About the Artist

Chris Firger is an impressionist landscape painter born in Haverhill, Massachusetts in 1989.  He studied at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec and currently works out of his studio in Salem, Massachusetts. A lover of the outdoors, Chris looks to share his experience of the landscape through each of his paintings. Rather than focussing on precise representation, he pushes color, contrast, and composition to bring viewers into a unique moment. Chris’s work can be found in galleries and private collections in the US and abroad.

B.A. McGill University

Artist Member Copley Society of Art

Artist Member Newburyport Art Association

About the Artist

Lisa Grubb is a self-taught pop artist with a signature style, known for her irresistible characters and vibrant colors. Her paintings are bursting with energy—as if they just jumped out of some fantastic place to brighten our lives. The artist’s sun ripened palette features tangerine, turquoise, crimson, royal blue, yellow, and spring green in offbeat color combinations.

Grubb’s uninhibited creations captivate everyone from seasoned art collectors to young children. With elements of pop art and naïve art, Grubb’s work combines playfulness and sophisticated humor.

Her paintings have been shown in numerous galleries from New York’s Soho, the Hamptons, Key West, Cape Cod and Germany.  Grubb’s customers are worldwide.  Many of her paintings have found homes in Europe, Japan, Australia, Canada and beyond.  You can view Grubb’s work year-round at The Happy Dog Gallery in Piermont, NY which is located on the Hudson River about 30 miles north of New York City.

Grubb is the creator of Happy Dog and has written and illustrated two children’s books, “Happy Dog!” and “Happy Dog Sizzles!” both published by Philomel Books, a division of Penguin Putnam. 

Grubb was selected as one of the featured artists at POPART 2, an exhibition held in Berlin, Germany at the Skoda Volkswagen Automobil Forum and painted live at the 2008 Art Fair Europe held in Bad Salzuflen, Germany. She has returned for art openings in Stuttgart, Hamburg, Timmendorfer Strand and other German cities throughout the years. Grubb’s Happy Fish SmART Car made its debut in August 2010 at the “smart times” car show in Austria.

You can also see Lisa’s work on the 3-ton slabs of the Berlin Wall! She was honored to be asked to paint two slabs of the wall and bring color, energy and positivity to that canvas. A total of four images, front and back on each slab. They were transported from the warehouse where she painted them to Checkpoint Charlie where they stood for several years for visitors from around the world to view.

Grubb has appeared on “The Today Show”, “Channel 7 Eyewitness News”, “Fox Channel 5 News”, and “CNBC” with her colorful canvases. In addition, Lisa’s work has appeared in Art Business News, Art Trends, Fine Art Magazine, Dan’s Papers of the Hamptons, and U.S. Art, to name a few.

Grubb was invited to paint the Looney Tune characters for Warner Brothers, which led to a one-person show at their gallery on Fifth Avenue in New York City. The show was an outstanding success. Lisa was invited to paint her interpretation of Disney characters for a one-person show at their gallery on Fifth Avenue as well.  Characters such as Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy – all coming to life under her signature style.

Grubb was asked to paint a 10-foot Spider-Man for Marvel Entertainment in the Universal Studio booth at the Los Angeles Art Expo. Stan Lee, who is the creator of Spider-Man, was also present and signed her painting.

Grubb is dedicated to helping worthwhile causes through her artwork. In 2005, the PETA organization commissioned Lisa to paint the cover art for their 25th Anniversary gala catalog.  Lisa’s painting of a Big Bunny was not only on the catalog cover but also reproduced on T-shirts worn by over 400 wait staff.  Sale of Big Bunny and Happy Dog raised a significant contribution. The prestigious Animal Rescue Fund based in the Hamptons, asked her to design their benefit invitation – her painting gained the highest bid during the charity auction. She has also contributed her work for other charities such as Elizabeth Taylor’s AMFAR, The Ronald McDonald House, Touch and Coats For Kids Foundation. She enjoyed painting a “Happy Dog” Absolut Vodka bottle for Center One, an AIDS organization, and celebrated the highest bid at the auction.

Lisa Grubb grew up in the New York metropolitan area, spent her early career in Key West, Florida, and then returned to New York to make her mark.

Grubb is inspired by, and lives in, New York City.

Artist Statment

I am a self-taught artist originally from the UK, now living in North Truro on Cape Cod. 

While I work in a variety of media – collage, assemblage, altered books – my primary source material is almost always used maps and atlases. I create three-dimensional art from maps, which themselves are a two-dimensional representation of a three-dimensional world. When I select maps to use in my work I’m driven almost entirely by the aesthetics of the colors and shapes within them. I ‘excavate’ the maps – hand cutting away specific areas, which then heightens the focus on others. With spaces between the roads of a map removed the viewer is able to peer deep into the mass of tangled layers of streets, perhaps a symbol of the messiness of interconnected lives. There is both a sense of loss, of the absence of what has been removed, and a sense of resilience and endurance, as the roads remain intact within the fragile structure of the now lace-like pages. 

Maps are of particular interest to me – they are beautiful to look at, they represent areas lived in and places still to visit, and I have incredibly fond memories of learning to map read when I was very young. Now, as an adult, and living on a different continent from where I grew up, maps make the world seem smaller and give me a physical and emotional connection to another time and place.

One of my favorite things about using maps to create art is that they retain the inherent history of the person who owned them before me – a history I am rarely privy to yet I feel becomes part of the work I create. I often imagine maps and atlases rolling off the printing press – household names like Hammond, AAA, Rand McNally, (or Ordnance Survey from the UK, where I grew up). And somehow one of the tens of thousands of copies of that particular edition, maybe decades (once or twice even a century) after it was printed, finds its way to me. The paper is worn at the folds, yellowed at the edges, cities are circled, routes are highlighted. Coffee spills, phone numbers, and directional notes all speak to its earlier life as a functional object in someone else’s hands. Through these maps I experience histories small and large as I vicariously travel other peoples’ vacations, and witness the downfall of empires as borders move and country names change.

I like to say that a beautiful map makes my heart race and my hand reach for my X-acto knife. And through the cutting and tearing, the layering and pasting, the rolling and folding of that one atlas or single fold out map I too become part of its history.

About the Artist

Chris Kelly is a multi-disciplinary creative. His work includes painting, printmaking and graphic design. The media ranges from paintings, editions,  gallery installations and digital. The majority of his work takes inspiration from the visual world around him. A visual language is created in his printed work, resulting in the use of typography, pattern, shape and form to create compositions.

Kelly has shown work in solo and group exhibitions throughout the country. His graphic design work includes logo and identity projects, illustration, web development, print and digital design. Kelly works out of his studio in Eastham, MA.

About the Artist

I’ve spent the last 10 years working freelance design work and other creative projects that have developed my vision, passion, and desire to collaborate with others.

My creative work blends multiple creative processes and discipline. I wear a lot of creative hats and can produce in a variety of ways. I’ve spent the last two years working in my studio at Longstreet Gallery.