Pamela duLong Williams
“Since 1972 my professional life as an artist has been dedicated to the creative development of my work. My inspiration is found in the challenge of painting that which I don’t exactly know how to paint. My ‘breakthrough paintings’ happen usually when I am in the solitude of unfamiliar, uncharted waters and I don’t have a preconception of the finished work.”

Tom with Crow, oil on linen, 36” x 36”

William Crosby
“My paintings are a confluence of the real and the abstract inspired by colors and formations of land, water, and sky. They are done in the studio following various experiences in the natural landscape. They reflect all seasons of the year and changing atmospheric conditions. Being somewhat abstract, they are open to interpretation by the viewer. The compositions play open and undeveloped areas, especially in the foregrounds and sky, against more opaque and developed central areas using brushstrokes, textures, and lines to suggest various landscape forms. Paintings are bold and emotional and full of energy: expressions and feelings. I often work in multiples to keep the works fresh and spontaneous. In working on several versions of a composition at once, I can make changes and differences yet maintain similar ideas. It is important not to overwork a painting, thus knowing when to stop is essential.”

Quarry, acrylic on canvas, 48” x 36”
Harbor Square Gallery | Rockland
Portland Art Gallery | Portland

Buzz Masters
“In 2017 I was with a disaster relief team in Puerto Rico, and during those weeks, I documented stories people told about their lives before, during, and after Hurricane Maria. Sitting with an interpreter and writing as quickly as I could, the stories braided together, telling the universal story of community, family, loss, rescue, love, and hope. My work is an investigation of the malleable nature of memory, what we hold on to, and what we leave out in order to make our story. Coming from a family of storytellers is the root of my interest in narrative imagery, and with a debt to the history of fresco painting and that visual form of storytelling, I draw tangled rope to symbolize sorting through memory, or ladders and floats as time cessation, or water rushing through an interior to show how, because of grief, something that was once comforting and familiar becomes unrecognizable and changed. Covering wooden panels (with my recipe that is a hat tip to the Roman genius of plastering), I create a veneer that reacts with paint, having a similar effect to fresco. The color and surfaces show influences of early Italian work but narrate my current stories.”

Quick Rescue 2, clay, crushed shells, polymer binder, casein, acrylic paint, paper, graphite, nails, varnish, 18” x 18”
Cynthia Winings Gallery | Blue Hill

Dietlind Vander Schaaf
“I create pieces that convey an emotional tone through texture and pattern and use mark making as a way to communicate what I find most lovely, haunting, and curious about the human condition. My work references teachings from Zen Buddhism, Christian mysticism, the poetic traditions, and contemplative practices, including yoga and meditation. I am influenced by writings on meditation and quiet by Pico Iyer, Jon Kabat-Zinn, David Hinton, and Gordon Hessler, as well as the minimalist work of artists Agnes Martin, Hiroyuki Hamada, and Zarina Hashmi. The Japanese word jikan refers to the silence between two thoughts. In this vein, my work is an attempt to render temporary, fleeting moments of beauty, balance, and stillness visible. Some of my paintings rely on forms observable in the natural world, which I have distilled to geometric patterns and then further deconstructed. Others are responses to field studies involving physical experiences and sound recordings. I think of my work as inner landscapes that, when placed together in multiples, engage in a form of communion with one another.”

The Summoning World, encaustic, oil, and 23-karat gold leaf on panel, 40” x 40”
Artemis Gallery | Northeast Harbor
Portland Art Gallery | Portland

Allen Bunker
Allen Bunker is a licensed construction supervisor and has owned a construction company since graduating from trade school in 1977. In the 1980s, while vacationing on Cape Cod and in Boothbay Harbor, he started painting in oil to relieve stress. In 2007 he and his wife, Priscilla, decided to move into their vacation house in Boothbay Harbor full-time. They opened a gallery downtown to sell other artists’ work. Bunker thought, “Why not try to sell some of my own work?” So he put one of his small paintings on the wall, and it sold. It was a real kick for him to have someone from some faraway place buy one of his paintings. So he hung more. After a few years he was selling more than all the other 40 gallery artists combined. Bunker calls his paintings “landscape allusions” as they are more about the feeling from the landscape rather than an accurate depiction. His work is influenced by his time on the water in Boothbay Harbor and at his camp on Boyd Lake in Orneville Township. Bunker will open his new studio in 2020 on the second floor of his 1875 barn in West Newfield.

Take It Easy, oil on canvas, 36” x 48”
Portland Art Gallery | Portland

David Sears
“For the past few years I have used wood, metal, paint, and even porcupine quills to record life associated with the Gulf of Maine. Though varied in style, design, and materials, my carved and painted birds and fish comment on the ways humans depict, interact with, and disrupt the natural world while the pieces explore and expand on Western/European, Indigenous/Aboriginal and outsider/folk art depictions of native animals. My best work leads me from the almost realistic to the almost possible—a bird begins with a recognizable shape, sheet metal wings are attached, paint patterns evolve, colors and surfaces increase until the work asks the viewer to consider the values placed on external colors, patterns, and cultural knowledge when we identify and assign biological, emotional, and economic value to a specific species. These are important questions to consider at a time when the environmental and political values assigned to all living things are increasingly based on external appearances and economic value.”

American Avocet #2, carved/painted red cedar, metal, granite, 22” x 25” x 4”
Artemis Gallery | Northeast Harbor
HighWater Studio | Matinicus Island

Anne Heywood
“I strive to paint what is unseen, yet felt. Creating a mood, feeling, or statement is very important to me, and my real-looking subjects are the ‘tools’ that I use to do so. The inspiration for my work comes from my life experiences and environment. Most of my paintings, therefore, refer to the landscape or culture of New England and/or Italy, the two places where I have lived. I first explore compositions for my paintings through creative ‘visual thinking’ using black-and-white sketches, and develop only the best of these into a finished piece. Therefore, my paintings may be rendered ‘as found,’ completely imagined, or a combination of both. Ultimately, I strive to create work that is thought-provoking and that contains more than what a casual glance may first suggest.”

Rebirth, pastel, 12” x 361/2”
Portland Art Gallery | Portland

Tricia Granzier
For nearly 50 years Tricia Granzier has lived along the New England coast, the past 20 in Scarborough, where she currently resides, and where she is surrounded by beautiful beaches, marshes, and landscapes. It’s not surprising that coastal life and the changing seasons are the inspiration for much of her work. She also credits her scientist parents, who gave her the gift of observation, and her artist grandmother, whose work and talent influenced and encouraged her from her earliest years. Granzier is primarily self-taught, and these life experiences are what inform her work as she tries to capture and share the beauty, color, and detail of everyday life along the coast. She paints a variety of subjects based on what moves and inspires her. This can be the peaceful quiet of a foggy Maine morning, the freshness of a crisp white sail against a bright blue sky, the ever-changing colors and moods of the marsh, the power of the ocean, or the subtle colors and wonder of a tiny sea urchin. Granzier’s work has been juried into several Maine shows and has sold to collectors throughout the United States.

Green Urchin, acrylic on canvas, 24” x 24”

Holly Lombardo
“Apparently, I was destined to be a painter my whole life, I just didn’t know it. I majored in science, not art, but my creative side has been active since childhood. Growing up in Brunswick, I spent most of my free time outdoors following rabbit tracks in the sparkling snow, noticing dappled light on tree trunks and the forest floor, and searching for reflected colors and patterns in the ocean. I took mental note of the details and eventually found the right medium to express what I observed and remembered; this led to my exploration of acrylic landscapes. I cannot separate the scientist and artist that I am, nor do I want to—I apply an iterative design strategy to my compositions by combining art and science: I try, fail, try again, succeed. Self-taught, I have no educational constraints. I paint with the freedom of exploration and an excitement for the pending results of my efforts, much like a curious scientist in the lab. I am always thinking about which colors to mix on my own palette to best capture what I see outdoors, and I still eagerly await the outcome of every blank canvas that I unwrap.”

