COASTAL MAINE
DESTINATION COASTAL MAINE
Michael Weymouth, Spruce Island Shore, 2018, oil on canvas 12 x 24". At The Turtle Gallery.
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or hundreds of years, artists have been inspired by Maine’s remarkable natural beauty and maritime history. The state’s quaint towns, majestic mountains and spectacular shoreline are featured prominently in works by world-famous artists such as Frank Benson, Thomas Cole, Marsden Hartley, Winslow Homer, Edward Hopper, the Wyeth family and many more. Artist colonies and retreats as well as visual arts schools are a year-round presence, making the arts an economic engine as well as part of everyday life in the Pine Tree State. In Maine, you can observe art as well as experience it. Start your “artinerary” of Maine in the southern town of York, at the George Marshall Store Gallery. Housed in a former 19th-century general store, the art gallery hosts exhibitions by established and rising regional contemporary artists. This summer’s shows include At Ease: Invited New England Artists (July 14–August 19). “It’s about being comfortable, relaxed and being at ease,” says gallery director Mary P. Harding.
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The show includes figurative works by George Lloyd and a solo show of colorful abstract paintings by Ann Trainor Domingue. A second show, opening August 25, features paintings by Lisa Noonis and Carter Wentworth, art from found objects by Dan Dowd, bronze sculpture by Ernest Montenegro, as well as contemporary photography by California photographer Lucas Foglia. A short drive away, in York Village, is Rocky Mountain Quilts, where owner and fabric expert Becky Telford-Goodwin exhibits and sells a dazzling array of antique quilts. More than 700 quilts, all made before 1950, are for sale in her antique barn. A wide range of styles are displayed including pieces from Hawaii, rare quilts sewn by African-American women as well as 18th-century New Englanders. “These are highquality quilts sought by collectors and typically hung for display,” says Telford-Goodwin, who travels internationally to lecture and is an expert on textile research and restoration. From York, wind your way along the picturesque Maine coast to Ogunquit, a resort
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town aptly nicknamed “beautiful place by the sea” and a destination for artists since the 19th century. The Ogunquit Museum of American Art, overlooking Perkins Cove, is devoted exclusively to exhibiting, preserving and interpreting American art. This summer, the museum’s permanent collection has been rehung; select works are organized into the exhibit View of Narrow Cove, highlighting “the beautiful area around the museum,” according to Michael Mansfield, the museum’s executive director and chief curator. Opening July 31 is Lois Dodd: Drawings and Paintings, highlighting the 90-year-old painter’s work from the 1950s and 1960s. Simultaneously on view is Boundaries, a collaboration by poet Richard Blanco and landscape photographer Jacob Bond Hessler, exploring race, gender, class and ethnicity in America. Opening July 12 is Bill Viola: The Fall Into Paradise, a digital cinema installation that explores transformation from emotional, philosophical and spiritual perspectives. Continue driving north along Route 1 into
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COASTAL MAINE the bustling town of Wells. Look carefully and you’ll notice contemporary outdoor sculpture dotting a large lawn outside of a gray Colonial home and barn that is The Corey Daniels Gallery. Summer shows include Letting Yourself Go, by painter Philip Brou (July 7–August 4). “It’s based on Homer’s Odyssey and features a series of meticulously rendered paintings set within an installation environment built and installed by the artist,” says co-director and curator Sarah Bouchard. Simultaneously running in an adjacent space are sculptural works and drawings by James Marshall. Beginning August 11, the gallery showcases the evocative work of painter Tom Hall. Further up Route 1 are the resort communities of Kennebunk and Kennebunkport. The
area’s iconic seashore is the subject of contemporary landscape painter Julie Houck, a former photographer who works in oils and encaustics. She’s a guest artist from July 31–August 6 at Pop Up on Maine Art Hill in the Maine Art Hill Studios in Kennebunk. “The show features landscapes and coastal scenes, and marshlands with luminous skies,” she says. “They’re contemporary interpretations of coastal Maine.” Venture a short distance to Hurlbutt Designs or a few minutes further, into Kennebunkport, to Mast Cove Gallery to view captivating largescale monoprints by Susan Amons. A resident of nearby Biddeford, Amons sets birds, snowy owls, fish and a variety of wildlife against subtle, multi-tonal backgrounds. “I go into the field with my sketchbooks, paints and drawing pads,
