Gift Idea: Severna Park Artists Share Their Work

In Severna Park we find unexpected beauty hidden around many corners.  Such beauty is captured by talented Severna Park artists, and their works with the local landmarks can be found at the . 

What better gift could we offer or receive than a work of art to hang on our walls?

Benfield Gallery’s “Best for the Holidays” show features works by at least six current or former long-time Severna Park residents.

On Wednesday four of these artists–Elizabeth Bremer, Bonnie Roth Anderson, Judy Fox Fletcher, and Joni Guhne-met at Benfield Gallery for an informal chat. 

Another Severna Park artist–Janice Antinucci of Bluff Point–whose large painting of a sailboat on the Severn I admired-was visiting Rhode Island and not available to attend.

Bremer, who lives near Kinder Farm Park, has created succulent fruits, including a large watermelon section and a marvelously shaded single pear.

Also on display were lively collages–one depicting Maryland crabs incorporating our distinctive hometown newspaper table covering.

“I like painting fruit because it holds still, and I can paint fast in acrylic to capture the light,” Bremer said, noting that she grew up in Maryland. She said her father grew vegetables native to this area, and she captures “their natural beauty and simplicity in watercolors and acrylic paintings.”

Anderson, who lives in the Hollywood area of Severna Park, is a renowned artist who has taught for 30 years at Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts.  Her ability to capture the essence of local landmarks is evident in her oil depiction of an old Crownsville church, where she lends a dreamlike mist to the structure.

“The reason I paint outdoors is the beauty of the light on the landscape and the colors you see," Anderson said.

Fletcher, a Chartwell resident for 10 years, is a Maryland Institute College of Art graduate who combines photographic realism with whimsy. 

A displayed piece of her work portrays a life-like plant with an amusing frog at its base, illustrating this artist’s “love of painting and fondness for the whimsical.”

A resident of Chartwell for more than 35 years, Joni Guhne moved to a Broadneck community after being widowed about seven years ago.

Guhne enjoyed a 30-year freelance writing career prior to her retirement to devote full time to art four years ago. Recently she reflected: “As a writer, I expressed myself with words. As an artist, I tell the same stories with color, value and light."