The Other Side of Wolfe’s Neck, acrylic on panel, 36” x 24”
Bayview Gallery | Brunswick
The Wright Gallery | Cape Porpoise

Susan Bartlett Rice
“I love where I live, and because I paint life around me, Maine is intrinsic in all my work. I am most inspired by the simplicity of my everyday life, living on a family farm on the midcoast and the space that gives me to create. I’m drawn to the color and compositions I see in the natural and man-made world and the change of seasons. In New England, if you don’t paint summer (or autumn, spring—even winter), it’s gone for another year. The weather, light, and palette constantly change, which keeps me on my toes. Waking up to a fresh snow and blue sky motivates me to paint as much as, if not more than, a summer day out on the water. There is so much natural beauty here, it’s hard not to want to capture it. Since change is inevitable, I like to paint places and traditions before they are gone or made different. My hope is that my work looks like it was painted in my own time, but captures the landscape and history that makes our home of Maine ‘Maine.’”

Winter Clouds, acrylic on canvas, 30” x 30”

Bradford Fuller
“These images represent the exploration of my back yard and my neighborhood in Brownfield. In a literal flash of a second these birds reveal some part of their inner nature; in many cultures, birds were believed to speak the language of the soul. They certainly speak to me, and all I have to do is show up and click the cable release. The birds do all work, and no two images are alike, so there is no danger of repetition.”

Blue Jay, photograph, 11” x 9”

 

 

 

David Moser
“I have been designing, building, and sculpting for 30 years. Creating objects of beauty to enhance the lives of those who view and come in contact with my work has been my life’s passion. My designs and sculptures are the outward expression of how I view the world, and making the materials I work with has been my challenge.”

Reverence, bronze, 67” x 42” x 24”
Portland Art Gallery | Portland
Thos. Moser | Freeport

 

Alison Rector
Painter and printmaker Alison Rector is working on a series of paintings inspired by a train journey. She also paints public establishments such as libraries, bowling alleys, laundromats, and post offices, or the private spaces within a home, showing passages into other rooms and glimpses of the outdoors. Occasionally her work focuses on a building within a landscape, a study of a place and a moment in time. Rector renders unconventional beauty and a special quality of light by way of a resonant realism. In 2017 the Ogunquit Museum of American Art exhibited a solo show of 18 of Rector’s paintings of public libraries titled The Value of Thought. Her paintings were selected for the 2003 Portland Museum of Art Biennial and the 2018 Center for Maine Contemporary Art Biennial, as well as CMCA’s 50th anniversary invitational in 2002. Her work has been included in three art books by Carl Little; Artist Conversations; Maine Arts Magazine, a Maine Arts Commission publication; and The Gettysburg Review, where she was the featured artist in the autumn 2008 issue. Rector earned an undergraduate degree from Brown University, which included courses at the Rhode Island School of Design.

Dusk Engine, oil on linen, 36” x 64”
Courthouse Gallery Fine Art | Ellsworth
Greenhut Galleries | Portland

Joyce Grasso
“Picasso once said, ‘It took me years to paint like Raphael, but a lifetime to paint like a child.’ As a former art teacher, I saw how playful and fearless my young students were in their approach. Their broad strokes and bright palettes were charged with joy and energy. Now, in my second career, I approach each canvas with the same ethos. My tool kit includes bold colors, multiple layers, and varied mark making. I grew up in Maine, where water views and distant foghorns were a part of my everyday existence. The simple beauty saturated my soul and is expressed in my artwork. With frequent return visits to Maine and other exquisite destinations, I have integrated the beauty of light and color into my artwork. Rather than the traditional land- or seascape, my paintings create a ‘feeling of place.’ I believe place allows us to access those special feelings and memories that escape our usual awareness. And working with children has allowed me to see the world through their lens. As a result, each of my pieces reflects my joyful heart and colorful world.”

Spring Arrived, acrylic on canvas, 36” x 48”
Portland Art Gallery | Portland

Gary Akers
One of America’s foremost contemporary realist artists, Akers is recognized for his expertise in watercolor, drybrush, and egg tempera. Akers’s egg temperas are built up of hundreds of layers, a demanding technique that is literally a labor of love. With gifted eyes, Akers has dedicated his life to translating exquisite detail into works we can appreciate and learn from, giving us the experience of simplicity, serenity, and beauty, which is the soul and spirit of his surroundings. Akers’s own quiet, gentle, and perceptive personality opens up a striking way of seeing and capturing profound stillness and solitude. He is a signature member of the American Watercolor Society, and his work is included in collections at the White House, the Ogunquit Museum of Art, the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, and the Owensboro Museum of Art, as well as numerous private collections. He has exhibited at many museums, including the National Academy of Design in New York City, and has been the subject of two art books, Kentucky: Land of Beauty and Memories of Maine. Akers spends winters painting in his restored nineteenth-century log cabin studio in Kentucky and summers painting the rugged coast of Maine.

The Cove, egg tempera on panel, 23” x 35”
The Green Schoolhouse Gallery | South Thomaston
Portland Art Gallery | Portland

Christopher Reed
“As a landscape painter, I am always developing a greater awareness of and connection to the natural environment. My objective in painting is to reflect the beauty of nature by capturing light in various states, whether it is along the coast of Maine, on a wooded trail, or from a mountaintop. I find inspiration through American tonalism and the paintings of Turner, Daubigny, and Monet. Each painting is conceived in the moment, loosely based on plein air studies, along with the memory and feeling of a particular place. I want others to be inspired by the play of light upon a given landscape, interpreting meaning as one chooses. Ultimately I hope my work brings about a sense of peace and well-being.”

Autumn Sunrise, oil on canvas, 18” x 24”
Stable Gallery | Damariscotta

Philippe & Kim Villard
“Our collaborative journey revolves around art- and science-inspired woodblock prints using the white-line method (aka Provincetown print). Our strategy to further awareness of this lesser-known American art form has been threefold: collaboration, education,
and innovation. We are Franco-American artists working in Maine and Southern France. Between 2002 and 2017 we produced 100 sequential color woodcuts inspired by
the natural beauty of our North Atlantic peninsula, resulting in collections of hand-bound volumes, stand-alone volumes, and individual prints. With a strong strategic value for collaboration, our work has been enriched by creative and scientific help and input
from our local, regional, and international community members, including bio-blitzing youngsters, apprentices, academic interns, trained assistants, scientists, and scholars. Our work is in permanent collections at the George Mitchell Special Collections and Archives at Bowdoin College Library, the Museum of Modern Art Library, and in several private collections. Currently, we are in production of a series of color woodblock prints based on iron cycle research at the Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences in East Boothbay, following a team expedition to the Arctic in 2019. This series will debut in 2020.”

Screech Owl Feather, white-line woodcut/watercolor on rag paper, 10” x 11”
Villard Studios | Boothbay Harbor

Patricia A. White
“For me, the landscape provides constant motivation for my printmaking, inspiring layering, fluid motions, shifting patterns and color, plus tactile pleasures. Whether natural or constructed, the landscape is the base for my thoughts and all my recent work. An exploration of visual dramas inspired by travels in Japan, Korea, and Ethiopia—and even the found objects and detritus there—have informed my digital printmaking as well as my linocuts and monoprints. Hiking in the rugged hills above Lalibela was fascinating; I was especially impressed by the farmers who were able to grow vegetables in rocky terrain.”