then create watercolor sketches that I bring back to the studio to work with,” she says. Amons’ work can also be found at the Courthouse Gallery in Ellsworth and in permanent collections at the Portland Museum of Art, the Farnsworth Art Museum and the New York and Boston Public Libraries, among other places. Speaking of Biddeford, if you’re planning a September visit to the area, mark your calendar to see Influx, an experiential art installation at the Pepperell Mill Campus in the city’s historic mill district. Produced by the AUTUS Collective, a group providing opportunities for area artists to participate in art exhibitions, installations and more, Influx is “a great opportunity to explore the old textile mill as well as roam the campus and experience art,” says AUTUS
JILL HOY GALLERY
CONTEMPORARY ART CYNTHIA WININGS GALLERY 24 PARKER POINT ROAD BLUE HILL 917 2 0 4 4 0 01 C Y NTHI A W ININ G S G A LLER Y.CO M
80 Main Street,
Stonington, Maine Open Daily 11–5 | July 1 - October By appointment & chance through November
www.jillhoy.com 207.367.2368 | 207.367.2777 jahoy1@gmail.com
50 Art New England J u l y / A u g u s t
2018
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ON VIEW AT THE INSTITUTE OF CONTEMPORARY ART AT MAINE COLLEGE OF ART COASTAL MAINE
Eric Gottesman, Tourist Police (cropped), 2013, Pigment Print
Making Migration Visible: Traces, Tracks & Pathways brings together a dynamic group of contemporary artists whose work engages the theme of migration. Organized by the Institute for Contemporary Art at Maine College of Art, this exhibition will be accompanied by a wide range of events about migration, immigration, and border crossing hosted by collaborating partner organizations throughout the state including a one-day public symposium on Friday, November 2, 2018. Visit meca.edu/traces for detailed schedule and more information about the exhibition. For more information contact ica@meca.edu or 207.699.5025 Hours: Wednesday–Sunday, 11:00am–5:00pm, Thursday 11:00am–7:00pm 522 | PORTLAND S P CONGRESS E C I A L A DSTREET V E R T I S I N G S E C T ME, I O N04101 | meca.edu/ica | 800.699.1509
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COASTAL MAINE organizer Sarah Baldwin. Participating artists include Adriane Herman, who creates sculptures using recycled objects; oil painter Jarid del Deo, who will create a catalog of colors and textures representing colors found in the mill; and trompe l’oeil and papier-mâché scenes by Julie K. Gray, inspired by her grandmother’s treasured domestic mementos. Venture across the river from Biddeford into Saco and stop by The Dyer Library/Saco Museum, cultural institutions jointly serving the coastal community. The Dyer Library’s special collections feature books and documents related to Maine history and genealogy. The Saco Museum, a regional museum of fine and decorative arts and artifacts, opened its summer exhibition, Buried in Time: Hidden Stories from Laurel Hill
Cemetery, on June 23. The exhibition includes portraits, photographs and personal objects associated with individuals and families buried in the rural cemetery, which closely mimics the famed Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, MA. The exhibit coincides with the publication of Laurel Hill Cemetery of Saco, Maine, a book about the cemetery by Leslie Rounds, executive director of the Dyer Library/Saco Museum, and her son, Emory Rounds. A short drive away, in North Saco, is Two Diamond Artfarm, featuring four acres of art integrated with the farm’s fields and woods. The former working farm is owned by sculptor and artist Patrick Pierce, who’s turned the large horse barn into a gallery and work space. He welcomes visitors to the studio during the
summer and to stroll around the property, dotted with up to 40 of his sculptures. “I describe my sculpture as visible jazz,” notes Pierce, a poet who took up sculpture, he says, to create a physical manifestation of his thoughts. “I sometimes feel like I’m working in forms in frozen motion; they’re a captured vitality.” From North Saco, it’s a quick trip into Portland, Maine’s largest city and vibrant cultural hub. Starting August 3, The Institute of Contemporary Art at the Maine College of Art (ICA at MECA), based in the downtown arts district, features Curious Nature/2018 Alumni Triennial Exhibition. The show brings together a diverse group of artists, all graduates of MECA, inspired by the natural world. Guest curator and MECA graduate Shannon Rankin selected 15
We’re celebrating our 50th anniversary with... Andrew Wyeth, Rockwell Kent, George Bellows, Louise Nevelson, James Fitzgerald, Robert Henri, and more!
