May Stevens was born in Boston and grew up in Quincy. She received her B.F.A. from the Massachusetts College of Art.

She also studied in Paris and then New York City, where she was a major force in the feminist art movement in the 1970s.

Known as a political and social activist, her work deals with issues related to peace, human rights, and personal experience.

Stevens was married to the late artist/activist Rudolph Baranik and currently lives in Santa Fe.

In a 2005 exhibit at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, titled The Water Remembers, Stevens’s waterscapes were described as

“personal expressions, laden with memories, emotions, and associations of loss and absence.” The Beach at Connemara is

reminiscent of her time spent in Connemara, Ireland. Three boats row in to the water’s edge; all the paddlers’ faces are

obscured by shading. The blue expanse is undefined; it appears as if they are floating in from the vast unknown toward

something more definite and clear—they are rowing in toward the light. Stevens uses flowing waters as a metaphor for

her childhood memories, here in a seven-color lithograph. This print was purchased in memory of Helen Pollard,

founder of the Rye Arts Study Group, through gifts from its members.