President
michaelkelso@kitteryartassociation.org

Michael Kelso has been a resident of Kittery for 51 years. He has been a volunteer at the Kittery Art Association for twelve years and member for three, working on the Coleman Ave Grounds and various carpentry projects. Michael is the owner of Maine Carpenter since 1999 and has experience in restoration carpentry, new home construction, and restaurant renovations. He designs, plans, and executes construction projects. He a member of the Guild of NH Woodworkers.
Michael worked as an electronic foreman at Shop 67 Portsmouth Naval Shipyard from 1981-1997. He directed a team of 20-30 mechanics in repair, restoration, overhaul, installation, and testing of electronic equipment on submarines. He was also a Boys Head track coach at Traip Academy from 1991-1994 and a boat building instructor at Traip Academy Adult education in 1991.
Michael was an Electronic Systems Mechanic at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard from 1979-1981. He was responsible for the installation and testing of Sonar equipment on submarines. He was also a volunteer firefighter at Kittery Point from 1984-1989.
Michael served in the USAF as an Electronic Systems mechanic from 1972-1977. He was responsible for testing and repair of electronic equipment on F111 aircraft. He was stationed in the Oxford, England area for three years were he was able to take art history class with the University of Maryland and visit many art museums thoughout England.
Michael graduated from the University of Southern Maine with a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Technology, Magna Cum Laude in May 1993. He has skills in leading groups of people in accomplishing complex projects. Michael has received an Industrial management scholarship from USN from 1989-1993 and numerous Outstanding Achievement awards for supervision.
In 1970 Michael was a member of the Holy Spirit High School National champion rowing crew eight who competed at Henley England’s Princess Elizabeth cup. He also competed in The World pilot gig championship at St Mary’s Island, Scilly Isles, Cornwall England in 1991

Treasurer

Residence:
We have been living on the Seacoast since 1980. My wife, Sally, and I have resided in York for the past 38 years.  

Work Experience:
Real estate investments, project marketing, property management and mortgage banking, graduated 2012.

Board Affiliations:
York Art Association, President and Board Member 2014 - 2019
Kittery Art Association, Treasurer, 2021- present.

Art Concentration:
Photographist - started with street photography in early 1970's focusing on the bowels of urban life while driving a taxi in NYC.  Expanding into travel photography and multiple travels over the decades to Europe, Mexico and the islands. Most revered photographer: Vivian Maier.

Assistant Treasurer

Laurie Bilby has been a member of the Kittery Art Association for about seven years. The first three of those were spent as the association’s Administrative Assistant on Coleman Avenue, where she became deeply familiar with the KAA’s workings and got to know many of its active members. Prior to that gig, she had a career as an Estate Administrator in a Boston law firm, for which she still contracts on an as-needed, part-time basis, mostly preparing estate, gift, and fiduciary income tax returns. Laurie is also currently serving as the Treasurer of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Portsmouth. When not fulfilling these commitments, she enjoys playing with watercolors, mostly losing at mahjong, keeping a book group in line, puttering around the yard at her Kittery Point home, helping out her mom in Eliot, working on acquiring Italian language skills, and hanging out with friends, dog, and ancient cat. And traveling whenever possible!

Programming Chair

Most of my life has been involved with music. I grew up in a small town in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, took piano lessons at age 6, sang in church and school choirs, and at the age of 13 became the organist at a local church. That set me on a path at Skidmore College where I majored in organ performance. A blind date with Jimmy Dean, an engagement my senior year, I graduated with a BS and MRS and spent the next 25 years teaching in private schools in CT, MA and ME.

My love and background in music gave me many avenues to explore and express myself; I had an active piano studio, gave recital performances, directed choruses, played the organ and taught. In the last teaching position at Berwick Academy, I created their music program and as the school expanded the student body, so did the curriculum. The South Berwick Community Chorus, which is still a vibrant choral group, was organized in 1976 by me, and I was the director for 25 years. In 1991, I left Berwick Academy and went to UNH for a Masters in Choral Music. The next years were the best ones in my career! I designed and organized an auditioned children’s chorus, “Sandpipers, the Seacoast Children’s Chorus”. Fourteen years later, I passed my baton to another conductor.

