Russell Aharonian Resume

Colorful, Organic, Humorous, Surlyrical “Love what you do, do what you love.
Become one, have fun. I am myself and everyone else.
As a creative person, I draw my inspiration from myself, others, nature and the sun."

His experience continues to find expression in his paintings,
as he lives towards being "an overnight success at 100."

5 Junkins Avenue, Apt. 203
Portsmouth, NH 03801
Cell: (207) 752-3862
E-mail: russaha75@comcast.net
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“I grow my art rather than make it,” says 80-year-old Russell Aharonian, “Even as a child, growing up in North Andover, I would dig up clay by the river and form figures, paint the walls of the barn crazy colors using rollers.” He has contributed to the vitality of New Hampshire’s seacoast art world since moving to Portsmouth in 1970. His expressive abstractions evoke the bright marginalia of illuminated manuscripts from his Armenian heritage more than the pilgrim-colored seascapes of many New England painters. Nonetheless, his vibrant, kinetic canvases evoke an oceanic feeling of limitlessness.

His textured paintings and multimedia compositions are unmistakable: a musical Eden of richly colored symbols, shapes, and fantastic creatures carrying on. The wordplay of his titles amplify the visual caprice, “St. Valentine’s Day Manicure”, “Tipple’s Nip,” “Bumblebeeing Beyond”, “Who Do Dancer”, “Quizzical Physical”, “If You Don't Have Any Troubles, Buy a Goat.” Gallery patrons, first stopped in their tracks, asking “What is going on here?” are then beguiled into emotional narratives that lead anywhere their imagination will allow them to go. “You see what you want to see,” Aharonian says, inviting viewers to join a dialogue. “You bring the beauty and value to the art, ideally becoming one with the images, as you spend time with the artwork. I am often surprised by what I create, and I want the viewer to have a similar experience of astonishment, to feel some balance of contrast, rhythm and the verity inherent in the beauty of living and being alive.”

Influenced by Miro, Gorky, Kandinsky, Hieronymus Bosch, erotic art, indigenous cave drawing and automatic writing, Aharonian was freed to explore abstraction by an art professor who said, “create your own world.” Decades later, he says, “I used to always start from something from the outside, from art history, or a model, images for a collage, or Asian art, but now it all comes from inside, from here,” he says, tapping his heart. “Any art where it seems they put all their love into it,” he says, “I don’t think it matters if its realistic or surreal, it’s when you put all that love into it, that’s what makes real art. When I see something I wish I had done, that’s when I know it’s good.”
Aharonian has sustained relationships with a community of local artists over decades. He has been a member of various associations including Boston Visual Artists Union, New Hampshire Art Association, Maine Visual Artists Union, and Ogunquit Art Association-Barn Gallery. While producing within a specific geography, his home base has now expanded through his use of Facebook. “I connect with artists all over the world, people whose work I like, exchanging ideas, imagery and influence. I feel I am connecting with the universal consciousness of people creating art.”

“When I’m working, I get lost in inner and outer space. This could be five minutes to five hours,” says Aharonian, who increasingly asserts, “There is no time.” His work plumbs the subconscious, the impossible but coherent universe of dreams over the course of a lifetime, as he works from “random to deliberate. “

“Variety, contrast and intuition are what make life interesting, and it's the same in art. I usually pick from all the materials around me. I keep lots of choices so I can just go with my own flow,” he says. “I just play with the material, keep making marks, until I start seeing things in the process, and the design begins to fall into place. That's when I slow down, or go back later and make the decision whether it’s done or not. Sometimes I’ll keep going, do five or six paintings on the same painting when I don't know when to stop. When it works, each pass back brings in more richness, more texture, I see new shapes and possibilities. When it is challenging, the pauses, stops and starts take the work into a new dimension, a new direction. You have to follow the signs that the painting gives you.”

Never far from the sea, Aharonian immersed himself in European art while in the Navy, as an airman on the SS Saratoga on tour in the Mediterranean during the Lebanon crisis. Attending the Boston Institute of Art on the GI Bill, Aharonian then moved to Portsmouth, NH where he worke'd on the docks, and in construction throughout the region, starting one of the first employee wellness programs in the construction industry in the Seacoast in the 1980s.

