Scott Tubby, painter and ceramicist
His perspective-bending houses and landscapes, refined yet organic pottery, and the value of a mentor
Scott Tubby invents worlds populated by illuminated houses evocative of Southern France hilltop villages. He also creates marine scenes filled with rowboats that simultaneously look familiar and distinct. And then there are his serene oceanscapes that may include sensuous clouds and a rising (or is it setting?) moon.
His colorful rowboats are usually tethered to wood plank docks, with the lines sometimes slack and other times taught, adding some visual tension. Lately, he has been painting neighborhoods from a seagull’s perspective that bring many of the common “Tubby elements” together in a larger composition. Even when Scott is painting local scenes, such as the Front Beach coastline in Rockport, MA, there’s a fantasy quality to the scenes due to their pleasing rich colors, darkly outlined tall houses with some windows brightly lit and others dark, and a vivid blue ocean.
Scott is often painting in his studio and gallery on Bearskin Neck in downtown Rockport, happy to chat with patrons or work on a new painting. If you visit his gallery, as I often do, you may see the steps in his process that includes carefully planning a composition, outlining the elements in black on the canvas (which looks quite artful on its own), neatly dotting his painting palette with a rainbow of colors, and auditioning pigments on the canvas. He usually lays down a foundation of color and then tweaks it until he considers the look just right; conveying the feeling he has in mind.
His pottery reflects the same attention to detail—producing classically shaped forms whose surfaces are transformed by the types of firings that he does—saggar firing and slip resist raku.
Back to painting now. Scott’s paintings are a testament to the idea that you need to know the rules of perspective before you can break them. He expertly distorts perspective, making rooflines and structures inaccurate but very appealing, conferring a distinct look to his pieces. While Scott draws inspiration from the places he’s visited or lived, his compositions are not exactly of this world.
The first chapter of Scott’s professional artistic life was as a successful ceramicist, selling his pottery to galleries across the country and at professional art fairs. His pottery has been written about in magazines (including the New York Times) and three of his pieces are in the permanent collection of the Smithsonian. Life’s twists and turns brought him to Finland where he studied painting, which was not his plan (more about that in a few minutes). Later, it was working with George Anderson that brought Scott to Rockport, MA, and to ultimately open his own gallery at the downtown Bearskin Neck. Here’s our recent conversation.
Were you always drawing or engaged in art projects as a child?
I was. One of the first drawings I remember creating was when I was 6. It was the family fish tank with colorful fish. My mom saved it and framed it, and I have it now. It was actually pretty good.
I remember enrolling in a Jon Gnagy drawing course that they used to advertise in the back of Boy’s Life magazine. I guess I’m really dating myself now, but I loved learning the basics of drawing from that book. In high school, I would sometimes skip classes just to spend time in the crafts room making pots. I learned a lot by watching my crafts teacher throw on the wheel.
Let’s talk about your pottery, since that was the first chapter of your art career. You succeeded by creating a unique style of pottery—combining burnishing and saggar firing—two techniques that, as far as you know, had not been combined before. Are you still creating work in this technique and what is the process?
I am. First, I throw the form out of porcelain clay on the potter’s wheel, trim any excess clay, and let it dry. Once the piece is dry, I sand the surface smooth. At this point, it’s now ready to burnish. I sit with a bowl of water in front of me with the pot resting on a towel in my lap and rub water onto the surface repeatedly until it’s evenly wet. Then I take a very smooth stone and begin to rub the surface while pressing quite firmly, which compresses the particles of clay and makes the surface shine. After the first polishing, I rub olive oil onto the surface and burnish it again at a slight diagonal, which creates even more shine. I then let it dry and bisque fire it, which hardens it. Once it’s been bisque fired, I can either saggar fire or raku the piece.
Can you explain saggar firing—how you do it and what kind of appearance it creates?
A saggar is a clay container in the gas kiln. I place the pot inside the saggar upside down, and surround the piece with organic materials such as marsh grass (Spartina), sawdust, rust (iron oxide), salt, and cocoa shells. I pack these materials tightly around the pottery and when the kiln is fired and the materials burn, they create the colors and patterns on the surface. There is no glaze and the patterns are always unique to each piece. It’s always exciting when I open the kiln. It’s like getting presents [he smiles].
