OUR BEAUTIFUL GALLERY,
STUDIO 108
Prescott’s Studio 108 Gallery is a vibrant space dedicated to local artists, featuring diverse mediums and bimonthly exhibitions that bring art and community together.
We are grateful to our Studio 108 Gallery Committee—comprised of Prescott art instructors Heather Barros, Dana Haigh, Claudia Owens, and Beth Smith, along with local artist Megan Carty, who maintains a studio in Prescott. Their creativity, organization, and dedication make these exhibitions possible. You can learn more about the committee members and explore their artwork below.
A Reunion of Four Artists, Their Friendship, Their Friends, and Their Students
Join us for a special Gallery Opening Reception on Friday, March 13 at 6:00 PM at Prescott Community Center.
In the early 1980s, four Groton artists found one another and began painting side by side. Mary Minifie — a painter of Russian iconography, teacher, and mentor — connected with Katharine Bell and Catherine Corum, who had just moved to Groton from Concord, and Carol Canner, who had settled in West Groton to establish the Carver’s Guild framing business with her husband.
Together, they painted in gardens, orchards, and along the Nashua River. They shared ideas, painted portraits, opened their gardens to one another, and raised children who attended Prescott School during overlapping years.
More than forty years later, their artistic journeys continue. Though life has taken them in different directions — including a move to Santa Fe — their shared roots remain strong. Mary continues to teach and has invited two of her students and friends to join this meaningful reunion and celebration of art, friendship, and creative legacy.
We hope you’ll join us to celebrate this remarkable story of connection, community, and the many threads that continue to bind artists across time.
ILLUMINATED: EXPRESSIONS IN GLASS, PAINT, AND PHOTOGRAPHY
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OUR JANUARY GALLERY EXHIBIT OPENING
A gallery exhibit opening featuring the stained glass of Judy Romatelli, the paintings of Megan Carty, and the dance photography of Kathryn Costello. Together, their work explores how light—both inner and outer—moves through, reflects off, and interacts with living forms and inanimate objects, illuminating, transforming, and bringing each subject to life. All three artists maintain studios at the Prescott Community Center.
Heather Barros
Prescott Instructor | Studio 108 Gallery Committee Member
I paint for the joy of it.
The first strokes on a blank canvas are the start of an adventure. There is a thrill somewhere near the start when you contemplate that this next work may be the best anyone has ever made. A few more strokes and you separate yourself from the constraints of what you already know. Soon after, you hit your stride, surrendering yourself to the present moment, where nothing matters but what your mind sees and your hands produce. Every detail is critical and every nuance is fascinating. In what seems like moments, you are exhausted! You realize that hours have passed. The rest of the world reappears and you feel acutely alive.
Perhaps art is as simple as sharing. I share a sense of being with the subjects of my artworks. I bond with other people when they set up their easels next to mine. And I love that we are all lifted by the tide of inspiration when we teach each other something new.
I founded, directed, and taught at my independent art school, Art Collaborations, in Princeton, NJ, for 33 years. I now paint in my studio in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, and welcome artists’ visits.
Dana Haigh
Prescott Instructor | Studio 108 Gallery Committee Member
Based out of Groton Massachusetts, Dana has been creating Art for over 30 years. Although she works in several mediums, including watercolor and acrylics, she discovered a passion for alcohol inks; the abstract fluidity she creates evokes the beauty of nature, while the figures and silhouettes present in her work represent the human connection to the natural world. The octopuses and other animals she enjoys painting represent the wonderful strangeness and beauty of nature.
Dana divided her childhood between New England and France; this early exposure to galleries and museums across Europe influenced her love of Art and its history. Although her early degree and career in Art History lead to working with other’s art rather than her own, she never lost the drive to create. Today, Dana’s primary job is being a mom to her three children. Creating art while being a mom can be challenging, but Dana hopes to set an example by following her passion; her young artists are understanding and often encouraging of her art obsession. Dana’s award winning work has been featured in Sun Stone Studio in West Concord, MA, Greenbelt’s juried “Art in the Barn” show, the Attleboro Art Museum, Gallery Twist in Lexington MA, the Topsfield Fair, several online shows run by Art Fluent, and many private collections.