“I draw from all experience in my life,” Aharonian says, “I want to be an overnight success when I’m 100.” Working from one of the first studios to open in the Button factory up to his present home in Portsmouth, Aharonian has for five decades consistently created and exhibited work in venues including the Boston Institute of Art, Boston Symphony Hall, MIT, Henry Hicks Gallery, New York City, Clark University, Plymouth State and Merrimack Colleges. His work is widely collected locally and internationally, winning solo shows, awards and distinction including in the Abstract Invitational, Bowdoin College; Providence Art Club, Providence, RI;
Joan L. Dunfey Memorial Competitions; the FRIEL award for Originality at Currier Museum of Art, Manchester, NH and Maine Commission on the Arts, "Crossing the Borders"; State House, Augusta Me.

For more information, see www.russaha-art.com

Art Education

Aharonian has devoted his adult life to not only the persuit of artistic expression but also to learning. Among his art education experiences: he earned a B.A. at the Art Institute of Boston; in 1966 he attended drawing classes at the Adult Education Center, Boston, MA; in 1967 he enrolled in the Art Institute of Boston, MA; in 1969 he taught Art, in the Merry Road School, Newton, MA; in 1970 he graduated with a B.A. in Fine Arts, Art Institute of Boston. From 1988 to the present he studied gouache with Jane Dwyer; Master Classes in Watercolor with DeWitt Hardy, in Water Mediums with Edward Betts, Monotype with Susan Amons, Papermaking with Quint-Rose, all at Barn Gallery, Ogunquit, ME; Mixed Medium with John Knapp at Robert Lincoln Levy Gallery, Portsmouth, NH; and Art New England Summer Painting Workshop with Stuart Diamond at Bennington College, Vermont.

Aharonian has also studied yoga, martial arts, life sciences and therapy intensively throughout his life. His health-related work and study can be reviewed by contacting him personally.

Juried Exhibition

The Barn Gallery, 2023
The Barn Gallery, 2022
The Barn Gallery, 2021
The Barn Gallery, Innactive, 2020
The Barn Gallery, All Shows, 2019
Maine Visual Artists Union, Portland, ME, 2019
The Barn Gallery, All Shows, 2018
The Barn Gallery, Auction, July 2018
The Barn Gallery, Open Juried Show, May 2018
Discover Portsmouth Center, What Artists Look Like 2016, November-December 2016
New Hampshire Art Association, Resigned Membership, June 2015
New Hampshire Art Association 75 Years! A Gala Celebration, June 2015
New Hampshire Art Association Investigation of the Self, April 2015
The Barn Gallery, Expressions, May 2015
Joan L. Dunfey Memorial Competition, Robert Lincoln Levy Gallery, Portsmouth, NH, October 2013
Ogunquit Museum of American Art, Ogunquit, ME; September 2012
100 Market Street, Portsmouth, NH; October 2011-January 2012
Joan L. Dunfey Memorial Competition, Robert Lincoln Levy Gallery, Portsmouth, NH, October 2009
New Hampshire Art Association 29th Annual Open Dr. Jack & Dee Parfitt Memorial Competition, May 28-June 29
Awarded 1st Place, Joan L. Dunfey Memorial Competition, Robert Lincoln Levy Gallery, Portsmouth, NH, October 2007
Barn Gallery, Ogunquit Art Collaborative Annual Juried Show and Seasonal Shows 2007
Prescott Park Arts Festival 2007 Art Show, Grace Casey Award
York Art Association 50th Anniversary Retrospect 2006, by invitation, York, ME., through Aug. 14, 2006
New Hampshire Art Association 58th Annual Art Exhibit at the Currier Museum of Art, Manchester, NH, 2006 ( juried by gallery owner Mary Harding)-- received FRIEL award for Originality
Robert Lincoln Levy Gallery, Portsmouth, NH, 2005
The Barn Gallery, Ogunquit ME, 2005 Maine Abstract Art, Danforth Gallery, Portland, ME, 2005
New Hampshire Art Association Gallery, "Lassonde" exhibit, Portsmouth, NH, 2005, 2004
The Barn Gallery, Ogunquit ME, 2005 1st Annual PARFITT Memorial Juried Photography Exhibit, 2004 Prescott Park Arts Festival, Honorable Mention, June 2004 Voice and Vision, Portsmouth Poet Laureate Program, 2004
La vic Boheme Gallery, Dover, NH. 2004
The Family Tree, Portsmouth, NH 2004
Robert Levy Gallery."The Creative Hands 3": Best in Show (Juror, Charles Beckley, former director of the Currier Gallery of Art), Manchester, NH, 2004
League of NH Craftsman "The Creative Hands 3" Gallery 205, Concord. NH, 2004
Maine Commission on the Arts, "Crossing the Borders"; State House, Augusta Me 2003
Gallery Salon Patrics 2003
Marjan Frank Gallery, Kittery Point, ME, 1996
Maine Coast Art Gallery, 1994, 1992, 1989, 1988
Providence Art Club, Providence, RI, 1993
Concord Art Association, Juried Exhibit, Concord, MA, 1993
New Hampshire Art Association 45th Annual Juried at Currier Gallery of Art, Manchester, NH, 1990
Maine Coast Artists "The Juried Show: By Invitation" Rockport, ME to Concord, MA, 1992
Barn Gallery, Ogunquit, ME, 1992, 1989, 1988
"Lassonde", Robert Lincoln Levy Gallery, Portsmouth, NH, 1991
Ogunquit Art Association Barn Gallery: Juried Exhibit, Ogunquit, ME; 1989,
1988 Maine Coast Arts Juried Exhibit, 10th Anniversary; 1988
Clark University, Worcester, MA, 1984
Walt Kuhn Gallery, Cape Neddick, ME, 1984
Abstract Invitational, Bowdoin College, Maine, 1978, 1977
Helen Shlien Gallery, Boston, MA, 1978 Manchester Institute of Arts, 1975
Boston Visual Arts Gallery, 1974

