Exhibit Archive

Local Artist Exhibit

Mary Horrigan - Watercolorist
Mary Horrigan’s life as a watercolor painter began in high school when she attended classes on scholarship at the Cleveland Institute of Art. She continued her education at Case Western Reserve University in Ohio. Throughout her career, she continued to study and to teach in a variety of schools in Connecticut including Lyme Academy, Hartford Art School and Manchester Community College and Glastonbury Art Guild.

Mary has exhibited her work throughout Connecticut and also in Massachusetts and Florida. She is a member of several art associations including the Connecticut Watercolor Society, American Watercolor Society and the Marlborough Arts Center and Museum.

Artist’s Statement:
Sunlight and shadow…a shimmering sunbeam streaking through an area of deep, dense shade…the shapes of shadows…the delicate, changing colors of flowers… these fleeting images fill me with joy and make my fingers itch to capture them on paper. Watercolors, with its sparkle and glow, its fresh clear.

Leta Madore - Pen & Ink

“Paint what touches your heart.” In viewing the work of Leta Madore one can see the evidence of this statement. Her hope is to touch the viewer with the inspiration found in her heart for each piece.

Leta graduated from Central CT State University with a BS in Business. Despite a life-long interest in drawing and painting, her formal pursuit of art didn’t begin until later in life through membership in the Connecticut Society of Decorative Painters. She learned oil and acrylic painting on various decorative surfaces and fabric painting utilizing fabric dyes.

Through her experience in the decorative arts, Leta’s interest in fine arts grew. She began to take drawing classes, working primarily in charcoal, with Nicole Naylor at the Granite Street Gallery in New London. She was introduced to pastels while studying with Nicole and fell in love with the medium. Leta works in dry pastel, which is comprised of pigment and a minimal amount of gum binder, and prefers a sanded, or rough, surface which provides “tooth” for multiple layers of pastel. She has studied with Joann Ballinger and Christopher Zhang. Leta is a member of the Lyme Art Association, the Mystic Arts Center, the Connecticut Pastel Society, and the Council for Christian Arts – New London County. In addition to participating in numerous art shows within Connecticut, Leta has also been the featured artist in several solo exhibitions.

“Whether working in fine detail with pen and ink or the velvet strokes of pastel, creating from my heart to touch the hearts of others brings me joy.”

Larry Reitz - Photographer
After a long career as a chemist, Larry Reitz came out of early retirement to serve as First Selectman of the Town of Salem, CT. He has been an active photographer for over twenty years and began offering his prints for sale in the late 1990’s. His work has appeared in several juried and nationally recognized outdoor art shows including The Mystic Outdoor Art Festival and The Celebrate West Hartford Art and Craft Show as well as shows in Niantic, Simsbury, Avon, Milford and Westerly, RI.

Largely self-taught, Reitz’s work has been influenced in part by master photographers John Shaw, Art Wolf and David Meunch. He has attended seminars presented by George Lepp, Dewitt Jones and Rod Plank. Others have described Reitz’s photographs as expressing a “quiet” style. While many of his images are local, he admits that the Maine coastline is one of his favorite photographic subjects.

Larry Reitz will donate one half of his sales profits from this exhibit to the Friends of the Salem Public Free Library.