PETREA NOYES
The Blue Dahlia, digitally liquified painting, 40 x 40".
petienoyes@aol.com • petreanoyes.com
monheganmuseum.org 207.596.7003
Turtle Gallery
Blue Tang, 2018, oil on canvas, 24" x 24".
Kathleen Galligan: Immersions July 27-August 18
Fine Art, Sculpture & Contemporary Crafts
reception: july
Rt 15, Deer Isle, Maine 207 348.9977
littlefieldgallery.com 207. 963.6005
Open: June 17 Ð Oct 1 Tues Ð Sat: 10 Ð 5:30 Sun: 2 Ð 6; closed Mon call for spring & fall hours
28, 4-6
South for Winter
digital print by Peter Kemble
TheTurtle Gallery.com person @ turtlegallery.com
52 Art New England J u l y / A u g u s t
Open daily, 11:00 am-5:30 pm May 26—October 9 and by appointment
~Celebrating the essence of Maine through contemporary art~
2018
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COASTAL MAINE Jill Hoy, Fireworks, Stonington, Maine, oil on canvas, 48 x 36". Courtesy of Jill Hoy. Photo: Ken Woisard Photography.
artists whose work includes original painting, printmaking, photography, sculpture, ceramics, metalwork and installation. “It’s a thought-provoking show and the artists selected already had a sensibility around its theme,” says Erin Hutton, MECA’s director of exhibitions and special projects. MECA also recently received a major $40,000 Art Works grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to support its fall exhibition, Making Migration Visible: Traces, Tracks & Pathways, a look at works around the themes of migration, immigration and border crossing. North of Portland, you’re venturing into what’s commonly known as midcoast Maine, a region of quaint seaside towns and breathtaking ocean scenery. In downtown Bath, stop at The Green Lion Art Gallery, which features works by New England printmakers. Beginning June 15, the gallery features abstract paintings and assemblage by Bath artist Brown Lethem and paintings and sculpture by his longtime student and collaborator Judy O’Donnell of Portland. “It’s an eclectic show that plays on their relationship,” says David Morgan, artist and gallery owner. From July 20–August 17, the gallery highlights work by Peregrine Press, a Portlandbased fine arts printmaking cooperative. As you head further east, take a scenic detour through Boothbay Harbor to Mathias Fine Art in the small town of Trevett. Featuring museum-quality contemporary art, the gallery celebrates 2018 as the Year of the Bird with the aptly-named exhibition Birds. Running through August 5, Birds is a group show featuring fantasy bird sculptures by artist Kimberly Callas, black and white photos of birds by Mike Culver, and colorful mixed media on canvas by Brigitte Keller. From August 15 through late fall, the gallery features a solo show of paintings by 88-year-old artist Brenda Bettinson. “Her sense of handling paint is phenomenal,” says gallery owner Cordula Mathias. “She’s a consummate painter and a very passionate artist. This series is about World War I and its repercussions. She has a personal connection because her father was a British soldier during the war.” Head back through Boothbay to the next peninsula and the pretty town of Damariscotta. Through early July, River Arts Gallery features its annual member show, including the compel-
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ling work of Petrea Noyes. The Lincolnville artist uses colors or forms that appeal to her as a basis for each piece and uses a digital drawing tablet to repeat and create unexpected shapes. Although she uses a computer and digital printer to generate her work, she builds her pieces as she would a conventional painting. “Colors and shapes inspire me,” she says. “I just rearrange them, take a bit from here and there and stitch things together.” Noyes’ work is also featured this summer in a show at the First Street Gallery in Manhattan. Your next stop is the Heywood Gallery, in Waldeboro. Owned by painter Anne Heywood, the gallery is on the first floor of a rambling brick house that once was home to two Maine governors. “That history marries well with my realist work,” says Heywood. “My work makes people think.” Her paintings are modern interpretations of seemingly ordinary objects—an orange plastic float adrift in a lake, the wake of a power boat, even a still life of vegetables. She also does pet portraiture that reflects the personalities of her subjects. From Waldeboro, it’s a quick side trip off Route 1 to 26 Split Rock Cove in South Thomaston. This oceanfront artists’ retreat owned by artist and poet Sandy Weisman features summer workshops in art and writing. Visiting
