Western Avenue Studios & Lofts

04/03/2026

Today we’re stepping into the studio of Michele Boll, Studio #467 in our spotlight. Michele Boll Art

Michele's work is about those moments when light reveals what is beautiful about ordinary places and things. She is generally attracted to run-down buildings, simple objects, alleys glimpsed in passing, or the way light caresses moldings on an old house. Her goal is to capture the feeling of a place and moment in time and communicate that through my work. Her final composition is never a rendering of an exact scene but rather a reflection of my connection to it. She’ll often remove or add objects to a composition in order to balance and complete the story she wants to tell. Somehow, in the spaces between light and shadow, she sees reflections of the people who inhabit or built the structures: a hint of the human condition. The presence of the individual is always there –even when absent.

Michele's work has been exhibited at the National Association of Women Artists (NAWA) Gallery in New York City, the DeCordova Museum (City Views, Landscape Seen and Imagined), the Whistler House Museum in which she was Artist of the Month, the Danforth Museum, the Rose Art Museum, and is in many private and corporate collections. She am a past recipient of an Artist’s Fellowship from the Massachusetts Council on the Arts and Humanities, now the Massachusetts Cultural Council. In 2017, she was inducted into the National Association of Women Artists.

04/02/2026

Take a moment to meet today’s Gary Destramp

Gary is an illustrator whose work blends pen and ink, watercolor, and mixed media into a distinctive visual language rooted in mid-century design. His compositions are bold, graphic, and often infused with a sense of nostalgia, drawing on the clean lines, playful typography, and structured forms of mid-century illustration while maintaining a contemporary edge. Much of Gary’s work is inspired by Lowell itself, its neighborhoods, storefronts, landmarks, and layered history, reimagined through a stylized lens that celebrates both memory and place. Whether mapping out local neighborhoods, capturing iconic local signage, or rendering familiar streetscapes, his illustrations reflect a deep connection to the city and a desire to document its character with both precision and personality.

Check him out!

04/02/2026

04/02/2026

04/02/2026

04/02/2026

Since Mid-March, has been presenting "She Still Loves You Nonetheless" by Cloudy Rosas and "The Space We Make" from a collaboration of creatives on the 4th and 1st floor mini galleries, respectively. Vulnerability paired with spatial justice—who would've thought these two ideas, at first glance entirely separate, could be somehow connected?

See the Western Avenue Studios website for the original posters and more information.

04/02/2026

Spring is here and so is our first Spring Open Studios! Please join me this Sat. April 4th. in Studio 461 at Western Avenue Studios & Lofts in Lowell, MA from noon-5. My new Shadowbox, TRINITY, will be up on the wall and a new painting will be underway!

04/01/2026

One artist, one story. Meet today’s feature Monique Cerundoio.

An artist, a poet, and a recently retired hospital Chaplain, Monique joined WAS in 2023 and since has been an active and joyful participant in many of the community events. Passionate about nature, her work aims to celebrate its beauty, complexity and vibrancy, as well as to express and instill emotion. For forty years she explored fabric art in the form of intricate pictorial quilts, which depicted nature in all its "moods." More recently, she has applied her knowledge of color and texture into fluid acrylics and mixed media. Here, she generally combines several fluid techniques to achieve a harmonious and expressive piece, generally, of an abstracted nature interpretation. She enjoys the natural movement of fluid acrylics and has pushed this medium to create landscapes, ocean views, florals, and geodes. Her most recent work explores luminosity as well, with the addition of glass and metallic foils.

Her work is on display in her studio 293 on the second floor at Western Avenue Arts, in Lowell. Each themed wall walks the guests through a journey of poetry, paintings and pictorial quilts.

Monique’s art has been exhibited in the Loading Dock Gallery, in Cape Cod, and in the coming weeks a few of her pieces will be at the Gallery Twist in Lexington, MA (April 10 to May 10). Previously, her fabric art travelled through New England and beyond as a special solo exhibit on Grief: “Seasons of Grief and Hope” which combined her poetry and her quilts. Her studio is always open when she works during the week and she welcomes visitors to share in her love of art and nature’s wonders. Come on in!

Check her out on instagram:

03/31/2026

Today we’re stepping into the studio of Bruce Wood!

As an artist Bruce is interested in imagery. He enjoys creating works that draw the viewers in and invoke a story. Not the story of the artist, but the envisioned story of the viewer.
Whether it be Digital Graphics or 3D sculptures, Bruce uses common images and found objects to create imaginary worlds and whimsical creatures to engage the viewer.
“Art is all around us just waiting to envisioned .”

Artist Statement
“I enjoy the convergence of similar and unrelated images into a juxtaposed end product. I try to evoke multiple thoughts and emotions in the viewer as the nuances in the work are discovered.”
I believe the creative process happens when whatever you are working on begins directing you toward your next step and when the evolution of the process is guided by the artwork itself.

Check him out at The Glass Ingot

03/30/2026

Take a closer look at today's Alisa Sickora!

Driven to celebrate enchantment in all its forms, Alisa creates folkloric work inspired by magic, cryptids, and the uncanny. Her wearable art pieces transform the mundane into the liminal through unexpected encounters in common places. She specializes in interactive myth making, building micro worlds where thresholds are begging to be crossed, where curiosity is rewarded with discovery. At its core, Alisa's work is about stories told, tales forgotten, and truths remembered.
Alisa is currently developing Whitherwick Junction, a collection of folklorically inspired stand-alone mini-experiences that can flex into a scalable myth building event.
Whitherwick Junction: Where heritage and legacy are at a crossroads.

To learn more, follow her doings on Instagram at:


Loft 201 during Open Studios

03/28/2026

Dance in the Desert Series
Art Images by Garry D Harley – Artist / Lofts Studio #101

Harley has created this artwork to present a striking composition of linear forms and vibrant colors against a black background. On the left side of the piece, he has used green lines emanate with controlled precision, creating a sense of movement reminiscent of wind-blown foliage or fluid, organic forms. These lines extend horizontally, creating a rhythmic pattern that draws the eye across the canvas.

On the right side, the lines transition into a more dynamic and flowing shape, shifting from green to gradients of pink, gray, and white. These lines curve gracefully, forming a wave-like structure that suggests motion and transformation. The variation in color and the gradual transitions between shades add depth and complexity to this section of the artwork.

Setting the overall composition is a horizontal pink line near the bottom, which adds a grounding element to the otherwise ethereal and floating forms. This subtly contrasts with the darker background, emphasizing the vividness of the linear shapes.

Harley feels this piece has successfully utilized line and color to create a harmonious balance between movement and stillness. The left side holds a more static, repetitive pattern while the right side introduces an element of dynamic, fluid motion. This contrast provides a captivating visual journey for the viewer.

Art is a deeply personal and subjective experience; Harley have also heard from many viewers that this piece successfully evokes a sense of fluidity and transformation that is both captivating and thought-provoking but also meets his objective of always presenting his work leaving the viewer a sense of elegance.