My family moved to South Boston, Massachusetts when I was nine years old.  I began art lessons with the Minneapolis, Minnesota Correspondence School of Art when I was eleven years old.  At the time I was the youngest student at the school and I never completed the courses to my mother’s dismay.

Graduated from South Boston High School with a minor in art, and worked as a secretary at the John Hancock Insurance Company.  Married John Lawrence and became the proud parents of three daughters.  I knew oil painting was the medium for me when I took an oil painting class at a local high school nights.  It challenged me then and continues to challenge me today.

As a pioneer at the Massachusetts College of Art’s newly implemented part-time continuing education degree program, I took art courses at night and worked days at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum. Received my BFA as a painting major and used summer vacation time in pursuit of graduate studies in England, Italy, China, Greece and Spain, along with travels to France Ireland, Egypt and India. 

After receiving a BFA with a major in painting from the Massachusetts College of Art, the next 10 years of summer vacations from the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum were in pursuit of graduate studies in different parts of the world.  During one summer, Tom Carr, my professor at the Escola d’Arts Plastique I Disseny in Barcelona, Spain (Barcelona Oldest Art Academy) said to me, “I can see in your paintings that you like quiet and stillness.”  Professor Carr’s statement continues to give me pause to reflect.  As one of eight children from a family whose parents were born in Italy, I remember the many times I retreated to the bedroom I shared with two sisters to draw in solitude.  In fact, the wife of a fellow artist recently commented, “Your art is so peaceful.” 

A native of Grand Rapids, Michigan, Elizabeth attended the University of Chicago, the University of Michigan and received her degree in education from Springfield College, Springfield, Mass. She began painting at age 35 but her interest in art began much earlier. She has traveled extensively through Europe and the United States visiting every available museum and site where great artists have painted. However, she is an intuitive painter and has tried to saturate her mind with what she has observed in order to present an image in her own style.

She has studied with many fine artists, such as Will and Dorothy Goldman of Springfield, MA., Jack Flynn, New England watercolorist, William Schultz, oil and pastel, Carlton Plummer and Leonard Goldsmith, Maine watercolorists, Barbara Nechis, watercolorist, William Thomson of Winsted, CT., creativity in any medium, Virginia Cobb of Santa Fe, NM., abstract. ‘I love to paint. I love the process which to me can be a mystery or a puzzle and I enjoy the design or fantasy I can create with color, shape and line. There is always so much more to learn and enjoy in my next attempt. I shall never know enough, but the process will always remain seductive and hopefully enduring.’

She had been a permanent exhibitor at the J. Todd Gallery,
Wellesley, MA., and a founder and exhibitor at the former Town Gallery,
Longmeadow, MA. Her work has also been used by the Wilkin Art Consulting,
Inc. of Weston, MA., and by Design & Advertising Assoc., Springfield, MA. She
was a former exhibitor in 1995 at An Elegant Touch, Westerly, RI., Hampshire
Frame and Art, Northampton, MA., and Harborlight Furniture Gallery,
Gloucester, MA. She now resides in Boston, MA., and was on a New York
internet gallery, paintingsdirect.com for ten years and was a featured artist
in the New York Times presenting work for sale on an internet site. For
several years she was among the top ten in sales.

Arlene Greenspan Arlene works in oil and watercolor.  She uses a combination of bold colors and lively brushwork to highlight the natural beauty and intensity of her subject matter.  Her work is represented in private and corporate collections and she has participated in numerous exhibitions, including juried shows.  Her work has been exhibited at the Currier Museum of Art, Essex Art Center, The Whistler House Museum, and many other venues.  She is currently on the Board of Directors of the United South End Artists.

Joanne Tarlin Franklin of Wayland is ensconced these days in her new Boston studio, number 209, at 450 Harrison Avenue where her many works are achieving new presence in the Boston art scene. A lifetime ago at Framingham High School she delved into every art course available, eventually landing in Los Angeles where she received her BFA from the Otis Art Institute of Parsons School of Design, a division of the New School for Social Research.

Today, Franklin’s works in oils reflect “process painting” in which one “allows the subconscious tocome out on the canvas.” She explained, “You have to trust the process, to have enough confidence and belief in oneself that you will create great art.” Amongst her artistic heroes are Picasso, Juan Miro, and Henry Moore, because “they all created works brimming with passion.” She also feels an affinity with Van Gogh with “how he was impacted by his world and driven to create.” She writes in her Website: “Because of my way of thinking, I choose not to paint or sculpt representations of physical things: trees, water, man made objects or a mother and child. Rather, in my creations I choose to tackle the tasks of capturing their essence, exploring my feelings about them, and letting their forms inspire my palette and mark making. Then, I “hush” my mind and allow my notions of life and its challenges, idiosyncrasies, transitions and the like to channel through my hands. I let the paint find its way onto my canvass and forms emerge intuitively.”