Local artists Jan Roy and Susan Keller will be exhibiting their work together at the Newburyport Art Association from October 11th to the 17th.

Jan Roy was, for years, best known for her silk-screen posters, commissioned by various cultural organizations. Her Brooklyn Bridge Centennial poster and annual posters for the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, from 1982-2001, drew attention to her talent. She has had international shows in Rome, Italy and Paris, France.

Since then, Jan has turned her attention to pastel, oil and acrylic painting. She has been especially attracted to the Iberian Peninsula and nearby Morocco, creating canvases that capture the atmosphere from those places. However, for this exhibit with her friend Susan Keller, Jan's paintings will be images from her annual trips to Maine.

"When Sue suggested we have a show, I wanted to do something that would compliment her work. I decided to paint small instead of large pieces, and I wanted to convey travel to juxtapose her still lifes set in small interior spaces."

Her paintings from places like Vinalhaven, Islesboro, Isle au Haut and Deer Isle are a journal of her travels. On nice days she paints small working harbors or inlets from the sea, and on bad days her subjects may include a bedroom or the kitchen sink from the place where she is staying.

Jan exhibits her paintings at the Alpers Fine Art Gallery in Andover, MA and Easy Street Gallery in Nantucket. www.janroy.com

Susan Keller graduated from the Maryland Institute College of Art in 1979. After moving to Boston, she embarked on a twenty year career as a medical illustrator. Her illustrations were used as training material for orthopedic surgery and she illustrated several books for Harvard University Press.

Susan's attention to detail worked well for her more technical medical drawings and she has carried that through to her small pastel drawings that she is doing today. Her subject is still lifes for which she loves collecting small objects.

"They have to speak to me in some way, either through shape, or color, or some sentimental thread to my psyche. I love setting them up, paying attention to the relationship between the objects and creating little worlds almost like shadow boxes."

Throughout her artistic career, Susan has exhibited her work at The Fells Point Gallery in Baltimore, MD, The Gallery in Williamstown, MA, The Berkshire Artist's Association in Pittsfield, MA, and at a private art salon in Boston, MA