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"Who Knew"

  • Thursday, April 17, 2008
  • 5:00 PM - 8:00 PM
  • Kensington-Stobart Gallery - Washington Square Gallery
One of the year’s more unusual exhibitions of local art will open with a reception on Thursday, April 17 from 5-
8 p.m. at the Kensington-Stobart Gallery and Washington Square Studio in Salem.

The show, entitled “Who Knew?”, will feature paintings,
drawings, textiles, and photographs by Salem area residents better known for their achievements in other fields of endeavor than for their art.

“We have brought together a diverse group of people, including a structural engineer, a retailer, an antiquarian and author, a licensed psychic medium, a museum curator and a local historian,” says gallery director Sandra Heaphy, “all of whom have art backgrounds but for a variety of reasons have put most of their energies into other fields.”

"The idea for the exhibition grew out of a conversation that took place last June at the residence of Dean Lahikainen, Curator of American Decorative Art at the Peabody Essex Museum. One of Lahikainen’s long-time neighbors spotted an oil painting on the wall and asked who the artist was. When told that Dean had done the painting and had been an art history major at Syracuse University, the neighbor, Jim McAllister said ‘Who knew?’"

John Hardy Wright, a well-known local antiquarian and author, happened to be standing nearby and mentioned
that he and Linda Weinbaum, a Salem resident who makes her living as psychic medium, had attended
Massachusetts College of Art together. At that moment the exhibition began taking shape.”  Heaphy agreed to host the show and four more exhibitors, John Wathne, owner of Structures North, Lynne Francis-Lunn, Director of Merchandising at the Peabody Essex Museum, Richard DiFillipo of R.A. DiFillipo Antiques, and McAllister, were added to the original three.

The show will include old and new work, though not necessarily by each of the exhibitors. “Some of the group
have continued to make art while making a living in another profession” noted Heaphy, “while the majority
have recently taken it up again or hope to in the future.”
The exhibition will run from April 17-May 19 at the Kensington-Stobart Gallery, At the Hawthorne Hotel, On
the Common, 18 Washington Square West, Salem and across the street at the Washington Square Studio, 13
Washington Square West. For more information call (978) 825-0022.

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