MFA offers our artist members the opportunity to exhibit at local restaurants around Annapolis. Currently, we work with Paul’s Homewood Café, a restaurant blending Chesapeake staples with traditional Mediterranean cuisine, and 49 West Coffeehouse, Winebar & Gallery, a place that brings art, music, and community together with great food and drink in an ambiance inspired by the traditional European coffeehouse. Please email info@mdfedart.org if you are interested in purchasing a piece of art.

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Laurie Kriss Hewitt and Irene V. Martinelli

Now exhibiting at Paul’s through January 2025

Laurie Kriss Hewitt

Artist Bio

She comes from a family of artists on her mother’s side, where, except for her grandfather, all were women. She won her first art contest in the second grade, marking the beginning of her artistic journey. Encouraged through high school, she faced a setback when her father refused to support her attending art school. “Go to secretarial college, so you can make a living,” he said. Politely declining, she later, with support from her new husband, spent a few formative years among kindred spirits at the Corcoran School of Art in Washington, DC, and the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence.

After a thirty-four-year career as a graphic artist with the U.S. Coast Guard and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, she now sees her future filled with the promise of learning. She is eager to try everything, to explore, push her boundaries, and see if she can still create. Her aspirations include learning oil painting, figure drawing, pastel painting—embracing all that is available to her.

Artist Statement

My work explores the subtle beauty of everyday scenes and objects, driven by a fascination with how light interacts with the world around us. I’m captivated by the way the sky reflects into shadows, creating a layered conversation between light and dark, depth and form. The way light bounces off objects—softly illuminating surfaces, revealing texture, casting unexpected colors—infuses these ordinary subjects with a quiet vitality. Through painting, I dive into these moments, studying and interpreting the life within the mundane. The process itself is a meditation, a joyful exploration of brushwork, color, and form that transforms the overlooked into something evocative and enduring. My art invites viewers to pause and notice these small wonders, finding beauty in the simplest reflections of light and life.

See her work and learn more here.

Irene V. Martinelli

Artist Bio

“Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life,” said Pablo Picasso.
And, so it is with Irene Martinelli. She has spent a lifetime seeking creative outlets, as a writer, a clay artist, and photographer. And, then one day, without warning, she was 70 years of age. Clearly, there was no time to waste as she threw herself into freeing her mind of the “dust of everyday life.”
With no previous art instruction, she took her first pastel class at Georgia O’Keeffe’s Ghost Ranch in New Mexico under the tutelage of Anna Koster, former assistant to Georgia O’Keefe. At that time she was living in Tucson, Arizona where she enrolled in art classes, testing diverse mediums and techniques. She quickly evolved into the person she had always aspired to be…unencumbered and free to paint the bright and bold colors of her soul.
Born in New York, Irene lived more than 40 years in Italy, ten in Curacao and three in London, traveling extensively with her Italian husband, Renzo. When he passed away in Lucca, Italy, she decided to return to her homeland, although leaving her heart in Italy. Undeterred she continued to live the life of a gypsy, flitting up, down and around the Continental US enjoying the diverse scenery assimilating its colors into her abstractions. Most recently settled in St. Michaels, Maryland where she continues to thrive and paint.
Irene is a member of the St. Michaels Art League (SMAL) as well as the Maryland Federation of Art (MFA) in Annapolis. Most recently the latter presented her with the People’s Choice Award for her Be Square submission, entitled Orange Ice.
She is most proud of having been juried into the National Juried Art Exhibition at The Cooperstown Art Association in 2021 where she was awarded The Canson Excellence in Arts Award for her pastel entitled Flea Market.

Artist Statement

COLOR. BOLD. BRIGHT.

These three words encapsulate how I have approached the collection I am presenting.

With this exhibition I have tried to be consistent in establishing a format for a large portion of the work displayed. The display is divided into two sections, incorporating both new and old work styles. In the ‘new’ section I’ve enlarged the size of my work and switched to wood from canvas and paper and am enjoying the process. I find it more satisfying and the end results pleasing me. The colors seem to stand out better. The new collection continues with my bold and bright colors primarily against white. I’ve combined straight lines with curves hoping to have them coexist together.

Nothing slapdash about my color choices. They need to work together like a puzzle yet simultaneously have the ability to stand alone, each hogging the spotlight. I blend many of the colors together starting with two colors and having those two colors evolve into a variety of even newer colors/shades.

The ‘old’ section of the exhibition continues with my use of bright and bold color but lends itself to a diverse style of abstraction and abstract impressionism. Here I also use wood but mostly canvas and paper and have had fun with portraits; all faces and styles purely from my imagination. They do not represent any one person.
Through abstractionism and the way I use color, I have found an inner peace and hope that the flow and glow will make new friends. Growing older, I become bolder! Carpe Diem.
Irene Martinelli

See her work and learn more here.

Their work is on display at Paul’s Homewood Café located at 919 West St, Annapolis, MD 21401. Open daily.