Minding Your Business - Odell Studios and Gallery

Odell Studios and Gallery

Contemporary art exhibited in galleries adjoining the artists' studios

423 Main St.

Downtown Chatham

508-945-3239

OdellArts.com

Open Daily 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Love what you do and you’ll never work a day in your life. Love what you do in a harmonious, beautiful setting, that’s even better, right? For nearly 50 years, artists Tom and Carol Odell have worked and lived in an oasis on Chatham’s Main Street.

“It is indeed an oasis here. It’s such a beautiful spot. It’s a lucky spot too because we have the Mill Pond back there and the breeze comes up plus you’re on Main Street but you’re kind of secluded,” said Carol. “We bought this piece of property because we could live here. It was a nice place to live, there was space to have a showroom and it was legal to sell here and there was plenty of space for a studio.”

And they get to create here together. “It's so nice to have a partner who understands the creative process in making things, inventing things,” said Tom, who works with metal; he’s both a sculptor and a jeweler. Carol is a painter.

“I work with oils and oil monotype, which are pretty unique,” said Carol “Encaustic painting, also known as hot wax painting, involves a heated wax medium to which colored pigments are added. It’s a very, very old technique. I think the Greeks invented it. It went through a brief period of resurgence. The imagery is what I call non-objective or non-representational. It’s not a picture of a tree or a house or something, it’s made up of compositions of color, line, form, texture. So both of us do artwork that’s looking for emotional content rather than representing representative content.”

“So it’s not what lots of people are looking for in town,” says Tom with a smile. “They’re looking for seascapes or still lifes or things like that. Our work is a little different but I think that’s what makes us unique,” he added.

“Tom is a sculptor, even his jewelry is more sculptural than a lot of jewelry,” said Carol. The two are obviously deeply comfortable with their work. And many would disagree on the fact that it’s not what people are looking for. Their work is stunning.

There are many showrooms displaying their work in this Greek Revival house that was built in the 1850s, and there’s a studio for each of them in the barn out back along with a jewelry workshop for Tom in the main building.

“For the first time this summer we’ve dedicated one room to a guest artist,” said Tom. “His name is David Phillips. He lives in Sandwich and he does work with natural stones. We liked David’s work so much we thought we’d like to have a chance to show his things here so we asked him to come.”

Next time you’re downtown, take some time to enjoy the talents of this duo and the guest artist. You won’t be sorry.