Paintings and Purses at Arts at Canal Place

Paintings and Purses at Arts at Canal Place

Judy McCaughey’s paintings and Mary Spalding’s purses will be on display at Arts at Canal Place (AaCP) from August 17 through September 19. A reception, open to the public, will be held in the AaCP gallery loft at the Shops at Canal Place on Saturday, August 22, from 6-8 p.m.

McCaughey, who lives with her husband in their home overlooking Deep Creek Lake, will display both monotype and watercolor paintings. The monotypes are made on a gelatin plate using techniques learned from Jean Barnes Downs, another AaCP artist, and also incorporate methods from a watercolor printing workshop led by Kathleen Kuchar.

McCaughey’s watercolors are the result of years of classes that began when she and her husband moved to Columbia, Maryland, from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in 1991. A retired kindergarten teacher, she wanted to write and illustrate storybooks for her grandchildren, leading her to enroll in her first drawing and painting class. The McCaugheys moved to Western Maryland in 2002, and Judy continues to take classes and workshops in art. After working with all of these new things individually and then blending them into what she already knew, over the years they finally became part of her arsenal of watercolor techniques. “One of my favorite things to do with watercolor is to wrap it around a flower or branch so the result is 3-D,” she says.
McCaughey is a signature artist member of the Baltimore Watercolor Society and of the Miniature Painters, Sculptors, and Gravers Society of D.C. Her paintings are also available at the Gallery in Oakland and Rocky Gap Lodge.

Handmade purses by Spalding will also be featured in the AaCP show. “I’m trying to finish my favorite purse now,” she says. “It is based on Van Gogh’s ‘Starry, Starry Night.’” The show will also include purses she designed in the spirit of artists Monet and Alexander Calder. Other types on display will include children’s, evening, and boho bags. Spalding uses ethnic fabrics from India, Japan and Bali, ethnic-inspired fabrics, and cottons, silks, and satins in whimsical to elegant prints. She enjoys playing with unusual fabric combinations and applying embellishments, such as hand embroidery, beads, and vintage jewelry. She has been selling her bags under her business name, “Woodlands Cottage.”

Spalding says she started making small handbags as a hobby several years ago, giving them as gifts to friends and relatives. “I needed an escape from brainwork,” she says. “I was teaching college English and working on my Ph.D. in English, so my usual favorite pastime—reading—did not hold a lot of appeal.” Designing and executing her bags, she found, did take more brainwork than she’d expected, especially math, but when she is sewing and embroidering she finds her thoughts taking off. “It’s a meditative activity,” she says.

A program of the Allegany Arts Council, AaCP cooperative gallery is open daily from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., with extended hours during the summer until 8 p.m. on Friday and Saturday nights. For more information, call 301-777-8199.





“Dewy Iris,” a watercolor painting by Judy McCaughey, and a hand-embroidered paisley purse by Mary Spalding will be part of AaCP’s upcoming show, “Paintings and Purses.”