is truly spectacular. One-on-one attention and supervision is the key to really unlocking potential that can easily be overlooked in a large classroom setting.  Please visit the art lesson page of my site www.artisticedgenow.com to learn more about art lessons and see the amazing work done by these gifted artists as well as a sampling of some of my own work done in my studio in Collinsville Connecticut.           

My philosophy
In moments of obscurity, there is often a defining picture to be found. I think that is because most of our most intimate motivations are hidden inside our most common activities - making the irrelevant most relevant. It is in the framework of finding those thoughtful moments that I am compelled to paint.
I love paintings that make me want to know the people in them - that remind me of similar things I have felt, places I have gone, and things I have done. The human experience, both uncommon and common, is full of these stories and it is for this reason that I love to paint people as they go about that daily tasks that make their stories unique.

Tom Cameron  
Solo Exhibitions:
Jerram Winery Gallery, New Hartford– Sept  2010 and Dec  2011
Spear Community Art Gallery at Stanley Whitman,  Farmington, June 2011  
Farmington Library – Sept 2011
Canton Library – Feb  2012
Matthew’s Restaurant Main Gallery, Unionville – Spring 2012, Summer 2014
Gallery on the Green - Feb-Mar 2013


Galleries:  
Gallery on the Green, Canton, CT
Autumn Light, Avon, CT
The Market Gallery, Collinsville, CT
LeClerc Contemporary - Norwalk - Spring 2014


Other:
Publications:
“Lower Farmington River and Salmon Brook Wild and Scenic Management Plan”,  June 2011 (18 images from the Farmington River Collection appeared in this publication)
“Lower Farmington River and Salmon Brook Wild and Scenic River Study”, Nov 2011 (11 images)
Juror Team-Annual Piedmont Photography Show, Somers, CT 2011, 2014
Member – Canton Artist’s Guild


Juried Shows:
New Britain Museum of American Art – 43rd Annual Juried
     Members Exhibition
Granby Land Trust Juried Art Shows, 2010,2011, 2012
Autumn Light Studio and Gallery – First Annual Open Juried
      Art Exhibition 2012
Gallery on the Green – Member/Guest Juried Show 2012
W. Hartford Art League “Exposures 2014”
              ( Awards in juried competitions:   2 )




       Artistic Mission –


   To witness the ordinary - and expose the extraordinary