Christine Labich

As a landscape painter in a part of the world she cherishes—the Valley—Christine Labich has an affinity for groups like the Kestrel Trust, which works to preserve the open space that has long drawn artists and others captivated by natural beauty to Western Massachusetts. "I feel a responsibility to support local land trusts," she says. When painting local vistas, she says, "It's rare that I don't have to block out a house that wasn't there the year before." If you travel the back roads of the Valley, particularly around Amherst, Labich may show up in one of your landscapes: "People might have seen me by the side of the road. I paint in a straw hat—in some really beautiful places."