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Custom Framing Services in Bucks County, PA
Geigel Hill Road
by John Kane

HOURS
 - Tuesday thru Saturday : 10A to 5P -
- ALTERNATE HOURS BY APPOINTMENT -
- Closed Sunday & Monday -


1093 General Greene Road
Washington Crossing, PA  18977
Bucks County 215.493.3660
Email :
CanalFrame@Comcast.net

 


 

Bucks County Magazine - Framing Art & Memories - July 2020

Radius News Article - Feb., 2017

Click Here to Read the Article at NJ.COM on the Small Works Show.

Minnucci Family Exhibit

Bucks County Wine Trail 2016 Arts Festival

Canal-Frame Crafts 25th Anniversary



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Fine Arts: Must-see exhibit in Washington Crossing

It's not too unusual for the love of art and the ability to create it to pass from one generation to the next. To have it pass to the third generation does not happen as often—the Wyeth family notwithstanding. But the current exhibit at Canal Frame-Crafts Gallery in Washington Crossing, Pa. is showing works by our very own local triad—Betty Minnucci, the matriarch; Kim Minnucci, her daughter; and Christan Minnucci, her granddaughter.

Says gallery owner, Debbie Crow, "After hosting an interesting show last spring featuring artist couples, I developed the idea to do a different type of 'relative' show by featuring multi-generational artists."

According to Crow, all three women love the outdoors and nature, all have painted in watercolor and pastel but prefer to work in oils. Betty has a degree in education and has taught in Central Bucks County school districts.

Kim has a degree in art education and has been teaching art for ten years. Christan studied art history in college.

There are approximately twenty-five paintings in this exhibit—a good representation showing how, though closely related and influenced by one another, each artist is true to her own style.

Betty Minnucci tends to be the more traditional of the three. Her "Cantaloupe With Yellow Flowers" is a luscious still life, made even more so by the blue napkin that anchors the composition.

She chose to portray "Geraniums" showing the red blooms in a window box on an old gray building in a soft palette rather than going for a bombastic red for the blooms. Her "The Meadow" is also done in a palette capturing the peace of the scene. For "Mill Creek," however, she turned to a strong blue for the creek which is bordered in snow leading the eye in to the yellow and red structures in the distance.

She's a expert in painting snow scenes in that she works every color that is used in all other elements of the paintings into the light and shadows of the snow, thus unifying the entire image.

Christan Minnucci, Betty's granddaughter, does the same thing, but in a very different way. Her "Spring Creek" and "Path Through The Mountains" are both done in jewel tones of emerald, garnet, sapphire with bold shots of yellow laid on in rhythmic strokes of her palette knife.

Christan paints outdoors with her grandmother and, although she has studied still life and figure drawing, she leans toward this technique that she has been solely taught and honed by her grandmother, Betty.

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However, gallery owner Crow says though Christan's skills and her technique have been taught by her grandmother—and the fact that they enjoying painting plein air together, "Christan takes on a unique view point of her own in all her compositions."

She seems to be drawn to winding paths and streams as in her "River Bend Through The Mountains" and "Deep Into The Woods." Her work is bright. It is bold. Her strokes are rhythmic and they are alive with color and energy.

And Betty's daughter Kim's paintings are also alive with color which reflect her active lifestyle. Exhibition materials tell about her love of the outdoors. She's an avid kayaker, mountain biker, runner and ski patroller. Her paintings in this exhibit reflect her love of being on the water.

She has a portrait, "Bass," showing the glorious fish swimming in all its full glory of iridescent colors of blue, magenta and a bright yellow for its side and underbelly. And her watercolor, "Petrophish," seen swimming through orange waters is highlighted with delicate gold details.

Her sense of humor comes through in "Where Are you Going?" a lively painting of two colorful fish swimming in opposite directions. And her knowledge of color interaction is seen in "Shad" where a primarily blue fish with green subtleties swims in an orange sea.

Anchoring this exhibit are three paintings of sunflowers. The three artists decided to paint the same bouquet of yellow and orange-tone sunflowers. Matriarch Betty Minnucci portrayed hers in a traditional setting on a tabletop in a corner showing a blue background. Daughter Kim, using a light hand and adding graceful red outlines, chose to ignore that some were a deep orange yellow. Her sunflowers are all yellow. Granddaughter, Christan's sunflowers are strong and painted in bold thick strokes.

Aside from the fact that all three of these artists are accomplished in her own right, it's interesting to see the influences each has played on the others—not only from the grandmother down, but also in reverse. And to see how each artist has assimilated those influences and yet remained true to her own manner of expression.

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Many thanks to the Crossing Vineyards and Winery
for their assistance and hospitality.
Bucks County Wine Trail 2016 Arts Festival

April 16 & 17, 2016

Crossing Vineyards and Winery, in conjunction with Canal Frame-Crafts Gallery, will display paintings in its barrel room.

Artists Betty, Kim and Christian Minnucci (three generations of painters) will offer a live art demo during the weekend. The artists will paint the winery’s landscape and surroundings from various locations.

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It is the 25th Anniversary of Canal-Frame Crafts Gallery's existence.

Click here to read the article from Bucks County Magazine.




Click on the image to read the article from the
Bucks County Magazine



 

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