In this series, we highlight two of the many artists who contribute to the deep creative culture of Concord. Across town, many organizations are dedicated to uplifting the arts and artists through exhibitions, educational programs, performances, and workspace. Turn to “Arts Around Town” in this issue to learn more about these programs.

Fiona Kennedy

Collage artist Fiona Kennedy finds her greatest source of inspiration in color. Harmony, tension, and aggression—Kennedy uses her artistic practice to explore these dynamics that emerge from relationships between colors.

During a painting class at Concord Art that focused on color theory, Kennedy’s teacher, Martha Wakefield, suggested using any extra paint left over on a palette to create color swatches on scraps of paper. “I went home and started mixing my own colors and painting any paper I could find,” Kennedy says. “The papers gave me a chance to move it all around until I found the right balance.”

Through community art classes and exhibitions, Kennedy has “found [her] way back to art in a more focused path” after a career in teaching middle schoolers about ancient civilizations while raising her family. A deep knowledge of ancient history emerges in Kennedy’s artwork at times; ancient Greek and Roman pottery, in particular, “can often be a great reference point for some of my collages,” Kennedy says.

Recently, Kennedy has started creating ceramics as part of her artistic practice. She wants to incorporate shapes from her collage into her ceramics. As Kennedy looks ahead, she feels “really excited about merging collages into a more three-dimensional experience.”

Joan Dix Blair

“Printmaking is the language I use to explain the world to myself,” says Joan Dix Blair. Practicing primarily in woodcut and etching, Blair has exhibited her work across the United States and around the globe—from Berkeley, California to Galway, Ireland. 

It is the natural world around her home in the Berkshires of western Massachusetts, however, where Blair finds her inspiration. “I am witness to my habitat,” she explains. As Blair abstracts, simplifies, and ultimately translates the story of the world that she witnesses into her prints, she may shift between gardening, animal watching, and photographing the skies.

Courtesy of Joan Dix Blair

Like Kennedy, Blair discovered that community workshops would become integral to her artistic development. In a beginners’ printmaking workshop, Blair says, “I found my medium.” The collaborative environment of these workshops gave her the chance to broaden and hone her technical abilities.

Today, Blair is one of the forty-four artists at Oxbow Gallery, a member-run cooperative in Easthampton, Massachusetts. Previously, she completed three residencies at the Virginia Center for Creative Arts and has worked in museum education and fundraising at the Clark Art Institute and MASS MoCA. joandixblair.com