WQLN/PBS
May 19, 2011
Erie, Pennsyvania |
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THE TELEGRAPH
“Old is new again”
By PAMME BOUTSELIS
February 20, 2011/Sunday Arts Feature |
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“Old is new again” article |
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"Path Less Traveled" |
"Path Less Traveled"
Monty juries into the New Hampshire Art Association
in October of 2010. Whitfield said the jurying process involves unanimous selection by four judges with impeccable backgrounds.
The 4 paintings he juried in with are shown below.
The name of the watercolor series is “Sentinels of Shangri-La”
In 2010, Monty won Best of Show Award, for
“Path Less Traveled” in “Ripple Effect Show” (in collaboration
with the Nashua Symphony, Nashua’s Mayor, Donnalee Lozeau, and Walter Butts, Poet Laureate of New Hampshire). |
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THE TELEGRAPH
Local artist just goes with the flow
By PAMME BOUTSELIS
‘Greater Nashua’s sense of art is strong’
MONTY WHITFIELD
Artist
Painting has always been a big part of Nashua artist Monty Whitfield’s life. With a writer and painter as a mom and a father who was a graphic artist, Whitfield’s childhood memories are sprinkled liberally with books and art.
It’s only natural then, for a career retrospective of his work to be on display at the Nashua Public Library.
Whitfield’s retrospective features 18 selected works from 1989 to present, and one more painting will be added shortly. The exhibition will run until the end of June.
Many of the paintings are on loan from private collectors, according to Whitfield.
Three years ago, Whitfield put himself on the list at the library for art exhibitions and was particularly pleased to have the opportunity to showcase his work.
At his reception at the library on Sunday, May 17, Whitfield expressed gratitude for The formulation of CAN-City Arts of Nashua-a nonprofit umbrella organization that was established to increase awareness and support for the visual, performing and literary atrs in Greater Nashua.
“CAN is made up of Nashua area arts and cultural organizations and businesses and residents interested in promoting the artistic and cultural community.” Whitfield said, “Greater Nashua’s sense of art is strong. She has Gallery One at the Millhouse, the largest gallery in New Hampshire, the Nashua Symphony, theatre groups and the international sculptural symposium and much more.
Whitfield has been a watercolorist for 20 years.
“First, for me the flowing of water and the flowing of the paint; it is a very spiritual and instinctive process, “ Whitfield said. “At peak moments, it’s like the painting is
flowing and painting itself.”
He turned to acrylics seven years ago, and while the process isn’t a flowing one, the mediums that one can add to acrylics can result in an almost magical outcome, he said.
Whitfield’s father loved art and he made sure that his children were exposed to Broadway, ballet, art exhibitions at The Met, the Guggenheim, upper 70’s and Madison Avenue galleries and much more.
“With my mom being a writer and a painter,” Whitfield said, “she exposed us to and had us read from the New York Times top 10 list. My sister is an actress, so I guess you can say that we’re a creative family.”
He recalls a time at about age 11 when his father would lay canvases, brushes and paint for the family and encourage everyone to paint the same subject-a tree, for example. |
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"Starry
Eyed Angel"
“Starry- Eyed Angel” by Monty Whitfield is shown.
A retrospective exhibit of the watercolors and acrylics by Whitfield is on display at the
Nashua Public Library |
"‘Suddenly, he threw some salt on my tree and said, ‘Now look at that.’ The effect was amazing as the salt drew in the paint and left white channels,” Whitfield said.
The mood of the artist’s reception in mid-May was that of being a “Primordial Forest,” which Is also the name of one of Whitfield’s paintings featured in the retrospective.
“The light in the Image Gallery at the NPL was dimmed, with Loreena McKennitt’s Celtic music softly playing in the background ,” Whitfield said. “Thirty pounds of dry ice swirled fog across the ‘Primordial Forest’ floor.”
This particular painting was a breakthrough for Whitfield in many ways. He found his signature look, which features a gold frame with brass plaque and a dark border, which he said brings the viewer slowly into the main image.
“Coming from a watercolorist background, the border makes sense; it’s similar to a matte on a watercolor,” he said.
"‘I became an ‘impressionistic realist’ with this painting. The subject in the foreground is painted in a realistic way, almost hyper 3-D, and the various mid-grounds are painted in a more impressionistic version of Post-Impressionistic style.”
Whitfield said the legs alone on the dragonfly in this painting are done in 50 layers of acrylic medium. The title, “Primordial Forest,” took him 50 attempts at finding the right one.
“I don’t want the title to impede on the viewers’ creative process, so I try to pick a title that will offer mood but not overwhelm the viewer’s sense of creative judgment.”
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Copyright The Telegraph
p.D-7
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WHITFIELD EXHIBITS
Monty Whitfield is also the assistant director of Gallery One at the Millhouse and handles the special events there. His work can also be seen regularly at the gallery.
On June 13, Gallery One, 5 Pine St. Extension, will offer its fifth-year birthday party with a “Dreamscapes” art exhibit. The gallery will show the work of Whitfield, Janis Cosby, Victor Ykelchik, Bob Huntley, Suzanne Duhamel, Jayson Gleneck, Loretta Hubley, Leo Patenaude and others.
The exhibit, which will open on June 5, will run throughout the summer.
The opening reception on June 13 will be from 12:30-4:30 p.m.
A portion of the proceeds from the Afternoon’s event will benefit Actorsingers, who will perform musical numbers from “Swing,” W.E. Butts, 2009 poet laureate for New Hampshire, will read from his poetry and sign copies of his book. Whitfield will speak on surrealism and hold a print signing.