You focused on pottery early on. When did you start painting?
I did some painting in college but didn’t pursue it much after graduating, concentrating more on creating a successful pottery business. My wife at the time wanted to go back to school. She’s Finnish, and in Finland they have social education, so we decided to move ourselves and our two young boys to Finland for what we thought would be two years. It eventually turned into nine.
During that time, I applied for a master’s program in ceramics at the University of Helsinki and was waitlisted. At the suggestion of my mother-in-law, I applied to another art school—Taidekoulu Maa—and was accepted. They had wonderful teachers there and I became very passionate about painting. After graduating, I found a studio where I could paint and also work in clay. I had several shows of my work in Helsinki galleries and also did some teaching.
How do you approach painting?
I always start by sketching ideas in a sketchbook. When I find an idea I want to explore, I plan the composition very carefully. If a composition isn’t well balanced or interesting, it can never become a good painting. Once I’ve drawn a rough sketch, I draw it onto the canvas in charcoal and refine it a little more if needed. I spray a fixative on the drawing and if I’ll be enhancing the outlines in black paint, that’s what I do next.
When it comes to applying color, I usually don’t have any preconceived idea of what colors I’ll be using. I find that if you plan too much, you lose the spark that makes a painting interesting. The first colors I put on the canvas are experimental and I keep an eye on how they’re interacting with each other. With the second layer of color, I’m adjusting values or intensities or changing hues completely until I find the harmony and the feeling I’m looking for. I find that trusting my intuition works better than using color theories.
One of the things I love about painting, is that it’s so expressive of the person making it and what they happen to be experiencing in that moment, whereas clay for me, is more of a technical thing and not as expressive in the way that I use it.
You have been incorporating fantastic houses into your painting for a while. Was there an origin painting?
Yes. About the time I started featuring houses, I was working for George Anderson, who had a huge influence on my career. I was surrounded by his artwork, and he had created series’ of fishermen, and lobstermen, buoys, and kayaks—all these different motifs.
I was trying to find my own motif. One day I sketched a house from my imagination and it developed into my first house painting. I knew I was onto something, and I realized there were many different ways I could arrange and work with these simple forms.
The first houses were inspired by the memory of the view from our apartment in Helsinki. We were looking down onto the rooftops of other buildings and had a view of the sea. I continued to paint more houses, and they’ve morphed, but they’re still sticking to that higher vantage point and most of them include the sea.
How did you end up sharing a gallery with George Anderson?
I was living in Maine, teaching at Heartwood College of Art and working summers at the Beth Ellis gallery in Ogunquit, ME. I was looking for extra work, and George hired me to work in his Portland gallery. He also had a gallery in Rockport, and when he was in Portland he wanted me to be managing the gallery in Rockport. That was 15 years ago. He introduced me to Rockport.
Being surrounded by George’s work, which is very colorful, gave me permission and confidence to use more color in my own work. While I was working for George, I was able to paint when it wasn’t busy in the gallery. He also gave me a small wall and a front window in the gallery so I could sell my own work.
I worked for George for about four years, then felt it was time for me to open my own gallery and that’s when my current space became available. I knew right away it was the perfect spot. It has great flow, a wonderful space on the upper level to paint, and a great location on Bearskin Neck which has so much foot traffic in the summer. Working for George had given me so much experience and knowledge about how to run a successful gallery. [George sold the space on Main Street. It was briefly Pon the Store and is now the Sidoti Gallery].
What did you learn from George Anderson?
One of the most important things he taught me was about pricing my work. When I first started exhibiting my work in George’s gallery, he told me I needed to price my work the same as his. He didn’t want me underselling him. That gave me permission to raise my prices and I found that my work sold at those prices. It was huge to have the confidence to do that and to have George’s encouragement that my work was good enough.
What’s the best part of having a gallery here in Rockport?
I talk with just about everyone who comes into the gallery and I find that the people who appreciate art are such interesting people with interesting stories and sometimes we discover these connections. And if they decide to take some art home with them, wow! It’s always an honor when someone connects with a piece of art at a level where they want to live with a painting and look at it every day.
