Explore the talent and inspiration of the many varied artists that are members of the Franklin Art Association!

Artist Galleries – A-H

Artist Galleries – I-Z

Explore the talent and inspiration of the many varied artists that are members of the Franklin Art Association!

Diane Bell

Everyone needs a passion and I have found mine painting with watercolors. Until  recently I lived and painted in Vermont for over 30 years. Painting the landscape provides limitless possibilities and the ever changing light offers much inspiration along with the challenges associated with the medium. My paintings are bold and colorful impressions of the places I visit and the vistas I capture around my home and beyond.

Learn more about Diane and view samples of her art in her Gallery.

Marc Cohen

I am a landscape and nature photographer with professional experience in the environmental field. My field work sometimes brings me to beautiful landscapes and wetlands which allow me to experience the art and science of photography. I like to experiment with aperture, shutter speed, and ISO settings to present the best quality of exposure.

Learn more about Marc and view samples of his art in his Gallery.

Gail Eckberg

When retiring from elementary teaching, then moving from Maine, Gail Eckberg was asked to teach art with the Franklin Public Schools Continuing Lifelong Learning in 1999.   She has taught pastel, watercolor, oil, acrylics, mixed media, monotype images, and more, from that time.   She has demonstrated for art groups, held plein air workshops, and has judged both adult and youth art exhibits.   Her award winning art is held in private and public collections, both here and abroad.    Her travels worldwide have taken her from simple to over-the-top places, staying and ‘going native’, while honing her artistic skills.  Growing up with many various artists in her family, she learned to appreciate art as well as doing it herself from a young age, and throughout her life.     She loves sharing her art background and knowledge with others, and wants everyone to either paint or appreciate the arts, or both.    As a teacher, it is so gratifying to see students achieve, grow, and accomplish skills with each class.    Drawing out the artist in a person, to paint in their own style, while truly enjoy doing it, is what it is about, for this artist-teacher.

Learn more about Gail and view samples of her art in her Gallery.

Dick Fotland

Dick Fotland received science degrees from Case Western Reserve University.  During his professional career, he conceived and developed a number of technologies for forming images on paper.  He started watercolor painting in 1997, switching to oil in 2000.  He reasons that conceptual engineering and art share many attributes; both require vision to foresee possibilities, striving for simplicity and focus, and the ability to discard what doesn’t work.

Learn more about Dick and view samples of his art at Illuminare Gallery.

Anthony George

I’ve been painting for most of my life, always trying to find new ideas and new ways. Modern, painterly, spontaneous, alive, any subject but mostly landscape. My goal in life is to paint murals.

Learn more about Anthony and view samples of his artwork in his Gallery.

Dale Hoopingarner

Scanner photography, or scanography, is a fairly unknown but growing art technique, using a digital scanner to capture images of flowers, leaves, seashells and more. The unique images the scanners capture yield an almost three-dimensional effect. But after visualizing and composing the shots, that’s where the hard work begins: detailed editing to remove any stray pollen or dust, and to turn the background 100% black — a process that can take 15-20 hours per image and often much more. The inky black background, though, makes the resulting images “pop”.

Learn more about Dale and view additional artwork at www.BitsOfNature.biz or in his Gallery.

Margaret Munson

Every day I see things I want to photograph and or paint. I designed and created stained glass for several years before it became too difficult with my severe arthritis. I had my glass panels and three dimensional work in galleries on Cape Cod and in Newport. I decided had to switch to ‘gentler’ hobbies, and began to focus on teaching myself to paint with watercolors. I invested in a nice camera and worked at improving my skill with that medium. I’ve had a lifelong interest in photography. When I saw an artist demonstration with pastels in 2016 I was hooked! I’ve taken classes and workshops with pastel artists and love this medium more than any other. I hope my work will make you smile, evoke a memory, or inspire you.”

Learn more about Margaret and view samples of her work in her Gallery.

Susan Plume

“Prior to the pandemic shutdown, I loved taking occasional group art classes – painting, drawing, sketching from a model, traveling to weekend workshops, museum school classrooms, etc.

So I braced myself for a long period of solitude after the shutdown was put in place.   Then after a month my favorite artist/instructor in New Haven CT contacted his students about zoom classes! A few months later another artist in Richmond VA (with whom my cousin had studied) announced his zoom class “How to quickly capture color and light in oil”. Wow! I could safely take these exciting classes right in my own home studio!

And so this past year I explored new approaches to drawing, painting, & multimedia.”

Learn more about Susan and view samples of her art in her Gallery.

Susan Pratt Sheridan

“Creating a piece of art is a journey whose final destination is not known.  Whatever the inspiration may be, it is the conversation between this, the artist and medium that triggers the marks that create a new reality.  It is during this process that we access the deep well of visual memory that excites us when the work acquires a life of its own on paper or canvas.  To be open to the possibilities, to love the medium of choice and know its expressive qualities and limitations, to say something in visual terms that has not been said before – that is what invites and inspires me.”

Learn more about Susan and view samples of her art in her Gallery.

Marjorie Sardella

Marjorie has been in love with photography since receiving her first camera, a Brownie.  After painting in oils for several years, she returned to her first love, photography.

She loves capturing the beauty and power of nature, the intricate landscape of cities, finding the large in the small, streets that invite viewers to walk down them, doors that beckon you inside, the colorful splash or eloquent grace of a flower, those small details that are worlds in themselves.  She believes we all need beauty to nourish our souls as much as we need bread to feed our bodies.

Learn more about Marjorie and view samples of her work in her Gallery.

Rebecca Skinner

Photographing abandoned sites tell a story and document the passage of time. They are places that have been forgotten and left behind for nature to take over. It is a meditation. It is quiet and still. You can hear only sounds of your footsteps, water dripping, the wind. You can smell the age, the mold, the moss. You try not to leave footprints. You don’t want to ruin the appearance of desolation. You want to leave the place as you found it. Move nothing, change nothing. There is beauty in these places. There is history. A freezing of time.

Learn more about Rebecca and view samples of her work in her Gallery.