Winter sunlight streamed through the windows of the Kimball Jenkins carriage house as a group of women sat chatting around a long U-shaped table.
They twisted wire into different shapes, each constructing something unique and personal. Conversation flowed, punctuated only by rare lulls of silent creative focus. Laughs rang out at regular intervals.
Over years of monthly meetings, the women have fallen into a comfortable rhythm with each other. Some went to art school and are full-time artists or art instructors. Others fell into their crafts later in life after raising families and retiring from decades-long careers. All of them relish the company and the free-flowing creative energy they find in their group, the Highly Seasoned Artists.
Sometimes, like in February, they work on the same project, especially if someone has learned a new skill others want to attempt, like wire art. Often, they each bring whatever they’ve been working on to share with the group and get feedback.
Mary Nichols, who lives in Loudon, finds that around these fellow female artists, she can simply be herself.
“It’s so profound, it’s hard to put into words, because having women friends, they’re just really important to my life, because I feel like I could share my innermost feelings with them and not be judged. I feel so accepted by this group, and plus it’s helped with my art.”
The group formed around the start of the 2000s, although none of the women quite recall how they coalesced. Their friendship was the result of an “organic” combination of getting to know each other through various workshops and art classes, they all agreed. These artists share creative interests, political ideologies, a passion for exploration — plein air painting and picnics were a staple for a while — and a desire for connection.
“We all work in different mediums so that’s how we learn from each other, too. And we also have to go out of our comfort zones,” said Mary Straub of Barnstead.
Straub is one of the group’s longest members and will forever be grateful for having found such kindred spirits.
“When you move to a rural place, you think you’re all alone. And when you discover someone who does art, it’s such a revelation,” she said.” And you really do stick together, and then you learn from each other, and it’s like having a salon.”
As the women — seven in February, although two more are usually present — manipulated wire into their desired shapes, they took the time to ask each other for suggestions and to show off elements of which they were proud.
The group has no real rules, said Ann Saunderson, who lives in Loudon. Its members mainly come together for the communal process of creation.
“It doesn’t have to be hard. It’s just a new way to get together and encourage a new way of thinking,” she said.
Once a year, the Highly Seasoned Artists hold a show, typically at the Epsom Public Library. Last year, they displayed work centered around the theme “Fantastical Flora and Fauna.” Another year, they explored different elements related to maps. For one show, the women all ventured to Goodwill and picked out clothing and fabric for the theme “Dress to Draw.”
“We really like working on a theme,” said Kathy Hanson of Deerfield. “Because it pulls us all together. And from everywhere, we’re all coming from separate directions.”
She joked that they measure the success of their gatherings by “the laugh indicator.” Beyond that, they come together for creative energy and a sense of like-mindedness.
“You can’t make art in a vacuum,” she said. “You need an audience. You need to get feedback.”
They aim to spend time doing what they love, said Grace Mattern, a Northwood resident. She spent three decades serving as the director of the New Hampshire Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence, finding art — and a creative community — after retirement. In the face of mounting political polarization, Mattern said she finds that the group meetings leave her with a sense of hope.
“Being in community and making art is a form of resistance. It’s a way of staying connected with what matters,” Mattern said. Her fellow “sister-artists,” as she deemed them, hummed in agreement.
Sometimes they meet at Kimball Jenkins. Other times, they meet at one of their studios. No matter where they are, the atmosphere is the same.
“I encourage people to do this with the thing they love,” said Straub. “Community supports you, encourages you, keeps you going.”