Solo Exhibitions

Plymouth State University, Karl Drerup Art Gallery; Russ Aharonian, Painter, April 4-22, 2013
Doo Salon, Kittery, ME, June 2010
Dos Amigos, Portsmouth, NH, June 2010
The Art Exchange, Portsmouth, NH, Summer 2010
Robert Lincoln Levy Gallery, East Gallery, Portsmouth, NH, June 2009

Barn Gallery, Ogunquit Art Collaborative, East Gallery, June 2008
Dover Yoga Gallery, 2000
Harborside Athletic Club, Portsmouth, NH, 2000-2001
"EROS" Merrimack College, McQuade Library Art Gallery, North Andover, MA, 1996
Mira's Gallery, Portsmouth, NH, 1995
Jane Eastman, Inc., York, ME, 1995
Firehouse Gallery, Newburyport, MA, 1994
Jonathan's Restaurant Gallery, Portsmouth, NH, 1991
Portsmouth Music Hall, 1986
Common Crossing, Portsmouth, NH, 1976
Art Institute of Boston, 1973
Point Gallery, Kittery Point, Maine, 1973
Theatre by the Sea Gallery, Portsmouth, NH, 1971
Art Institute of Boston, Boston, MA, 1970

Group Exhibitions

Morgan Gallery, Kittery, Maine, Side by Side Art Exhibit: Russ Aharonian| Merrill Black Aharonian, September-December 2023
The Barn Gallery, 2023
The Barn Gallery, 2021-2022
Loomis Gallery, Kittery, Maine, Winter 2020-2021
Ceres Street Bakery, Two person show with Merrill Aharonian, 2018
Union of Maine Visual Artists, May 2017
Plymouth State University, Karl Drerup Art Gallery; Group Exhibit, October 2018
Maine Coast Art Group Exhibit, 2018
Ogunquit Art Assocation, OAA Art Auction, July 2018
Ogunquit Art Assocation, OAA Art Auction, July 2016
Ogunquit Art Assocation, OAA Art Auction, July 2016
Ogunquit Art Assocation, OAA Art Auction, July 2015
Seacoast Repertory Theater, 2014
Buoy Gallery, 2013
Barn Gallery, Ogunquit, ME, 2013
New Hampshire Art Association Show, 2013
100 Market Street, Portsmouth, NH; October 2011-January 2012
Ogunquit Museum of American Art, Ogunquit, ME, Summer 2011
Ogunquit Museum of American Art, Almost Labor Day Auction, Ogunquit, ME, Summer 2010
Barn Gallery, Ogunquit, ME, Summer 2011
Barn Gallery, Ogunquit, ME, Summer 2010
Portsmouth Art Exchange, 2009
New Hampshire Art Association Show, Seasonal Shows 2009
Three Graces Gallery, Portsmouth, NH, The Teeny Tiny Art Show, 2007
Barn Gallery, Ogunquit, ME, Seasonal Shows, 2007
New Hampshire Art Association Show, Seasonal Shows 2007
Barn Gallery, Ogunquit, ME, Expressions, 2006
Gallery Artship, So. Harwich, MA, 2000 - 2005
Gallery Tactora, Kittery, ME, Group Exhibit of 40 Artists, 2004
Ogunquit Arts Collaborative, Ogunquit, ME, Eros, September 2002
Constellation Gallery, Portsmouth, NH, 2002
Maureen Reardon Gallery, Portsmouth, NH, 2002
Davidson & Daepty Gallery, Portland, ME, December, 1998
N. Barrett Gallery, Portsmouth, NH, November 1998
Ogunquit Arts Collaborative, Ogunquit, ME, 1987-1998
Ogunquit Playhouse, Ogunquit, ME, 1997-1998
Ogunquit Arts Colaborative, Ogunquit, ME, 2 Person Exhibit, June-July 1997
Mast Cove Gallery, Kennebunk, ME, 1995
Danforth Gallery, Portland, ME, 1995, 1994
Ogunquit Art Center, Ogunquit, ME, 1995, 1994
Robert Lincoln Levy Gallery, Portsmouth, NH, 1994, 1992
Cape Neddick Inn Gallery, Cape Neddick, ME, 1995, 1994
Hollander Gallery, York Harbor, ME, 1994
Point Gallery, York Harbor, ME, 1994
SACA (Seacoast Artist Cultural Alliance), Divine Dungeon “SACA Street Gallery”, 1993
Ogunquit Art Association Exhibits: “Inaugural Exhibit”, “Midsummer Exhibit”, “Fall Exhibit” OAA Gallery, Ogunquit, Maine; Blue Stocking Studio, “Miniature Show” York Beach, Maine; “Show at the Brick Store Museum” Kennebunk, Maine;1993
New Hampshire Art Association Exhibits: “Abstract Exhibit”, “Figure Exhibit”, Robert Lincoln Levy Gallery, Portsmouth, NH, 1993
Nashua Center of the Arts, Nashua, NH, 1992