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artists rent the site’s studio space and adjacent apartment; visitors are welcome to chat with the artists. In July, California painter Susan Levin will be in residence, creating paintings inspired by the Maine coast. In August, Sharon McCartney, a printmaker, painter and fiber artist from western Massachusetts, will be on-site as will encaustic painter Barb Cone. For hands-on creativity, there’s an Artist Book Intensive, led by Weisman and artists Abbie Read and Cynthia McGuirl, August 3–5. Head northeast to Rockland, where art coexists vibrantly with the town’s traditional fishing industry. Just off Main Street is the CRAFT Gallery, where owner Barbara Michelena exhibits work that shows “there’s no dividing line between fine art and fine craft.” The works at CRAFT are one-of-a-kind and displayed in a gallery, not retail, setting. During July, an
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COASTAL MAINE exhibition titled The Teapot: Real and Imagined features functional and non-functional creations inspired by teapots. Participating potters and ceramics artists include Jacques Vesery, Autumn Cipala, Jody Johnstone and Simon van der Ven. In August, the gallery presents its annual Black and White Show, featuring glass, textiles, pottery, jewelry and more, all in black and white. Cross Main Street to reach the Center for Maine Contemporary Art (CMCA), which highlights the contemporary works of artists with ties to Maine. Three summer exhibitions “shift away from showing our traditional oil paintings and photography,” says Sam Vail, CMCA’s director of marketing and development. Through October 7 is Tom Burckhardt/Studio Flood, a walkin installation in cardboard and black paint that
re-imagines his studio after a catastrophic flood. Through October 14 is Jocelyn Lee/The Appearance of Things, featuring Lee’s florid still life, portrait, and landscape photographs that explore our embodied and ephemeral worlds and the passage of life from birth through death. The gallery’s final summer show, John Bisbee/American Steel, features Bisbee’s striking sculptures, created from forged and welded nails, that offer a pointed commentary on current events (through October 14). Wind your way up the coast to the picturesque town of Camden. If you enjoy photography, call ahead to Tillman Crane Photography for a visit (this summer, they’re open by appointment only). A photographer for more than 40 years, Crane is a master of platinum/palladi-
um prints. His stunning images create a unique sense of place in the everyday locations where he lives and teaches. It’s not surprising that he’s a sought-after teacher and workshop leader. Next stop is the coastal town of Belfast, where the Maine Farmland Trust Gallery (MFTG) celebrates agriculture through art, attracting artists that share a love of the state’s rural heritage. The gallery’s Summer Stable Show, running through August 31, is “a really fun show that refers both to a stable of animals and the stable of artists we work with,” says gallery curator Anna Witholt Abaldo. The group show features 22 artists including the collages and figurative work of Sara Gagan, oil and wax paintings by Sheep Jones, landscape paintings by Lou Schellenberg and the vivid paintings of
65th ANNiversArY exhibitiON seAsON
LOIS DODD: DRAWINGS AND PAINTINGS
July 14 - October 31
SUSANAMONS.com samons@maine.rr.com Courthouse Gallery George Marshall Store
Mast Cove Gallery Hurlbutt Designs
Lois Dodd, Moose, 1958, oil on linen, 32 x 42 in. © Lois Dodd, courtesy Alexandre Gallery, New York
ogunquitmuseum.org
tillmancrane.com
platinum & palladium prints • exhibition portfolios ready to travel industrial/landscape/still life/u.s./asia/scotland 54 Art New England J u l y / A u g u s t
2018
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A Group Exhibition, running through July 21 and including abstract landscapes by painters Ingrid Ellison and David Hornung; ordinary objects painted by Jen Maloney; mixed media by Patricia Wheeler, and more. Visual Breathing (July 22– August 18), includes abstract paintings by Anna Dibble and Diane Green; mixed media by M P Landis; abstract drawings and paintings by Ben Potter and Lari Washburn. Expectations of Place opens August 19, featuring paintings by Jenny Brillhart, Christine Lafuente, Carol Pelletier, and Diane Bowie Zaitlin; etchings by Carrie Scanga; sculpture by John Wilkinson, and more. Close by is the Blue Hill Bay Gallery, housed in an 1820 brick home. The fine art gallery displays realist, contemporary and impressionist works by nationally recognized
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featuring the work of American Realist Anne Heywood
O R
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Come join us August 6 - 10, 2018