Throughout these teaching years, playing the organ did not get left behind; I enjoyed playing in many of the area churches. From1992 -2001, it was at St John’s in Portsmouth. While there, I was able to lead a search for a new organ, a process of over four years which culminated with the creation of a pipe organ built in Quebec specifically for St John’s. This is a legacy of which I am very proud.

Art has always been an interest of mine and I do enjoy painting. However, I am not an “artist”, rather a student of art. Being an artist takes discipline and my discipline was in music.

Building & Grounds Chair

Dean Gallant retired in 2013 as Assistant Dean for Research Policy and Administration after 36 years at Harvard University, and continues to do part-time consulting in human research ethics. He and his wife Lauren came to Kittery Point in 2008 and he joined the board of KAA in 2013, serving as president from 2014 to 2016 and returning as president from 2020 to 2023. Interests include local history, photography, and (never ending!) old house restoration; volunteer activities include the Kittery Historical and Naval Society and the Portsmouth Athenaeum, where Lauren is a Proprietor.

Gallery Shop Coordinator

Employment:
Phoenix Mutual Insurance Co. Financial and Legal Dept., 1965-1968
Antna Life and Casualty Insurance Co, Consultant Group Actuarial Dept

Board Affiliations:
Catamount Arts, St. Johnsbury VT 2000-2004
Caspian Arts, Greensboro VT. Founder, Treasurer 2005-2015
Kittery Art Association, 2020-present

Community service:
North Country Animal League
Craftsbury Chamber Players
Habitat for Humanity
Craftsbury Library

Art Intake Chair

Norma Houde is a retired teacher and business owner. She has lived in Southern Maine for most of her life, however her love of art stems from having grown up on Cape Ann in Massachusetts, surrounded by artists in Rockport.

After selling her business in 2012, she began exploring mediums and pursued watercolor painting. Norma has been a member of the KAA board since 2020, and is devoted to helping to serve local art. She holds the title of Assistant Treasurer and is a member of the Building Committee. She also volunteered as needed.

Alexander Levesque is a 24-year-old artist born and raised in Lyman, Maine. He studied Fine Art and Art Education at the University of Maine, where he earned his bachelor's degree. Currently, he teaches art at Horace Mitchell Primary School, a pre-K to 3rd-grade institution, inspiring young students to explore their creative potential. Alexander's artistic work primarily revolves around abstract portraiture, focusing on deconstruction, emotion, and form, using charcoal as his medium of choice. Additionally, he expresses the natural beauty of Maine through his oil paintings, capturing the essence of its landscapes. His dual approach to art, combining abstract portraiture and landscape painting, showcases his versatility and deep connection to his roots.

Clerk

Judy McKenna is an exhibiting artist at Ceres Galley and NH Art Association. She is an Emeritas Docent at the Currier Museum of Art; a former Associate Professor of Communications at Southern NH University; and has served on a variety of boards including the Pastel Society of New Hampshire, the Currier Museum’s Guild of Volunteers, the Greater Manchester YWCA; and served as the Chair of the Waterville Valley, NH School Board. She also founded the Henniker Community News, a newspaper distributed to 1500 households in Henniker, NH.

Plein Air Program Chair

Bill Paarlberg’s two favorite things are making artwork and being outdoors in nature. His earliest memories are of the thrill of composing arrangements of sticks, rocks, and leaves while walking around in the grass. He grew up in Hampton, New Hampshire, with two years of high school in East Africa.

Educated as a scientist, yet always inclined toward the visual arts, he has been a fine artist, architectural illustrator, and freelance marketing creative his entire working life. Over the years he has helped hundreds of people and organizations create compelling communications about themselves, their products, services, and ideas.

