This is a portrait of sorts of Lowell's Boat Shop in Amesbury, Massachusem, which is one of the oldest surviving boat shops in A m eri ca. I was taken with the sense of histo ry and the luminosity of the light within the shadows of the building. This room has an incredible feeling of timeless ness to m e. The clutter of tools on the benches presented an interes ting challenge, as did the reflected light on the wood chips on the floor of the room. T his is my second major painting of this shop. "The Boat Shop," 24 x 30 inches, oil on canvas, private collection.
veys natu re far berrer than even the greatest artists can do-but to interpret n ature in o ur own vision, to try to give a glimpse into another person's appreciation of the world , to see a color or a play of light or a subtle shape that they might otherwise miss-the warm orange stripe in the sky against a light cool gray, the reflections oflight bouncing o ff the water onto the hull of a bo at. These are thin gs most of us can see any d ay but too often ignore and so miss the mom ent. T he arrist captures that moment and in so do ing, he also conveys the significance that the m oment has for him. Putting the thousands of effects most peo ple never dwell on or even notice into a painter's language and omo the surface of
SEA HISTORY 93, SUMMER 2000
a canvas is what keeps me go ing. It is the intangibles within the brushstrokes of color that make it so excitin g. The fact that people respond to what I do and that my pi ctures hang in rooms around the world is a great gift. It makes me realize that som e of the excitem ent, enjoyment and appreciation I felt in creating my paintings is being fe lt by others as well. .t
Mr. Corso studied art in high school and college at Onondaga College and Syracuse University and apprenticed with the Austrian portrait painter Robert Hoffman. H e lives in Massachusetts in the surroundings he puts on canvas, and his worle can be seen in galleries nationwide.
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