Red Shoe Gang shows at new Discover Portsmouth Center

The local group of artists known as the Red Shoe Gang is moving forward with a little help from their friends—each other.

“Being an artist can be a very lonely kind of profession, because you’re often painting alone,” said Barbara Stevens Adams, of Portsmouth. “We’ve been painting together for so long, we’ve become really good friends.”

Since members of the Red Shoe Gang have also become familiar with each other’s art, they can help one another improve with informed critiques. Rather than trying to compete and be the best of the group, they try to help each other become better artists, she said. 

The gang’s current exhibit, “On the Move,” is on view through Labor Day in the balcony gallery of the new Discover Portsmouth Center. The exhibit presents work by five Seacoast artists: Adams; Katherine Clark, of Stratham; Suzanne deLesseps, of South Freeport, Maine; and Judith Totman and Stephen Sauter, both of Kittery, Maine. There will be a reception on Friday, Aug. 8 from 5 to 8 p.m., during Portsmouth’s monthly Art ’Round Town event.

The group has been painting, exhibiting and traveling together since 2001, when they met in an art class. They paint together on a weekly basis and travel to Europe once a year, according to Adams. These trips are often followed by a show of the work they amassed overseas, but “On the Move” has a different theme. Adams said it is about finding new directions for their art. “We’re moving, we’re growing, we’re changing and it’s really exciting,” she said.  

The balcony space is filled with natural light from many large windows. In a prominent location at the top of the stairs, artwork by Judith Totman stands out. Four small, square pastels have a calming and airy feel, including the clouds in “Infinity.” Above is “Through the Trees,” a painting with one tree trunk as it would be seen from the forest ground, leaving its full height to the imagination. Totman also has five pastels in a “Stampede” collection, featuring images of wild horses that escape cliché with a modern balance of blurriness and hard lines. The brilliant color combinations are different in each, and each is fitting.   

The nearby works of Suzanne deLesseps are landscapes drawn with a more precise hand, though impressionistic. The artist uniquely uses contrasting blue shadows in a couple of scenes, such as “September Shadows.” Adams has a similar style with pastels, but even more traditional. She also experiments with oils and has several still life paintings on display, including many flowers in gilded frames.

Katherine Clark drew three renderings of a boy lounging in a comfy chair with a book, each appearing to be different, though the pose is identical. She uses bold color clashes in “Summer Read Study,” in which the chair is purple, the shirt is green and the socks, red. She and others also have Portsmouth Naval Shipyard scenes on display, suggesting they may have sat together across the Piscataqua River during one of their painting sessions.  

The 12 self portraits by Stephen Sauter are each different, perhaps suggesting different moods, ages or settings. They leave the viewer guessing about what the artist really looks like, aside from knowing he has a moustache. Visitors are encouraged to be creative, as well, by offering titles for these works in an interactive part of the exhibit called “The Library Lives Again.” Some of the suggested titles, so far, are “Nice Moustache,” “I Need to Go Tanning,” and “I am the Egg Man.” Also, referring to one of the messier portraits, someone suggested, “I Just Came out of My Chimney.”  

On display on the first story of the center is an impressive collection of Russell Cheney’s masterful paintings of New England. These paintings from the first half of the 1900s feature the Seacoast, as well as more remote areas, and are on display through Oct. 31, in conjunction with a similar exhibit at the Portsmouth Athenaeum.

“On the Move” will be on view through Sept. 1 in the Discover Portsmouth Center’s balcony at 8 Islington St. It is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. Call the Portsmouth Historical Society at 603-436-8420.