The Monhegan House Watercolor Workshop
on beautiful Monhegan Island, Maine
Symphony in Blue & Orange, pastel, 23" x 35"
921 Main Street, Waldoboro, ME 508.982.6166
anne@anneheywood.com | anneheywood.com
and emerging artists as well as historical Maine landscapes from the 19th and early 20th centuries and owner Peter LaFreniere’s nature photographs. “We like to tell a story with our collection,” LaFreniere says. “We focus on showing landscapes and the landscape of New England.” Plein air landscapes from every season are the focus of the gallery’s July/August show, Maine for All Seasons; the show includes the plein air paintings of Lincolnville artist Stefan Pastuhov. Hop back in the car for one of the area’s most scenic drives, from Blue Hill to the Turtle Gallery on picturesque Deer Isle. This is the gallery’s 36th season showing fine art and crafted sculpture by New England artists, many of whom summer on Deer Isle. From July 15– August 11, the gallery features Wood Work and
“September, Monhegan” by James Fitzgerald
Christopher O’Connor. The MFTG also owns the Joseph A. Fiore Art Center, at picturesque Rolling Acres Farm on Damariscotta Lake. Stroll the meadows, wander down to the lake or take in the exhibition of Fiore’s contemporary art in the farmhouse. Outdoor performances are offered as well. From Belfast, it’s a scenic drive to Blue Hill, a quaint town on the Penobscot Peninsula. Housed in a former barn, the Cynthia Winings Gallery features thought-provoking narrative and figurative work, Maine landscapes, as well as abstract and conceptual art. Once owned by artist Judith Leighton, the gallery continues its mission to showcase contemporary works by established and emerging artists. The gallery’s sixth season includes The Invention of Atmosphere:
Plein air landscape painting with watercolor paints. All skill levels are welcome. FMI: visit monheganhouse.com for course, room rates and information on the inn or contact Xaque Gruber at: xaquetv@yahoo.com or 323-547-1188 to sign up today. Spaces are limited to 15 artists.
Et in Spiritum – June 29 – September 28
… discover what motivates these talented artists - c r e at i v e l y, e m o t i o n a l l y, spiritually
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Studio Furniture
Joseph McGurl, Top of the World, Acadia, oil on panel, 16 x 20".
1 1 1 2 Mai n St ., S omes v i l l e, ME | 2 0 7 - 2 4 4 - 1 1 6 5 | w w w.g a l le r yats ome ss ound.com
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COASTAL MAINE Paintings, featuring wooden sculpture by Chris Joyce and furniture by Eben Blaney as well as paintings by Michael Weymouth and Larry Moffet. The second show, Pastels and Watercolor, running August 12–25, features the plein air watercolors of Marjorie Glick and colorful pastels by Galen Davis. The final show, Japanese Hanga Prints, opening August 26, highlights the work of New Hampshire artist Matt Brown; Brown uses traditional Japanese materials and techniques to create his woodblock prints. “At the end of the summer season, three of the artists we’ve featured—Matt Brown, Marjorie Glick and MaJo Keleshian—will conduct workshops at the gallery,” says gallery owner Elena Kubler. “The workshops are a new focus for us.” Continue to the very end of Deer Isle to
the fishing village of Stonington, home to the Jill Hoy Gallery. Hoy, who divides her time between Stonington and Somerville, MA, creates colorful plein air oil paintings representing Maine’s Penobscot Bay region, where she spends summers. “The plein air works are vital, energized paintings that are resonant of place,” Hoy says. “This area has such extraordinary light and forms to paint.” During the winter, when she’s in Massachusetts, Hoy focuses on figurative narratives and portraits, inspired by the city and places she visits. Her landscapes and figurative work are both displayed at her Stonington gallery, which is open daily through September 15. After taking in scenic Stonington, head northeast to Ellsworth. The Courthouse Gal-
lery Fine Art, housed in two, stately Greek Revival buildings, showcases contemporary art, sculpture and photography by a variety of Maine artists. In early July, the gallery celebrates landscape painter Philip Frey. A solo show of Frey’s work runs through July 14. “On July 7, we’re celebrating a new hardcover book about Philip Frey written by Daniel Kany and Carl Little,” says gallery owner Karin Wilkes. “We’re hosting a book signing as well as a talk by the artists and both authors.” The gallery hosts another book launch July 25, for painter William Irvine, in conjunction with his solo show of oil paintings from July 18–August 12 (a second solo exhibition, paintings by Colin Page, runs simultaneously). Additional shows opening August 15 include ethereal photo-based, digital
