LAW AND ART, rarely do the two meet. But an exhibit running through May 12 at the Mill Brook Gallery & Sculpture Garden in Concord features the art of three lawyers who, in their spare time, have become accomplished artists: oil painter Chris Calivas, sculptor Hugh Gibbons and watercolorist Bob Larsen.

Pam Tarbell, director of the Mill Brook Gallery, knew the three lawyer/artists and their work - her gallery hosted an exhibit for Gibbons several years ago - and decided to feature the three lawyers' artwork in an exhibit. "I knew they were all really good artists and committed to what they do. A lot of people undertake an endeavor part-time, but these guys are committed to their art and are excellent in their skills," Tarbell said.

Tarbell sees some parallel between the artist and lawyer. She believes that to be a good artist, one needs a lot of common sense, good judgement and decision-making skills - traits necessary to being an excellent attorney. But the attorneys see art and the law as worlds apart; art gives them the control that they often lack in their professional lives, they say.

Over the past five years, Chris W. Calivas has gradually worked to turn his avocation into his vocation. Where he once painted in his spare time while working full-time on his law practice in Dover, he now thinks of himself as a full-time painter who works part-time as a lawyer, mostly on real estate matters. He recently switched to of counsel status at Gregoire, Calivas, Morrison & Indorf, the law firm he helped found when he was admitted to the NH Bar in 1976.

"I spend about four to five hours painting every day," he said, speaking from his high-ceilinged, white-walled studio in a barn next to his North Berwick, Maine, home. Dozens of oil paintings, abstract but evocative landscapes, are hanging or leaning against the walls. Calivas said he works on a number of canvases at a time, painting in bold swaths of colors while classical music plays in the background and Kukla, a sandy-colored Corgi, pads about underfoot.

That's a far cry from the bustle of law practice, but the 50-year-old Calivas said the life of someone trying to make a living as an artist has its share of mundane tasks. "When I'm not painting, I'm spending time packing up works to ship to galleries, or contacting galleries to get my work shown - that's the kind of work you do to follow your passion," he said. His efforts are paying off - his works are regularly shown at the Ogunquit Art Association, a juried organization, and galleries in Portland, Maine and Cambridge, Mass. And he's looking forward to showcasing his work at the Mill Brook Gallery show. (Two Calivas paintings, including the January 2002 Environmental issue, have also graced the cover of NH Bar Journal.)

Calivas is a self-taught artist. Always interested in art, drawing and painting, he followed the more acceptable course for a Greek immigrant's son and pursued a professional career, graduating from Franklin Pierce Law Center and starting a law practice in Dover. His art remained on the fringes of his life until about 5 1/2 years ago, when he began painting seriously. He shadowed an artist friend who was painting landscapes outdoors, learning techniques and focusing on what he wanted to paint. Eventually, he began painting in a studio, inspired by scenery, but not bound to recreate it. His paintings do not attempt to be realistic. Skies can be pale yellow; hill-like shapes are varying shades of purple; his scenes have no trees but somehow do not appear barren. "My goal is not to paint literally what I see, but to express how what I see makes me feel, to convey the emotions from the scenery," Calivas explains.

He acknowledges that practicing law has become a means to support his painting, having happily succumbed to a greater attraction. "I enjoyed practicing law, and I feel it's a great profession," he says. "Now I have something I am more passionate about, and that's how I want to spend my time."

At about age 7, Hugh Gibbons, using his fingernails, carved and smoothed a piece of wood into his first sculpture. The son of an artist mother, Gibbons received much support for his artistic endeavors; his parents proudly displayed that sculpted piece of wood.

During his ensuing artistic career, Gibbons, a professor at Franklin Pierce Law Center for the last 27 years, made forays into boat building and making musical instruments, but he has returned to sculpture. He now carves alabaster by hand into abstract shapes and forms, playing on the stone's color and texture. About 25 of his sculptures will be exhibited at the lawyers/artists show at Mill Brook Gallery.

Gibbons grew up in the Chicago area and earned a law degree from Northwestern. He went into law practice in Chicago, primarily doing litigation. (He is still licensed to practice in Illinois.) He also taught economics during that time.

While building his law career, Gibbons also enjoyed an active art career in Chicago. His sculpture was exhibited at the Art Institute of Chicago and in some of the city's major galleries. He won first prize in the Chicago Bar Association's art show - although the competition wasn't all that stiff, he said.

