Yes, it is winter. And yes, it is a bit chilly outside.
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But the First Friday Art Walk marches on. A lot of First Friday regulars actually prefer these winter walks, because the crowds tend to be a bit smaller and the art is sometimes more adventurous.
The inaugural First Friday event of 2011 slants heavily toward artists associated with Maine College of Art.
The Institute of Contemporary Art at MECA is in the final days of its “Vivaria Particula” exhibition, which closes Sunday after a two-month run. “Vivaria Particula” includes the work of two artists and one collaborative of MECA faculty members.
The uniting element among these artists is a shared loved of text.
Artists included in the show are Claude Caswell (liberal arts), Charles Melcher, Mark Jamra and Margo Halverson (graphic design), Megan O’Connell (art history) and Honour Mack (painting). All are faculty of the Bachelor of Fine Arts program at MECA.
The exhibition also includes the work of Melle Hammer, a visiting artist in the graphic design department.
Portland Museum of Art curator Susan Danly, designer Janet Friskey and visual artist and Bowdoin College visual arts program chair Mark Wethli curated “Vivaria Particula.”
For First Friday, Caswell will read poetry at 7:30 p.m. in the front gallery.
Portland gallerist June Fitzpatrick is showing the work of MECA faculty members at her Congress Street gallery adjacent to the school. She’s also featuring MECA graduates from a decade ago at her High Street gallery, across from the Portland Museum of Art.
The June Fitzpatrick Gallery at MECA hosts “From the Inside,” which honors the artists “who keep the wheels in motion behind the scenes” at MECA, Fitzpatrick said. Participating artists are Jill Dalton, Caleb Charland, Grace Hopkins-Lisle, Rachel Katz, Colleen Kinsella, Patti Sandberg, Matt Southworth, Phil Stevens, Dietland Vander Schaaf and Annie Wadleigh.
Each January at her High Street gallery, Fitzpatrick focuses on MECA students who graduated a decade ago. It’s a “where are they now” exhibition designed to demonstrate how “those ardent young students” have fared in the decade after graduation. This year’s show includes Luke Fuller, Jenny Moore, Bryan Stryeski and Lin White.
A few other notables on the First Friday menu:
• Patty Daunis at Daunis Fine Handmade Art Jewelry & Art, 616 Congress St., is showing a new series of drawings in colored pencil by Portland-area artist and 2007 MECA grad Joshua Dallaire. “Bio-Geo Luminescence” features geometric and organic-inspired luminescent shapes and forms that Dallaire created by rearranging photos he took of light reflecting off of drapery and walls. Each piece represents 40 to 50 hours of drawing.
• Gallerist Andres Verzosa — a MECA grad from long ago — of Aucocisco Galleries, 89 Exchange St., has an interesting show lined up: He’s hosting a salon show of selected works from his private collection. He calls it “Dealer Collects,” and it includes, among others, some fine acrylic-on-panel paintings by Vivien Russe.
• Gleason Fine Art, 545 Congress St., is showing work that accents the winter by Tom Curry, Ralf Feyl, Bjorn Runquist, Andrea Peters, Mitch Billis, Kevin Beers and others.
• If you haven’t seen it yet, check out Robert Shetterly’s “Americans Who Tell the Truth,” a collection of portraits of courageous Americans on view at the Lewis Gallery of the Portland Public Library, 5 Monument Square. Shetterly will unveil his portrait of Portland civil rights leader Gerald Talbot.
Staff Writer Bob Keyes can be contacted at 791-6457 or at:
bkeyes@pressherald.com
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