Haverhill, MA (February 28, 2022)- For the first time since the start of the pandemic, The Linda Hummel-Shea ArtSpace will feature a full-scale exhibit. The pARTners show is designed to celebrate the connections between Northern Essex Community College and UMASS Lowell. At least six professors from each school are contributing artworks.

“When our students transfer, they most often continue at UML,” says Michelle Carter, associate professor of Art and Design at NECC. “The two programs have a strong relationship, including similar teaching philosophies, friendships, and collaborations. I hope this will be a great way for our students to learn about the professors they can work with now and in the future.”

When the pandemic started, the ArtSpace shifted to hosting online exhibitions. Once students returned to campus, they included smaller, pop-up style exhibits led by NECC classes.

An opening reception for the pARTners show will be Wednesday, March 2 from 4-5pm. Masks are required. The show will remain open through March 31st, during library hours. The public is welcome and admission is free.

The Linda Hummel-Shea ArtSpace Gallery is located in the Bentley Library Building on NECC’s Haverhill Campus.

Northern Essex’s Department of Art & Design offers many courses in fine art and design leading to an Associate Degree in General Studies: Art & Design. For more information, contact Michelle Carter at mcarter@necc.mass.edu.

About the Artists and Artworks

Bonnie Ashmore (NECC)
Ashmore’s balanced geometric painting “At Last” emits a warm glow. It’s representative of her ongoing exploration of painting as a method of meditation and healing.

Michelle Carter (NECC)
Carter’s painting process alternates between direct observation from landscape and abstractions in the studio. Her oil painting Plunge is based on a small collage and relates to her interest in movement.

Ingrid Hess (UML)
Hess’ five-panel graphic design project, created with both digital tools and hands-on collage, is a spirited alphabet for kids about Australian ecosystems. An author and illustrator of children’s books, Hess fosters learning and appreciation for diversity.

Andree Leduc (NECC)
Leduc’s installation of small works on paper is part of an ambitious project that includes hundreds of artworks. Each piece is akin to a puzzle that she “solves” by experimenting with color, shape, mark-making, and different media.

Sarah Lubin (UML)
In “Noon (Study)”, by Sarah Lubin, a dark shape beneath a seated figure alternately reads as a shadow, a void, or a flat shape. Multiple readings lend a sense of mystery her work, in which figures both blend into and emerge from backgrounds, and color harmonies evoke emotional states.

Marc Mannheimer (NECC)
Mannheimer’s “Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment: Hail” is part of a series about the ten plagues of Egypt from The Old Testament. It blends painting and sculpture.

Brian Martin (NECC)
Light and space are key players in Martin’s carefully observed oil paintings. A brilliantly lit sky or an empty interior conjures a specific mood, place, or time of day.

Stephen Mishol (UML)
Mishol’s meticulous drawings of cityscapes blend different methods of working – observation, memory, and invention. Familiar imagery is presented in subtly surprising ways.

Yuko Oda (UML)
Oda’s animation pieces combine traditional methods of drawing and sculpture with unexpected materials and with digital animation. Natural forms and biological systems are recurring sources of inspiration.

Dianne Pappas (NECC)
The vulnerable or imperfect are often at the conceptual heart of Pappas’ playful sculptures and installations. Utilitarian materials combine with experimental processes and result in quietly provocative artworks.

Samnang Riebe (UML)
Riebe’s paintings and assemblages alternately read as imagined spaces and literal physical objects with their own sense of history. His piece in “pARTners” combines a found three-dimensional object with abstract painting. Protruding from the wall, its elaborate shadows interact with its physical components.

Pavel Romaniko (UML)
Untitled (Kitchen) is from a series of haunting pieces in which Romaniko constructs convincing interior spaces out of paper and photographs them.

Deborah Santoro (UML)
Santoro examines damages wrought by colonial histories. Her work in “pARTners” combines interests in environmentalism, science fiction, and needlepoint.

Ellen Wetmore (UML)
Wetmore’s piece is from a series of drawings called “The Grotesques” and is reminiscent of Surrealism. The bubbles and blotches of her hand-marbled paper suggest body parts and creatures to her, which she renders with the addition of ink.