Betsey Telford-Goodwin’s Rocky Mountain Quilts George Lloyd, Composition with Lamp and Iron, 1971, o/c, 38.5 x 49.5”
American Antique Quilts and Textiles for Sale c.1780 - 1950
Patrick Pierce
Quilt Restoration • Appraisals • Hand Washing rockymountainquilts.com • 207-363-6800 130 York St., York, ME • Open year round
free range sculpture Saco, ME | PatrickPierce.com | #artfarm
July 14 - August 19
George Lloyd / Ann Trainor Domingue & At Ease - Invited New England Artists
George Marshall Store Gallery
J ul ie
Contemporary maine artists
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Contemporary Landscapes
Jeffery Becton, Off Spirit Ledge, digital montage, 25 x 78 inches
Courthouse Gallery Fine Art
Ellsworth, Maine
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courthousegallery.com
207 667 6611
N o r t h Ya r m o u t h , M a i n e 8 0 8 . 2 8 0 . 6 0 8 3 | w w w. j u l i e h o u c k . co m
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maine BLUE HILL Blue Hill Bay Gallery Cynthia Winings Gallery ROCKLAND CMCA CRAFT Gallery SACO Two Diamond Artfarm Saco Museum/Dyer Library
Petrea Noyes
Colby College Museum of Art
The Gallery at Somes Sound Littlefield Gallery
Green Lion Gallery
Heywood Gallery
Julie Houck
Mathias Fine Art ICA at MECA
Star Gallery Turtle Gallery Jill Hoy Gallery Maine Farmland Trust Gallery Tillman Crane Photography 26 Split Rock Cove MONHEGAN Monhegan Art Museum Monhegan House
Corey Daniels Gallery Ogunquit Museum
YORK George Marshall Store Gallery Rocky Mountain Quilts
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Courthouse Gallery
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BIDDEFORD AUTUS Collective Susan Amons
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montages by Jeffrey Becton; Fruitful Wanderings, abstract plein air landscapes by Linda Packard, and Inspired by Light, landscape paintings by Joseph Keiffer. Drive south to famed Mt. Desert Island and wind your way to The Star Gallery in Northeast Harbor. The gallery celebrates the rich artistic diversity of the island and its artists, as well as artists from the U.S. and beyond. Beginning July 5, the gallery has new shows opening every two weeks, featuring up to three different artists, throughout the summer. “I try to combine paintings or drawings with three-dimensional objects in our shows,” says owner Katherine Bucklin. This season includes displays of turned wooden bowls created by David Lancaster; abstract landscapes by Stephen Dinsmore; stunning landscapes on folding screens by David LaPalombara; evocative nature sculptures by Digby Veevers-Carter; watercolors and oil paintings by Julia Powell; and abstract-expressionist works by Robert Neuman. Head north out of Northeast Harbor, to The Gallery at Somes Sound, on scenic Somes Sound. The waterfront gallery—a destination for art lovers and boaters who tie up to a nearby mooring to visit—features paintings, studio furniture, and sculpture by contemporary artists with national reputations. The gallery’s six summer shows fall under the broad theme of Et in Spiritum (the spirit within). “We want visitors to connect with the artists through their works,” says gallery owner Tyra Hanson. “Art should give people a sense of peace, especially if they connect on an emotional level.” Showing through July 13 is We Are One, featuring bronze, ceramic, stone and glass wildlife sculptures by Serena Bates and Sarah Seabury Ward. July 14–27, master painters Donald Demers, William Hoyt, and Joseph McGurl share their love of land and sea in For the Love of Land and Sea. Landscape painters Anne Ireland and Graham Dougherty share their connections to the intensity, temperature and value of light in The Intimacy Between Space and Color. Ireland’s work is featured July 28–August 10; Dougherty’s work is in the gallery August 12–25. Throughout the summer, the gallery also highlights handcrafted studio furniture, encouraging visitors to better understand how each piece is made. After experiencing the beauty of Mt. Desert Island, continue further east to Winter Harbor, on the quiet Schoodic Peninsula. Its natural
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COASTAL MAINE beauty drew former school teachers and art collectors Jane and Kelly Littlefield to the area ten years ago. They’ve turned two floors of their Winter Harbor home and adjoining building into The Littlefield Gallery, an annual art destination for many visitors. “We showcase sculpture alongside two-dimensional work to complement each other,” says Jane. Visitors can sit at the dining room table in the Littlefields’ home while viewing contemporary art (“It becomes quite intimate,” notes Jane) or explore works in the separate gallery space. Summer exhibitions include: Essence of Maine, through July 22, featuring landscapes by painter Barbara J. Zucker, abstract relief sculpture by Dan Miller, and stone sculpture by Mark Herrington; Hypothesis: Stones as Stars, with stone sculpture
