Video Portrait Gallery

Video Profile – Gregory Maguire

Gregory is an American novelist. He is the author of the novels Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister, and many other novels for adults and children. Many of Maguire’s adult novels are revisionist retellings of classic children’s stories: for example, in Wicked he transformed the Wicked Witch of the West from L. Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and its 1939 film adaption into the misunderstood protagonist Elphaba. Wicked was turned into a successful Broadway musical of the same name. One of Maguire’s short stories is featured in the 2004 compilation Gothic! Ten Original Dark Tales.

Video Profile – Jon Schmalenberger

Jon Schmalenberger builds with one purpose in mind: to build high quality furniture using time honored techniques. In 1986, Jon opened J.S. Classic Woodworking in Concord. Since then, Jon has produced furniture in a wide variety of styles from traditional to modern and always with the high level of quality you expect from a true craftsman.

Video Profile – Jean Lightman

While in college and graduate school, Jean Lightman began drawing classes but did not pursue an artistic career until she moved to Boston in 1976. Ms.Lightman began her formal art training in Ingbretson‘s atelier in 1982 and studied nearly ten years. Teaching in the tradition of the “Boston School,” Ingbretson led his students through rigorous training. Emphasis was placed upon accurate drawing with sensitivity to form and edges, strong light effect, vibrant color, and overall unity. Working on her own since 1992, Ms. Lightman has exhibited her paintings at prominent galleries in Massachusetts and New York. She holds a Distinguished Artist membership at the Concord Art Association and Copley Artist standing at the Copley Society of Boston. In 1989 she was elected a member of the prestigious Guild of Boston Artists, where she currently serves on the Board of Managers. She curated a major historical exhibition “A Woman’s Perspective: Founding and Early Women Members of the Guild of Boston Artists 1914-1945.” She received the Guild‘s R.H. Ives Gammell Award in 2002 for her still life “The Fisherman” and the Edmund Tarbell Award for “Pedestal Bowl” in 2006

Video Profile – Brian Boruta

Brian is the director of performing arts at the Umbrella Community Arts Center in Concord, MA. He is at the head of an impressive and constantly expanding performing arts program at the Umbrella. Prior to that, Brian worked in the Wellesley Public School System where he served as the Technical Director and Auditorium Events Manager for two years. His true passion is the stage, and he spent a significant amount of time working for local, regional and professional theaters including a season with Chamber Theater Productions where he assisted in the management of 4 concurrent national tours of educational theater. Brian has a BA from Framingham State College and a MFA from Goddard College.

Video Profile – Liza Carter

An environmental scientist by training, Liza F. Carter uses art to beguile and captivate viewers into a loving and caring relationship with the natural world. She holds a BA from Wesleyan University and a MA from Yale University. Liza has been an exhibiting artist since 1999 and has shown her work in solo and group shows throughout the United States.

Video Profile – Mark Sutherland

Mark’s professional career as a craftsman began in 1979, when he was twenty-five. He had been preparing for this since age four, when he realized that ships and the sea were the major interest in life. In the 18 years since 1979, Mark has been immersed in the same imagery: ships and boats of the 19th and early 20th century, along with scrimshaw artifacts, decorative ship carving, and figureheads. All of Mark’s work is based on a long tradition of maritime ways and knowledge. Specifically, wooden ship and boat design and construction, masts and rigging, figureheads and decorative carving, color schemes and maritime history. To maintain integrity with these maritime traditions, his work must be historically accurate as well as aesthetically pleasing.

Video Profile – Miranda Hynes

Miranda Aisling (ash-leen) is an idea person. Her ideas take shape through writing, visual art, music, and teaching. But she doesn’t just come up with ideas, she actually makes them happen.

Recently, Miranda has been focusing on her book Don’t Make Art, Just Make Something and her series of knitted canvasses.

Her work focuses on reconnecting art and learning with daily life.

Video Profile – Barbara Willis

In the mid ’70s Barbara took her first weaving course in Los Gatos, California and discovered what she wanted to do with the rest of her life. More than 35 years later the excitement and passion for the art of fiber is still very much alive and has blossomed in Massachusetts.

Working with threads of chenille, silk, cotton, bamboo, rayon, wool, and mohair, Barbara creates scarves, throws, and garments, using different textures and colors, watching as they interact to create one-of-a-kind pieces.

Video Profile – Carole Parish

Primarily a landscape painter, using pastels and oils as a way to interpret what Carole sees, feels and believes. Her inspiration comes from nature where she finds peace and beauty, which is then expressed in the paintings.