I’m lucky enough to have found a way to make it work here. It’s a wonderful town with so much art history. It’s a very welcoming artistic community. There is a certain type of person who’s attracted to this area—there are so many creative types here and I’ve found it’s one of the friendliest places I’ve ever lived.
I’ve admired your paintings for almost a decade. They seem to becoming more complex in terms of the relationships between objects.
I’ve always tried to keep my work simple. I feel when a painting has fewer objects, it’s more powerful. But lately, I’ve started to combine the houses and boats together while also adding other objects that make the picture space more full, but still I’m keeping it simple. In a lot of my recent work, I’m playing with two very different perspectives in the same painting that don’t necessarily make sense in reality but work well in the composition. You may not notice the discrepancy right away, but in your mind you sense something is off.
Archipelago is from my memories of Finnish summers. Most Finns have summer cottages and some of them are on islands in the archipelago. Most cottages have saunas, gardens, and outhouses. Summer in Finland is a very special time and the celebration of nature is a big part of the culture. A lot of my work is based on reality, and there’s a playful, childlike quality to it.
Some commissions have taken your work in new directions.
Yes. Probably about 20% of my work this year has been commissions and it’s forced me to work bigger. One commission of boats I did earlier this summer was a 5’ x 6’ painting for a customer in Ft. Worth, TX, and another was a 3 ½’ x 5’ painting for someone in Bainbridge Island, WA. Most of my commissions are either from my boat or house series’, but I’ve also been commissioned to paint more realistic scenes that push me out of my comfort zone. I did a painting of Halibut Point for a local couple. [Scott did not seem particularly enthusiastic when I asked him about painting completely different subjects such as motorcycles or busy airport runways, so he has his bottom line].
Is the Rockport coastline a commissioned work?
Yes. A local couple asked if I would create a painting of Front Beach, but using my houses rather than a realistic interpretation. I thought it was a wonderful idea to create a painting in my signature style that was based on something as recognizable as Front Beach.
How do you approach painting recognizable places but in your style?
It forced me to simplify the image and not necessarily follow what was really there, but to put in the important parts. I incorporated all the recognizable landmarks such as the beach, the hotel on the beach, the Shalin Liu, and the back of the Fish Shack restaurant. The couple wondered if I could paint their dog on the beach, so I put him in there too.
You mentioned Finland as a source of inspiration for your paintings. Are there other places in the world that are informing your art?
This spring, Diane [his life mate and studio mate] and I went to Italy and one of our favorite places was Cinque Terre. People have often come in the gallery and told me my paintings remind them of that group of towns. It was a magical place. There will be paintings coming out sometime soon that are inspired by it.
Part of your signature style is the distorted perspective of the roof lines.
Yes. When I first started painting the houses, I was inspired by Joseph Solmon. He did several paintings of Rockport [many Joseph Solman paintings can be viewed at Mercury Gallery in Rockport]. There was so much movement in his line and it was so expressive. If everything is straight and perfect, it doesn’t convey much feeling or emotion.
It doesn’t look like there’s a ruler in your studio.
No, everything I do is freehand.
You play with perspective.
I love playing with perspective. This painting of boats is a good example. Here at the bottom of the painting, you’re directly on top of the boats looking down, but as you move up the canvas the perspective changes slowly until you’re looking directly out to the horizon.
With our human eyes, we wouldn’t be able to take in this whole view all at once, but maybe if you were a fly you could. [He laughs]. It’s a different way of looking at it. I also like the idea of what it would look like if you were a bird flying over the scene. [I’m glad he didn’t say helicopter drone].
I’ve noticed that in some of the boat paintings, the ropes are taut and in others they are loose. Can we read any more into that?
You could. It’s also good to leave some things a mystery and let people put their own ideas into the work [Scott smiles].
Tell me about the painting of your dog.
When my dog Oliver died, I felt his spirit was still very much present because he was worried about me. I was a mess. I decided to paint a picture to let him know I was okay and to help release him from worrying about me. Usually, I spend a lot of time planning a composition, but this time, I just started painting and it all flowed so easily.
