Annual art show waiting in the wings at Tanger Outlets

TILTON — Quaint scenes of New England and its flora and fauna are among the images that will be on display in oil, watercolors, pastels and acrylic at the Lakes Region Art Association Annual Members Show.

Association President Thomas Hitchcock said the association’s present gallery opened in May 2020 in a former children’s clothing store in Suite 300 of the Tanger Outlets. It has afforded more room, visibility, foot traffic and business than a previous location at the retail center.

The annual art show starts Aug. 26 and a show reception will be held Aug. 29 from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.

Art classes are offered by the association.

Hitchcock said those who take advantage of the instruction often find the creative outlet a healthy and calming influence in a time of personal and societal stress.

“It changes you mentally and physiologically,” he said. “Being creative uses parts of the brain that may not normally be used. It helps you to rejuvenate and lets you hit on all cylinders.”

The world of fine art can also be a refuge.

“It’s a neutral ground,” he said. “We get Democrats and Republicans. The arts are one thing people can talk about without killing each other.”

Hitchcock, who attended Syracuse University Fine Art School, owned and operated a design agency on Madison Avenue before he and his wife, Elizabeth, moved from Manhattan to central New Hampshire in 2000.

They live in Pittsfield in a country Victorian farmhouse that he has renovated.

Hitchcock often paints with acrylics on old, rough, white pine barn wood.

Some of his work can be seen at artworksusa.com, including a painting of a classic Chris-Craft red wooden boat bobbing on the water, a sparkle of sun on its gunnel. Other recent works show the head of a cow virtually popping off the wood, the Scituate Lighthouse and an old, stone-foundation barn set amid autumn colors.

Good photography is also an art, but sometimes a painter can capture elements that can’t be recorded in a photograph.

“A painting is an interpretation of something realistic,” he said. “It’s generalized. I work in layers, tones, colors. I play around in the shadows. You may not know why, but good art just touches you in a way.”

He is presently working on canvas, capturing the view from the beach at Ellacoya State Park, looking at the mountains in the distance.

Another member of the local art community is Teresa D’Esopo Spinner, of Sanbornton. She specializes in portraits – teresadspinner.com – and is planning a show at her own little personal gallery.

Even for accomplished artists, compensation can be irregular, but there are advantages.

“If you want to stay sane, become an artist,” she said. “Artists tend to live for a long time; musicians not so much.

“You’re able to get out all your frustrations and heavy thoughts on canvas. It’s good for the soul. Painting is like talking to God. It’s very much like a kind of meditation.”

It allows her to avoid distractions and go to a special place.

“If I’ve ever been close to ecstasy, it’s painting.”

She sometimes finds it difficult to give up a painting once it’s done, comparing it to letting go of one’s children.

“But you want other people to appreciate your work, maybe even to fall in love with one of your art works; it’s kind of validating.”

Her undergraduate degree is in psychology, which helps her in painting. She calls her portraits a “psychological study in oil or pencil.”

Spinner asks questions and learns something of what makes her subject tick before she ever puts brush to canvas.

“I’m kind of analyzing the person –  sadness, happiness, joy, you see what they are like.”

She is personally joyful about the local art community, many members of which will have their work on display in the upcoming show.

“The region has a big arts community,” Spinner said. “There are people from all over the lake who display at the gallery. It’s a good community to be a part of and it includes some quite serious artists.”

On the Web:

Lakes Region Art Association: lraanh.org.