Newburyport Art (NAA) is thrilled to announce two winners of the Art Adventure Grant! Since 2016, each $2000 grant has been generously funded by the Hemphill Family Foundation. This grant enables artist applicants to explore aspects of their artistic practice and professional development through experiences such as travel, educational classes, learning opportunities, and more! This year was NAA’s largest applicant pool to date, with 29 submissions. The winners were selected by a committee who considered the strength and cohesiveness of the portfolio, the artist’s thoughtful consideration and planning, and personal investment in the greater idea of an art adventure. Last Saturday, Mary Francis, Trustee of the Hemphill Family Foundation and NAA Artist Member, presented the awards to the winners.

Congratulations to Rebecca Klementovich, winner of the 2024 Art Adventure Grant! In her grant application, Rebecca writes: “Painting a bog in the National forest located in North Conway En Plein Air would be an immersive and challenging experience that engages both the physical and emotional…En Plein Air painting in a bog offers a chance to truly connect with nature and capture its beauty on canvas…The finished paintings will be a unique collection that reflects not just the scene itself, but also the experience of being there.This series would show the foliage and nostalgia of the mountain…This grant would be used for hotel, travel expenses, and canvas costs.”

Congratulations to Margi Smith, also a winner of the 2024 Art Adventure Grant! Margi writes that: “I would use these funds to attend a painting retreat at Squam Art Workshop…and attend two classes ("The Language of Color" and “Writing Light”) over a 5 day retreat in the woods at Squam Lake in NH.” Margi hopes to foster a deeper connection with color through “The Language of Color” and to establish her “own personal vocabulary of color to continue to develop when [she] get[s] home.” The second class, “Writing Light,” will help “in writing about [her] paintings in descriptive ways getting to the deeper level of the work”

Every year, Newburyport Art features the Art Adventure Grant applicants in an exhibition. This year, applicants submitted a representative work to be shown in the upstairs Hartson Gallery and this exhibition is on view through May 19, 2024. Running alongside this show are the Annual OpArt Exhibition and Flowers for OpArt, both special shows to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of NAA’s OpArt program.

The galleries are free and open to the public Tuesday through Saturday from 11:00am–5:00pm and Sunday from 1:00pm–5:00pm. Newburyport Art is closed on Mondays. The ground-floor Hills Gallery has an accessible entrance. More information, as well as an online gallery is available at newburyportart.org.

Founded in 1948, Newburyport Art is dedicated to promoting and exhibiting members’ work and to providing art education and access to the visual arts for the entire community.