Lalibela #2, monoprint over linocut, 24” x 35”

Julie K. Gray
“After experiencing a near-death incident in 2009, I find that much of my artwork addresses mortality, mourning culture, and the psychological space of ‘limbo,’ thematically. In order to address these intangible subjects, I have come to use symbolic means, humor, cultural signposts, and varied media (primarily needlepoint, childhood craft, photography, and video) to become more accessible to the audience, and to perhaps open up dialogue about mortality and spiritual inquiry (and doubt)—subjects typically deemed ‘taboo’ in contemporary North American society. In order to speak about the intangible subject of mortality through my work, I have come to use more symbolic means of addressing the subject. Humor and kitsch in my photography, as well as the use of naive, childhood craft materials help such weighty subject matter become accessible to the audience. It is through combinations of play and tedium, simplicity and sophistication, study and intuition, and the use of varied media and cultural signposts that my work has become a meditative study toward the greater goals of Froebel’s Kindergarten as well as my musings of mortality.”

Waiting Room, papier-mâché, acrylic, yarn, paper, fabric, photographs, etc., 10’ x 16’ x 2’

Darthea Cross
“I found the inspiration for my current body of work at a cove in midcoast Maine. My paintings reflect the various rock formations along the coast and in the mountains throughout the state. As with all my work, these paintings are a visual chronicle of my exploration of the deep silence within nature as well as within ourselves. These moments of quietude offer a glimpse, a reflection, of the profound wholeness of which everything is a part. I am intrigued by the interplay of color and line in each of the parts, whether that part is a close observation of a tidal pool and a rock crevice or a distant view of a mountain peak or valley. Each painting begins by following nature and never completely leaves the natural context. Realistic contour lines provide an entry point for the viewer; other lines establish a sense of the abstract by creating flat or formless spaces. Similarly, the color scheme originates in nature but is not confined to it. As I work, I relive the walk—the location of the subject matter—and I am reminded of the duality between the fragility of nature and its power and magnitude.”

Channel Point, acrylic on canvas, 40” x 40”
Portland Art Gallery | Portland

Mark Herrington
“The act of creating is an attempt to understand connections. They can be between the conscious and the unconscious, personal and public, intellectual and emotional, or almost anything, perceived or not perceived. There are also the relationships between idea and concept, mind and body, body and tool, and tool and technique upon the medium, and on the project to place, which are constantly layered over the reasons for creating within the process of doing. Artists work through these connections to give themselves and the world glimpses of possibilities as to how things fit into our world. For me that process is important. Through having a plan that allows for discoveries to be made and acted on along the way that will enlighten and enliven the result, I find great joy in my work. It is also a tool to keep me present within the process. I believe creation happens only in the present. The past and future are only tools to help us fully focus on the here and now.”

Kiss, basalt, 11” x 7” x 4”
Littlefield Gallery | Winter Harbor

William Irvine
“I was born in a small town on the Atlantic coast in Scotland. I became captivated by great art as a young boy, mainly through reproductions. To me they were magic doorways through which I could wander into new and mysterious worlds. I graduated from the Glasgow School of Art then moved to London to join other starving artists. My work was mainly abstract then, and although I exhibited in several West End galleries, surviving was tough. In 1970 my wife, an American, and I moved to Maine. It was here, surrounded by the beauty and majesty of coastal Maine, that I found myself as an artist, using my knowledge of the abstract to express the wonder of the natural world. I begin each day with a walk by the sea with my Shetland sheepdog, Tam, then it is into my studio with a cup of tea to wrestle with the angels.”

Night Fishing, oil on canvas, 24” x 30”
Courthouse Gallery Fine Art | Ellsworth
Greenhut Galleries | Portland

Jane Page-Conway
“I am an artist photographer residing in Bowdoinham, and I have been making and altering photographic images for over 35 years. I am an inquisitive experimenter, having explored traditional wet darkroom, alternative, and digital photography. I have restructured my thinking in the digital age, blending the ancient painting medium of encaustic wax with my photography. I layer, blend, and embed part of a photograph into the wax medium, sometimes using the painting medium to construct and add to a photograph. The beeswax is mixed with a resin and heated to become liquid. I can tint the wax with color and apply many layers of fused wax using a heat gun. I add or subtract the wax using various dental and pottery tools to scribe or make texture and color on and into the layers. Fiber, paper, or various objects can be embedded into the wax creating texture, luminosity, and meaning.”

Swan Island Birds, encaustic wax/photograph, 16” x 20”
Harlow Gallery | Hallowell

Jenny Brillhart
For Brillhart, the studio environment is both the space in which she works and often the subject of her art. Through painting, installation, and photography, she documents the passage of time, subtle shifts in light, the play of shadows, and the process of her decision making. Her surroundings, both found and created, become exercises in form and tone often with a reduced palette to emphasize pigment, material, and routine. Confronting the fundamental elements of visual art—space, color, light, and form, alongside questions of function and seeing—Brillhart’s practice also addresses philosophical issues of perception, experience, and memory. With such focus, her renderings probe the inner psychology of inhabiting a given space.

Contrapposto 2019, mixed media on wood panel, 90” x 40” x 21/2”
Cynthia Winings Gallery | Blue Hill
Dowling Walsh Gallery | Rockland

David Peterson
David Peterson has a BFA in sculpture and ceramics from the University of Florida. “I never lived anywhere where the water was more than a few steps away,” he says. “Funny I never thought of boats of clay until much later, because both water and clay are central to my existence. Clay boats came by accident and transformed my thinking from ‘in the round’ to thinking flat. I love working boats, preferably wood, old, and still proud.”

Last Haul, ceramic, 14” x 16” x 6”

 

Bayview Gallery | Brunswick
Landing Gallery | Rockland
Maine Art Hill | Kennebunk
New Era Gallery | Vinalhaven

Jeff Bye
“My current body of work focuses on capturing the gritty history of the past. My attention gravitates to older buildings and businesses that have a long standing in the community and a unique sense of character that is special to that area or region. These are often places that I have lived or visited for a long period of time; New York, Philadelphia, and Portland, Maine, are just a few. Sometimes the buildings have been abandoned for decades but still exist in a lower capacity. The excitement of exploring and capturing these spaces has translated into my body of work. I have always been interested in how the patinas of surfaces change and radiate beautiful rays of color and texture. I love how the spaces that have been abandoned reveal a mood. Sometimes it’s a silence and still presence that can be calm and peaceful, and other times it can be ominous and mysterious. I find that this is not limited to older buildings such as factories, theaters, and hotels, but also extends to businesses that are smaller in scale and have a rich history. My challenge is to document these environments before they disappear from the American landscape.”

Takeout, oil on linen, 20” x 40”
Greenhut Galleries | Portland

Susan Williams
Susan Williams’s new body of work, Singing Water, deepens her exploration of imaginary impressions alongside elements of realism. Painted on sheets of transparent acetate, the work reflects her pursuit of beauty, demons, dreams, and love floating above and below
the plastic surface of each layer. As her work evolves—quietly, evanescently—Williams strives to remain true to her artistic ambition, which is to paint allusions. Working intuitively, with her hand connected to her heart, she has discovered that, the more personal the process becomes, the more pathways she can open to express moments of life that are felt but not observed.

The Night Sings, oil on acetate, 19” x 24”
Caldbeck Gallery | Rockland

William A. Curtis
“I’ve always found joy in nature and its many moods and seasons. I love the play of light on surfaces and the endless variety of colors and shapes. New England, with its granite coastline, pine forests, and ever-changing seasons, has always been my favorite subject. I grew up in Gloucester, Massachusetts, where the sea dominated, and I’ve always felt best at the water’s edge. My father, Roger Curtis, was a successful Cape Ann seascape painter who exposed his children to art at a very young age. Dinner conversations touched on works of art, from the masters to contemporary artists. Discussions about values, composition, color theory, and design taught me and my two brothers, Alan and David, these fundamentals. My father shared with us his ideas and passion for painting, a great gift that has always been a part of my life. It is the process that I enjoy most in painting, the idea of pulling together all the elements to capture a scene and the feeling it creates for me. The fundamentals are always there, but each painting has its own feeling a painter tries to capture.”

