Destination: Portland & Southern ME

DESTINATION PORTLAND & SOUTHERN ME

PORTLAND PORTLAND & & S. S. MAINE MAINE

DESTINATION PORTLAND & SOUTHERN ME

J

ohn Calvin Stevens designed more than 350 buildings on the Portland peninsula and over 1,000 in Maine, but he was not just a local architect. Stevens’ designs and drawings were the critical catalyst for the Shingle Style that came to define American domestic architecture. Stevens was also an excellent painter, a close friend of Winslow Homer, a member of the painters group “The Brush’uns” and a leader of the Portland Society of Art that was founded in 1882. Stevens also designed the Sweat Memorial Galleries that helped transform the Portland Society of Art into the still-blossoming Portland Museum of Art. Maine’s cultural history is rich with writers, architects and musicians, but it is most commonly associated with the visual artists who would come to work, sometimes in isolation and sometimes in groups. One of the best known areas for artist groups is Ogunquit.

Maine’s longest-standing active artists group is the Ogunquit Artists Association founded in 1928. Such art colonies have deep roots.

The internationally renowned artist Jonathan Borofsky, for example, was pulled back by artistic gravity after decades in New York and L.A. because his artist mother had brought him to Ogunquit year after year so she could paint and run her gallery.

Through the years, the artist colonies transformed Ogunquit. One of the best places to learn about Maine’s artist colonies is the picturesque Ogunquit Museum of American Art (OMAA).

Patrick Pierce Two Diamond Artfarm Free range sculpture on four acres

98 Hearn Road Saco, Maine 978-427-8329 PatrickPierce.com

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A view of downtown Portland, ME. Photo: Chris Lawrence. Courtesy of the Greater Portland Convention + Visitors Bureau.

Founded in 1953 by artist Henry Strater, the museum was directly connected to several of America’s earliest art communities. The museum features contemporary and historical exhibitions as well as highlights from its permanent collection rich in American modernism. Perched over Narrow Cove, with a breathtaking view of the Atlantic, the museum and its acres of sculpture gardens comprise one of the most beautiful art settings in New England.

The Ogunquit Artists Association, as well, continues to be very active. It maintains the spa-

cious Barn Gallery just down the road from the OMAA. The lively gallery both showcases the members—who historically have been selected for membership by their peers on the basis of professional excellence—and exhibits featured artists, with this year’s shows ranging from the quietly nuanced landscapes of Sherry Palmer to the raucous paintings of Richard Brown Lethem.

The area features several of the strongest contemporary galleries in Maine. Although scenically situated in a historic building overlooking the John Hancock Wharf and the tidal waters of

Able Baker Contemporary

SUSANAMONS.com

An artist-run gallery space in the Arts District of Portland, Maine 29 Forest Ave, Portland, ME 04101

ablebakercontemporary.com

samons@maine.rr.com Courthouse Gallery George Marshall Store

Mast Cove Gallery Hurlbutt Designs

Italy Workshop: fineartstudioitalia.com

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PORTLAND PORTLAND & & S. S. MAINE MAINE the York River, the handsome George Marshall Store Gallery prides itself in showing work that has nothing to do with “quaint.” Indeed, the gallery combines ambitiously curated exhibitions with solo shows by major, notable or emerging contemporary artists and painters such as Tom Glover, George Lloyd, Susan Amons, Richard Keen and Roy Germon.

Just north of Ogunquit on Route 1 in Wells is Corey Daniels Gallery, which combines an 18th century farmhouse with sleek modernist gallery spaces. While Daniels mounts solo exhibitions of significant contemporary artists such as painters Jeff Keller and Jung Hur, photographer Shoshonnah White and installation artist Sarah Bouchard, he does not treat his space like a typical gallery. Daniels is an artist and this is apparent in the myriad layers of design with which the gallery is set: furniture, sculpture, paintings,

objects and more. Daniel’s eye for design, when combined with his penchant for modernist furniture, his architectural sensibilities, as well as his choices of artists, makes this gallery one of the most extraordinary interiors in Maine.

Southern Maine is not only full of art and antiques, but also fine craft. Rocky Mountain Quilts, in York, specializes in antique quilts dating from 1780 to 1950 and ranging from, among others, pieced, appliqued, Mennonite, Amish, African American, Victorian Crazy Quilts and Broderie Perse. While proprietor Betsey TelfordGoodwin specializes in restoration, virtually every quilt is in original condition.

Kennebunk also features several excellent venues, particularly by artist-studio galleries.

Deborah Randall at Deborah Randall Fine Art was a successful artist in notable galleries, yet it was when she opened her street-level space

to the public that she found she could connect directly with her audience. Randall’s work runs the gamut from sophisticated and moody big-sky landscapes to jaunty little drawings. However playful or serious she gets, her Italian-educated eye helps her see nuance and her steady hand is ever bold.

Kennebunk artist Kate Cheney Chappell is extremely active within Maine’s artist communities. Her Center for Book Arts at the University of Southern Maine added both a venue and a boost to Maine’s growing print and book arts scenes.

Her work is often driven by moral energies. In a recent series, she wrote: “Frogs are in decline worldwide. Earth Matrix IV: Ghost Frogs reflects my concern for the environment and the human depredations that affect the life that supports us.

There are whole frogs in this piece, but, viewed closely, they are layered over graphite drawings

WHERE YOU’LL FIND MAINE’S BEST ARTISTS AFTER HOURS • CONTEMPORARY ART • • INNOVATIVE EXHIBITIONS • • LOCAL, NATIONAL & INTERNATIONAL • • ARTIST LECTURES • • PARTICIPATORY WORKSHOPS • ALL FREE & OPEN TO PUBLIC ALL UPCOMING EXIBITIONS & EVENTS:

maineartcollectors.com

MECA.EDU/ICA 522 CONGRESS STREET, PORTLAND, MAINE 04101

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PORTLAND PORTLAND & & S. S. MAINE MAINE of deformed frogs based on lab photos of this phenomenon I found in National Geographic.”

