“New Work”, Watercolor Paintings by Ken MacLean

In New Work, his art exhibition at The Cornwall Library from July 20 to August 22, Ken MacLean celebrates his transition from architect to artist with a display of impressive abstract watercolor paintings. Visitors will be interested to know that MacLean also designed the striking library building where the exhibition takes place. And, from early childhood in 1940 until his retirement as an architect, he spent summers in the house that his family owned across Pine Street from the current library.

As you might expect, MacLean’s paintings evoke the sensibility of an architect, with geometric forms suggesting the dynamic, expressive qualities of structures in large and small communities. He paints “only what is in my memory,” rather than representationalism. He is affected by ideas of the early 20th-century constructivist movement: abstract and somewhat austere art, aiming to reflect modern society and urban space. As in constructivism and the work of Josef Albers and Norman Ives, both of whom he admires, his strong color scheme is simple.

The Cornwall Library (completed 2002) is apparently not affected by constructivism. MacLean’s big white building has the look of a barn, a functional space with a distinct Cornwall character. Along with rooms for children, stacks, and meetings, it includes two large walls with track lighting specifically designed for art shows, which of course is where MacLean’s watercolors will hang in his exhibition.

MacLean is a founding principal of the Mashek MacLean architecture firm of Boston and Martha’s Vineyard, with institutional and residential clients throughout New England. He received his Master of Architecture degree from the Yale School of Art and Architecture. Although he studied watercolor and life drawing at Hotchkiss and Yale, his driving interest in fine art developed recently. He currently resides in Oak Bluffs, Massachusetts.