In the early 1980s he co-founded and for four years co-published re:Ports. Arts and Entertainment Magazine, a weekly compendium of reviews, opinion, and poetry, including everything to do for every night of the week in the Portsmouth, New Hampshire area.

He was a co-founder and editor of The Measurement Standard, the world’s first and always least-boring newsletter on public relations evaluation. He edited several books on public relations measurement, including Kanter and Paine’s “Measuring the Networked Nonprofit,” the 2013 Terry McAdam Book Award winner.

Today Bill specializes in watercolors, preferably painted outdoors. He is an instructor at Sanctuary Arts in Eliot, Maine, at the Currier Museum in Manchester, New Hampshire, and at the Shoals Marine Lab on Appledore Island, Isles of Shoals. You can watch a WMUR TV Chronicle interview about his artwork on his website at paarlberg.com.

Bill served on the board of Pontine Movement Theatre, and spent thirteen years on the board of the Kittery Land Trust, with four of them as President. Bill was a Category 1 USCF road cyclist in his youth, and still likes to hike, snowboard, and ride his mountain bike.

Landscape & Garden Chair

Piper Smith is a multidisciplinary artist from Kittery, Maine. She attended Traip Academy for high school and received the Marcia Abigail Rider scholarship from KAA to assist in her future artistic career in attending art college. Piper studied ceramics at Maine College of Art and graduated with a BFA in May of 2020. Plants frequent the surface of Piper’s ceramics, and she mainly makes functional forms. After graduating from Maine College of Art, Piper has a small home studio and sells her pottery online and in local markets. In April 2023 she joined the KAA board, and is excited to be a part of the Kittery art community.

Exhibits Chair
exhibits@kitteryartassociation.org

Like most artists, I have been interested in the arts ever since I can remember. I’ve always had a pencil or paint brush in hand. Forty years ago I developed a decorative art business which focused on painted interiors and furnishings. When the work became more physically challenging, I shifted my focus to constructed pieces and painting. I’ve participated in 3 designer show houses and shown and sold my artwork through the years. However, my primary career was in real estate. My husband and I bought and rehabbed many properties and developed 3 condo projects in the Portland area. I saw it as a complementary career as it offered me a creative outlet, making it possible to design and market a product I loved. One of my favorite properties had a huge bank of store front windows. The space and location were perfect for showing art, and 3fish gallery was born. We operated the gallery for 20 years until my husband became ill. It was truly the end of a beautiful chapter in my life, and I am very proud of what we did for the arts community.

Having recently moved to Kittery, I would be thrilled to contribute to the local arts scene and be proud to be associated, in any capacity, with the Kittery Art Association.

Gallery Shop Coordinator

Beverly Tuller moved from Connecticut to Kittery right before COVID started. In CT she had been involved in the art world and crafting since age nine when she joined 4-H. That beginning evolved into a degree from Keene State College, teaching home economics and owning a shop for local artists in NH. A move back to CT led to working on the family farm, opening another store for artists, and being an active member of the Canton Gallery on the Green - a member run association very similar to KAA. There she was a board member, in charge of a volunteer schedule for gallery sitting, and helped with the holiday show.

She is honored to be on the board of another wonderful gallery and excited to be part of the gallery shop and helping to make it a success!

Heidi Unruh is a digital marketing executive with over 30 years of experience in the tech industry. In 2020, she transitioned from the corporate world to focus on passion projects and more artistic endeavors. Now an app developer, Heidi channels her love of foraging wild edibles into creating innovative apps for wild mushroom and plant enthusiasts and wild food foragers. Her artistic pursuits, centered on pottery and oil painting, reflect her deep connection to nature. Heidi brings a unique blend of creativity and innovation to the Kittery Art Association, supporting its mission to foster artistic growth within the community.

Education:
The Sorbonne
Pine Manor College