By Jessica Cha ’17
Staff Writer
Creativity was in the air as three graduates were welcomed back to showcase their art in honor of Peddie’s 150th anniversary.
On Jan. 10 students were able to see the unique exhibitions by David Bair ’73, Zara Stasi ’08 and Lynnette Hesser ’76 at the Mariboe Art Gallery. It featured everything from paintings of rushing waves and views of Paris to ceramic pieces.
Bair focused on paintings of landscapes, such as waves and sunsets. Although his original focus was art history and business in college, his work in a printing company sparked his interest in art. His work with tweaking images and colors was the beginning of his newfound interest in painting.
“We were sitting at a restaurant and they had various local artist paintings around, and there was a painting next to us, and I looked at that…and said, ‘you know, I’d like to get a set of paints, because I think I can do better than that,’” Bair said. He began to work with different images that he liked and he learned to work with textures of the painting using a palette knife. From then on, his passion for art flourished.
“I really liked the paintings of the waves,” Margaret Hart ’17 said. “I thought it was original and cool.”
Unlike Bair, Stasi had an interest for art during the time she spent at Peddie. The influence nature had on her helped her to create pieces such as representations of trees in her senior year at Peddie. She then started to work with live models which allowed her to experiment in various forms of art. Her opportunity to study abroad in Paris also inspired many of her paintings.
“I focused most of my travels on studying Van Gogh,” Stasi said. “Then I focused on painting and living in parts of Paris where he lived.”
Although Stasi got most of her ideas from traveling, she currently resides in D.C. and has no trouble with inspiration.
“I get to keep art in my life by sketching on the Metro every day,” Stasi said.
Her sketches of people on the subway take roughly fifteen seconds to two minutes which helps her learn to quickly capture everything she sees. Although she is not sure what she is going to do with most of her sketches yet, she continues to sketch and follow her passion.
The third artist, Hesser, was not able to come to the gallery, but her work with ceramics was a favorite for some of the students.
“When I see her ceramics, it makes me want to pick up art again,” Ashley Ng ’16 said. “The colors and intricacy in her ceramics reminds me of wildlife and plants.”