I painted him being welcomed to heaven by this big bird who is taking Oliver under his wing and saying, “This isn’t such a bad place. You’ve got your buddies across the way, there’s some shady spots, and you can cool off in the pond.” Oliver is listening, but he’s not quite sure he believes him. He’s never seen such a big bird. Painting that picture was so therapeutic to me and it let Oliver know it was okay to move on. Even though it was a sad occasion, it turned out to be a joyful painting.
You mentioned Joseph Solman as an influence. Who are other artists that you admire?
Henri Matisse and Milton Avery for their simplicity and color, Gauguin for his amazing sense of color, Marc Chagall for the playfulness and dreamlike quality of his work, and the powerful paintings of the Finnish painter, Akseli Gallen-Kallela.
I wonder about that first goldfish painting that you said your parents saved. Would you ever paint fish?
You know, I’ve done a lot with boats, and I’m looking for something new. Fish may be the direction. Everything I’ve painted has some connection to water.
You now share your gallery with the lovely Diane. She paints cows and animals in nature. Do you influence each other artistically?
We’re planning on creating a painting together. It’s a recipe for conflict or bonding [he smiles]. It’ll be a large painting, probably 3’ x 4’ of a cow standing in a boat looking at the viewer. It most likely will be a more detailed or slightly different boat than I normally paint. It’ll be fun to work on it together.
What kind of advice do you have for other artists, given the great lessons that you’ve learned?
It helps to have a mentor. Find a successful artist you admire and respect and arrange some way to work with or for them. George Anderson was my most important mentor and I also learned a lot from Beth Ellis, another artist I worked for in Ogunquit, Maine.
If you want to make a living in art, it’s important to find out what art buyers are interested in. The only way to do that is to get your work out in front of the public and find out what people think and see what sells. You need to find something that you like to paint and that the public wants to put on their walls and live with. It’s a compromise of sorts.
Is there a third art form that we haven’t seen in addition to your painting and pottery?
I do like to cook. My specialty is eggplant Parmesan. I’ve tried different recipes over the years, and so it’s a combination of all these recipes that I’ve put together to create my own version of eggplant Parmesan.
Tell me more.
I slice the eggplant and soak it in water for an hour or so [he doesn’t salt it]. I take the slices out of the water, dry them off, and roast them in the oven with a little olive oil. Then I make my own red sauce and layer the eggplant with some ricotta, parmigiano reggiano, mozzarella, and the sauce. [I ask if he will share the recipe and he admits it’s all from rote memory.]
Lightning round questions
Most memorable art viewing or museum visit experience. The Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg is pretty incredible. The Picasso Museum in Paris was spectacular. It’s housed in a beautiful building from the 1600’s and the museum has works from Picasso’s personal collection, which includes paintings by Cezanne, Gauguin, Matisse, Braque, and Renoir.
Favorite piece of art that you own. A large painting by a friend of mine, David Gordon. I traded a lot of burnished a saggar fired pottery for that piece. He probably has the largest collection of my work.
You're hosting a dinner party for six people living or dead. Who is coming and what are you serving? Gauguin, Joseph Solmon, Meryl Streep, Steve Martin because he is a collector and an interesting, funny person, David Hockney, and Marc Chagall. I would serve them eggplant Parmesan, garlic bread, a green salad, and tiramisu or berries and ice cream.
Most memorable meal. During our recent trip to Tuscany, Diane and I had dinner in a vineyard. The entire meal was exquisite. We had fresh baked bread with three different toppings, a garden souffle, and wild boar stew with mashed potatoes, and sauteed vegetables. The dessert was strawberry cake. They paired wines with the meal.
Palate & Palette menu
If Scott and Diane came to dinner, which they are invited to do, here’s what I would serve:
My mom’s curried green pea dip with seeded crackers
Farmstand caprese salad of heirloom tomatoes, corn, basil, and mozzarella
Okonomiyaki (vegetable pancakes inspired by a visit to Osaka)
Apple crisp
Where to find Scott Tubby
Scott Tubby Fine Art 26 Bearskin Neck, Rockport, MA
I love the whimsy in his paintings. They are joyous! I enjoyed the interview and am glad he resides here in Rockport!
Such an interesting combination
of disciplines in painting and pottery!