Claudia Owens
Prescott Instructor | Studio 108 Gallery Committee Member
Claudia Owens is the artist behind Paper Tiger Art. She is an artist and art educator based in Groton, Massachusetts, where she finds inspiration both in the vibrant creativity of her elementary art students and in the fantastical beauty of the natural world. By day, she guides young minds in discovering the joy of artistic expression, fueled by their boundless enthusiasm for new techniques and ideas.
Claudia works primarily with watercolor and gouache, Claudia merges reality with imagination, crafting scenes that blur the lines between the tangible and the extraordinary. Her fascination with the intricate lives on animals and the allure of mythical creatures infuses her work with a sense of wonder and magic, echoing the enchanting illustrations found in children’s picture books.
Rooted in her lifelong desire to embrace artistry, Claudia’s journey has led her to explore various mediums, but it is in watercolor where she feels most at home. She reveals its capacity to weave textures and layers, embracing the unpredictable yet delightful outcomes that each brushstroke brings. Under the moniker Paper Tiger Art, Claudia shares her artistic creations with the world, offering glimpses into her whimsical universe, where art is not just about creation – it’s about storytelling, inviting viewers to embark on their own imaginative journeys with each painting.
Claudia has had her work shown at Lesley University in Cambridge, MA, The Umbrella Arts Center in Concord, MA, The Parish Center for the Arts in Westford, MA, and The Townsend Meeting Hall in Townsend, MA and is a member of The Artist Circle, a Groton-based artist collective.
Beth Smith
Prescott Instructor | Studio 108 Gallery Committee Member
As an artist, my journey began with a childhood passion for drawing and coloring, which blossomed into a love for watercolors. It was in a beginner class in Westford where I first encountered the captivity transparency of watercolor- a medium that continues to inspire me.
I find myself drawn to landscapes, where light, shadows and shapes intertwine to create extraordinary scenes. Whether it’s the silhouette of a boat in the rippling water or the vibrant hues of trees against a beautiful sky, nature’s elements serve as my muse.
My artistic journey is a continuous exploration of techniques and emotions. Each painting is not just a visual representation, but a reflection of how my subject resonates with me. I strive to convey not only what I see but the feelings it evokes within me.
I hope you find something in my paintings to connect with-Enjoy!
Megan Carty
Studio 108 Gallery Committee Member
Megan Carty is an accomplished colorist whose artistry is showcased through her dynamic, gestural abstract expressionist paintings. Her pieces feature a brilliant array of bombastic techno-colors and expressive mark-making that draw inspiration from the organic world. Based with her family in the tranquil New England countryside just outside Boston, Megan lives and creates amidst the beauty of nature.
Carty holds a BFA from Syracuse University’s College of Visual and Performing Arts: School of Art & Design. Her abstract art during her ongoing 25 year career thus far has been featured by Anthropologie, CBS Sunday Morning, Minted, Homegoods, In Her Studio Magazine, Artfully Walls, Michaels Crafts, Modern Luxury Interiors Boston Magazine, Artists & Illustrators Magazine, SHLTR, Morning Honey, The Spruce, The Jealous Curator, Maine Home & Design Magazine, Maine Cottage, the Improper Bostonian Magazine, Day’s Jewelers, Chris Loves Julia, The English Room blog, Honey & Fitz Collection, Hebrew Rehabilitation Center, and Sloan Kettering Memorial Hospital. Her original paintings reside in private collections in both the USA and internationally. She has exhibited her work in three solo shows.
