Art Exhibition: Jessica Bartlet, “Changing Colors”

The Norfolk Library is pleased to present: Changing Colors by Jessica McGarry Bartlet. Whether it’s the bold bark of a tree that has lost its leaves or the bright green marshlands with white clouds exploding overhead, artist Jessica McGarry Bartlet captures nature in all its simple grandness in a show opening Nov. 2, 2024, at the Norfolk Library. The exhibition will run from November 2 through Dec. 4 during library hours.

Bartlet, a painter and art teacher who works out of her home in New Hartford, brings the drama of outside into the library with both large and small landscape paintings. Her brush strokes are bold, and the colors vivid. You may feel the buzz of a mosquito as you look at her marsh landscape, or get a chill viewing the snow-covered road leading toward a lightly pink sky. Whatever the season, Bartlet’s artistic eye and use of color puts you in the moment of every landscape. “I want you to see the paint, I want you to see the picture, and I want you to feel these moments in time just as I did,” she says.

Bartlet grew up in southeastern Connecticut and attended Eastern Michigan University, receiving a BFA with a concentration in Drawing in 2005. She attended Western Connecticut State University and earned an MFA in painting in 2009. She has been a member of the First Street Gallery in New York City since 2010 where she currently sits on the board. Her work has been on display in Connecticut, New York, Michigan, and Ohio. She teaches art history at Post University and Naugatuck Valley Community College and teaches watercolor for EdAdvance Continuing Education in the northwest corner of Connecticut. Her first book, “Backyard Wilderness,” was published in 2024.