Small Works. Bold Color. Big Impact.

Three artists, three approaches to color, and a reminder that great art doesn’t need a large canvas.

Color has a way of changing everything.

A room. A mood. A moment.

A flash of orange against deep blue. An unexpected patch of pink. A familiar building transformed by an almost impossible shade of green.

Color can make us feel something before we’ve even worked out what we’re looking at.

And while we often associate bold artwork with grand proportions, some of the most compelling expressions of color happen on a surprisingly small scale.

At SQUIRREL, three artists explore this idea in distinctly different ways. Shelagh Costello builds color through layers. Eva Cincotta captures it through light and paint. Stanton Sears gives it form.

Their approaches are different, but each demonstrates how a little artwork can command a remarkable amount of attention.

 

Shelagh Costello: Color in Layers

There’s an extraordinary amount happening within Shelagh Costello’s six-inch-square compositions.

A nationally recognized textile designer and mixed media artist, Shelagh brings her understanding of pattern, rhythm, and composition to an entirely different surface.

Using her own handmade papers, she builds small collages filled with overlapping shapes, unexpected color combinations, and beautifully tactile surfaces.

       

Each fragment contributes something to the whole. Some colors seem to advance, others recede. Shapes overlap, creating movement and visual tension, while carefully considered relationships keep the compositions balanced.

The results are exuberant without feeling chaotic.

One small piece can introduce a spark of color to a bookshelf or gallery wall. Several arranged together become something entirely different—a rhythmic composition that draws the eye from one work to the next.

It’s a reminder that color is not simply something an artist applies. It’s something an artist composes.

 

Eva Cincotta: When Familiar Forms Become Color

For Eva Cincotta, color offers a fresh way of experiencing the Vermont landscape.

Known for her paintings of rural roads, hillsides, and barns, Eva has spent years observing the region’s distinctive architecture and changing light.

In this series, she brings us closer to the barns themselves.

       

By cropping away much of the surrounding landscape, she allows the buildings’ shapes, angles, and surfaces to become the primary subjects. Rich, luminous colors transform familiar structures into striking compositions.

A barn is no longer simply a barn. Its walls become expanses of color. A roofline creates a bold diagonal. Light and shadow establish relationships between hues that might otherwise go unnoticed.

There’s an interesting balance between recognition and abstraction. We know exactly what we’re looking at, yet the paintings invite us to appreciate the forms and colors independently of the buildings they describe.

Eva reminds us that even the most familiar subjects can surprise us when we look at them differently.

 

Stanton Sears: Color Takes Shape

Stanton Sears approaches color from an entirely different direction.

An installation artist whose large-scale public works have appeared in spaces across the country, Stanton also creates smaller works from his studio in Danby, Vermont.

His Chromatic Dwellings are charming little architectural studies: wooden house forms painted in saturated colors, each with its own personality.

       

There’s something immediately appealing about their simplicity. A roofline, a rectangular body, a confident application of color.

Yet when several are placed together, interesting relationships emerge. Colors begin to converse. Shapes repeat. A little village develops its own visual rhythm.

They’re playful, certainly, but there’s also a thoughtful exploration of architecture, repetition, and the relationship between color and form.

Unlike a painting, these objects occupy physical space. They cast shadows, change with the light, and invite us to appreciate them from different angles.

Small in scale, but full of character.

A Little Color Goes a Long Way

One of the pleasures of collecting smaller artwork is the freedom it offers.

A small painting doesn’t require a vast wall. A collage can enliven an unexpected corner. A colorful object can bring personality to a shelf already filled with books, ceramics, and collected treasures.

         

And colorful art doesn’t need to match the room around it.

Sometimes the most interesting choice is precisely the one that introduces a little surprise—a bold hue against a neutral wall, an unexpected color among familiar objects, or a playful composition that interrupts an otherwise quiet space.

What matters is not the size of the work, but the energy it brings.

A layered composition. A Vermont barn transformed by color. A tiny wooden dwelling with an unexpectedly big personality.

Three artists. Three different approaches.

And one rather wonderful reminder: great art doesn’t need to be large to make an impression.

Explore the work of Shelagh Costello, Eva Cincotta, and Stanton Sears at SQUIRREL art + gathered goods in Manchester, Vermont.