Stephen Fabricius’ “Bad Boys of the Antarctic” is part of the Maine Photography Show in Boothbay Harbor through May 7. Photo by Stephen Fabricius, courtesy of Boothbay Region Art Foundation
There is more art to see all the time, as people venture out in greater numbers and frequency. Here are three exhibitions – in Portland, Bath and Boothbay Harbor – open for viewing and worth checking out if you are among those inclined to engage with the world and in need of an art fix.
Master printer David Wolfe curated the print exhibition “Gargantua & Lilliputian” at Cove Street Arts, 71 Cove St., Portland, through May 15. As its title implies, the artwork in this printmaking bonanza ranges from very large to very small, created by artists in Maine and around the world. Wolfe said his goal was “to push the envelope” and show prints made “in unusual ways” by familiar and unknown artists.
A detailed view of Carter Shappy’s untitled print at Cove Street Arts. Photo by Joel Tsui
“To some degree, I was successful in that,” he said. “Printmaking is a mystery to a lot of people. If it is not an old-styling etching, not many people understand it. I wanted to show prints you wouldn’t normally think of as printmaking.”
Kathleen Buchanan, Berri Kramer, Karina Steele, and Susan Wilder are showing together in “A Congregation of Birds” at the Chocolate Church in Bath through May 15. Courtesy of the Chocolate Church Arts Center
Perhaps the most obvious in that category is a large-scale print by Maine artist and Maine College of Art graduate Carter Shappy or the three-dimensional “Balancing Act No. 1” by the artist Eleanor Annand. Shappy’s installation, still untitled, includes more than 300 individually printed viscosity monotypes and represents five years of exploring fractal-like patterns found in nature. “Fractals are a geometric, mathematical language through which we can find some understanding of the natural world and our perception of it. For me they are a common thread, grounded in the treasure trove of science and mathematics, that connects, quite literally, all of us and everything to a kind of creative, structural, universal process,” Shappy said in his artist statement.
Annand created a collection of small geometric shapes, made from letterpress printed and died-cut cotton paper, and placed on a steel shelf. Sarah Brown made a series of paper sculptures from printed paper of turtles, grasshoppers and toads. Sarah Khan drew inspiration from a 15th-century Indian cookbook, “Book of Delights,” for prints of illustrations from the cookbook made on wasli paper infused with spices, mixtures, and essences.
Siri Beckman, Stephen Burt and Crystal Cawley also are included in the exhibition.
In Bath, the Chocolate Church Arts Center, 804 Washington St., is showing the work of four Maine artists in “A Congregation of Birds,” with work by Kathleen Buchanan, Berri Kramer, Karina Steele and Susan Wilder. The artists used different media to portray birds, including encaustic paintings, linocuts, mobiles and others. The exhibition is up through May 15.
“Last Gasp” by Linda Alschuler on view as part of the Maine Photography Show in Boothbay Harbor, through May 7.
In Boothbay Harbor, the annual juried Maine Photography Show is on view through May 7. Bruce Brown, curator emeritus at the Center for Maine Contemporary Art, curated the exhibition, which includes 110 photographs. More than 230 photographers submitted work for consideration. “It was no small task, but thoroughly enjoyable,” Brown said. The exhibition is hosted by the Boothbay Region Art Foundation, 1 Townsend Ave.
Comments are not available on this story.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