Pemaquid Point Storm, oil on canvas, 40” x 60”
Pemaquid Art Gallery | South Bristol

Fredrick Kuhn
“My work is primarily in acrylics on canvas or wood panel. The paintings can best be described as contemporary abstract art, executed in color-modulated hard-edge shapes with a preference for curvilinear form. Artistic expression can range from the literal to the metaphorical, from the obvious to the ambiguous, straddling opposites and contrasts producing a number of stylistically divergent paintings. In a majority of my paintings and sculpture the intention is to empower the viewer to interpret what it is they see or feel. Process is both important and mysterious. My form sensibility as an architect-designer is basically rectilinear with an emphasis on proportion and minimalism, but as an artist engaged in painting and sculpture, I prefer curvilinear forms. Most of my paintings are nonhierarchical, painted in saturated, juxtaposed complementary colors. Overall patterns of repetition and reiteration reinforce the absence of a focal point. The paintings often have no right-side-up, resulting in balanced composition in all directions. My large format size allows the viewer to physically engage with the painting. The large paintings block one’s visual field, creating a visually limited space and making viewing more compelling.”

Savoy Night, acrylic on canvas, 36” x 36”

Will Kefauver
“Light is the source of all painting, changing each moment in nature, and always new. Each rock, tree, and meadow is repainted with each tick of the clock, and the job is to snatch the right moment from the changes presented. Through surface, the painting becomes an object of its own, also changing with each movement of light. Color is new, too, with every stroke of the brush. Each new stroke presents a relationship changed from those coming before. The first washes and daubs produce massive change in those relationships; successive ones offer more subtle shifts until toward the end it is only nuance. This is my process of ‘sorting it out.’ These are the tools: light, surface, and color. Painting helps me hold on to my own memories of places and moments. These are views from the hillside I’ve wandered, the beach I’ve walked, and the rain I’ve felt on my face. Through the act of painting I can be in these times again. These are the parts of life I can bring to the canvas, and they allow a touching of others and a sharing of my wonder that I could have seen that cloud or felt that wave.”

Roiling II, oil on linen, 30” x 30”
Kefauver Studio & Gallery | Damariscotta
Pemaquid Art Gallery | New Harbor

Jennifer Adrian
“No matter where I have lived over the years, the blinking light in New Sweden on Route 161 is a beacon to me that I am finally close to home,” says Adrian. Adrian currently works in a variety of materials, which include paint, metals, glass, and photography. West Road Wildflowers is a representation in watercolor and ink of the beauty one might find along the roads of northern Maine, where her ancestors settled almost 150 years ago. In this current series, she pushes the boundaries of form to the edge of abstraction. The play of color and dynamic details in ink draws the viewer into the piece to discover underlying shapes and playful forms. Adrian received her BFA in metals and her BS in business administration in marketing from the University of Delaware. She received her MBA from Northcentral University while working as a clinical specialist for the Mayo Clinic. After over 20 years in sales and marketing roles related to healthcare, she has finally realized her dream by returning full-time to the practice and love of fine art.

West Road Wildflowers, watercolor and ink on paper, 8” x 8”

Oliver Solmitz
“Walking through the woods to and from a remote home I built and used to live in, I often wondered if rules of architecture could be broken to make sculpture. Similarly, frustration in the architectural design process has become motivation for working a diversity of materials with my hands. The questions I’m asking often lead to abstraction of architectural and domestic concepts. I’m looking for the point of balance at which an endeavor has been reduced to its bare essentials yet retains formal and conceptual relationships. I’m also walking the line between a machine aesthetic and allowing evidence of the human hand to remain.”

Untitled No. 2, welded steel, high-density fiberboard, paint, hardware, 11” x 18” x 5”
Corey Daniels Gallery | Wells

Kifah Abdulla
Kifah Abdulla is an artist, poet, performer, and teacher. Born and raised in Baghdad, Iraq, he now lives and works in Portland. Abdulla uses Arabic calligraphy as an essential element in abstraction; he tries to incorporate the spirit and the aesthetic of calligraphy in his work, which manifests the forces of the structure of Arabic letters. Each symbol and gesture builds toward what could be read as new forms and patterns. But the energy and movement in his work comes to the forefront. A reading of his Arabic symbols ultimately calls for an emotional translation, and that leads to a feeling of dynamic force and balance. Abdulla understands the inherent energy and communicative potential of Arabic calligraphy. His symbols could become emotive forces in themselves; his artworks provide a framework for bringing physicality, emotion, and spirit together in the expression of physical work. He continues to find innovative ways to break down or intertwine the elemental calligraphic techniques in order to create new forms of calligraphy by using gesture, line, energy, and patterns. Abdulla tries to redesign Arabic calligraphy to take its place in the abstraction of American contemporary art.

Untitled, acrylic on canvas, 36” x 36”
Engine | Biddeford

Ted Wengren
“Picasso is reported to have said that the artist’s job is to find God’s secret hiding place. So we look, so far without success. My paintings are like bread crumbs on the trail. I was trained as an architect at the University of Pennsylvania, where, as luck would have it, I had Neil Welliver as a drawing instructor. As a result I had a lot of exposure to his work, and always admired his honest and unsentimental approach to the Maine landscape. I still do. In Maine, many years later, Tom Crotty at Frost Gully Gallery became a mentor and friend. He represented me for many years: group, solo shows, etc. My paintings have been in the Art in Embassy Program, and are scattered around the country.”

January—Casco Bay, oil on panel, 15” x 22”
[email protected]

Matthew Russ
Maine landscape painter Matthew Russ works almost entirely outdoors, and in a series format. Returning to a single painting location for a prescribed number of visits, he explores an area’s many moods on different days. By doing so, he feels he understands each place better, and cherishes it more. Recently, Russ has been painting along the coast from the Kennebec River to Penobscot Bay. About the experience of painting in the field, he says, “With my backpack easel, I engage directly with my subject matter: the land, water, and sky of Maine. I favor locations that allow for ‘the long view.’ A mountaintop near Camden, say, where the islands of Penobscot Bay can be seen trailing off to open ocean. Such distances heighten the effect of atmosphere on light and color, but also invite the viewer to imagine what exists out there. Through painting, I strive to express the feelings of expansiveness and possibility such places inspire.”

Penobscot Bay from Ducktrap Mountain #5, oil on panel, 12” x 18”
Portland Art Gallery | Portland

Maryjane Johnston
“My work is inspired by women: the intrigue of their stories and the exteriors that result from those stories. My model may be a friend, family member, or stranger, but in each case, I invite them to participate actively in the shoot, to collaborate with me and bring the confidence and control they feel in their skin to the creative process. I am fascinated with the dichotomy of the alabaster skin in front of the black cloth, the geometry present in the organic human form, and the play of natural light on the surface of the skin. The models are transformed into abstract compositions of lines and texture, shadow and light. Some of the poses are ambiguous, obscuring the line between illusion and reality. I hope my approach creates authenticity relative to the subject, as well as a visually intriguing image. For women in particular—our bodies are part of our story.”

Untitled, archival inkjet print, 16” x 20”

Jean Noon
“Being a sculptor/painter/photographer and a farmer establishes a deep connection for me between my labor, existence, nature, and the continuum of positive human energy communicated through art,” says Jean Noon. As a sheep farmer, she has lifelong practice and a particular opportunity for careful observation. Her wire works have a connection to the fencing around the farm and are created from fence wire. Her roots in art go back to jewelry and painting. Recently, returning to the canvas has allowed her to return to expressing through color. As a sculptor, she builds structures to contain and communicate ideas. Deeply interested in traditional basket making, her structures are often vessels with interior elements. Animal forms and physical gestures also inspire a lot of her work. The quiet action of winding and weaving of the wire around and around becomes both meditative and structural. Materials assert themselves, and a piece will often take on its own gestured direction.

