Ceres employees dish up some artwork

Paintings, photographs, jewelry and an odd assortment of crafts adorn the walls of Ceres Bakery on Penhallow Street in Portsmouth. Dozens crowded into the bakery on the evening of Sunday, July 1, to observe artwork created by its artistically minded staff. Owner Penelope Brewster, better known as Penny, seemed to treasure the moment as employees and regular customers mingled and snacked on finger foods.

Brewster credited her staff with turning the bakery into an in-house gallery. The art will remain on display until the end of the month. “It was all the people that work here, the clever people here,” she said.

Foremost among the creative minds that fueled the exhibit were employees Jennifer Richmond and Megan Steltzer. Richmond said artists regularly bring their latest pieces of artwork to Ceres to get feedback from fellow employees. The business typically offers month-long residencies to artists to display their work, but when a gap arose in July, employees were there to fill the void. “We just thought, ‘Why don’t we have a show?’” Richmond said.

Richmond had a number of framed photographs on display, as well as mixed paper journals and Ceres tags. Other employees created unique jewelry items, quilted handbags, paintings and other designs. A total of 11 employees contributed artwork, which constitutes more than half of the store’s staff. “Almost everybody here does some kind of media art of some sort,” Brewster said. “This just gives everybody a chance to put their silly things out there.”

One of the artists is Sheena Lea Charland, who has worked at the Ceres counter for the better part of three years. Charland spent about two weeks creating a large acrylic painting on wood for the exhibit. 

Charland said she thinks of her boss as an incarnate goddess—always serving food and looking after her employees and customers. Charland has been painting for most of her life, but Brewster was the muse behind her latest piece. “I thought, ‘I’m gonna do a painting of Penny as a goddess,’” she said. Called “The Ceres Goddess,” the painting depicts a surreal image of Brewster with multi-colored locks of hair and a pair of antlers.

In Roman mythology, Ceres was a goddess of agriculture and a form of the universal Earth Mother, according to the bakery’s Web site. Fitting then, that Charland chose to endow the bakery’s owner with divine attributes. Like many of the artists who participated in the July exhibit, Charland considers her art more of a hobby than a career. “I’m not really too keen on selling my art, or even showing it off,” she said. Nevertheless, she put a $30,000 price tag on her unique painting. (If no one is willing to pay that much, she offered an alternate price of $250.)

The timing of the exhibit worked out perfectly, as Ceres Bakery turns 27 this month. The business, which now serves an array of store-made breakfast, lunch and snack options, originally opened in 1980 on Ceres Street. The establishment moved to Penhallow Street in 1983 and has remained there ever since, catering to local faithfuls and passers-by.
The employees and daily patrons at Ceres create an atmosphere that seems almost like a family away from home, with Brewster as the much beloved and revered matron. But when it came to the reception on Sunday, Brewster deflected all the credit to her staff.

“I’m only a small part of this. All I did was hire them,” she said.