CAMBRIDGE — Goose Country Art & Frame will host exhibits by Bill Handley and Robert Tolley Dec. 5 through Dec. 31. Mr. Handley’s portraits in oil feature his most recent works of skipjacks and wooden boats. Mr. Tolley’s “Baskets” of the Chesapeake will be on exhibit Dec. 5. Both artists will be on hand from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Goose Country is located at 206 Dorchester Ave. in Cambridge.

Bill Handley’s first serious foray into art was under the direction of school art teachers Shirley Brannock and Robert Tolley. While playing music took precedent as a form of communication in Bill’s adult life, he “rediscovered” his artistic abilities through classes at the Dorchester Arts Center in Cambridge. There he was inspired by instructors Robert Seifert, a graduate of the Maryland Institute of Art and Margaret Hubbard.

Portraits In oil became his specialty and he received many awards locally and at the National Portrait Institute In Chicago. In the 1970s he began to earn his living in portraiture having completed portraits for doctors, lawyers and business folks living in Dorchester and Talbot counties. It was an honor for Bill to paint a portrait of his teacher Shirley Brannock and husband Earl.

A severe neurologic illness affecting Bill’s balance and coordination interrupted his career for 10 years. Dr. Hubert Fiery provided Bill free studio space in an abandoned building on Race Street during those years and suggested he sit amidst his art books and brushes until he found a way to create again. Bill’s sister-in-law Virginia gave Bill large sized crayons and coloring books and encouraged him to lay color down on pages.

Bill’s ability to create art returned. He experimented with sculpture but turned to oil pastels and soon found new inspiration in creating vivid colorful scenes of the natural world of Dorchester County. Most recently Bill is working on a series of art works capturing the spirit of skipjacks and other wooden boats.

Bill’s favorite artists are the impressionists especially Monet but he loves and is influenced by DaVincl and Salvador Dali. For Bill, art is a method of communicating but also a vehicle to incorporate light and symbolism to capture the essence of a subject and create an emotional response.

Bill lives on a farm on the Choptank River. He is married to Mary and has three sons, Chris, Brent and John.

For information call 410-228-4994.