Original watercolor still lifes and faux woodcut prints by Priscilla Alpaugh Cotter
May 21 – June 28, 2025
Reception: Saturday, June 7, 5:00 – 7:00 pm
6 Bridges Gallery is pleased to announce the opening of “Drawn to Memory and to Maynard” by Priscilla Alpaugh Cotter.
Priscilla Alpaugh Cotter has worked as an illustrator for the children’s market for the past several years. Most of her illustrations have been a combination of pencil, watercolor and digital imagery. Creating digital illustrations for a commercial market brought about a longing to experiment with traditional media. The physical act of drawing and painting with paper and paint is much more rewarding for her than drawing on a tablet.
“Drawn from Memory” came out of a desire to paint still lifes and to refresh her skills with the medium. Needing subject matter, she found that she was drawn to family treasures. Most of these paintings feature items that belonged to her maternal Great Uncle (William) who was a commercial artist in the early twentieth century or her grandmother (Catherine). Being the only professional artist in her generation, Priscilla came to own many art supplies that belonged to Will and even colored pencils from Catherine. Priscilla treasures each one, even the dried out tubes of watercolor from the 1920’s and 30’s. Priscilla is someone who finds significant meaning in items that connect her with her ancestors, so the appeal of preserving them in paintings made perfect sense.
The “Drawn to Maynard” portion of the exhibit is a chance to show a different style of her work. These artworks are digitally created woodcut or scratchboard style prints. They are created on her iPad in Procreate. Priscilla has produced a collection of Maynard images and more recently several of the Assabet River.
As a young adult Priscilla remembers feeling that she wanted to live somewhere where she could get to know a town and community deeply and the town of Maynard has allowed her to do just that. She hopes viewers will enjoy seeing a different side of her creative output.
