Four Related Visions: David M. Carroll, Laurette Carroll,Sean Carroll, Riana Frost
Two Villages Art Society, Hopkinton, NH • twovillagesart.org • Through April 19, 2025
It is rare for an artist well-known for a distinctive kind of work and subject matter to make a major artistic shift late in his career. David M. Carroll, a MacArthur “genius grant” recipient, artist, illustrator, and author, recently moved into Cubist-influenced art and surrealism. His latest work is abstract, non-objective art inspired by the Russian Avant-Garde movement. The current exhibition at Two Villages Art Society features some of this new work as well as the natural history paintings for which he is known. The latter work will be familiar to readers of Carroll’s acclaimed books on the wildlife of the wetlands (including The Year of the Turtle, Trout Reflections, and Swampwalker’s Journal).
In Four Related Visions, Carroll’s work is displayed alongside that of family members. The exhibition is grounded in their family bond and the natural surroundings of their home in rural New Hampshire. The woods, wetlands, and semi-wild gardens surrounding their 250-year-old home figure in the work of these lifelong artists.
David M. Carroll’s wife, Laurette Carroll, paints in oils, acrylics, watercolor and paste, often using mixed media and integrating drawing and collage elements into her paintings. Her approaches range from naturalistic to impressionistic and abstract. She paints mainly from nature and often incorporates writing from her garden journals into her paintings of flowers and garden landscapes. The couple’s son, Sean, who makes his living restoring old houses, is a plein air painter focusing on landscapes and fishing scenes in Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. Daughter Riana Frost paints moose, deer, and other animals on wild turkey feathers she obtains from licensed hunters. She paints in acrylic with a very fine brush on the challenging surface of the feather.
In addition to original paintings, drawings, sculptures, and painted clay vessels, the gallery will have prints and books for sale. There will also be an opening reception with the artists March 22 from 12-2 p.m.
Two Villages Art Society’s gallery is a small brick building on the main street of Contoocook, a village in the town of Hopkinton, and is in walking distance to a river, historic covered bridge, small shops, and restaurants.
— Laurie D. Morrissey