“You don’t open up an art gallery to get rich. You have to love the business,” said Joyce Mastro, who along with her husband Lou are the proprietors and resident artists of Hole In The Wall Studioworks on Route 302 in Raymond.
Hole in the Wall Studioworks carries exclusively American fine art and contemporary crafts with a focus on jewelry. Jewelry is how the Mastros got started. Opening the studio with their own kiln-fired enameled jewelry, which Mastro describes as “basically glass fused to copper,” the gallery/studio is a venue for their own work and others.
Every inch of the bright green and purple handicraft shop is occupied by the work of American artisans.
“We sell gifts, pottery and glass if somebody wants a wedding gift, a vase, a nice bowl,” explains Mastro. There is raku pottery, which is a Japanese firing process usually done outside that yields a highly lustrous finish to the glazing. She also features “salamandra rondell,” which are blown glass discs hung in the window to catch light. “We love what we’re selling. It’s my taste. It’s what I like,” she said.
Most of the artwork on the walls is by Maine artists. The assemblage includes works by Wendy Newcomb, whose work is being viewed globally on the cover of L.L.Bean’s summer 2006 catalog, Kate Winn, Cynthia Morse and Tracy Mastro. On exhibit during June at the gallery is Brunswick textile artist, Catherine Worthington.
Tracy Mastro, the owners’ daughter and recent graduate of Maine College of Art, is a jewelry designer and works in pastels. Her work is very contemporary. It’s more a landscape of the mind, her mother said.
As a member of the Mastro family, Joyce said of their daughter, Tracy, “She knew she was going to go to an art college. There was no choice…seeing her parents and everything. Sometimes a child will go the other way. She didn’t. She’s very talented. I mean, I wish she was a doctor instead.”
As a painter, matriarch Joyce has recently turned from landscapes to dreamscapes.
“It’s surreal,” said Mastro of her own work. “They’re really fun to do. You’re totally working out of your head.”
“I used to paint landscapes and flowers,” said Mastro. “I got bored with it after a while. I felt that I wasn’t growing as an artist. I just stopped painting…I just couldn’t do it anymore. My daughter said to me…Mom, she said, you should paint for yourself. And that’s what I do now. I paint for myself.”
Patriarch Lou Mastro, a prolific artist and sculptor, is responsible for many of the metalwork creations on display inside the gallery and throughout the sculpture yard.
“His masks have been very popular,” said Mastro. We like masks. We’re mask collectors.”
The Mastros, transplanted New Yorkers, vacationed here many years ago and one day it was raining. It rained for two weeks straight. “There was nothing here at the time… we wound up going, well, let’s look at property,” said Mastro. They purchased 10 acres on Route 302 in Raymond. “We thought we’d sit on it for a couple years and then move up, but my husband lost his job.” One thing led to another, “and we decided to take a chance.” That was 30 years ago.
The Mastros had a home built, and the following year they built the shop.
“We built it ourselves,” said Mastro. They hired somebody to frame it out. “We never did anything like that before because, you know, we come from the city…We put the roof on and everything ourselves.”
Stepping back to assess their handiwork, “It looks more like a hole in the wall,” said Lou Mastro. Hole In The Wall Studioworks was thusly dubbed.
“Collecting art is more about passion than money. Because you can always buy art at different levels and different price points. That’s what we love to do,” Mastro said. “What do we do when it’s our day off? We go to galleries. We’re collectors, too. We’re always looking at art. It’s fun for us.”
The next show, from July 1 to August 2 is titled, “The Horse Watchers.” Jeanne Maguire Thieme, Evelyn Winter and Mary Iselin, who comprise the show are all artists known for their spirited paintings of horses. Lou Mastro is contributing copper sculpture pieces, all of horses and there will be a selection of raku horses to round out the exhibit.
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