BRUNSWICK — The work of Melissa Mattes, a fiber artist, and Caleb Nichols, a glassblower will be on display at Thornton Oaks Retirement Community, 25 Thornton Way, beginning with the opening reception on Aug. 2.
The artists will speak at 4 p.m., followed by a reception from 4:30 to 6 p.m. The exhibit will be on display through Sept. 14.
Melissa Mattes of Sedgwick discovered early on that she was drawn to scissors, needles, thread, yarn and fabric rather than pen and paintbrush. Her move to Maine in 1996 was due, in part, to her dream of having a sheep farm and working with wool to continue her fiber exploration.
In 2003, she met local artist Susan Barrett Merrill, who she calls a “wool guru.” Working with Merrill, Mattes learned the ancient art of wet felting and dyeing. She now uses organic dyes to hand dye Maine Nash Island wool into colors she sees around the rural landscape. She hand felts objects and fiber art in her studio on the coast of Maine.
Caleb Nichols of Stoughton, Mass., has been working with glass for more than 20 years. Nichols says he has learned “to make something simple and not have the urge to gussy it up.”
Nichols has mastered the standards of blowing, casting, annealing and fusing and has even devised one of his own: smashing. This results in chunks of glass that become fog, froth, foam, waves, beach stones and boulders in his fused works.
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