Feature April 2011

BY SUSAN GRISANTI

A SELECTION OF THE FRESHEST TALENT FROM THE MAINE ART SCENE AND THE EXCEPTIONAL WORK THEY HAVE CREATED WITH PASSION, INSIGHT, AND BOUNDLESS SKILL

Art and Maine. There is a long love affair between the two. The attraction between artists and the fertile ground that Maine provides hasn’t waned; instead, our art community has swelled over time with both fresh talent and with masters who continually evolve their work. These artists find inspiration in the wildness of the land, the distinctive architecture, and the strong support they receive from our galleries and arts institutions. And they begin a conversation between their work and us. They ask us to look closer, sometimes to an interpretation of everyday existence, other times to an excursion into a elaborate daydream. When a work of art speaks to us, it creates a space in which we lose ourselves, even for a moment. And in that moment, new truths are revealed.
In every issue of Maine Home+Design we shed light on our state’s artists and their work, and for the past four years we have wholly dedicated the pages of our April issues to art. On the following pages, we share with you a selection of the most exciting contemporary art being created in Maine.

KEN GREENLEAF

As my artistic interests have evolved over the years, I find it possible to do more with less. The paintings are essays on how we apprehend what we see and recognize what is real. I seek an art without narrative, rhetoric, or illusion. Art is, by its nature, an abstraction.”

FOR MORE KEN GREENLEAF:
KENGREENLEAF.COM, CALDBECK GALLERY,
AUCOCISCO GALLERY

REESE INMAN

My work explores the impact of computer technology on everyday life, making visible elements of digital process that are not readily apparent. The work begins digitally, with algorithmically generated patterns of information created by programs that I code, and takes final form in paintings, drawings, and video.”

FOR MORE REESE INMAN:
REESEINMAN.COM, GALLERY NAGA (BOSTON), SIMON GALLERY (MORRISTOWN, NJ)
UPCOMING SHOWS:
REESE INMAN: BURN DRAWINGS, CENTER FOR MAINE CONTEMPORARY ART, JULY 16–SEPTEMBER 18; DRAWING ON, LORD HALL GALLERY, UNIVERSITY OF MAINE, OCTOBER 12–NOVEMBER 18

GEORGE MASON

“Having pursued nearly every possible alternative, I find myself back in my studio and content to be there. When I go there, something inevitably happens. It turns out that having an idea may be less important than being open to inquiry for its own sake. This apparently involves listening, trusting that the present provides, and following the thread of what is observed.”

FOR MORE GEORGE MASON:
GEORGEMASONART.COM
UPCOMING SHOWS:
RECENT WORK, GEORGE MASON GALLERY, JULY 9–31; WORKS IN CONCERT WITH SALT BAY CHAMBERFEST 2011, ROUND TOP FARM HOUSE, AUGUST 16–27

JACK MONTGOMERY

“I am blessed to photograph in Maine, with its distinct landscape and architecture. I favor interior portraiture, where the room adds context and opportunities to use geometry as part of the design of the image. The community of photographers, galleries, and educators in Maine is strong and supportive.”

FOR MORE JACK MONTGOMERY:
JACKMONTGOMERYPHOTOGRAPHY.COM,
SUSAN MAASCH FINE ART
UPCOMING SHOW:
NEW ROADS AND OLD: RECENT WORKS BY JACK MONTGOMERY, SUSAN MAASCH FINE ART, SEPTEMBER

ALICIA EGGERT

“Wonder is a kinetic sculpture that rewards those who are curious enough to look a little bit closer. From a distance, the white dots appear to be a constellation. As a viewer approaches the work, the dots slowly move into position to spell the word ‘wonder.’”

FOR MORE ALICIA EGGERT:
ALICIAEGGERT.COM
UPCOMING SHOW:
2011 PORTLAND MUSEUM OF ART BIENNIAL,
APRIL 7–JUNE 5

ALISON HILDRETH

“My latest work, an installation at the art gallery at the University of New England, is based on my lifelong interest in puppets. It draws on memories of inanimate objects from the times in our lives when the real and the imaginary are intertwined—childhood.”

FOR MORE ALISON HILDRETH:
ALISONHILDRETH.COM, JUNE FITZPATRICK GALLERY
UPCOMING SHOWS: EMERGING DIS/ORDER: DRAWINGS BY AMY STACEY CURTIS, ALISON HILDRETH AND ANDREA SULZER, BATES COLLEGE MUSEUM OF ART, JUNE 10–SEPTEMBER 10; LAMAPOULE RESIDENCY ARTISTS, OGUNQUIT MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART, MAY; DRAWING EXHIBIT, L.C. BATES MUSEUM, MAY

NANCY MORGAN BARNES

“When given a choice to paint the majesty of the Maine landscape or the ordinary world of human activity, I will usually pick the latter. Wherever people gather there is color, constant change, and unpredictability both on the canvas and with the subject I’m trying to depict. I love this challenge and its endless possibilities.”

FOR MORE NANCY MORGAN BARNES:
GREENHUT GALLERIES, GWATSON GALLERY, BEAUX-ARTS DES AMERIQUES (MONTREAL, QUEBEC

VIVIAN BEER

“I make furniture and sculpture about our socially encoded and imaginative relationship with domestic objects. My design process is sophisticated daydreaming. I choose a cocktail of images and forms and combine them with a sense of architecture and furniture design to create objects that are steel calligrapher’s lines in three dimensions.