Woodcock, wire, 14” x 17” x 8”
June LaCombe Sculpture | Pownal
Richard Boyd Art Gallery | Peaks Island

Neil Wyrick
Neil Wyrick is an artist currently residing in Falmouth, but originally from the Northwest. He studied art at Western Washington University and later at Artist’s Studio in Seattle. He has been crafting oil paintings for over 25 years. His paintings are characterized by vibrant color and deep shadows. His paintings are often based on the light of certain times of day. Major themes include lobster boats and piers, cityscapes, landscapes, and gardens. “I’ve made my pictures more and more detailed over the years and have tried to challenge myself in this regard,” he says. “I try to add drama to my paintings through contrast and complementary color. However, this is more of a subconscious process than conscious. I also try to feature abstract shapes in my compositions. My painting style grew out of my love for the American realist painting of the Depression era.”

Portland Harbor, oil on canvas, 24” x 30”
Hole in the Wall Studioworks | Raymond
Yarmouth Frame & Gallery | Yarmouth

Marta Spendowska
“In my Bloomlands series, the flower is a pure essence of life, fleeting from sureness and forever-ness. Some petals are old, losing thefullness, gaining the rips and tears, still thirsting for water. While maturing, they become more fragile, which made me realize: when you’re fragile, you appreciate life even more. This is what I’m after in my Bloomlands series. To capture the moment of a momentary beauty. So here and yet so passing-by, all at the same time.”

Petals of Katarina, watercolor and acrylic on paper, 40” x 40”
Maine Art Hill | Kennebunk

Matt Barter
“My work is focused on life in Maine through my own memories and experiences working on fishing boats in Frenchman Bay. It is also shaped by having worked with my dad, artist Philip Barter, both on the water and in his studio. Maine working harbors are a favorite subject; my focus began on lobster fishermen and is now shifting to the shoreline. In a recent art installation I turned my gallery into a cannery company store with paintings, sculptures, and handmade items that I imagine would have been in a company store in Lubec.”

Downeast Girl, oil on board, 30” x 24”
The Barter Art House Gallery | Brunswick
Portland Art Gallery | Portland

Jenna Valente
Jenna Valente is a photographer from Cumberland who seeks to showcase the authentic beauty that lies within all the people, places, and things that she works with. She believes that everything has a story worth telling, and through photography Valente is on a journey to do just that. When she’s not exploring, camera in hand, she advocates for ocean conservation with the American Littoral Society. She also hosts the Sea Change Podcast on the American Shoreline Podcast Network, where she highlights inspiring stories of conservation advocates around the world. An integral part of Maine’s beauty is its people and culture. Many of Valente’s favorite memories result from moments like this one. When this photo was captured, she was preparing a lobster feast with her grandfather, Orrin Whitaker “Dud” Valente, at their family’s cottage in Gouldsboro. The lobsters were caught right off the shore of the cottage in Joy Bay, an appropriately named body of water for a camp that has been the centerpiece of generations of joyous Valente family memories. This cottage was built in 1935 by her great- grandfather Paul after he immigrated to the United States from Italy, and was featured in the July 2017 issue of Maine magazine.

Orrin Whitaker, photograph, 13” x 19”

W. Bryan Collins
Born 1967 in Englewood, New Jersey, W. Bryan Collins was raised in a creative environment. His parents encouraged his artistic endeavors since early childhood. Collins graduated cum laude from Pratt Institute with a BFA. He fulfilled a lifelong dream to study and be a teaching assistant at the Art Students League. Collins enriched his professional practice with an artist residency at Cooper Union and study in the sculpture department of the New York Studio School. His aesthetic intentions, however, are sophisticated and deliberate. For Collins, the essence of portraying a subject is comprehended only by virtue of its absence. Thus, not only do people explain the presence of structures as structures explain the presence of people; they literally require each other. His images appear as if they have been awaiting a spectator to awaken their magical potency.

Island Holiday, watercolor on paper, 30” x 22”

R. Scott Baltz
“At the core of my work is an examination of the energy and movement within the landscape. Paintings evolve from intimate experiences, filtered by the passage of time, memory, and imagination. The process begins with pencil sketches from location, or done from digital photography, though many times compositions are created purely from the memory of experience. All paintings are executed in the studio environment, where color decisions are made as the paintings progress. In the past two years I have been incorporating more texture in my work, building upon a toned layer of moulding paste, which is applied by knife, then lightly sanded. As well, I use various scrapers and palette knives to apply paint in layers, sometimes removing, other times building up. I allow the painting to dictate the direction, as my process has become more meditative, standing back from the painting, accessing and listening to the inner voice.”

Then There Were Three, oil on panel, 30” x 40”
Littlefield Gallery | Winter Harbor

Jean Jack
“The images that arouse my curiosity are discovered on the open road. As I set out with my camera in an adventurous frame of mind, I crisscross the country and seek inspiration for my work. Often it is on the fast-moving interstate where I discover, quite by accident, the perfect simplicity of a farmhouse or a barn. I am not interested in the details as much as the abstractions—the way the afternoon sun falls off a slanting roof, tall forsaken grass that cradles an old structure, or stairs that once led to a seaside path that now lead nowhere at all. The challenge is to catch the image with my camera from this inconvenient ‘backstage’ angle. America’s heartland influences the bulk of my work. I am particularly attracted to utilitarian structures that have a weathered history, as they convey a more hauntingly lonely expression than the congestion of suburban or city life. Throughout the years, my work has become more minimalist, as well. Shapes occurring by circumstance intrigue me far more than deliberate artifice.”
Timeless, oil on canvas, 40” x 40”
Portland Art Gallery | Portland

Jane Dahmen
“My ideas begin in the natural world, but once a work is underway the paint itself on the flat surface takes on a life of its own; colors come alive and the structure and surface-interest evolve as I work. I am as interested in what’s in here as in what’s out there. Maine continues to be a major source of my inspiration with its clear light and primary colors, its woods, water, and sky. I can never get enough of it. The large-scale format of my recent landscapes create an environment into which the viewer can enter.“

Yellow Sky Birches, acrylic on panel, 36” x 60”
Portland Art Gallery | Portland

Margaret Gerding
“As an artist, my job is to observe as much as to create. With every second that passes, light changes, colors adjust, and the slightest physical shift occurs in nature. Each piece is based on a real place, a moment that I have experienced and been inspired by. There is something unique about being alone with nature—a quiet that connects me like no other. It is only in this solitude, whether outside or in the studio, that the landscape reveals itself to me. Living by the coast has provided me with numerous days studying the earth and sky. It is my hope that this work allows the viewer to reflect on the intimacy and peace this land has to offer.”

Looking for Spring, oil on canvas, 36” x 58”
Maine Art Hill | Kennebunk

Katharine Cartwright
“My natural tendency is to think in images rather than in words, and my paintings are expressions of those thoughts. The foundation for my work is the intended concept, or idea, which derives from my unique perception of the world. When a concept forms, I explore it for years by creating a series of paintings that result in concept expansion and nuanced meanings. The lexicon I use for expression includes not only the common morphemes such as the elements and principles of design, but also a hybrid vocabulary of unique and unusual combinations that support the concept. Each series varies in duration and significance, and may occur simultaneously with another. The Laws of Nature is a series of watercolor paintings that explores the thesis that man is unable to create the perfect machine run by perpetual motion because he is constrained by the physical laws that occur in nature. As an intuitive painter, this series was created without the use of references or models. Rather, they are ‘mindscapes’ that are aesthetic interpretations of various physical laws.”