Ogunquit Art Association Exhibits: “Traditions Honored” at the Barn Gallery; “Marginal Way Summer Show” at Jonathan’s Restaurant; Miniature Art at the Blue Stocking Studio, York Beach, ME; Brick Stone Museum “Two Show Two”, Ogunquit, ME ; 1992
New Hampshire Art Association Exhibits: “Artist Directions”, Robert Lincoln Levy Gallery, Portsmouth, NH ; “Mail In Art Exhibit”, Robert Lincoln Levy Gallery, Portsmouth, NH; “Fall Collection” at Nashua Center of the Arts, Nashua, NH; “Sacred” Robert Lincoln Levy Gallery, Portsmouth, NH; 1992
New Hampshire Art Association Exhibits: “Five In Focus” Raffle Exhibit, Robert Lincoln Levy Gallery, Portsmouth, NH; “Large Scale”, Robert Lincoln Levy Gallery, Portsmouth, NH; 50th Anniversary Exhibit, Robert Lincoln Levy Gallery, Portsmouth, NH ; 1991
Ogunquit Art Association Exhibits: “Capriccio” Ogunquit Play House, Ogunquit, ME ; “Segment Three” Barn Gallery, Ogunquit, ME; “Spring Exhibit”, Brick Stone Museum, Kennebunk, ME; “Midsummer Exhibit”, Ogunquit Art Center; 1991
Barn Gallery, “Four In Hand” O.A.A., N.A.A, , Ogunquit, ME, 1991
Union of Maine Artists, S.A.C.A. , 1991
Cry of Loon Gallery, Casco, ME, 1990
Ogunquit Art Association Exhibits: Ogunquit Art Center, New England Exhibit, Durham, NH; 1990
Barn Gallery Exhibit; 1990
New Hampshire Art Association: New Members, Robert Lincoln Levy Gallery, Portsmouth, NH; 1990
Maine Coast Art Juried Exhibit, 11th Anniversary, Ogunquit, ME; 1989
Maine Artists for Armenian Heritage, Portland, ME, 1989
York Art Association Exhibit, York, ME, 1st Place; 1988
Ogunquit Art Association, 60th Anniversary Exhibit, New England Center, Durham, NH; 1988
Represented by: Gallery 33, Impact Gallery, Blackthorn Gallery, Portsmouth, NH , 1987
York Art Association Exhibit, 1st Place, York, ME, 1987
Blackthorn Gallery Exhibits: “The Nude” and Holiday Collection, Portsmouth, NH, 1986
Portsmouth Music Hall Gallery, Portsmouth, NH, 1986
Ogunquit Art Association Exhibits: Summer Show and Art Auction; 1985
York Art Association Group Exhibit, York, ME, 1985
Multi-Media "To Life" Car, Walt Kuhn Gallery, Cape Neddick, ME, 1984
Group Show, Clark University, Litter Center Gallery, Worcester, MA, 1984
Artwares Gallery, Portsmouth, NH, 1980
20th Century Art Auction, Young Fine Arts Gallery, Portsmouth, NH, 1980
U.M.B.R.A. Group Show, York Fine Arts Gallery, Portsmouth, NH, 1979
Exhibited Car “To Life”, at Market Square Day, Portsmouth, NH, 1979
Helen Shlien Gallery, Boston, MA, 1979
U.M.V.A. Abstract Invitational, Curtis Memorial Library, Brunswick, ME, 1979
Catalogue of Maine Artists by C. Stanley Pittore, Euforico, New York City, 1979
Bowdoin College, Brunswick, ME, Abstract Invitational, 1978, 1975
Helen Shlien Gallery, Boston, MA, 1978
Henry Hicks Gallery Ltd., N.Y., 1977
Union of Maine Visual Artists: Abstract Invitational, Curtis Memorial Library, Brunswick, ME, 1977
Boston Visual Artists Union Open, Boston, MA, 1976
Manchester Institute of Fine Arts, “Fancy That” exhibit, Manchester, NH, 1975
Cartoons and illustrations for Huck Finn Review, 1975
Improvisations Gallery, Portsmouth, NH, 1975
Re-birth Celebration, Fort Foster Festival, Kittery Point, ME, 1975
Maine State Library, Augusta, ME, 1975
Boston Visual Artists Union Exhibits: Cyclorama Exhibit, Symphony Hall Exhibit, the Sensuous Eye, and Works on Paper/Small Sculpture, Boston, MA, 1974
Goethe Society of Boston, Boston, MA, 1974
Kennedy Studios, Beacon Hill, Boston, MA, 1974
Chris Ritter Gallery, Ogunquit, ME, 1974
Portsmouth Mural Happenstance, Portsmouth, NH, 1974
Haden Gallery Exhibit at M.I.T, Boston, MA, 1973
South Church, Portsmouth, NH, 1973
Chris Ritter Gallery, Ogunquit, ME, 1973
Boston Visual Artists Union, Cyclorama Exhibit, Boston, MA, 1973
Renaissance Gallery, Portsmouth, NH, 1971
Art Institute of Boston, Boston, MA, 1970

