Artist Jeffrey Reed, of Chestnut Hill, has no family roots in Ireland, but he has visited the country annually for the last 25 years to paint its extraordinary landscapes.
Reed discovered Ireland's picturesque beauty through the Ballinglen Arts Foundation, a nonprofit in Ballycastle, North County Mayo. He first attended its fellowship program in 1999 with his wife, Shea Cronley, a pediatrician, and their two young sons.
"The people and the landscape there are all just wonderful," Reed said. "The weather changes constantly, which is a real gift. And I love the light ... the way it changes, and it's always different. You can see a year’s worth of skies in a week’s time.”
Reed’s evocative paintings depicting the country known as the “Emerald Isle” are on display in “Of Time, Light and Change,” an exhibit running through April 26 at Gross McCleaf Gallery in Manayunk, which is owned by Chestnut Hill resident Rebecca Segall.
Reed, who has lived in Chestnut Hill for 31 years, describes Ireland as wonderful and inspiring and he says he treasures the time spent at the homebase of the Irish arts foundation that helped spur his interest in painting Ireland.
“Ballycastle is a village of just 200,” Reed said. “Both the foundation and the village are very welcoming. My whole family would join me when our sons were younger. In fact, they would go to sports camp there. I have gotten involved in the Ballinglen Arts Foundation, heading one of their boards and teaching a two-week painting workshop every summer.”
Reed, 70, grew up on the shores of the Chesapeake Bay in Annapolis, Maryland, where he spent a great deal of his free time outdoors. Even as a child, he was interested in art, in drawing and painting the world around him. In high school, he drew a lot and painted a little, and in college he painted as much as he could.
“I can’t say that I always wanted to be an artist,” Reed told the Local last week, “mostly because I had no idea what an artist did. I had no role models for the life and career of an artist. This was something that I had to learn. That said, I loved to draw and paint from an early age and did it a lot. I was accepted to art schools, but I lacked the confidence and clarity to attend art school right out of high school.”
Instead, Reed attended Maryville College, a small liberal arts school in Tennessee for one year before transferring to The Maryland Institute College of Art. While at Maryville, he took a school-sponsored trip to Europe and Russia for a month. He was impacted by the experience and art that he saw on the trip so much that when he returned, he was convinced he wanted to pursue art as a career.
Reed earned a Master's of Fine Arts from the University of Pennsylvania in 1983. Like so many graduates in the creative arts, Reed had to work in restaurants for several years before being able to pay the bills in his chosen field. For three years he worked at Frog, the “Restaurant Renaissance” trend-setter owned by then-Chestnut Hill resident Steve Poses.
Reed then secured a job teaching drawing and painting at Community College of Philadelphia, where he taught for 39 years before retiring in December.
The landscape painter is also a cheerleader for Chestnut Hill. “We do go to Campbells along with El Limon, La Trattoria and Iron Hill,” he said. “My wife and I enjoy cooking, so we enjoy shopping at the Chestnut Hill farmers market, Weavers Way and Captain Andy’s. Chestnut Hill is a wonderful community. It is walkable, has the Wissahickon, the train and shops including an art supply store. It was a great place to raise two sons. Having grown up on the Chesapeake Bay, I do miss being near the water. Pastorius Pond isn’t big enough.”
Reed has received numerous awards, including a Visual Arts Fellowship from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, and has exhibited widely in the U.S. and abroad.
The family's older son, Andy, lives in New York City, where he works as a sommelier. Their younger son, Matt, lives in London, where he just received a Master's degree in studio art. He also teaches physics and plays music. Both sons went to Germantown Friends School and were coached by their dad in Little League Baseball. Jeffrey was also part of the original group that built the playground at Jenks Elementary School (now Jenks Academy for the Arts and Sciences).
“The best advice I ever received,” Reed said, “is to pursue your passion and work hard at it. This came from my dad, who knew nothing about art but was very supportive of me.”
Gross McCleaf Gallery is at 123 Leverington Ave. For more information, visit jeffreyreedart.com or grossmccleaf.com. Len Lear can be reached at lenlear@chestnuthilllocal.com
