Awash in Color and Music
paintings by MAIRA ReinbergsABOUT THIS BOOK
For a few years now, I have felt the need to tell the story of my art. I was always conflicted between working on my book and painting, and always the painting won out - until now. I am a perfectionist as an artist, but quite disorganized with my paperwork. Therefore, it took me some time to find everything I felt I needed, some of it from a very distant time. I did the best I could, perhaps making some mistakes along the way.
At long last, here they are: my “musical“ paintings. Hopefully, this book is only the beginning, with other themes to follow. The next one will probably be about my “window“ series, then Latvian themes, stage sets, Greece, and others. In addition to my work on books, I will continue to paint.
I could not have done this without the help and support of:
- My husband Ritvars, who has supported my art career all of our married life, including photographing my paintings
- Krists Kārkliņš, a Latvian architect with projects in the US and in Latvia. He is also conversant with InDesign, and took his time to understand my style and create the template for this book.
- My daughter Annija, a professional editor - her review and suggestions were very helpful. My deepest thanks to all who have supported my art.
www.maira-art.com
Music is most important for my painting and my well-being. Sometimes it even moves me to dance. I need music to paint; it is as necessary for me as are light and color. I often think of my paintings as melodic passages, where my lines and color variations express movement, rhythm, continuity. I am especially fond of Baroque composers and religious music of that era. Often, when a particularly beautiful passage plays on my radio, I stop working - I sit down and just listen. The gentle sounds fill my soul…
My life has had its share of turmoil and pain. Perhaps to counterbalance this, I strive for my work to express beauty , harmony, tranquility…
Adagio #2 - 1981
fluid acrylic, resist on paper - 12 x 25 inches
private collection
I was born in Riga, Latvia. As a small girl I loved to dance (I still do), and I was constantly drawing. Summers I spent in the countryside – at my grandfather’s farm in Dunalka (my grandfather was a blacksmith There I was free to roam the green meadows, the fields of rye, the apple orchard, and the riverbank - the Durbe River was full of waterlilies. Maybe that is why I became an artist – being so much by myself, immersed in the beauty of nature.
During World War II, as the Soviet Army advanced into Latvia, our family had to flee. My parents, my sister, and I left our homeland and the people we loved. We found refuge in Germany, where we lived in eight different camps for displaced persons. In 1951 we emigrated to the United States and settled in Boston. I attended Mass. Art (now Massachusetts College of Art and Design.
My life with my husband Ritvars has taken me to many places. In California, while raising our daughter Annija, I sketched eucalyptus trees. In Middleboro, MA, I started my “window series” and eventually painted more than 60 works with this theme. In Lake Placid, NY, I was a finalist in the Olympic mural competition. Since 1980 I have lived in Attleboro, MA. I enjoy the light-filled studio that my husband built.
I was about five years old, when I drew this distressing scene of soldiers. So, even as a young child I was aware of, and affected by, World War II. My art teacher gave me a very high mark for this drawing.
(5+ in Latvia is the equivalent to A+.)
Many years ago I made a large painting of my grandfather’s farm from this tiny B&W photo that my father took. I wanted to show the freedom, happiness, and beauty of that time and place - my childhood summers.
It was my paradise.
Attleboro Arts Museum, Attleboro, MA “Possessions, Prized or Otherwise” - national exhibition - 2015
Mandala #7, My Grandfather - 2015
handprinted, printed muslin, acrylic, photo on panel - 23 x 30 inches collection of Jelgava History and Art Museum of G. Eliass, Jelgava, Latvia
Pawtucket Arts Collaborative, Pawtucket, RI
“Foundation Prize Exhibition” - Grand Prize winner - 2016
I loved my grandfather very much. But when we left Latvia in 1944, I was still a little girl and did not comprehend what was happening. Only when I was about 60 did it sink in, and I often cried about him. Creating this painting was very cathartic for me.
From 1971 to 1976 we lived in an old farmhouse in Middleboro, Mass., surrounded by meadows, woods, sheep, and beehives. My husband Ritvars worked as a construction manager, but he also enjoyed weekend farming. I grew giant sunflowers, raised our little daughter Annija, and created my first musical painting “Fish and Vivaldi.” The canvas was propped against my large studio window. I loved the process: the white, stretched linen; the hot liquid wax; the light shining through the drawing, made transparent by the wax.