More information may be obtained
at www.naaasite.org or by calling
883-0603. Gallery One hours are
Noon-5 p.m. Fridays through Sundays. |
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"Tiger's Temple I"
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LOWELL SUN
Nashua's Chimera Gallery exhibits the 'Magnificent
Obsessions' of artists'
By NANCYE TUTTLE
...Finally, Monty Whitfield's vivid nature
paintings are created to "slow a fast-paced
planet and for one instant, allow the viewer
to reunite with the grandeur of the natural
world. " His zest for life shows in
his work, which tends to glow and resonate
with deep color and the metallic glazes
he applies in many layers....
June 29, 2006
Copyright Lowell Sun
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THE
UNION LEADER
Artist's
'Golden Eagle' mission accomplished
By SON HOANG
Union Leader Correspondent
NASHUA-Local artist Monty Whitfield's painting
of an eagle atop City Hall is a work nearly
18 years in the making.
Upon arriving in Nashua in 1987, Whitfield
made a promise to himself that he would one
day paint the eagle, and earlier this year,
he did. He will present the completed painting,
"Golden Eagle," to the city at the
Dec. 13 Board of Aldermen meeting.
"When I arrived in Nashua I was walking
on Main Street and the first thing I saw was
City Hall," Whitfield said. "The
golden eagle with the sun behind it just looked
beautiful." Whitfield said it took him
so long to paint the eagle because he needed
time for his style to mature. "It just
wasn't the time. Back then I was working with
watercolors. That medium didn't lend itself,"
Whitfield said. "It was always in the
back of my mind and I finally said, 'That's
it,' when I came up with the style I have
now."
A graduate of Durer School of Art in Manila,
Philippines, Whitfield's style is impressionistic
realism. His paintings mix impressionistic
backgrounds with realistic foreground objects.
His signature look is to use a series of glazes
to give a highlighted object in his painting
a metallic look. "Golden Eagle,"
a 30- by 40-inch painting that took Whitfield
three weeks to complete, depicts the eagle
on top of City Hall at sunrise and has already
spent one month on display in the mayor's
office. "The folks in City Hall fell
in love with it," Whitfield said. Prints
of "Golden Eagle," along with certificates
of authenticity, will be given out at the
presentation during the Board of Alderman
meeting on Dec. 13 at 7:30 p.m.
Whitfield has other works on display at the
New England Craftsmen Association in Wolfeboro
and at the Gallery One at the Millhouse and
the Amethyst Wyldfyre Gallery, both in Nashua.
December 5, 2005
Copyright 2005 Union Leader Corp.
Information on this site is copyrighted
and cannot be reused without the permission of The Union Leader. |
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| Monty
Whitfield's painting, "Golden Eagle",
is in the permanent collection of Nashua City Hall |
Presentation of
“Golden Eagle’ painting
by Monty Whitfield,
to the city of Nashua, NH
TV-16
Nashua, NH
December 13, 2005
Click Here To Watch Movie
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"Monarch's Pyramid"
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THE
HIPPO
Arts:
How Monty got his groove
Nashua painter presents painting to Nashua
By
JOHN "jaQ" ANDREWS
Monty Whitfield finds his style and he couldn't
be happier. "I'm all about color,"
he said. "Luminosity and the colors
that bounce back at you are very important
to me."
His newfound style emerged in 2004, when
he moved away from watercolors and began
painting exclusively with acrylics. It began
with a painting called "Impressions
of a Sun Goddess"--a realistic, if
somewhat cartoonish, bikini-clad woman on
an impressionistic background of ocean and
sky.
"This took me two weeks," Whitfield
said. 'That's cranking for me." He
needed the painting for the 2004 Greeley
Park Art Show.... Constructing the background
out of colored dots, reminiscent of Monet,
and the foreground in fully blended tones
made his subject nearly leap off the canvas.
Whitfield calls this combo "impressionistic
realism." To this technique he added
a dark border and gold frame to create his
signiture look.
Whitfield knows the value of instant recognizability.
He comes from a sales and marketing background,
and once his look was established, he started
getting attention. He furthur refined his
technique in a painting of Nashua's City
Hall, titled "Golden Eagle." He'd
wanted to paint the ornament on top of the
building since he arrived in the city in
1987. Whitfield presented the painting to
the Mayor and Alderman this week for permanent
exhibition.... In addition to the Greeley
Park Art Show in both 2004 and 2005, Whitfield
exhibited at the "Arts in the Park"
Show at Manchester's Veterans Park both
years. In 2005, his painting "Primordial
Forest," which depicts a glimmering,
giant dragonfly among ancient trees, won
First Place in the Acrylics category at
that show. The dragonfly itself was built
from between 10 and 20 layers of glaze.
In the background are hundreds of dashes
and dots that blend together to create gradations
of color.
Whitfield plans to make a series of four
landscape paintings in the theme of "Primordial
Forest;" the first shows a monarch
butterfly ("The Monarch's Pyramid")
against a backdrop of a Mayan pyramid. Two
more will show a grasshopper and lunar moth
in similar settings. "I love ancient
civilizations and I love moods in paintings,"
he said. Whitfield studied at the Durer
School of Art in Manila, Philippines, and
his influences include Albrecht Durer as
well as Monet and Jamie Wyeth. He is a memmber
of the Nashua Area Artist's Association(NAAA),
the Manchester Artist's Association(MAA)
and the Arts League of Lowell(ALL).
December 15, 2005
Reprint Permission
Obtained from The Hippo/Manchester/
Nashua/Concord |
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"Primordial Forest"
Monty Whitfield,
won First Place in Acrylics, at the Outdoor
Art Show
"Arts in the Park",
Manchester, NH.
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"Forest Elder"
My research shows that grasshoppers were around during the Carboniferous era, which goes back 65 million years. I figured 65 million years ago qualified naming the grasshopper painting ‘Forest Elder.”
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