Ampere’s Law, watercolor on paper, 19” x 15”
Michael Good Gallery | Rockport
Port Clyde Art Gallery | Port Clyde

Kathleen Florance
“For most of my art career I used the interaction with nature as a jumping-off place for my work. I used to spend hours completing on-site drawings of what I saw, what I was experiencing, and trying to understand the natural processes that lay before me. As my work matured, it expanded to also infuse the many issues of our times. Lines, biomorphic forms, relationship of color, and components all play a role in how I choose to speak about my curiosity and my concern for the natural world. My series Between…Chance and Fate speaks to the role we all play in determining the physical and existential future of life. The artistic process itself has also experienced a dynamic shift since 2015, when I was diagnosed with lung problems that forced me to completely rethink my materials and how I use them. Since that time I have developed a practice that utilizes printmaking inks but is not about making prints. Each piece is developed as a painting, and that has allowed me to push past previous limitations and create a new visual language.”

Between #8, relief ink on paper, 48” x 44”
Caldbeck Gallery | Rockland

F. Lipari
Following a successful career as an art director for a graphic design and advertising firm in Montreal, F. Lipari began painting full-time. His paintings are carefully conceived. Pure lines, richness in colors, and blends with a minimalist approach are significant in his choice of subjects and image compositions. Largely influenced by his love of nature, his subjects are carefully chosen and presented in their purest form in a setting devoid of any clutter, thus evoking a sensation of serenity and stillness. Broad strokes of acrylics, multiple layers, subtle hues, and blends create depth in his work, while the main feature is highlighted by a signature mark of etherealism, giving it all the focus and attention it merits. When looking at his work, F. Lipari wants you to feel the mood and be transported into his world.

Refuge, acrylic on canvas, 36” x 48”
Artemis Gallery | Northeast Harbor

Liz Hoag
“When I’m walking in the woods, I think, ‘this is so peaceful,’ and look around at the ‘quiet.’ It’s not just that the surrounding trees dampen the sounds of nearby civilization, but the light and color also make the space feel quiet. The warm light sifting through the trees, the colors of early morning or late afternoon, the cool blues and browns of the path all come together to give me peace. Even at midday with the bright light washing away some of the color, the balance of the trees, branches, and light and dark of the forest still creates calm. I also go to the edge of the sea to find ‘calm.’ Rather than wrapping my arms around myself as I might in the closed quiet of the forest, I instead take a deep breath and spread my arms wide. Wherever I go as an artist, I find balance. I focus not as much on realism as I do on a balanced composition that adds to the sense of peace in my work. I use larger pieces of color and value to direct the eye both two-dimensionally and three-dimensionally. By doing this, I can enhance the viewer’s feeling of calm even more.”

Purple Path, acrylic on canvas, 36” x 36”
Elizabeth Moss Galleries | Falmouth
Maine Art Hill | Kennebunk

Julie Houck
“As a contemporary landscape painter working in oils, I aspire to convey not only the scene but also the moment and mood. The moment is fleeting, but the painting allows us to live in that moment a bit longer, to linger, to reflect, to contemplate, to enjoy. I am inspired by the interplay of light on the landscape, which is ever elusive and always changing. Painting softly allows me the opportunity to recreate that one particular special moment when the land, light, and atmosphere seamlessly fuse. Simultaneously, my abstract work in oils is also highly influenced by my early classical training—particularly the study of light on form. My abstract works are inspired by that we cannot see but only experience. Although not realistic scenes, these abstracts retain perspective, value, and dimension. I approach each painting believing that it is not enough to paint the literal view. My goal is to also capture the essence of a scene or a point of view, and hopefully connect you viscerally to that place in time, experience, or moment.

The Colors of Morning, oil on linen, 33” x 33”
Maine Art Hill | Kennebunk

Andre Benoit
Andre Benoit sculpts human forms and iconic motifs in the abstract, assembled from repurposed remnants of wood and other castaway components of our society. The origins of these materials are a myriad of locales and environments. For each piece, the past workmanship of hand or machine, or exposure to the elements, has contributed contours and patina that not only catch the eye but also entertain and maintain the interest of the viewer—as do the heritages of the requisite materials. Benoit’s use of pigment is sparing in degree; this averts its domination of the overall impression and allows the inherent beauty of the surfaces of the wood to endure. He embraces the Japanese philosophy of wabi-sabi with the intentional use of asymmetry and a somewhat unadorned manifestation to capture spontaneity and leave an enduring impression.

Down on Old Bait, wooden assemblage, 31” x 14”
Carver Hill Gallery | Camden
Harlow Gallery | Hallowell
Hopkins Wharf Gallery | North Haven
Lincolnville Fine Art Gallery | Lincolnville
Thos Moser Gallery | Freeport

 

 

Jodi Edwards
“I like to paint like no one is watching. I am an abstract painter who lives in Maine. I love color. I often paint what I feel, or what is currently happening in my life as well as the changing seasons. I paint to music, and it is as much a part of the paintings as the paint. I am a conduit the music is my muse—and when it’s working, the paint flows through me easily and effortlessly. I often get lost in the paint, and it takes me somewhere else. When I paint, I feel connected to something greater than myself, and a deep sense of joy. I am happiest, most fulfilled, and most completely myself when I paint. It is a gift, and I am grateful to be able to share it.”

Welcome Summer, acrylic and mixed media on panel, 36” x 36”
Portland Art Gallery | Portland

John Whalley
“My studio contains a vast array of ‘orphaned objects,’ which my wife and I have collected over the years, and from these I selected the ones which, in a sense, passed their audition and found their places in each of my paintings. Care was taken to allow a little story to develop in each painting which remains open to the imagination and interpretation of each viewer. I find that the paintings often touch memories and emotions of each viewer, as they have my own. Objects from nature such as lobster claws, mussel shells, and fossils have fascinated me since childhood. Whether old tools, books, or measuring strings, these well-used objects can speak of the dignity of common labor. An old pocket watch, compass, and clouded bottles harken back to a time of the concern for beauty in the making of objects of everyday use. My hope is that these works will compose a collection of winsome scenes, as if from a play, that will bring pleasure with their simple telling.”
Carmina Sacra, oil on panel, 205/8” x 283/4”
Greenhut Galleries | Portland

Ann Sklar
“I have been spending long, wonderful summers in Maine since 2005. The beauty of the landscape has had a major influence on my painting. I fell in love with the quiet, peaceful places that are everywhere, and my intention is to make paintings that have the same feeling of calmness. These pieces are not about a specific place but rather about the general feeling that you get from being here. I don’t do a lot of planning but rather let my intuitive feelings guide me. There is a contemporary, abstract feeling about these landscapes and a universal quality about the images. I like to think that the viewer will have a deeply personal response to them.”

A Band of Light, oil on canvas, 24” x 24”
Portland Art Gallery | Portland

Bathsheba Veghte
“My work explores the concept of ‘Home,’ a theme that I am pursuing predominantly through my paintings on aluminum. I am trying to understand what home means, what we use to identify those things that embody comfort, safety, and loss. In college I read Gaston Bachelard’s The Poetics of Space; it was a seminal piece for me as it outlined with such eloquence how we define space, how we hold within us valued spaces, how we integrate the intimacy of our ‘shelters.’ One quote has resonated through the years: ‘…the places in which we have experienced daydreaming reconstitute themselves in a new daydream, and it is because our memories of former dwelling-places are relived as daydreams these dwelling-places of the past remain in us for all the time.’ I love ambiguity and the notion that a drawn line or a patch of color can have multiple meanings. Some would consider my pieces incomplete, but I welcome their open-endedness. This process comes from my firm belief that we are all ‘unfinished,’ always evolving, always being surprised, and that it’s up to the viewer to fill in their own story.”