In 1974, the painting was accepted to the “Six Baltic Artists” exhibit at Boston City Hall. To deliver the painting on time, we had to drive at night, but it did not fit inside our Volkswagen bus, so we tied it on the roof. Halfway there, the painting started to fly off, but Ritvars stuck his left arm out the window to hold it, while driving with his right. I also held the painting through the other window. We had to drive slowly, and it took us an hour to get to Boston in darkness, slush and cold... But - we made it! My white painting looked beautiful in the spacious gallery
Fish and Vivaldi - 1973
wax resist, procion dye on raw linen size - 83 x 45 inches
“Six Baltic Artists” - invitational exhibit Boston City Hall 1974
collection of Astra Grinbergs
Evening Song #2 - 1979
fluid acrylic, resist on paper - 14 x 20.5 inches
Center for Music Drama and Art - solo, 1980
Lake Placid, NY
Best of Show - North Country Women Artists Exhibit, 1980
St. Lawrence University, Canton, NY (R.F. Brush Gallery)
collection of Olgerts Kutcers +
Ludwig van Beethoven - 1957
oil on canvas, approx. 24 x 22 inches I painted this (in color) when I was a student at Mass. Art. I only had B&W film.
Summer Night Song - 1980
fluid acrylic on paper - 17.5 x 28 inches
Lake Placid Center for Music, Drama, and Art
Lake Placid, NY - solo, 1980
Award of Recognition 1981
World Society of Free Latvians
private collection
“If there is purpose to her work, it is to wash away with a stroke of her brush all that is ugly, cacophonic and strident, and all that would anger the soul. She succeeds admirably.”
DeForest Shelley
Lake Placid News
Adagio - 1979
fluid acrylic on paper - 9.5 x 11.5 inches
Lake Placid CMDA, Lake Placid, NY - solo 1980
collection of Rūta Straumanis +
Morning Largo – 1994
acrylic on canvas - 46 x 33.5 inches
Corporate Art Loan Program of the DeCordova Museum, Lincoln, MA 2001 - 12
“This and That“ - group show, 2016 Art Prov Gallery, Providence, RI collection JP Jones
A long time ago I enjoyed many styles of dancing. Here, as a Spanish dancer I am moved by the rhythmic sounds of castanets.
I love the sea, and Rockport in Massachusetts has long been my favorite place to connect with it. Here I am at the shore in my belly dance costume in 2008. In 2016, inspired by these summers by the sea, I created my painting “Fish and Vivaldi.“
Fish and Vivaldi #3 - Exhibition “Abstrakti raksti” - 2023 - one of my seven exhibited paintings among works of four invited artists, Global Center for Latvian Art, Cēsis, Latvia
-- collection of Global Center for Latvian Art (PLMC), Cēsis, Latvia
Baroque Passage #3 - 2015
handprinted and printed muslin, acrylic on panel - 12 x 18 inches
Pawtucket Foundation Prize Exhibit, Pawtucket, RI, 2015
“Color Passages“ - two person exhibit, 2016
Art Prov Gallery, Providence, RI collection of Iveta Grinbush
Ode to Autumn #4 - 2017
handprinted and printed muslin, acrylic on panel - 12 x 18 inches
Art Prov Gallery - “It’s The Little Things“ - Providence, RI, invitational group 2017
15th Blanche Ames National Art Exhibit, 2018
“Ancient Signs“ (“Abstrakti Raksti”), selected artists’ exhibit, PLMC, 2023 collection of Global Center for Latvian Art (PLMC), Cēsis, Latvia
I am “enraptured” by music while working on my next painting - “Baroque Passage #4”
Baroque Passage #4 - 2019
handprinted and printed muslin, acrylic on three joined panels - 44 x 16 inches
Honorable mention - “The Seeing of Sound“ Juried International Exhibition, 2019 - 2020 Vets Gallery, Providence, RI
“NECXI“ - juror Grace O’Malley, 2021 Galatea Fine Art, Boston, MA collection of Global Center for Latvian Art Cēsis, Latvia
