Rehoboth artist adds extra dimension to Mass. emblems

What do Dr. Seuss, a turkey, and a Boston cream doughnut all have in common?

They're all dealt with in sections of the Massachusetts General Laws, and they're all depicted in a unique collection of mixed-media paintings by Rehoboth artist Hollis Machala on display at the State House until the end of next week.

Machala's 26-piece "HEART of MA" series documents the state emblems of Massachusetts—like the official bug (ladybug), official cookie (chocolate chip), and official groundhog (Ms. G of MassAudubon) — but not just in flat acrylics.

Each painting "sort of jumps off the canvas to you," exhibit host Sen. Marc Pacheco said, because all of them incorporate chunks or chips of Roxbury puddingstone, the official state rock.

In Machala's portrait of Norman Rockwell (official artist of the commonwealth), a pipe extends from his lips toward the viewer thanks to three-dimensional lumps of puddingstone. And nuggets of puddingstone form the buttons on the Revolutionary War uniform of Deborah Samson (official state heroine).

The state symbols have been legislated by acts of the General Court for decades, like the state bird (Chickadee), designated in 1941; the state horse (Morgan), signed into law in 1970; and state reptile (garter snake), named by the Legislature in 2007.

But Machala's inspiration for her ambitious project came in 2020 — "in COVID times," as she put it — as the native Bay Stater was deciding to continue making her home in Massachusetts.

"I was basically just sitting out in my favorite puddingstone garden, which has two big rocks," she told the State House News Service, referring to a garden behind her studio. "The project is pretty personal for me. I wanted to pay homage to my own roots. And I was finally deciding to stay in the state, and so I wanted to kind of celebrate that with the big collection. I've known for years that puddingstone was the state rock, and so I was like, it would be really cool if every single painting had the rock in it and kind of tied it all together."

The Mount Ida College alumna ultimately opted to "put roots into one place" after enjoying travels afield.

"I think everybody needs a home and a place to really love. And people move away from where they live, and that's great, that's fine, but I hadn't decided yet. It was just something that — I really want to stay here now," Machala said.

It also represented a chance to build on her mixed-media works, after completing a painting for a nonprofit a few years ago that featured real guitar strings, and some private commissions that incorporated "personal artifacts" like jewelry.

Those real items mixed in with the acrylics add a "connection to the story that they want to tell through the painting," she said.

The series of Massachusetts symbol paintings is on public view in the Senate Lobby (with a couple larger works in Room 428) until Friday, April 26. They're all available — either originals or prints — for sale on the artist's website.

"When I look at the works that are there, I've just been amazed and impressed with what I have seen. Because each piece sort of jumps off the canvas to you," Pacheco, the Senate's dean who is retiring at the end of this term, told the State House News Service. He added, "These emblems actually teach us a lot about what is going on in a lot of our history in the commonwealth."

According to Pacheco, staff who regularly work around the Senate Lobby held an "informal vote" on the best art exhibit they had seen in that space — "and [Machala] won."

Not pictured among the 26 state icons, at least not yet, is the newest Bay State symbol.

Last term, the Legislature and Gov. Charlie Baker crowned the Podokesaurus holyokensis — the swift-footed lizard that lived millennia ago in what's now Holyoke — as the state's official dinosaur.

Will any new emblems find favor in this General Court?

Quahogs: a pastime to dig for, and a pastime to enjoy in a New England clam chowder. A Pacheco bill would pick the humble quahog as the Bay State's official shellfish.

The Joint Committee on State Administration gave that proposal (S. 2049) a favorable report the day before Thanksgiving in 2023. Since then, it's been stuffed in the Senate Rules Committee.

The Taunton Democrat has been filing his quahog bill since 2009, initially with a group of students who are now "in the workplace somewhere," he said. With around eight months left in office, he said, "We'll see what we can do."

"None have the history that the quahog does. Because when we look at the quahog, it goes way back to the beginning of the Pilgrims actually coming here to a new world. And that was one of the things that was traded, very early in our history," Pacheco said.

Machala decided to stay in Massachusetts, but her upcoming projects have her eyeing the rest of the northeast. She said she hopes to create a collection of mixed-media art for every other New England state.

She's already started on Rhode Island, which is just a town away from her Rehoboth home, with a 40x60 painting of the Ocean State's official tree, the red maple. That series will use Rhode Island's rock of choice, Cumberlandite, "which is really cool because it has a magnetic effect to it," she said.

After Rhode Island, she's considering tackling Maine, where the state rock is actually a gemstone, Tourmaline. Stockpiling enough Tourmaline to spread through her paintings could pose a potential challenge, but Machala isn't fazed.

"I love challenges," she said.