COASTAL MAINE
DESTINATION COASTAL MAINE
Michael Weymouth, Spruce Island Shore, 2018, oil on canvas 12 x 24". At The Turtle Gallery.
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or hundreds of years, artists have been inspired by Maine’s remarkable natural beauty and maritime history. The state’s quaint towns, majestic mountains and spectacular shoreline are featured prominently in works by world-famous artists such as Frank Benson, Thomas Cole, Marsden Hartley, Winslow Homer, Edward Hopper, the Wyeth family and many more. Artist colonies and retreats as well as visual arts schools are a year-round presence, making the arts an economic engine as well as part of everyday life in the Pine Tree State. In Maine, you can observe art as well as experience it. Start your “artinerary” of Maine in the southern town of York, at the George Marshall Store Gallery. Housed in a former 19th-century general store, the art gallery hosts exhibitions by established and rising regional contemporary artists. This summer’s shows include At Ease: Invited New England Artists (July 14–August 19). “It’s about being comfortable, relaxed and being at ease,” says gallery director Mary P. Harding.
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The show includes figurative works by George Lloyd and a solo show of colorful abstract paintings by Ann Trainor Domingue. A second show, opening August 25, features paintings by Lisa Noonis and Carter Wentworth, art from found objects by Dan Dowd, bronze sculpture by Ernest Montenegro, as well as contemporary photography by California photographer Lucas Foglia. A short drive away, in York Village, is Rocky Mountain Quilts, where owner and fabric expert Becky Telford-Goodwin exhibits and sells a dazzling array of antique quilts. More than 700 quilts, all made before 1950, are for sale in her antique barn. A wide range of styles are displayed including pieces from Hawaii, rare quilts sewn by African-American women as well as 18th-century New Englanders. “These are highquality quilts sought by collectors and typically hung for display,” says Telford-Goodwin, who travels internationally to lecture and is an expert on textile research and restoration. From York, wind your way along the picturesque Maine coast to Ogunquit, a resort
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town aptly nicknamed “beautiful place by the sea” and a destination for artists since the 19th century. The Ogunquit Museum of American Art, overlooking Perkins Cove, is devoted exclusively to exhibiting, preserving and interpreting American art. This summer, the museum’s permanent collection has been rehung; select works are organized into the exhibit View of Narrow Cove, highlighting “the beautiful area around the museum,” according to Michael Mansfield, the museum’s executive director and chief curator. Opening July 31 is Lois Dodd: Drawings and Paintings, highlighting the 90-year-old painter’s work from the 1950s and 1960s. Simultaneously on view is Boundaries, a collaboration by poet Richard Blanco and landscape photographer Jacob Bond Hessler, exploring race, gender, class and ethnicity in America. Opening July 12 is Bill Viola: The Fall Into Paradise, a digital cinema installation that explores transformation from emotional, philosophical and spiritual perspectives. Continue driving north along Route 1 into
July/August 2018
Art New England 49