Faculty Exhibit, MacIvor Reddie Gallery, Boston, MA, 1970
Traveling Art Exhibit 1963 Multi Media Chrysler “To Life”, 1970

Art-Related Memberships and Activities

Maine Visual Artists Union, Rejoined 2017 & 2018
Yerevan Magazine, May/June 2013; "Muse of the Whimsical"
"To Life" Multi Medium Car published in Harold Blanc's book, "Wild Wheels", 1993
Chairperson for "Eat Your Art Out" Food Art Fund Raiser for N.H.A.A., 1992
"To Life" Car Card published by Paper House Productions, 1989
Past President, York Art Association, 1986
Team Captain, Membership Drive, Portsmouth Chamber of Commerce, 1st Place, 1986
"To Life" featured in HBO T.V. Special "Crazy and Wonderful", 1980
Organized and Directed first Fort Foster Festival, 1975
Ogunquit Arts Collaborative, Ogunquit, ME
Ogunquit Art Association Board Member (Past), Ogunquit, ME
Maine Coast Artists, Rockport, ME (Past)
Ogunquit Museum of American Art, Ogunquit, ME
New Hamphsire Art Association Board Member (Past), Portsmouth, NH
New Hampshire Art Association, Portsmouth, NH (Past)
Newburyport Art Association, Newburyport, MA (Past)
Boston Visual Artists Union, Boston, MA (Past)

Artist Representation

Barn Gallery, Ogunquit, ME; 207-646-8400
Loomis Gallery, Kittery, ME (774) 420-9302