Fifty years of creativity, plus some history: Mark Lore's exhibit at the Gardner Museum

A renowned local artist is celebrating a half century of creativity.

Mark Lore, who works out of his School Street Arts Studio in Gardner, will have a selection of expressionist landscapes on display at the Gardner Museum in a program called “The First 50 Years.”

Lore, who retired as a fine arts instructor in the Winchendon Public Schools in 2019, said the exhibit, which will be on display during regular museum hours through May 26, commemorates the year he became a professional artist, when he sold his first piece – a portrait in pastel chalk – in 1974.

“It’s been a lifelong journey, that’s for sure,” Lore said. “I bought my first set of paints when I was in junior high school – there used to be a paint store where the Montachusett Veterans Outreach Center is now. That’s when I first started painting.”

Lore, who graduated from Gardner High School in 1973, said he was approached by Marion Knoll, director of the museum, after she had seen some of his work on display at the Gardner Ale House last year.

“I thought it would be a privilege to be here because, of course, this (building) used to be the old library, my old stomping grounds, so what better place – now that it’s a museum – to recollect the last 50 years that I’ve been in the Gardner area,” he said.

More: Everyone knows this bandstand mural, but do you know the story behind it?

Display offers history of Gardner

In addition to providing a timeline of Lore’s decades as a professional artist, the display, which includes 25 original pieces and hundreds of prints, will also provide viewers with a history of the community.

Along with Lore’s first professional solo exhibit at Mount Wachusett Community College in 1981, a series of photographs trace a number of works the artist created on commission from various customers, including: a replica of Fenway Park’s Green Monster and the Boston Garden’s parquet floor for the former Casa Lagrassa Lounge and Bar in 1990; the Monument Park bandstand mural in 1991; a painting of firefighters commissioned by the Gardner Fire Department in 1992; and a pair of panel boards he created for Priscilla Candy Shop in the mid-1990s.

“I created this kind of visual narrative as you go around (the exhibit) showing a lot of the things that tie me to Gardner, and the connections I have to the city,” Lore said.

Knoll said she was honored to be hosting an exhibit that combines a local artist’s history along with a look back at the city he grew up in.

“Of course, this is a history museum but there’s also some artistry here, including the stained-glass windows with some of the same vibrant colors that you’ll find in the paintings, too,” she said.

Exhibit opening also served as a class reunion

At the opening of the exhibit on Wednesday, Lore was joined by some of his Class of ’73 classmates, including Patti Bergstrom, owner of The Velvet Goose.

“Mark was always very, very talented, and we got to renew our friendship because we recently celebrated our 50th high school reunion,” Bergstrom said.

More: Greater Gardner Artists Association to hold annual spring art show

Lore said he was pleased to have a local exhibit that displayed his strong connections to the community.

“I paint all scenes that are local,” he said. “I do go outside New England a little bit, but most of my paintings are of the Greater Gardner area.”

Lore has kept busy since his retirement. He is currently represented by the Boulder Art Gallery in Fitchburg as a featured artist and is an Associate Member Artist of the Copley Society of Art in Boston. He continues his local connections to the area with annual submissions to ArtsWorcester, the Gardner Area League of Artists, and the Princeton Arts Society.

“I’ve really spread my wings over the past five years,” he said.

Thanks to our subscribers, who help make this coverage possible. If you are not a subscriber, please consider supporting quality local journalism with a Gardner News subscription. Here are our subscription plans.

This article originally appeared on Gardner News: Mark Lore art exhibit at Gardner Museum: 'The First 50 Years'