Historic Northampton


Programs & Events

Contemporary Art at Historic Northampton
presents
A Year in Arcadia by Jeffrey Gatrall

September 12 - October 4, 2014

Jeffrey Gatrall
Arcadia-July by Jeffrey Gatrall

At times, the changes in our environment are drastic, as when a storm takes down some trees, or when a building is torn down and replaced. At other times, the changes are much slower and subtler, and we barely notice them, unless we pause to look back.

A Year in Arcadia is a collection of twelve paintings by Jeffrey Gatrall documenting the seasonal changes on a farm near the Arcadia Wildlife Sanctuary. The series came about through the juncture of various interests of the artist. First, his interest in the landscape, which he noticed every day as he took his twins to the Arcadia Nature Preschool. Second, his observations of how his children were growing and changing, and of their interaction with and excitement about being in that landscape as a part of their learning process. And finally, the artist’s growing interest in the tradition of landscape painting in the Connecticut River Valley.

Northampton Meadows by Edward Nichols
Northampton Meadows
by Edward Nichols, 1864

Gatrall found an 1864 painting by Edward Nichols in the collection of Historic Northampton of particular interest. This well-known painting, titled Northampton Meadows, shows the Connecticut River Valley on the grand scale, with Mount Holyoke and Mount Tom in the background. Nichols traveled each summer and autumn to settings filled with appropriate landscape scenery, including New Hampshire’s White Mountains, Lake George, northwestern Connecticut and the Connecticut River Valley in Massachusetts. The Evening Post, New York of August 15, 1863 reported that: "E. W. Nichols is at Northampton, Mass., having been up and down the Connecticut river, drawing lines in pleasant places."

Arcadia-December by Jeffrey Gatrall
Arcadia-December by Jeffrey Gatrall

Gatrall chose to take his photographs of the farm in Arcadia on the far side of the Connecticut River. Here, also, is Mount Tom, looming in the background, with the Oxbow off to the left, hidden behind the trees. He took one photograph a month, at the same time each day – 9:00 am. These twelve photographs are the basis of Gatrall’s twelve paintings. Despite the appeal of art on the grand scale, that style of painting may be more attuned to a time when people felt the need to master the landscape. Now we see that we must live in and with it. We must bequeath our children our sense of the grandeur we find in our own backyards. Gatrall shows us a view on the small, intimate scale, as a child might see it.

About the Artist
Jeffrey Gatrall is a painter and animation director, living in Florence, Massachusetts, with his wife and two youngest children. He is a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design, and has studied painting in Italy and Scotland. His paintings have been shown in Connecticut and California. As an animator and animation director, he worked for Atari, Warner Brothers, Disney, and Fox, among others.

Public Talk
Massachusetts Audubon in the Pioneer Valley – Past and Present
September 20, 2pm at Historic Northampton

Jonah Keane, Sanctuary Director for Massachusetts Audubon’s
Connecticut River Valley Sanctuaries

Massachusetts Audubon’s new Sanctuary Director for the Connecticut River Valley will discuss the history of Massachusetts Audubon, statewide and locally. New England’s largest conservation organization is also the oldest Audubon Society in the country with a long legacy of conservation, education and advocacy. The talk, which will include satellite images and photos of conservation land, will also cover current activities and priorities of Massachusetts Audubon in the Valley. These include management of grasslands for bird habitat and connecting children to nature through camp, preschool and school group programs. One of Arcadia’s priorities is expanding the reach of environmental education programs to new populations.

Jonah Keane is the Sanctuary Director for Massachusetts Audubon’s Connecticut River Valley Sanctuaries and is based at Arcadia Wildlife Sanctuary in Easthampton and Northampton. He started in his position in January after nine years working with the Student Conservation Association, mostly as a state and regional Program Director. Mr. Keane received a MS in Forest Ecology and served as an environmental educator with the Peace Corps in Bolivia.

The talk is free and open to the public.