Grey House #1, oil on aluminum, 30” x 40”

Willa Vennema
“I work in the encaustic medium to create luminous, multilayered works made from a molten mixture of beeswax, damar crystals, pigments, and found materials. My work is always evolving as I explore ideas for months, or years, at a time in a series format. My inspiration comes from the magnificent beauty of the Maine coast as well as from the process and materials used in encaustic painting. My most recent series, The Peaceful Use of Walls, revisits an old subject for me, a simple house structure, within the context of our turbulent political times. This series grew from a question I posed to myself, when thinking about the Trump administration’s proposed wall for our border with Mexico: ‘What are some of the ways humans use walls for good?’ I am a longtime member of the professional artist’s group New England Wax, and I show regularly with this group in museums and university galleries throughout New England. My work is in over 100 private collections.”

The Peaceful Use of Walls #1, encaustic on panel, 24 ” x 24”
Harbor Square Gallery | Rockland
Portland Art Gallery | Portland

Carol Rowan
“I am a realist artist who draws and paints with intricate focus. Subjects with a sense of history and scenes with apparent calm are often found in my work. My challenges are to get graphite to shine on a piece paper, materializing as a crisp, dry cornfield, or to capture in an oil painting a sense of afternoon light before a thunderstorm on a body of water. Most of my subjects demand patience, with thousands of pencil marks or months of brushstrokes, glaze after glaze. The work I do is serious. I am disciplined with its creation and know that it fuels my pulse, my love, and my longing.”

Mount Desert, oil on panel, 30” x 30”

Carter Shappy
“Printmaking, including its many formalities, is a medium of structured play. By embracing its more unpredictable qualities while honoring the “mise en place” of print techniques, I explore whimsy and chance as a methodical means for discovery. My printed works and assemblages frequently utilize found imagery, found sound, light, saturated color, and recursive forms and patterns. These biomimetic juxtapositions aim to visually reconcile the natural and unnatural, fantastical and mundane, and unique and ubiquitous. Using scientific concepts as starting points, I strive to make artworks that transform and highlight viewers’ interactions with both natural and built landscapes.”

The Elder, cut-out archival inkjet print, approx. 24” x 48”

J. Felice Boucher
“My fine art photography is still and direct, and closely parallels my meditation practices. All sense of time and place is set aside when I focus on a photograph’s creation. My art is grounded in my passion of photography, painting, design, light, and color. Sometimes I work with a specific theme in mind, but most often I’m just moved by an alluring space, haunting light, beautiful fabric, or a stunning face that I must capture.”

Birds of a Feather, photograph/archival pigment print, 21” x 17”

 

 

 

Marguerite Lawler
“When out on location I like to observe, gather information, organize, and develop the foundations of my paintings through small studies in oil and gouache. My subject is the wooded and water environments of Maine, and my focus is the effects of light on the landscape. What interests me as a painter is studying the high contrast of shadows and the forms they create. I am not looking toward painting the panoramic or infusing romantic sensibilities; I look to capture the austerity of the moment. In the studio, my studies are then translated into large oil paintings on panel. I rely on these studies, my visual memory, and intuition to create representational but not literal pieces. My visual experiences become the springboard for exploration and discovery that evolves over time.”

Back Bay, oil on panel, 30” x 40”
Elizabeth Moss Galleries | Falmouth

Randy Eckard
“My approach to watercolor painting is nontraditional, in that I try to avoid the limitations and trappings of traditional watercolor techniques. Although traditional washes are an integral part of the painting process, I rely more on the layering of color, through glazing and drybrush work. Moving between wet and dry on the paper achieves a variety of complementary thick and thin surfaces, which allows for the luminous quality of watercolor, with added depth of color and texture. Light plays an essential role in my subjects. It is as if the subtle or dramatic interplay of light and shadow becomes the subject more than the objects themselves. Light reveals the character, color, and texture of objects, whether man-made or natural. The alternation of lighted and shadowed planes produces powerful repeated patterns and can be an important element of design. The subjects or objects I choose to paint have always been of paramount importance, especially with their tendency to come unexpectedly. Quiet, patient observation often reveals the life of a subject, although frequently the focus of my initial inspiration will change throughout the course of the painting. Painting titles will offer clues to the experience behind an inspiration.”

From Another Time, watercolor on paper, 21” x 15”
Jud Hartmann Gallery | Blue Hill
Randy Eckard Gallery | Blue Hill
Richard Boyd Art Gallery | Peaks Island

Holly L. Smith
“As an artist and Maine native, I have always found inspiration in the ever-changing beauty and moods of my surroundings. When observing Maine’s spectacular coastline firsthand, I distinguish its distinctive colors, shapes, and compositions that later unfold into paintings. It is through my artful expressions as a contemporary realist and colorist that I explore my passion for unique light and subject matter. Maine’s warm summer months lead me outside to explore and plein air paint its local islands and coastal towns. This experiential process is best for capturing the magical light, colors, and tranquility of the landscape. Once I determine the subject matter then complete sketching and photographing, I set up my paint box and easel for an enjoyable day of painting. Later, I take these reference materials back to my studio for further development. Over the years, I practiced various creative techniques and mediums, but I always gravitated to oils and watercolors. Maine’s coastal scenery provides me with infinite sources of inspiration. My aim is to share through my paintings what I experience and absorb: the feelings, energy, and fleeting moments of Maine and all its splendor.”

Spring Day on Eagle Island, oil on canvas, 40” x 40”
Lincolnville Fine Art Gallery | Lincolnville
Portland Art Gallery | Portland

Walter Gaffney-Kessell
“For as long as I have been able to hold a pencil, I have been drawing and painting, which was quite an oddity in my family where everyone was a blue-collar worker. I explored and found comfort in the reading of art books, where I discovered the lives of many artists to be fascinating. The words of Leonardo DaVinci in particular struck a chord within me: ‘In order to attain art, we must allow our heart to influence our hands.’ I began to compose artwork that held deep meaning for me, and during that time I observed the resilience of my German grandparents and their fortitude in rebuilding their life that had been destroyed by war; their frugality and reverence for everyday objects has influenced my entire life. I too began viewing everyday objects with reverence and respect. Holding things from the past dearly resonates with me. I paint people and objects that have weathered time, weathered injustice, weathered indifference, yet have persevered. I studied at the Rhode Island School of Design and the Paier School of Art, and for the past 25 years have lived in Maine, where I continue to find inspiration.”

Balance, ink, watercolor, and gouache on paper, 21” x 13”
Artemis Gallery | Northeast Harbor
Islesford Dock Gallery | Islesford

Paul Bonneau
Often referred to as a “colorist,” Bonneau makes work that is fresh and directly painted. His simple, concrete shapes and strong contrasts of light and shadow provide the platform for the intensification of local color. His goal: “to capitalize on the joy and hold the memory of a place that has made an impression, somewhere between reality and illusion.” Bonneau was recently juried into the Rockport Art Association and Museum’s Crossroads show, the Providence Art Club’s National Open Show, received the North Shore [Massachusetts] Artists Association’s Award for Excellence in New England Impressionist Landscape, and earned a first place in Impressionism/Landscape from the American Art Awards. He was just juried into the Newburyport Art Association as a master artist member. Bonneau has shown in many invitational shows, including at the Danforth Museum, the Bedford Art Museum, the Rotenberg Gallery (Selected Boston Artists show) the Thos. Moser Gallery, the Maine College of Art, and the Ogunquit Art Association. Participating in many juried plein air competitions, Bonneau is a seven-time participant in the Cape Elizabeth Land Trust’s plein air auction and, in addition to his solo and group gallery shows, contributes to a number of other charity events.

