Fivesparks

EXHIBIT Laurie Simko: Past and Present
2025-03-01 - 2025-04-12 | Fivesparks
Laurie Simko: Past and Present

On view March 1 – April 12, 2025

Artists Reception, open to the public, Sunday, March 9, 2025. 3:00-5:00pm

Laurie Simko is an oil painter and collage artist who explores many subjects: primarily the natural world but also still life and portraiture. Her award-winning work is exhibited in galleries and organizations throughout New England and NYC. She is the recipient of 2 Mass Cultural Council Grants for 2 solo exhibitions of a series of portraits of nurses during the 2020 pandemic.

Simko grew up in the Greater Boston area in Massachusetts. She graduated from California Institute of the Arts in Valencia, CA with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. She worked as an Art Director and Graphic Designer in several advertising and high-tech firms in the Boston area and was the Design Director at Apollo/Hewlett-Packard for thirteen years. From there she started her own web and print graphic design company, called Simko Eye Design.

Simko currently paints full-time and co-manages/teaches art classes with Lowell Learns, an art outreach program for children and adults. Simko lives with her husband and has 2 children and 4 grandchildren.

Pastel Painting - Spring Session
2025-04-09 10:00 - 12:30 (America/New_York) | Fivesparks Gallery, 7 Fairbank Street, Harvard, MA, 01451, United States
This session will cover landscape and general pastel painting techniques.
Ann will cover topics of composition, color and mark-making in this session. Each class will start with a demo followed by plenty of one-on-one feedback at your easel. If you are new to pastels this class will also cover all the basics to get you started with exploring this diverse medium.
All pastel levels are welcome but some previous drawing or painting experience is necessary.
$300.
Six Wednesdays, March 26 – May 7, 2025 (no class on 4/23)
10:00am-12:30pm
Contact Ann to register and for a supply list and with any questions you have.

email: agillespieart@gmail.com anngillespieart.com

School Half Day Felting - Spring Bunny
2025-04-09 13:15 - 14:45 | Fivesparks Cove
Come to Fivesparks on some school half days to create some adorable Spring critters! Come to one, two, or all three sessions.
Wednesday 4/2- Spring Duck
Wednesday 4/9 – Spring Bunny
Wednesday 5/16- Spring Otter
1:15-2:45pm
$29 for 1 class, $54 for 2 or $78 for all 3.
This class is for 5th-7th graders
To sign up click here:

Painting with Wool - Monet-Inspired Waterlilies
2025-04-09 18:30 - 20:00 | Fivesparks Cove
Join Rachel at Fivesparks to learn the art of painting with wool. In this two-part class you will learn the art of painting with wool, using both wet felting and needle felting techniques. In class one, we will wet-felt a painterly wool base. In class two, we will needle-felt details on top of our bases. You will be guided step-by-step to create a scene similar to the one pictured. All levels welcome and all materials provided!
Two-Part Painting with Wool (Waterlilies)
Wednesday 4/2 & Wednesday 4/9
6:30-8pm
Open to adults and teens, $55 for the two-part class.
To Sign up click here:

