North Shore Arts Alliance works on behalf of artists in Chautauqua County. The organization is home to artists representing painting, photography, sculpture, pottery, jewelry, fiber arts, wood, and mixed media.

Our signature event is the Chautauqua-Lake Erie Art Trail, though we help create and promote a variety of arts-related events. This year, the Hub Crawl will take place Saturday and Sunday, May 29 and 30.

Here are some of the artists participating in the event:

¯ Dale Anderson — I am a self-taught welder/artist who has been making garden art and whimsical sculptures from scrap metals for 20 years. I repurpose visually interesting metal shapes that would otherwise be destined for the smelter. The process involves cutting and welding scrap materials with no other manipulation. My work evolves from what kind of “junk” I’ll find next. My goal is to transform objects of little or no value into things that will make me, and hopefully others as well, smile.

Melissa Meyers

Nancy Nixon Ensign — Experiencing isolation and solitude during the pandemic of 2020, I find the appeal of assemblage onto sparse landscapes a way to convey my story to the viewer. Social distancing provides a reflection of my inner voice not spoken. Creative studio work is appetizing for the introverted. The historic and sometimes abandoned homes of Chautauqua County provideuntamed architectural landscapes that call to be painted into relevance with isolated figures.

Nancy–Ensign@instagram or nancynixonensign@gmail.com

Melissa Meyers — Melissa’s passion for art is one that loves to explore new ideas, new media, and use materials in ways they were not intended for. Sometimes even with good results. Her inspiration is found mainly in nature, which abounds in Chautauqua County. She works in traditional mediums, as well as alcohol inks, photography and mixed media. She graduated from Buffalo State College with a degree in Design, and learned to transfer her skills to digital when art started moving into new platforms.

www.whiteporchstudios.com

By Anastasia McNeal

whiteporchstudios@gmail.com

Tim Sivertsen — I’ve been working on several different tangents of late. There is a developing series of monochromatic pastel/charcoal landscapes on paper. There is also an ongoing series of fanciful figures in motion (pastel and acrylic). I’ve also pulled up a number of older, unfinished (unresolved) pieces out of my past and am attempting to rework them. It’s very interesting to pick up a piece put to the side years ago and revisit my thought processes at the time. I also have an ongoing series of monocromatic pastel portraits of females in the works.

mporpp@gmail.com

Leslie Calimeri — Having grown up in Chautauqua County I went on to receive a BA in Commercial Art with a minor in Art History, from the Rochester Institute of Technology. I then worked in Northern VA as a print/web designer and freelance artist before relocating back to Chautauqua County where I was employed as Chautauqua Institution’s Digital Communications Manager before opening Chautauqua Art Gallery in 2018 as a place to create and showcase my original artwork and prints. I am excited to also showcase other incredible artists, all of whom have ties to Chautauqua County. I currently reside in Jamestown, NY.

James Hoggard

Anastasia McNeal — As a child, Anastasia McNeal was an active, outdoorsy tomboy. It wasn’t until University that she genuinely became enamored with understanding and then collecting “vintage” clothing and accessories. She went on to write her Master’s thesis on Edith Wharton, then promptly moved to Washington, D.C., where she found her first real job as a Capitol Hill Staffer for a member of Congress from New York. When it became clear politics was not her domain, Anastasia explored an unexpected opportunity to work with an established, internationally recognized Washington interior design firm. It was during this shift toward pursuing creative work and the intensive exposure to architecture, furnishings and textiles that influenced and inspired her professional direction. After stints in floral design and merchandising for a national fashion retailer, in 2018 Anastasia began designing what became a small collection that soon evolved into her brand of handmade, bespoke vintage jewelry, Studio Anastasia McNeal.

citycat7@gmail.com

James Hoggard — In my photographs, the landscape itself is the art form. It is my goal to preserve fragments of it in the most appealing manner that I am able.

All of the scenes represented by my photographs are real and remain undisturbed. I am a realist in my photography and try to create each image with a full range of tones from deep black to vibrant white while utilizing the middle tones in such a way to emphasize the luminosity of a scene. It is my hope that this feeling of light will invite the viewer into the scene, to be a part of the image. James Hoggard is originally from Santa Barbara, California, and spent 10 years in Salt Lake City, Utah. James earned a B.S. in Geology from CSU Chico in 1990 and then studied traditional photography at Truckee Meadows Community College in Truckee California. He has been using a large-format view camera for over 20 years and still uses it for the majority of his fine-art work seen at art festivals. James also uses of digital SLR cameras for art reproduction and product work for artists in the area.

Home

By Nancy Nixon Ensign

Thomas Annear — Adventure meets quiet contemplation in my paintings. From the snow capped peaks of the Tetons to the old growth forests of Western New York his paintings capture the grandeur and beauty of the American landscape. With a Bachelor of Fine Arts in painting from Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University, my career has shifted over the years from political and abstract pieces to paintings that focus on contemporary uses of the environment. For nearly twenty years, I have sought to capture the unique geography, weather patterns, and natural resources of Western New York through my plein air paintings.

http://www.thomasannear.com/ ThomasAnnear@gmail.com

Next week: more information on the artists.

By Leslie Calimeri

By Thomas Annear

By Dale Anderson