Big House, Little House, Back House, Barn, acrylic on canvas, 18” x 24”
Casco Bay Artisans | Portland
The Wright Gallery | Cape Porpoise

Kay Carter
Kay Carter’s work reflects her intuitive reaction to the cycles of the earth. For 40 years Kay worked in human service. Now in retirement, she is delighted to spend full time working in her studio in Hampden. Guided by a spiritual response to nature, her work often starts with writings, which reflect nature as she observes it. The writings lead her into design and on to painting. Her work is informed by color, texture, and form in nature. Often it is nonrepresentational. It focuses around the intimate energy, beauty, and magic that she observes in her changing environment. Carter enjoys using a variety of mediums, experimenting with ways to express herself in her work.

Seeds, oil on panel, 20” x 20”

Wendy A. Newcomb
Wendy Newcomb’s paintings represent a visual journal of her life in Maine. They reflect her love of nature and her participation in it. A recurring theme in her work is the way in which light falls upon objects and the landscape, how it defines and creates patterns and adds drama to a scene. She prefers early morning or late afternoon light for its golden hues and long shadows. The element of water is also particularly interesting to her, with its constant motion, its transparencies, and how it interacts with the land and sky. Recreating her visual experience, she wants to give the viewer a sense of being in that moment with her.

Spring Gorge, oil on panel, 24” x 24”
Hole in the Wall Studioworks | Raymond

Peter Walls
Walls’s Penobscot series focuses on the Penobscot River and Bay, a stone’s throw from his home and studio in Stockton Springs. Walls spent his childhood on Lake Ontario and then a decade in South Louisiana exploring the Gulf of Mexico and its intercoastal waterways. Now the Atlantic Ocean and the countless rivers, streams, and lakes in Maine demand his attention. The mystery, fear, and obsession with water and the life it contains have always been present in, and continue to push, his thoughts and musings. He is exploring this series further into 2020 with Solutions Earth (solutionsearth.org): a group of Maine arts and cultural individuals and organizations declaring a climate emergency and calling for and committing to climate action. Techniques from his time as a printmaker, a decorative painter, and a textile artist are reimagined in paint and mixed media to illustrate the wonders of these waters with their incredible plant and animal life. Color and pattern become focal points through texture, luminosity, and joyful compositions.

Night Swim of the Mackerel–Shimmer, mixed media on wood panel, 36” x 36”
Leslie Curtis Designs | Camden

Ann Trainor Domingue
“I love the same things you do about New England. I just reflect on them in a different light. As a lifelong resident of New England, I understand the visual and spiritual beauty of this place we call home. I feel connected to the colorful landscapes from the ocean’s edge to inland forests and waterways. Our varied and beautiful environments are critical to protect and appreciate in order to provide the same experiences for our children and grandchildren. I’d love for them have the same sense of awe I have experienced while they feel and treasure the landscape in their own unique way. My art-making process results in a semiabstract approach to developing a painting. I take notes by sketching both on-site and in my studio, taking photos, and by simply looking in order to collect images and feelings about particular places and relationships. I then develop these by working in sketchbooks to cull the most important aspects and recombine them into designs that speak to me and, hopefully in the end, to my followers and fans. I intentionally work in a different and unexpected manner to develop a fresh way of presenting commonly seen views and situations.”

Our Everything, acrylic on canvas, 36” x 24”
George Marshall Store Gallery | York
Portland Art Gallery | Portland

Rhonda Pearle
“I love to be painting on a giant canvas with big, fat, smudgy oil sticks. My paintings are textural, moody, fluid, bright. I want to turn the world of the canvas into a world of swimming color. I have been painting for many years now, and after trying to capture reality on the canvas, I realize that I want to make the canvas my own reality; the way I want the world to be. Although sometimes its nice to use the canvas to express darker feelings, I tend to want to escape in my canvases to a happier place. Having used the computer as a tool for years as a graphic designer, I now escape to a painting studio, where I use hands-on painting tools and the smell of paint surrounds me. I realize that this is where I want to be.”
True Blue, oil and acrylic on canvas, 36” x 48”
Bridge Gallery | Portland

 

Doug Caves
“My paintings come from a personal emotional response I feel from the people, places, and circumstances I experience. I make paintings that explore how these emotions are evoked through the images on the canvas. The subtle play of light and texture across the structures and artifacts of the New England landscape inspire me. I build my canvases in layers of color and brushstrokes that help me to draw out the personal feeling that I am experiencing and land it on the canvas. Through exploration and discovery, my process takes me through to an expression of those emotions. Through delicate shifts in tone and composition I find the right ‘mood’ of what it is I am trying to paint. I hope to evoke an essential emotion in the viewer that communicates that and draws you in, offering you a reason to pause.”

Donald’s Garage, acrylic on canvas, 40” x 30”
Portland Art Gallery | Portland

Cooper Dragonette
“I am a full-time artist who lives in the small coastal town of Cape Elizabeth, where I am a landscape painter, teacher, father, and husband (though not necessarily
in that order). I am drawn to the coastal landscapes of southern Maine—the buildings and landscapes that inspired Homer and Hopper: the rich brick colors of downtown Portland, the lighthouses and farms that have been a part of Maine since long ago, or sometimes simply the contrasts of sea and sky. I want to create paintings that are often an experience in memory. On-site I am trying to record the moment, but in the studio I am trying to get back to the place, to the feeling, to the experience.”

Western Sea, oil on panel, 18” x 24”
Portland Art Gallery | Portland

Brad Betts
Brad Betts has been an artist for over 25 years and is a Signature Member of the American Society of Marine Artists. His paintings have appeared in solo and group shows throughout New England, including the Mystic Seaport Gallery’s acclaimed International Marine Art Exhibition for over 10 years. In 2006 he received the Maritime Gallery Yachting Award and in 2017 he received the Award of Excellence at this juried exhibition. His inspiration to paint all things nautical is an outgrowth of his youth, which he spent around the waters of the Gulf Coast. Now living in East Boothbay, Betts draws from the area’s rich maritime history and active working harbors to create paintings that reflect his lifelong appreciation of the sea as well his desire to capture the stories of Maine throughout its diverse seasons. Since 2014 with his wife and two sons, Betts has owned and operated Down East Gallery in midcoast Maine, where over 250 of his works are exhibited in a historic farmhouse and barn, along with sculptures, tapestries, wood, and glasswares by a selection of Maine’s finest artisans and makers.

Pounce, oil on canvas, 16” x 20”
Down East Gallery | Edgecomb

David Estey
“My painting is total improvisation. I try to create extraordinary and compelling new imagery, intrinsically based on the elements and principles of good design. Sometimes figurative or other narrative references emerge and remain in my work, but they are subordinate to the aesthetic whole. I’m after a visual experience that is felt viscerally in the heart and soul, with or without a narrative context. Ultimately, I want to make something extraordinary that’s not been seen before, then step back and say, ‘Wow, look at that!’ Then make it really count.”

Fake News, acrylic and collage on canvas, 36” x 36”
Littlefield Gallery | Winter Harbor

Nina Fuller
Nina Fuller works in a carriage-house studio at her sheep farm in Hollis. She photographs important events for families, supports her commercial clientele, and captures beauty and irony wherever she is. Traveling the world photographing and writing about her experiences, Fuller’s work has appeared in the Boston Globe, The New York Times, Maine Sunday Telegram, National Geographic Traveler, Practical Horseman, Horse and Rider, Women and Horses, Mountain Living Magazine, Animal Fare, American Cowboy, Fido Friendly Magazine, and other international publications. She gives group and individual workshops in photography and Equine Assisted Photography Therapy (EAPT) at her farm, where she shares her experience and understanding of photography and horses with those who aspire to see the world in a new and exciting way. “I would hope my work evokes a feeling, a physical feeling that one can’t explain,” says Fuller.

Mary in the Box, photograph, 14 1/3” x 16”
Portland Art Gallery | Portland