Author Talk - An Evening with John Hanson Mitchell: The Sweet Revenge of Marcus Aurelius - Based on the True Story of a Slave Who Sold His Master
2025-04-10 19:30 - 20:30 | Fivesparks Gallery, 7 Fairbank Street, Harvard, MA, 01451, United States
Fivesparks is delighted to welcome John Hanson Mitchell, celebrated author of The Sweet Revenge of Marcus Aurelius, a compelling novel inspired by the true story of a talented and ingenious slave who outwitted his master.
Join us on Thursday, April 10, 2025, at 7:30 PM for a captivating journey into the incredible saga of Marcus Aurelius—a courageous and resourceful man who defied the odds, pursued freedom, and claimed a victory that reshaped his life.
In celebration of Black History Month, this event offers an opportunity to reflect, learn, and connect as Fivesparks honors the contributions and stories that shape our collective history.
Through Mitchell’s masterful storytelling, experience the dramatic twists of plantation life, daring escapes, high-society intrigue, and even pirate adventures. This extraordinary tale of resilience, humanity, and justice will leave you inspired and deeply moved.
Don’t miss this unique opportunity to hear from an award-winning author and environmental visionary whose work explores the profound connections between human stories and the natural world. The book will be available for purchase by cash or check.
Description:
The Sweet Revenge of Marcus Aurelius is based on the true story of a talented and ingenious slave who sold his master. When he was still a young house boy, Marcus Aurelius was taught to read and write by the plantation owner’s rebellious twelve-year-old daughter, who also instilled in him a passionate desire for freedom. She even encouraged him to escape, which he did – three different times – thus setting in motion his ultimate and sweetest revenge.
His story, even without fictionalizing, is a wide-ranging, swash-buckling tale of a fittingly just revenge set against many venues: the cruelties and dehumanizing effects of plantation life, a year in a unique community of escaped slaves in the Great Dismal Swamp, Paris high society in the Second Republic, duels, an enduring love affair, bad dogs and violent slave catchers, crime-ridden New Orleans street life, and even a stint as a passenger on a pirate ship.
About the Author:
John (Hanson Mitchell) has been working in the environmental field for most of his life, first as a naturalist and educator, and then as a writer for various environmental journals and magazines, and finally as an author.
For over 40 years he was the creator and editor of ‘Sanctuary’ , the award-winning journal of the Audubon Society of Massachusetts. In 1993, he was the winner of the John Burroughs Outstanding Natural History Essay Award for his ‘Sanctuary’ piece, Of Time and the River. His first book, Ceremonial Time: Fifteen Thousand Years on a Single Square Mile, was an ‘Editor’s Choice’ in the New York Times Book Review and set the stage for six more books, known as the ‘Scratch Flat’ series, which examine the interrelationship between human cultures and nature. In 2000, he was given the New England Booksellers Award for the body of his work.
Other books John has written deal with international travel, gardens, and the biography of Robert A Gilbert, a formerly unknown man John put on the map as the first African American landscape photographer. It was this book which led to John’s discovery of the man whose life became the source of Marcus Aurelius: the Slave Who Sold His Master.
Next spring, The Garden at the End of Time will be published. It will be the latest in John’s series of ‘Scratch Flat Chronicles’.
Learn more about John and his work at http://www.johnhansonmitchell.com/

Nature Journaling Workshop with AIR Artist Ann Marie Hershberger
2025-04-12 10:00 - 12:00 | Fivesparks Gallery, 7 Fairbank Street, Harvard, MA, 01451, United States
The workshop is full/registrations are closed. If you would like to attend this workshop at a later date, email us at admin@fivesparks.org. Thanks!
This workshop was originally scheduled as part of the annual Artists in Residence Program.
This is a wonderful opportunity to get hands-on creative with one of our AIR artists. Ann Marie will guide you through her method of nature journaling. This type of journaling has multiple benefits including appreciation for nature, improving/increasing observation/sketching skills, general enjoyment and reducing anxiety.
Delve into some basic sketching techniques and color application that can be applied to observations on your next hike, trip, or view from your own your backyard
Materials are FREE! A registration fee of $5 is required to hold your spot, as space is limited. This workshop is open to those 15yrs+.
Saturday, March 8, 10am-12pm.

This program is funded in part by a grant from the Harvard Cultural Council, a local agency which is supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency.

Taiwan Mahjong for Beginners
2025-04-12 13:00 - 15:00 | Fivesparks Loft, 7 Fairbank Street, Harvard, MA, 01451, United States
Fay Childers has been playing and teaching Mahjong for years. She enjoys helping new players understand the game and grow to love it as much as she does.
Join this 5-week session to learn the basics so you can continue play on your own.
Taiwan Mahjong is a strategic game, easy to learn and fun to play. It is a four-person table game so bring a friend and have fun together.
5 Saturdays April 5 – May 10 (no class on 4/19). 1:00-3:00pm.
$125.
To register for this session, or with questions, contact Fay at faychilders@gmail.com
This class is best for adults (18+).

Free ARTIST TALK: Manifesting Storytelling in Sculptural Vessels by AIR Ceramicist Elizabeth Noonan
2025-04-12 15:30 - 16:30 | Fivesparks Gallery, 7 Fairbank Street, Harvard, MA, 01451, United States
THIS EVENT WAS ORIGINALLY SCHEDULED IN FEBRUARY 2025 AS A PART OF THE ANNUAL ARTISTS IN RESIDENCE PROGRAM.
As part of Artists in Residence, join us in the Fivesparks Gallery to listen to ceramicist Liz Noonan discuss her passion for melding storytelling and ceramics.
She will discuss how she uses sculptural pots to relay a narrative. and share the process and inspiration for her work. Including how memory, childhood, interactions with nature, and society help her to both weave and explore often competing values and ideas.
She will also share her technical process as a ceramic artist using porcelain and custom glazes to achieve certain effects which she feels prompts uninhibited joy.
This is a FREE event! Saturday, April 12, 2025. 3:30-4:30pm
This program is funded in part by a grant from the Harvard Cultural Council, a local agency which is supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency.
