“STILL LIFE WITH PEANUTBUTTER AND JELLY HALVES” BY ABBEY RYAN
From 5-7 p.m. Friday, Aug. 7, Gleason Fine Art is hosting a reception for three new shows: “Henry Isaacs: Working Color,” “Carole Hanson: Stone and Sea,” and “Abbey Ryan: New Still Lifes.” All three shows run through Sept. 1.
Cranberry Island artist Henry Isaacs paints with energy and self-assurance. His style — broken brushwork with a palette of blues, mauves, greens, and yellows — marks him as one of the most recognizable artists working in Maine today.
With multiple degrees, including one from the prestigious Rhode Island School of Design, Isaacs’ background is impressive. Equally impressive is Isaacs’ success as an artist, with commissions that have taken him places near and far, including Africa and Italy.
Bremen sculptor Carole Hanson is renowned for the beauty of both her forms and her materials, which range from silky marbles to rough Maine field stones. For her show “Stone and Sea,” Hanson has returned to one of her favorite themes, the sea. With “La Mer,” she chose a hunk of marble to carve a classically beautiful head of a woman whose coiled chignon resembles a seashell.
For Hanson, “beauty is my aim and my end. When selecting a stone, I want to see something from within that radiates the presence of grace. The turn of a natural form, the pleasing shape of a shell, the eloquent play of texture and design, the invitation to touch — this is happiness to me.”
Philadelphia artist Abbey Ryan makes exquisite still life paintings. Her background includes undergraduate and graduate degrees in both fine art and medicine, a combination that would have been understood and appreciated by such great Renaissance artists as Da Vinci and Michelangelo. Ryan applies the discipline of science to her art, finding that painting daily provides her with a calm focus.
Ryan’s remarkable skill as an artist has not gone unnoticed. Her paintings have been featured in many books and magazines, notably Oprah Winfrey’s magazine “O.”
All three shows — Isaacs, Hanson, and Ryan — run through Sept. 1. The Aug. 7 First Friday reception, from 5 to 7 p.m., will feature Monhegan Brewing beer and special treats. For more information, call Dennis or Marty Gleason at (207) 633-6849.
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