‘My work is a conversation in color—a translation of unseen energies into form. Each painting is an Energy Portrait, a visual manifestation of presence, emotion, and transformation. Some pieces ignite momentum, sparking movement, passion, and boldness. Others offer sanctuary, inviting stillness, reflection, and quiet strength. Both energies are essential. Sometimes, we need to claim the fire. Other times, we need to claim the calm.
Rather than depicting the physical world, I seek to make energy visible—capturing the forces that shape us, shift us, and call us forward. My titles, often whimsical or evocative, serve as glimpses into the essence of each piece, offering an invitation for interpretation, connection, and feeling.
Each painting holds space for something unique—whether it vibrates with power or whispers of rest, the energy is alive, shifting, and waiting to be claimed.’
Mary Minifie
Prescott Instructor
Mary Minifie was born in Bethlehem, PA., graduated from Wellesley College and received her MFA from Boston University School of Fine Art. She spent nine years studying the Boston School method of painting and portraiture with Paul Ingbretson.
She has been a professional portrait painter for the last twenty years with many commissions, both private and public. Her portraits are in the Moakley Federal Courthouse; the John Adams Courthouse; the John MacCormack Courthouse; the Thurgood Marshall Building, Washington, DC; MIT; Children’s Hospital, Boston; Boston University; Harvard University; King’s Chapel, Boston; Virginia State Courthouse; Union College, Schenectady, NY; Dana Farber Cancer Institute; Groton School; National Cathedral, Washington, DC; Boston Ballet.
She is a member of the Guild of Boston Artists and has served on their board for many years. Her many awards for painting include the Guild’s Tarbell Prize, the Frank Benson award and the Gammell award several times over. She has received awards from the Art Renewal Center (ARC), The Catherine Lorillard Wolfe Prize and the John Stobart grant.
Mary has had articles in both the American Artist Magazine and the International Artists Magazine.
Abigail Williams
Prescott Instructor
Abigail Williams is a self-taught artist whose work spans both 2D and 3D media—from acrylic, watercolor, and oil, to enamel, printmaking, and woodcarving. Since 2016, Abigail has displayed throughout the New England area in venues from public events and galleries to private collections, and also has work in private collections throughout the Mediterranean. She has instructed others in the visual arts since 2015, and as an instructor puts emphasis on accuracy and speed. It is her goal to help students develop a consistent practice that they can expand on outside of class.
In a range of work from life drawings and plein air painting to woven baskets, wood carvings, and enameling, Abigail Williams explores the balance between conceptual understanding and creative storytelling: tracing the boundaries of accuracy and efficiency, detail and implication, function and tradition. Her most recognizable works are her nude figurative pieces in charcoal, watercolor, acrylic, and oil.
Since 2016, the artist has displayed throughout the New England area, from private collections to public events and galleries. In 2016 she held her debut solo exhibit at Herter Art Gallery in Amherst, MA, showcasing the body of brush-and-ink work she developed across South Korea, Japan, and northeast China. As of 2021, the artist has appeared yearly at Ogunquit, ME’s annual “Perkins Cove Plein Air Painting” competition. In 2024, she was invited to join Ogunquit’s first “BonAire!” event as an oil painting demonstration artist. Her work will be appearing in September in a solo exhibition at Gallery Marquee in Fitchburg. The multi-media show, “Of Human, By Human: Figurative Art in the Era of AI” will draw comparisons between handmade fine art and AI-generated counterparts, inviting discussion into the boundaries of human representation and artistic expression.
Robert James Clark
I knew I wanted to be an artist at age six but ran with humor cartoon humor scissors. Some grade school teachers thought it funny, but most didn’t get the joke. At fifteen I was invited to attend Mass College of Art’s weekend program for upcoming young artists.
Things struggling artists do for name recognition.
After high school, I went to the Butera School of Art in Boston but soon crossed over to the dark side into the world of advertising.
After Butera, I started pursuing my education on the evil path on the dark side of advertising art at Northeastern University for several years studying Advanced Graphic Design, Branding, Logo Design, Marketing, Magazine Design and other black arts of influence pedaling sorcery.