FOR MORE VIVIAN BEER:
VIVIANBEER.COM, WEXLER GALLERY (PHILADELPHIA), MOBILIA GALLERY (CAMBRIDGE, MA), PRITAM & EAMES (EAST HAMPTON, NY)
UPCOMING SHOW:
VIVIAN BEER: COLORFUL TIDES, COURTHOUSE
GALLERY, JULY 13–AUGUST 7

TANJA ALEXIA HOLLANDER

“We are all affected by the places we live, the spaces we inhabit, and, more importantly, the people we surround ourselves with. As I search for beauty in the everyday, I am reminded how, together, these simple parts shape our identity.”

FOR MORE TANJA ALEXIA HOLLANDER:
TANJAALEXIAHOLLANDER.COM, CARROLL AND SONS (BOSTON), JIM KEMPNER FINE ART (NEW YORK CITY)
UPCOMING SHOW:
LA NAPOULE ART FOUNDATION, OGUNQUIT MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART, MAY 1–JUNE 26

WILLIAM HOYT

“Having painted for over fifty years now, it has become my response to just about everything. Painting is a way to grasp life and hold on to it. Last summer we paused to offer a tow to this boatload, but they demurred. I realized there was another painting; halcyon summer day, wooden Dark Harbor 20, and happy people.”

FOR MORE WILLIAM HOYT:
WMBHOYT.COM, MAINE ART GALLERY
UPCOMING SHOW:
WILLIAM HOYT: A SHOW OF NEW WORKS, MAINE ART GALLERY, JUNE

HONOUR MACK

“The process of painting has always been the way I learn and express myself most clearly. Investigating an idea is at the core of my commitment to making art. I hope to suspend viewers between recognizing images and identifying images. As a visual artist, I believe this ‘in-between’ space holds poetry and potential.”

FOR MORE HONOUR MACK:
HONOURMACK.COM

TOLLEF RUNQUIST

“I think something about Maine resonates with my need for solitude as an artist. The geography of this particular place is conducive to that end. There is quite a bit of wildness and distance here. This is fertile ground for many temperaments.”

FOR MORE TOLLEF RUNQUIST:
DOWLING WALSH GALLERY, OBER GALLERY (KENT, CT)
UPCOMING SHOW:
SOLO SHOW, DOWLING WALSH GALLERY, SEPTEMBER

SHARON ARNOLD

“As an artist born and raised on Mt. Desert Island, people would assume me to be a landscape artist, but my work is internal. One learns to entertain and amuse in an isolating setting. My photographs are presented as dreams, and unlike those articulated in words, they remain unsaid in an unconscious world.”

FOR MORE SHARON ARNOLD: VOXPHOTOGRAPHS
UPCOMING SHOWS: SINGULAR, THE LANDING GALLERY, OCTOBER 2011; SINGULAR, THE PALMINA F. AND STEPHEN PACE GALLERIES AT FRYEBURG ACADEMY, SPRING 2012; THE MYTHS, USM GORHAM ART GALLERY, JANUARY–MARCH 2012; STRANGERS & OTHERS, THE PALMINA F. AND STEPHEN PACE GALLERIES AT FRYEBURG ACADEMY, MAY–AUGUST 2012

GABRIELLA D’ITALIA

“I’m compelled by experiences of meaning in the absence of adequate language. I use repetition and labor-intensive strategies as a means of contemplating time through materials. This generates cognitive evidence that is skeptical of time’s apparent exigency.”

FOR MORE GABRIELLA D’ITALIA:
GABRIELLADITALIA.COM
UPCOMING SHOW:
PIECED, CENTER FOR MAINE CONTEMPORARY ART, SEPTEMBER–DECEMBER

GRETA BANK

“I’ve been thinking a lot about ownership of ideas. Everyone needs to stop talking about art and money; it’s not healthy. Possession is not nine-tenths of the law.”

FOR MORE GRETA BANK:
MYSECRETSTUDIO.COM

JULIE FREUND

“My art is an exploration of my passion for light and color in the Maine landscape.
I am especially drawn to the dynamic tension created by the land meeting
the sea.”

FOR MORE JULIE FREUND:
JULIEFREUND.COM, ELIZABETH MOSS GALLERY
UPCOMING SHOWS:
FREEPORT ARTISTS, THOMAS MOSER SHOWROOM, THROUGH MAY; SOLO SHOW, ELIZABETH MOSS
GALLERY, JULY 14–AUGUST 20; WOMEN’S SHOW, THOMAS MOSER SHOWROOM, SEPTEMBER

JOHN NEVILLE

For the past twenty-five years, Neville has split his time between the Canadian Maritimes and the coast of Maine, creating distinctive, boldly colored paintings that vividly convey the indelible character and dignity of an all-but-vanished way of life.

FOR MORE JOHN NEVILLE:
GLEASON FINE ART, COURTHOUSE GALLERY
UPCOMING SHOW:
GLEASON FINE ART, AUGUST

CIG HARVEY

“I am currently working on a collection of portraits made around my home in Maine. I find I am searching for something to displace me as a viewer: a gesture or a gaze in conjunction with a location that somehow interrupts me. My photographs are autobiographical. They help me make sense of the world.”

FOR MORE CIG HARVEY:
CIGHARVEY.COM, DOWLING WALSH GALLERY
UPCOMING SHOW:
SOLO SHOW, DOWLING WALSH GALLERY, MAY