The group has come a long way since the original six founders decided to form the collective in 1997, despite having no communal workspace or a place to show their art.
Today the Artists’ Group has a membership of 20 -- Charlestown locals mixed with other Bostonians and artists from Cambridge and elsewhere. The group has 16 studios on two floors at StoveFactory, with a 950 square-foot gallery to showcase the work of AGC members and local artists.
But the group isn't just focused on creating and showing its own work. The artists are committed to getting Charlestown residents involved in the arts, as well. Events like Open Studios in December and Art in the Park -- where artists exhibit their work at City Square in September -- have become annual events in the community.
“Charlestown has been very supportive of the Artists’ Group,” said Bill Galvin, treasurer of the Charlestown Neighborhood Council. “When I grew up here," he added with a laugh, "there were only con-artists.”
Locals are now invited to come and create their own art at StoveFactory. Weekly classes in figure drawing and a Wednesday watercolor class are hosted and taught by AGC artists. Yoga lessons also are offered -- an example of the group’s flexible definition of the arts and its expansion into new methods of expression.
Artists' Group members work in mediums ranging from the traditional - watercolors, oil painting, photography, calligraphy and pottery - to more unique forms, such as wood sculpture, jewelry design and fiber and book art. An upcoming show in early November, called “All for the Pulp of it,” will showcase artwork on or about paper, according to Dara Pannebaker, a founding member and president of the AGC.
Susannah Ford, one of the newest members, paints and draws abstract works, using seashell and sand dollar patterns. A piece in her gallery, about two-and-a-half feet by four feet, is spotted with seashells of deep green, its paint dripping onto a blue background of azure and cyan.
