Saturday Afternoons At the Guild

Michaela was born in Sydney, Australia, and was painting before she could walk. She has recently moved to the Portsmouth RI area from the US Midwest where she had resided since emigrating in 1996. She works full-time at St. George’s school in Middletown RI as the Operations and Campus Planning Assistant. She teaches a long weekend women’s art retreat at St. George’s each summer; this year will be her fifth year teaching!

She is a lifelong learner who loves exploring new techniques.  Her work is a joyful collision of her primary inspiration, Mother Nature; her flora, fauna, and vibrant colors. She also draws influence from Steampunk and grunge genres, which often sneak into her work.  She creates mixed-media assemblages that layer paints, gel-plate prints, and stitching into a ‘visual feast.’. Her style is best described as ‘Vibrant Maximalism’ — semi-abstracts featuring high contrast, texture to create deep, visual experiences, and bright colors, that often include a touch of whimsy.  Above all, she aims to create work that sings with joy. Find Michaela on her website:  www.tealharecreations.com, on Instagram at @aussiegrl154 and on her YouTube Channel @michaelabutterworth484.

Rachel fell in love with letterforms as a teenager. She started working as a professional calligrapher at sixteen — inspired by her own dyslexia and the way different scripts could evoke entirely different emotions. Lettering became her language.

Over the years, she has created calligraphy for weddings, rituals, certificates, and private commissions — and taught classes for students of all ages. She now serves as co-president of Masscribes, the Massachusetts Calligraphy Guild.

Her artistic life has recently expanded to include a new body of work: richly illustrated sketchbooks created during a four-month world voyage. These travel journals blend ink, watercolor, photography, and handwritten memory, each page shaped by curiosity, movement, and reflection. Many of the paintings are directly inspired by her own photographs taken on location.  

This February, Rachel will bring her eye for detail  and intuitive scene shaping to the The Portsmouth Arts Guild, offering an inspiring glimpse into how she weaves photography, observation, memory and color into a cohesive visual narrative.  Find Rachel on her website at www.racheldiamondcalowarts.com and on Instagram at @rdcalow.

Newport artist Jeanne Tangney graduated from Rhode Island College earning a Bachelor of Arts in Painting and a Bachelor of Science in Art Education. While pursuing a full-time career in fields ranging from cartography to IT security, Jeanne continued to cultivate her artistic skills, studying with world renowned artists and displaying her paintings in prominent exhibitions and galleries. She has been recognized as an Eminent Pastelist by the International Association of Pastel Societies and Master Pastelist by the Pastel Society of America. Her work has been honored with numerous awards and is represented in collections throughout the United States and abroad. She enjoys sharing the knowledge and experience she has gained with students in her Newport studio.

Working from life whenever possible, Jeanne is celebrated for her captivating still lifes, evocative landscapes, and expressive portraits which she regularly paints in a variety of media. Her initial approach is to simplify what she sees by distilling visual elements into abstract shapes, gradually developing them into representational images. But her paintings far transcend technique and literal realism. They reflect a keen, thoughtful observation of the people we encounter and the environment around us.

This March, Jeanne will bring her award-winning approach and luminous technique to a live demo at the Portsmouth Arts Guild—a rare chance to watch her transform light and form into art right before your eyes.  Find Jeanne on Instagram at @jeannetangney

“For those who relish in paint and paintings, the work of Rhode Island artist Cathy Chin is a delight to experience. . . Chin’s work bears a distinctive and gestural hand that is immediately recognizable. Her art always, regardless of subject, has a bright and sun-drenched quality.” Michael Rose, (March 3, 2022), Inside Art with Michael Rose, Go Local Prov.

Cathy works in watercolor, acrylics and oils.  Her subject matter comes from life and from loose interpretations of photos.  Architectural landscapes and organic forms inform her paintings, done both plein air and in her studio. Cities, neighborhoods, botanical gardens, interiors all find a home on her canvases. Cathy creates paintings which are depictions of ordinary sightings composed in interesting ways, telling a story perhaps, balancing shapes, color, rhythm, texture.  

Cathy’s formal education began at RISD and the Rochester Institute of Technology.  She is a member of the New England Watercolor Society, the NH Art Association, and the Art League of RI.  Find Cathy on instagram as @realandplastic.