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by Hugh Lawson and abstract paintings by Lori Tremblay, running July 23–August 19. Inside the main house, a solo show of abstract paintings by Kathleen Galligan runs from July 27–August 18. Opening August 20 is Views from Nature, featuring the bronze wildlife sculptures of Dan West alongside abstract landscapes by Roy Germon; opening the same day in the main house is Edges and Views, contemporary paintings by CarenMarie Michel. Travel inland to the Colby College Museum of Art in Waterville. A collecting and teaching museum affiliated with Colby College, the museum’s collections focus on works from diverse cultures and historical periods, with a focus on American art and contemporary art. Through August 19, view watercolors, etch-
ings and oil paintings by acclaimed American artist John Marin in Modern Wonder; the show is pulled from one of the largest collections of the artist’s work in the world. Starting July 14, the museum highlights a new gift in Self and Society: The Norma Boom Marin Collection of German Expressionist Prints. The collection of rare prints is from Norma Marin, widow of John Marin Jr. and daughter-in-law of artist John Marin. Contemporary Highlights, running through August 26, features recent acquisitions hung alongside works by artists long represented in the museum’s collection, including large works by Elizabeth Murray and Claudio Parmiggiani; a selection of Andy Warhol Polaroids; drawings by Marina Adams, Rackstraw Downes, Annabel Daou, and Bill Anastasi; and prints by Vija
Workshops, Live/Work Space for Artists and Writers, Studio Rentals
Workshops include: Abstracting the Landscape—an oil painting workshop with Julie Houck, and Artist Book Intensive with Abbie Read, Cynthia McGuirl, and Sandy Weisman, plus Poetry of Place with Barbara Helfgott Hyett.
26splitrockcove.com
SOUTH THOMASTON, ME Overlooking Mussel Ridge Cove
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COASTAL MAINE Celmins and Martin Puryear. Downes, a British landscape/cityscape artist, will be honored with the Cummings Award for Artistic Excellence at the museum’s summer luncheon on July 14. No trip to Maine is complete without visiting one of the state’s most beloved spots: Monhegan Island. Monhegan is a “place lost in time,” according to watercolor painter and teacher Xaque Gruber; there are no paved roads on the island and very few cars. The island can be reached by mail boat from the mainland at Port Clyde, New Harbor and Boothbay Harbor. In addition to painting the island’s seascapes and landscapes, Gruber teaches a five-day (August 6–10) art workshop at the Monhegan House Watercolor Workshop for artists of all abilities (“I’ve taught painting to 100-year-olds as well as three-year-
olds,” he says). His workshops include critiques and discussions of the many well-known artists who’ve painted Monhegan, including the Wyeths, John Marin, Edward Hopper and Joan Rappaport. Visitors wandering the island inevitably stop to observe Gruber and his students working outdoors. A must-see stop on the island is the Monhegan Museum of Art and History. Founded by artists and islanders and housed in the island’s former light station, the museum celebrates its 50th anniversary this summer with an exhibition of highlights from the collection, including works by noted artists such as George Bellows, Robert Henri, Edward Hopper, Rockwell Kent, Louise Nevelson, and Andrew Wyeth, among others. The museum plans other
activities as well. “We have 50 ways to celebrate 50 years of the museum,” says Jenn Pye, chief curator. “We’ll have guided tours of sites on the island where artists painted as well as a summer lecture series.” There’s also a film series, live music events and the museum’s Golden Jubilee Celebration on August 1. After travelling throughout Maine, one thing is obvious: there are numerous opportunities to see and experience art. The toughest decision may be when to stop your road trip. —Debbie Kane
Blue Hill Bay Gallery
Paul Strisik N.A., Morgan’s Cove
stargallerymaine.com Northeast Harbor, Maine
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11 Tenney Hill, Blue Hill, ME
(207) 374- 5773 | www.bluehillbaygallery.com
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