The Southport Memorial Library is pleased to announce its artists for the months of November and December are Lynne and John M.T. Seitzer. The couple opened Joy To The Wind Gallery on Atlantic Avenue in Boothbay Harbor in 1999.

John is an award winning artist and educator, he continually stretches his artistic “vocabulary” with skillfully rendered paintings in an eclectic range of styles from realism to post-impressionism to abstraction. As an educator, John taught elementary through university level students, presented several art residencies and lectured in England.

His work often reflects his love for nature and the play of light. He holds a double art major -bachelor of fine arts in painting and ceramics and a bachelor of science degree in art education from Minnesota State University at Mankato. His work has received local, state and regional awards and has been exhibited in the Art in The Embassies of Georgetown, Guyana; and Bamako, Mali. He has shown in galleries across the U.S. and is included in many corporate and private collections around the world. 

“I am a painter who works in oil, acrylic, watercolor and pastel. For subject matter I paint my impression of the play of light on or reflected from an object; boat, rock, building, tree or human form,” John says. ‘A shadow cast creates new shapes used to define the three dimensional form. Everything I paint is a reaction to what I see. What I see in turn elicits an emotional response. My color mixtures are determined by admixtures of a select few. Some ‘local” colors replicate what I see, others “found” are used for the sheer delight of their presence on the painted surface.”

Lynne began painting and illustrating professionally after obtaining a Liberal Arts and an Associate of Arts degree from Minnesota State University at Mankato and Minnesota South Central College. In 1978 she began work as a freelance artist and designer. She worked as a fashion illustrator, photo stylist, and advertising art director for a group of 20 department stores. She created, designed and illustrated campaigns for print, radio and television (earning recognition with several national and international design awards ).

In 1991 she became a greeting card designer and artist working for an international stationery company. She created and developed cards and stationery lines for Target, Kinkos, Hallmark, Disney, Royall, Carlson Craft, Masterpiece, and Nuart. Seitzer’s art has been represented in Minnesota galleries in Minneapolis and St Peter; Manhattan Beach, California; in Scottsdale, Carefree and Sedona, Arizona. In Maine, she has exhibited in Camden, Portland and Boothbay Harbor including Studio 53 Fine Art, the Boothbay Region Art Foundation, and Portland Art Gallery. Her emotional landscapes are included in the U.S. Art in the Embassies in Georgetown, Guyana. Lynne’s paintings, portraits, and card designs have been collected throughout the United States, Europe, Australia and Japan.

Lynne explores various avenues of painting and subject matter such as figurative, landscape, still life fruit, floral, birds and visionary imagery. She works in realistic, impressionistic and abstract styles often moving back and forth between them. The decision how to render an image can depends on the subject and what mode she is currently involved in. Although oil is her primary medium, she has been known to choose watercolor, pastel or ink for certain subject matter.

The couple illustrated Susan Schadler’s children’s book, “Come Walk in the Fynbos With Me” - published in 2018. The 18” x 24” oil paintings of those illustrations will comprise a large part of this particular show at the library through the end of 2019.

Lynne and John continue to paint, enjoy the creative process and the beauty of Maine. They offer the intention of love, light and peace to you, the viewer, with their expressions of joy through painting.  For more on these talented artists visit: www.joytothewind.com.

The Southport Memorial Library is at 1032 Hendricks Hill Road. Call for hours: 633-2741.