The Healing Arts Gallery at Monadnock Hospital features “Rare Works by Local Collectors” a three-part show with exhibits by Soosen Dunholter, Jane Simpson and Mary Loftis and Paul Tuller, through November 3.
“This exhibit is a little different than what we usually have; it’s more like a mini-museum,” said Dunholter, who is on the Healing Arts committee for Monadnock Community Hospital and the curator of the exhibit.
Simpson, a Peterborough collage artist and framer, contributed art from her “Found” collection. Tuller and Loftis exhibit part of their collection of Japanese prints, and Dunholter displays part of her own collection of boxes.
Each collection is different, but all represent the passions of artists and collectors.
“Usually collections find you; you don’t find the collection,” Dunholter said. “It just sort of evolves and then one day you turn and realize, oh, I guess I collect boxes.”
Dunholter, a Peterborough painter and collage artist, said she was initially drawn to vintage boxes, and just kept adding to her collection.
“I just love to think about the mystery of what’s inside,” she said. “I’m often drawn to the art and design on the outside of the box, the shape, the material — I have all kinds.”
Dunholter has used materials from some of the boxes for her paper collages, which can be viewed at soosendunholter.com/prints.
Simpson has a large collection of “Found” art from various sources, including yard sales, junk stores, thrift shops and estate sales.
“It’s not necessarily that I purchasing things because they are valuable — it’s because there is something about them that I like. Either I think the artist, even though they are unknown, is a decent artist, or there’s an element within that is really great.” Simpson said.
Simpson’s collection ranges from work by well known artists to a piece of black paper she found with shapes cut out.
“I just thought it was interesting, and I glued them to a board. I often see these things and think, now, if it had a great frame, it would be completely transformed. A frame elevates the art; I think people discard things sometimes because maybe they aren’t framed thoughtfully.” Simpson said.
Online, Simpson is sometimes able to track down the artists of the works she finds and learn more about them. Artists in Simpson’s exhibitions include the work of well-known American photographer Lottie Jacoby, who was famous for her portrait of Albert Einstein.
“It was from an estate sale, and I hadn’t intended to go to that estate sale; it was the end of the day and it was pretty picked over, but I found this upstairs in a filing cabinet and thought it was interesting. Then, when I got home I researched the piece, and found out it was a Jacoby,” Simpson said.
The exhibit also includes work by the late Robert Fay, a longtime ConVal English teacher and accomplished author and photographer whose work was exhibited by the Currier Museum and the Brattleboro Museum of Art, and who also worked with Ken Burns.
“I knew Robert Fay, I used to do some work with him and really liked him, so I was thrilled to find a piece if his work,” Simpson said.
Like Dunholter, Simpson’s collection extends beyond what has on display on at the Healing Arts galley.
“It’s just all things that speak to me,” she said.
For more information about artist Jane Simpson go to monadnockart.org/profile/jsimpson/.
The third section of the exhibit displays Japanese woodcuts from the collection of Mary Loftis and Paul Tuller of Dublin. Like Dunholter and Simpson, Loftis and Tuller have an extensive collection, and only have room to display part of it at a time.
“Paul and I have always had an interest in Japanese culture, especially art and architecture, and we started out collecting a few antique prints and then got into more contemporary ones,” Loftis said.
Tuller, an expert in Japanese inspired woodworking and traditional Japanese architecture, is known locally for constructing a full-scale Japanese home on the couple’s property in Dublin. Tuller’s work can be found at paultuller.com.
The exhibit includes several works by Clifton Karhu, an American artist of Finnish descent who grew up in Japan and became well-respected for his technique in traditional Japanese woodwork.
“Paul did a lot of work for the late Jack Worth, who lived in Walpole, and he and his wife collected Japanese prints,” Loftis said. “We bought quite a few from them, and that’s how we got interested in Karhu. He did prints of Japanese architecture, particularly in Kyoto.”
Loftis and Tuller’s collection includes abstract and contemporary prints as well as more historic and traditional work.
“We just don’t have enough room on our walls for all of them,” Loftis said.
The Healing Arts Gallery at Monadnock Community Hospital is the only art gallery in New Hampshire always open. The gallery can be accessed by a separate entrance next to the main entrance. For information about the Healing Arts Galley go to monadnockcommunityhospital.com/collections-exhibition-2025/.