Variations on a Theme

Betsy Jacks has degrees in both art history and studio art from Duke University, as well as an MBA in marketing. She was executive director of the Thomas Cole Historic Site in Catskill, NY, from 2003 to 2024, where she oversaw transformative development of the site. While her initial inspiration for creating paintings of ancient apple trees may have begun during the decades at the Thomas Cole National Historic Site, her fascination with the subject has endured, and these trees have assumed a fundamental importance to her work. “The thick cracked bark and severed branches of apple trees evoked in me a sense of reverence, which contrasted greatly with society’s disregard for old age and disgust at aging skin.”

Jim Krewson grew up in Bucks County, PA, and was indelibly influenced by roaming alone in the surrounding woods and countryside. On tour with his Bluegrass band, Jim and Jennie and the Pinetops, he discovered the Catskills, and decided to settle there. His depictions of woodland scenes in low and fading light—some even in complete darkness—revel in the spirit of the region, yet he doesn’t claim that they are products of plein air painting. “These paintings are done completely from my imagination yet inspired directly from the spirit of the mountains.”

John Morra was born in Mississippi, but grew up in California, and came to New York to study, earning an MFA from New York Academy of Art. He began adding machine parts to his still life compositions in 2001, and found the results both intriguing and exciting. An exacting master of realism, his oil paintings are monuments to the roles of machinery, many of which are now relics of a bygone era. He says of these paintings, “They are not merely rendering of car parts and tools. Rather they are arrangements that delight me, frustrate me, and ultimately make me laugh. I hope this delight is contagious, in the best possible sense.”

Marilyn Orner has a BFA in painting from California College of the Arts, and an M. Ed in creative arts in teaching from Lesley University. She has been an art educator most of her adult life and currently teaches at Berkshire Art Center. Her work has been exhibited in solo and group shows throughout the country. She is a member of the National Association of Women Artists, and a member of 510 Warren Street Gallery in Hudson, NY. “To be a painter, you need bushels of hope and low expectations. It can lead to happiness,” she says. Orner finds water fascinating “because of the motion, the layers, the distortions, and the light.” Her enjoyment of this subject is evident in color-drenched landscapes that depict water in its many guises.

Alan Papscun was born in Queens, NY, to parents who were good with their hands. In 1978, in his early career as a shoe designer for a Massachusetts footwear manufacturer, he was awarded the American Designer Award by the Leather Industries of America. He subsequently earned a BFA from Massachusetts College of Art, and an MFA from Alfred University. Papscun once designed shoes that could be worn. Now his shoes are made of lead, strongly resembling the real thing, yet resonating in more provocative ways. This is but one manifestation of his fascination with the human body, a subject he has tackled in myriad ways, sometimes casting in bronze, at other times constructing assemblages with found objects.

Robert Watkins attended both SUNY and RIT, where he studied graphic design and photography. He subsequently worked in ceramics for 17 years, creating pottery that was decorated with hand-painted flowers, which proved a natural segue for painting on canvas. He now paints ethereal scenes that originate in his own memory. He says, “The elusive hours of dawn and twilight, when light comes washing over the landscape, are the most captivating moments to paint.”