Advertisement. Advertise with us

TRIPTYCH ANCHORS PLEIN AIR SHOW

Fenimore Exhibit Brings
Mary Nolan's Art Indoors

By JIM KEVLIN • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com

Artist Mary Nolan at the Railroad Avenue studio she shares with May-Britt Joyce and Maria Tripp. The dominant painting is “River Bend, Low Tide.” (Jim Kevlin/AllOTSEGO.com)

Some 25 years ago, when she was Cooperstown Chamber of Commerce executive director, Polly Renckens held a meeting of people with space to spare in their homes.

“We have tourists,” Polly told the gathering. “We need some place to put them. If you have space for a B&B, consider it.”

Mary Nolan, who had been doing art as long as she can remember, received a call from a friend whose mother had a farm in the countryside around Fly Creek. “Would you like to manage a B&B?”

Nolan, who had vacationed in Cooperstown and liked it here, said yes.

In B&Bs, there are busy times and less busy times, and in the less busy times Mary took her paints and easel behind the house and began to paint the nature she saw – plein air, out of doors.

“Around here, it’s beautiful,” she said in an interview after The Fenimore Art Museum announced that “Water As Muse: Paintings by Mary Nolan,” will be this summer’s local exhibition.

Nolan’s works will appear among that of such notables as photographer Ansel Adams and the featured show, “Keith Haring: Radiant Vision,” containing more than 100 works of the celebrated
pop artist.

You have reached your limit of 3 free articles

To Continue Reading

 

Our hard-copy and online publications cover the news of Otsego County by putting the community back into the newspaper. We are funded entirely by advertising and subscriptions. With your support, we continue to offer local, independent reporting that is not influenced by commercial or political ties.

Posted

Related Articles

Time Out Otsego: 02-13-26

FILM SERIES—7 p.m. Cabin Fever Film Series presents “The Phoenician Scheme.” Free, donations appreciated. Fenimore Art Museum, 5798 State Highway 80, Cooperstown. (607) 547-1400 or https://www.facebook.com/events/1465024671671776/?acontext=%7B%22event_action_history%22%3A[%7B%22mechanism%22%3A%22attachment%22%2C%22surface%22%3A%22newsfeed%22%7D]%2C%22ref_notif_type%22%3Anull%7D…
February 12, 2026

News Briefs: February 12, 2026

A severe blood shortage, internship opportunities with the SUNY Oneonta Biological Field Station and Preferred Mutual Insurance Company, and Cooperstown Central School sports results are among the topics covered in this week's news briefs.…
February 12, 2026

This Week: 02-05-26

Click here for individual access to all of this week's articles, columns, letters to the editor, etc., and to view the current newspaper editions online.…
February 5, 2026

PUTTING THE COMMUNITY BACK INTO THE NEWSPAPER

For a limited time, new annual subscriptions to the hard copy of “The Freeman’s Journal” or “Hometown Oneonta” (which also includes unlimited access to AllOtsego.com), or digital-only access to AllOtsego.com, can also give back to one of their favorite Otsego County charitable organizations.

$5.00 of your subscription will be donated to the nonprofit of your choice: Friends of the Feral-TNR, Super Heroes Humane Society, or Susquehanna Society of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals 

Visit our “subscribe” page and select your charity of choice at checkout