'Portraits of Home' Opens Jan. 11 in North Conway
Six New England Artists Explore the Meaning of Home
NORTH CONWAY, N.H. - What does home mean to you? Is it a place you remember, a feeling you carry, or
a landscape that shaped who you've become?
"Portraits of Home," a mixed-media art exhibition featuring six New England artists, opens Sunday, Jan. 11,
2026, from 1-4 p.m. at Hurricane Mountain Design Group, North Conway, N.H. Light refreshments will be
served. The show will be open by appointment and on select dates through February 2026.
This artist-run grassroots initiative operates independent of gallery involvement. While all six participating
artists are established and gallery-represented in their own right, for "Portraits of Home" they have come
together to ask the community for support in helping fund this museum-worthy exhibition.
The Artists and Their Work
This work weaves together the creative voices of six artists, each offering their unique perspective on the places
and spaces that ground us.
Gay Freeborn, an oil painter from Western Maine, depicts life on her farm with animals and the woodlands
surrounding the property. Nancy Freeborn, a studio potter from Coastal Maine, creates functional ware
incorporating sgraffito, inlay, wheel-thrown and hand-building techniques, drawing inspiration from the colors,
textures and shapes of the coastal landscape. Kelly Blake, a photographer from Western Maine, focuses on
horsemanship and farm life spanning six generations. Anne McMillan, a book artist from the Lakes region of
N.H., incorporates natural materials such as birch bark, wood and horse hair into books that become time
capsules of memory and experiences. Cheryl Kimball, an essayist from Southern Maine, explores themes of
place, belonging and the emotional landscapes of home. Jan V. Roy, an oil painter from Coastal Massachusetts,
works almost exclusively in oil, creating paintings informed by her background as a silkscreen artist and poster
designer, with color as the most important ingredient that leads her painting forward.
From literal depictions of New England's beloved domestic spaces - weathered barns, kitchen tables, the quiet
companionship of farm animals - to abstract expressions of memory and longing, these works celebrate home
not just as a physical location, but as an emotional landscape we all navigate.
Whether home is remembered, imagined, inherited or newly built, this show traces the intimate paths we take in
search of grounding. Each artist explores where they feel comfort, support and connection - but also
acknowledges that home isn't always peaceful or simple. It can hold both warmth and complexity, belonging
and displacement, memory and longing.
Community Support Makes It Possible
The exhibition has been made possible through the generous sponsorship of Hurricane Mountain Design Group,
Stone Mountain Arts Center, Kimberly Clarke of Keller Williams Coastal and Lakes & Mountains Realty, Burnt
Meadow Property Maintenance, Telling Tails, Fairgrounds Coffee, Crest Auto Body of North Conway, N.H.,
and David Cianciolo of Badger look Peabody & Smith Realty.
In reaching out to the community for support, these artists discovered something profound: the very businesses
and neighbors who form the fabric of this region were eager to invest in local creativity. The enthusiastic
response from sponsors demonstrates a shared recognition that fine art enriches community life and deserves
support. These local businesses aren't just funding an event - they're affirming that artists belong here, that
their work matters and that creative voices strengthen the entire community.
The full-circle realization of this exhibition is striking. Six artists exploring deeply personal interpretations of
what home means - where they've come from, what grounds them, what comforts or challenges them - have
found that answer reflected back through community embrace. In asking for support, they received an
overwhelming affirmation: this is home. These artists are proud to call this community home, and this opening
reception honors that mutual recognition.
In times when our world can feel divided, the concept of home remains something we all share - though our
experiences of it may differ greatly. Everyone is welcome here, whatever your background, whatever your story.
Exhibition Details
The opening reception is free and open to the public. Following the reception, the gallery will be open by
appointment and on select dates:
January 2026: Jan. 17, 18, 19, 24, 31 (11 a.m.-4 p.m.)
February 2026: Feb. 7, 14, 15, 16, 21 (11 a.m.-4 p.m.)
For more information or to schedule a viewing appointment, contact Gay Freeborn at [email protected].
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