Public Art Review Committee Presents “Summer Time Vibes - Burst Into Color” Art Exhibition

CAPTION: Painting by Kimberly Meuse, one of the exhibitors in the "Summer Time Vibes - Burst Into Color" free exhibition in the Portsmouth Room in City Hall, May 18-August 26, 2026

City of Portsmouth NH Public Art Review Committee Presents “Summer Time Vibes - Burst Into Color” Art Exhibition

Portsmouth, New Hampshire – The City of Portsmouth Public Art Review Committee (PARC) announces its first showcase of visual art by local Seacoast artists. The new exhibition space in the Portsmouth Room at Portsmouth City Hall is located just outside the Eileen Dondero City Council Chambers. The Public Art Review Committee expects to present three to four exhibitions each year in the space. 

The debut invitational show, “Summer Time Vibes - Burst Into Color,” features artists Dustan Knight, Teresa McCue, Kimberly Meuse, and Darlene Furbush Ouellett. The exhibition will run from May 13 through August 26, and will be open to the public, free of charge, when City Hall is open. The Public Art Review Committee is hosting a reception to open the show on Monday, May 18, from 6-7 pm in the Portsmouth Room. The four artists will be recognized. The reception is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be served. 

Dustan Knight is a professional artist who lives on the Seacoast with a studio in The Button Factory in Portsmouth. She has an MFA from Pratt Institute, New York and an MA in Art History. After decades as a Professor in the Fine Arts, Dustan now spends all her time painting and creating. Dustan’s paintings are expressive and joyful. They often refer to the seacoast natural landscapes. Rather than depict what she sees, Dustan paints the feeling the landscapes evoke with rough granite shorelines and quiet pine forest trails appearing in abstracted landscapes. Birch trees bathed in afternoon light and even the atmospheric drizzle of spring rain on Portsmouth streets are her subjects. For more information, visit: dustanknight.com.

Darlene Furbush Ouellett received her BFA from the University of New Hampshire. As a painter and printmaker, Darlene uses a variety of experimental processes, incorporating pieces of printmaking papers, collage materials, inks, charcoals, acrylic, oil paints, and other mixed media. She adds, subtracts, and sands out specific areas, adding additional textures and painting until she achieves her overall effect. Each painting has a unique feeling, sense of place, and characteristics of the natural environment. Furbush Ouellett’s intention for creating nature-based art is twofold: first, to communicate her fascination and awe for the natural world, and second, to invite the viewer into a visual world that she finds wise and holds in reverence. For more information, visit: darlenefurbushouellett.com.

Teresa McCue received her BA in Art from Bridgewater State College and continued graduate studies at Massachusetts College of Art, New England School of Art and Design and in Italy. Teresa creates paintings in response to her spiritual connection with nature. Her work seeks to evoke a feeling, a moment - capturing the light, the air, the texture, all the quiet magic the natural world offers. She loves experimenting with materials, layering color and building surfaces that reveal nuanced surprises over time. Her work can be found in private and corporate collections nationwide. For more information, visit: teresamccuefineart.com.

Kimberly Meuse received a BA in Applied Art from Iowa State University. A nationally acclaimed still life watercolorist, she is a Signature Member of both the National and American Watercolor Societies. Her unique style combines sumptuous detail with an extraordinary mastery of color. The results are watercolors that are richly representational and unique, taking watercolor beyond traditional loose methodologies to create works that defy the confines of representational painting and surmount the challenges of water-based media. Her exquisitely deep, rich paintings have become a lifelong passion. Kimberly exhibits nationwide and is the recipient of many distinguished awards and honors. For more information, visit: kimberlymeusewatercolors.com.

For more information about the Public Art Review Committee and its work, visit: portsnh.co/PARC. Artists interested in featuring their work in future exhibitions can contact the Committee using the form on that page.

Portsmouth City Hall is located at 1 Junkins Avenue in Portsmouth and is open to the public on Mondays, 8 am-6 pm, Tuesdays-Thursdays, 8 am-4:30 pm and Fridays, 8 am-1 pm. City Hall is closed on federal holidays.