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.

Now exhibiting at Paul’s through April, 2023:

Patrick Clagett and Kimmary I. MacLean

Patrick Clagett

Artist Bio

I am a retired vascular surgeon who became an artist late in life. I took some studio art courses in college at the suggestion of a friend who said that anyone with a modicum of ability would get an A grade. I needed some easy courses to offload the effort taking the notorious Organic Chemistry course that many felt was designed to weed out the weaker premed students. I loved my studio art courses and spent more time in the studio than I did studying “orgo.” Yes, I got an A in my art courses (B in orgo).

During my subsequent training and career over the next 40 years, art was completely forgotten. However, I started schematically illustrating and diagramming vascular operations as an operative record. Non-surgeons, nurses and patients liked my chart “artwork” because it summed up in pictorial form a complicated vascular procedure that would take many boring words to describe. Rather than slogging through a complicated and highly technical operative note, it was much easier to understand the operation by looking at one of my drawings.

Little did I know that these drawings were excellent training for basic drawing skills. Realistic portrayal of blood vessels, pathology, organs, complicated bypasses, and vascular reconstructions in a limited space (single page), in a limited time frame (15-20 minutes) with limited resources (ball point pen) was superb training for an artist.

I have had the good fortune to live near Alexandra, VA, home of the Alexandria Art League. The Art League School has a host of terrific artists who teach over 100 courses and workshops year-round. I have taken a variety of courses in pastel, life drawing, portrait painting, and watercolor and have benefited from great instructors, many of whom have national and international reputations. I find that the greatest enjoyment from taking these courses is the friendship developed with my fellow students. There is wonderful fellowship in this environment – the critiques are also instructive and lead to improvement.

I currently work in mixed media (charcoal, pen and ink, pastel, and watercolor) and have been juried into shows in Virginia (Alexandria Art League Gallery), Maryland (Maryland Federation of Art, Annapolis, and the Pastel Society of Maryland), and Northern Michigan (Oliver Art Center, Frankfort). I have received several awards and even sold some pieces. It’s great to have a second career in art!

Artist Statement

In driving back and forth between Northern Michigan and Maryland, and in navigating the backroads and highways of rural Michigan, I have been intrigued by the scenic landscape. Not only have I been captivated but the countryside, but I have found that the roads and highways have a beauty all their own. This is particularly apparent in inclement weather (fog, mist, rain, and even snow). I love the reflection of head and tail-lights on the wet roadway. In developing this theme, I have had the great fortune to be the passenger while my wife drives. When the mood is right, I simply snap photos of the scenic roadways with my cell phone. I edit them and select the most promising for paintings. I use mostly pastel but also watercolor (mixed media).

Kimmary I. MacLean

Artist Bio

Kimmary I. MacLean has an extensive artistic background and history.

Artist, dancer, teacher, and founder of The Creative and Performing Arts of South County.

Kimmary simultaneously received two bachelor’s degrees from University of Maryland, College Park. Her degrees are in Art Studio and Accounting, although she began her college career in music. She also holds her Maestro Enrico Cecchetti Advanced ballet teaching certificate. Kimmary has taught ballet at National Ballet Institute for the Arts (NBIA) since 1996, presenting numerous students and teachers for examinations with the Cecchetti Council of America. Along with teaching ballet she has also taught art (specifically drawing and painting) at NBIA, Shady Side Elementary School, Bowie Community Center and several other locations. In addition to being a teacher, Kimmary is an artist, dancer, and author. Kimmary’s drawings, paintings, photography, and digital works have shown at local exhibits in Maryland, including charitable events such as the Art & Soul Auction for The Center for Children and Families in Silver Spring, with The Arts Council of Anne Arundel County (at What’s Up? Media, BWI Airport, and Anne Arundel Medical Center), at Bowie City Hall with the Bowie Arts Committee, at Annmarie Gardens, the House of Delegates, Artist’s Gallery, Maryland Cultural and Conference Center. Her work is also sold online through various sites. She has and continues to perform with the National Ballet Company in character roles such as the Baker in the Nutcracker and Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle in The Tales of Beatrix Potter, to name a couple. Kimmary has self-published three books, two for children and one a book of poems and artwork. All are available through Amazon. Kimmary continues to teach at National Ballet Institute for the Arts, Bowie Community Center, Outschool, and The Creative and Performing Arts of South County, while performing and exhibiting her art.

Artist Statement

This body of work is representative of my love of nature. I feel a deep emotional connection to art and nature and the representation of nature in my artwork is a display of my love for our planet through its life, colors, shapes, textures, contrasts, and more. Always loving to experiment with media, perspective, and design, this body of work is a combination of photography, digital images from my photography, and acrylic paintings. They are displayed on canvas, metal, acrylic. Some are framed and some are unframed, with the artwork continuing around the edges, just as our oceans wrap around the Earth.

The photographs in this collection are all local to Maryland. Beauty is everywhere around us and it is important to take a moment and see what is in front of us. Some of these photos were just a moment as I walked to the mailbox, others were intentional outings in search of a particular bird or plant. All of them are an appreciation of life and what the world has to offer us.

The paintings in this collection are full of my feelings and emotions. Many are based on my own photographs. Each stroke, every color, as I painted them I loved them.

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