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Art brings hope and healing. 

While still known for delicious lobster rolls and fresh-made chowder every Friday, the York Hospital cafeteria that was once a bustling lunchtime gathering place for patients, families, medical professionals and local merchants is now a quiet place for caregivers to have a quick unmasked meal and a few minutes of solitude and reflection prior to returning to a busy hospital shift.

York resident Cynthia Hosmer, longtime chair of the York Hospital Art Committee, recounts how the pandemic forced so many to approach what was once routine with a new perspective. One of the routines that had to pivot was the tradition of hanging artwork on the walls of the York Hospital cafeteria for the general public to enjoy. When the cafeteria closed to the public due to safety protocols, Cynthia recalls:  “We did what we had to do. We went virtual last year and introduced a beautiful online gallery for everyone to appreciate, and stayed the course with hanging artwork in the café to inspire our health care heroes in the hospital.”

While the York Hospital café has not yet reopened to the public, art is back on the walls for the benefit of caregivers and all who are able to swing by to pick up a meal or take a quick break. We are pleased to announce the names of the following artists, whose art will be exhibited both  on the walls of the café and in the hospital’s online gallery during 2022:

Eric Ebbeson’s art is currently on display and can be viewed through March. Eric is an artist living and working on the seacoast of NH. He graduated from Dartmouth College with a degree in Studio Art in 1968. He has exhibited in many art galleries and art shows in New England for the last 50 years and works in many media, including serigraphs, watercolors, acrylics, pen and ink, calligraphy, and alcohol ink. His work ranges from very realistic and figurative to abstract and unusual. He frequently combines art and letterforms, and has created a very successful series of prints and notecards using this method. He has been an art educator, teaching at all levels. He has taught art at The Darrow School (New Lebanon, NY), the Hampton Academy, the Brush and Palette (North Hampton, NH) and led several drawing groups. He has also illustrated two books, “The Ambiguity of Autumn,” a book of poetry by Jeff Volk and “Luna and Floyd Visit their Grandparents,” a children’s book by Lauren Levine. During the pandemic he participated in “The Sketchbook Project,” a compendium of artists’ sketchbooks put online and also exhibited at the Brooklyn Art Library.

The art of Dr. Kenneth Fellows will be featured from April to June. After retiring from academic medicine and moving to Kittery Point almost 25 years ago, Dr. Fellows started drawing and painting as a hobby. Many local artists guided and inspired his early watercolor work. Painting has been so absorbing and compelling, it has become a ‘second act’ in his retirement. Listening to music while he paints, hours zip by, adding many moments of creative wonder to life. He paints whatever interests him, switching from still life to Maine landscapes to portraits (mostly of his granddaughter, Ella) to interior scenes to old magazine covers, abstracts, postcards and dated seed catalogs—whatever captures his attention. In all his painting, he tries to live up to Dewitt Hardy’s aphorism that “we’re in the business of making miracles.”

Stephen Harby’s work will be shown from July to September. Stephen was a visiting critic at the Yale School of Architecture for 15 years and conducts a travel enterprise, Stephen Harby Invitational. From an early age, travel, architectural history, and professional practice captured his interest and competed for his attention. At Yale College, he pursued a double major in architectural history and architecture, which instilled a passion for observation. Following graduation, Stephen spent a year traveling, studying Italian in Florence, and sketching, which combined all these pursuits for the first time. Returning to Yale for architecture school, Stephen studied under Cesar Pelli and Charles Moore. Following graduation, he moved to California to join Charles Moore at UCLA’s Urban Innovations Group, where he was project manager for a range of buildings, including the Beverly Hills Civic Center. From 1999–2000, he was the Marion O. and Maximilian E. Hoffman Rome Prize Fellow in Architecture at the American Academy in Rome. He is based in Santa Monica and has lectured and published.  His work has been exhibited at the Art Institute of Chicago, UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture, Hunter College in New York and at the Fine Arts Building in Los Angeles.

Dustan (Dusty) Knight is a professional artist, educator, and art writer. Her artwork will be on view from October to December. She earned her MFA from Pratt Institute in New York and an MA in art history from Boston University. She is a recipient of a New Hampshire State Fellowship for the Arts, a MacDowell Colony residency, and is a past resident of Cummington Artist Colony. Dustan is represented by galleries across the U.S., including Art Three in Manchester and the Ogunquit Art Association. She’s a contributing writer to Art New England, a frequent juror, and gives demonstrations and workshops in watercolor, art business, and art history. Her work has appeared in Watercolor magazine, Daniel Smith, Cheap Joe’s and Ampersand Insider newsletters. Dustan’s work is in many private and public collections, including Macy’s, Acme and Oracles as well as numerous hospitals and New Hampshire public buildings.

Alex deConstant‘s work can be seen from July to September in a gallery adjacent to the café. Alex is a Seacoast artist whose graphic seascape imagery is channeled through the medium of color woodcuts. His North Hampton studio is within walking distance to the granite sand beaches, reefs, and point breaks where he has surfed since his youth. An intimate knowledge of the New Hampshire coastline is where his inspiration begins. The rugged natural beauty and energy hold endless opportunities for his subject matter. Alex’s association with Don Gorvett Gallery was by invitation to work alongside master printmaker and artist Don Gorvett in his studio and gallery on Ceres Street in downtown Portsmouth, New Hampshire, in 2007.  His woodcuts are in the permanent print collection of the Boston Athenaeum,and private collections.

Art Committee members Maryse Newton, Bernadine Speers and Judy Yandow join Cynthia Hosmer in celebrating York Hospital staff and add their sentiments that ALL staff at the hospital – dietary, housekeeping, facilities maintenance, scheduling, reception, etc. – deserve to be recognized for their roles helping our community through a most challenging time. “We hope the artists and artwork we select to adorn the café walls provides hope and healing to our hospital heroes. We know it is hard for them right now to take time to ‘stop and smell the roses,’ so we are pleased that we can continue to bring the art inside, something beautiful to look at, even if the proverbial rose is a painting,” Hosmer added. (Pictured here: Morning Flowers, a watercolor by Dustan Knight.)

Artwork from each exhibition is available to purchase and a portion of each sale will be donated to York Hospital. View current or previous online gallery exhibitions here. For more information about York Hospital’s online Art Gallery or to find out how to donate to York Hospital, please contact Community Relations at 207-351-2385 or [email protected].