In 1975, Gibbons and his family moved to New Hampshire, where he began teaching full-time at Franklin Pierce Law Center. He has taught a variety of courses during his 27-year teaching career at the law center, including torts, the law and economics, business associations, property, and other legal theory classes. He has also taught multi-media development classes, which focus on video and graphics; such classes give him a chance to flex his artistic muscles a bit in the classroom.

Teaching gives Gibbons summers to focus on his artistic career. He began his artistic foray with building - musical instruments, boats and houses - which he focused on until about five years ago. Teaching is also more closely related to art, Gibbons said, than the practice of law is. "Teaching is a more aesthetic, artistic endeavor than practicing law," he said. "The medium is the mind of a student; you're trying to change it, mold it. Teaching and art go well together."

Art and the law, however, are vastly different, Gibbons believes. "Art gives you control - you have complete control over the material. If what you do is horrible, you have no one to blame but yourself."

"The practice of law is much more equivocal. There are a lot of very skilled lawyers who don't win many cases; their success depends on so many outside factors. There are very different mentalities between the two disciplines," he said.

About five years ago, Gibbons returned to sculpting. He started with granite and marble, but because they are so hard, he had to use power tools to sculpt them. He preferred the peaceful - although time-consuming - process of sculpting with hand tools, as he used to do with wood, so he tried alabaster, a softer stone. He found the colors exciting and liked how the stone could be polished to a high shine, so it became his medium.

Gibbons said he typically doesn't have a subject in mind for his abstract sculpture, but rather a strategy. "I may put a hole through a piece of alabaster and then respond to what's left. The material tends to suggest something," he said.

Gibbons' work, which totals about 20 to 30 pieces a year, is exhibited in galleries in Keene, Portsmouth and Falmouth, Mass., where he spends his summers, as well as at Mill Brook Gallery. He said that he is successful at selling his pieces "unless my family lays claim to them first."

Perhaps best known for his watercolor paintings of local architecture, such as the State Capitol dome and the buildings of Canterbury Shaker Village, Bob Larsen began painting seriously about 12 years ago and has developed into a popular and talented local artist. His paintings have graced numerous covers of NH Bar Journal and time in his studio is often spent on commissioned works.

Larsen said that he has always been able to draw "reasonably well" and has "always enjoyed color." In the '80s, he began dabbling with pastels, which gave him the ability to sketch and use color, and he also illustrated some children's books. But he said he didn't have the time or direction to paint seriously until about 1990.

Larsen chose watercolor paint as his medium, and his subjects range from landscapes to portraits of homes to colorful scenes from the garden of his wife, NH state Sen. Sylvia Larsen. He has most recently been working on the garden scenes. At the core of his painting skill is his ability to draw, he said. "Drawing is the strength of a lot of what I do."

Larsen does several commissioned paintings a year and often paints pieces to donate to charity auctions, for groups such as Concord Hospital or Child & Family Services. Often those auctions lead to other commissioned work; people see his work and commission him to paint a particular scene or object for them.

Larsen's sun-filled studio in his Concord home is set up to do watercolors, but he recently took a class in oil painting at the NH Art Institute and has done a few oil still-life portraits. He said he would like to do more in oils, but "it's not easy to make the transition."

An attorney with Sulloway & Hollis since 1979, Larsen has always been a litigator, focusing mainly on medical malpractice defense. Over the years, juggling his career, family and civic activities has sometimes made it difficult for Larsen to find the time to devote to his art. He took a four-month sabbatical from practicing law a couple of years ago to paint, but decided against art as a career. "Painting is not as enjoyable as a primary occupation. It made more sense to keep it a hobby," he said.

Larsen said finding time to paint became somewhat easier when his children got older, but now there are the demands of being managing director of Sulloway & Hollis. "It's hard going home to paint after a long day," he said. "I used to come home and paint regardless of my mood; I learned not to do that." When he's really involved in a painting, Larsen dedicates about 20 hours a week to his art, he said.

The one similarity Larsen sees between an artist and a lawyer is the ability of both to "channel their emotions," he said. "They are both emotional endeavors. To be a great trial lawyer requires a great deal of emotion that needs to be channeled, the same as in painting."

But there, he said, the similarities end. Like Gibbons, Larsen feels that practicing law offers little control over an outcome, whereas in art, the artist can gain control over his medium. "I can beat myself up all day in the office, struggling to impose control, then go home to my studio and get it."

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