Chappell’s work can be seen at leading galleries such as George Marshall Store Gallery.

Biddeford-based painter and printmaker Susan Amons looks to the natural world for the forms she uses to anchor her bold compositions that combine keen observation with eyepopping decorative elegance. Her work is in the collections of the Portland Museum of Art, the Farnsworth Art Museum, the New York and Boston Public libraries, and the art museums of Colby, Bates, and Bowdoin colleges, as well as at the Mast Cove Gallery in Kennebunkport, George Marshall Store Gallery and Courthouse Gallery in Ellsworth. Amons’ work will also be featured in Peregrine Press’s 25th anniversary exhibit at the Portland Public Library.

Saco artist Patrick Pierce opens his Two

Diamond Artfarm to the public whenever he is working in his studio barn. The old horse stalls are now a different kind of stable: they provide vignette settings for Pierce’s sculptures, painting and lighting. Pierce lets his improvisational nature lead the way as he sculpts, bends, carves and repurposes objects into sculptures.

Saco/Biddeford has been one of Portland’s most actively growing artistic satellites. The Saco Museum has continued to combine its quirky historical object collection with exhibitions of both art and historical programming. This season leads with Beneath the Surface, featuring work from New England Wax (N.E.W.), a regional association of encaustic artists. Juried by Ron Crusan, artist and erstwhile executive director and curator of OMAA, Beneath the Surface includes more than 100 works by dozens of artists from all six New England states.

Just down Main Street and over the river from the Saco Museum is Engine, a forwardthinking gallery space for contemporary art exhibitions and community-focused shows in Biddeford. Engine’s executive director, Tammy Ackerman, fosters exciting relationships with emerging artists such as recent shows with local collective Autus. There is always something intriguing on the wall, like photographer Nancy Grace Horton’s exhibit, That’s What She Said, opening May 27, which explores gender identity through a series of characters: housewives, crossdressers and mannequins. In addition, Engine hosts performances, literary events and offers art and design programs for kids and adults. With its large new space (a repurposed Renys no less), Engine is poised to become a significant catalyst for both contemporary and community arts in southern Maine, especially as Biddeford enjoys a

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CONTEMPORARY ART IN DOWNTOWN BIDDEFORD, MAINE

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www.feedtheengine.org • 207-370-9130 TUES-FRI 1PM-6PM • SAT 11AM-4PM Work pictured by Amanda K. Hawkins (left) and Jonathan Mess (right)

BERNARD KARFIOL  

Kate Cheney Chappell



May 1 - October 31

Summer Studio Monhegan Island, ME 04852 207.596.6675 www.katechappellartspace.com

Appearing in The Art of the Hand Pulled Print

Portland Public Library

May 6 - Jun 25

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Bernard Karfiol Fishermen in Fish House, 1914 oil on canvas

ogunquitmuseum.org

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PORTLAND PORTLAND & & S. S. MAINE MAINE cultural renaissance downtown with its large and affordable former mill spaces currently attracting new artists looking for that perfect studio.

While the active gallery scene north of Portland is primarily geared to the local collectors, it offers an underappreciated opportunity for broader art audiences. Yarmouth Frame and Gallery, for example, is an intimate space stuffed with art and free of any white box pretension.

But the casual style belies the fact that three of the gallery’s artists (John Bowdren, William Hallett and Bill Tomsa) have all created covers for the L.L.Bean catalog. Similarly, popular local painter Catherine Breer, with her colorful towndotted coastal landscapes, recently won the juried competition for Acadia National Park’s 100th anniversary publication.

As audience access changes, even the traditional markets have shifted their approach.

Maine Art Collectors in Falmouth, for example, is an internet-based art gallery selling only works

by Maine-connected artists. Featured works include representational landscapes by the late Tom Crotty that were included in his 2004 retrospective exhibition at the Portland Museum of Art and works from William Manning’s series of abstract 3D paintings highlighted by the Farnsworth Art Museum in 2015. Maine Art Collectors offers works consigned both by prominent private collectors and leading Maine artists such as Eric Hopkins.

As Maine’s first city and launching point, Portland has always been the epicenter of Maine art. Portland is not only home to leading galleries, but it has the largest community of museums, not-for-profit kunsthalles and artist groups, including several print shop communities. One of Maine’s most significant juried membership artist

groups is Peregrine Press, a non-profit, fine arts printmaking 30-member cooperative founded in 1991. Based in the Bakery Building at 61 Pleasant Street, the press sometimes opens its doors for Portland’s First Friday Art Walks, yet its artists can always be seen in many of Maine’s leading galleries. Occasionally, the group mounts ambitious offsite exhibitions such as its upcoming 25th anniversary exhibition in the Lewis Gallery of the Portland Public Library.

Casco Bay Artisans, an international eclectic fine art gallery, is located on Portland’s Maine Wharf (68 Commercial St.) below the new Portland Science Center. Owned, curated and operated by Jennifer Swarts, a Portland-based artist and business owner, CBA’s mission is to engage art-lovers of all kind thereby offering an eclectic mix of art mediums—all originals. The price points are equally eclectic so original art can be accessible to all.

Ogunquit Art Association Maine’s Oldest Artists Group

Casco Bay Artisans International Eclectic Fine Art

on Portland’s Waterfront (68 Commercial Street, The Maine Wharf) 207.536.1577

Sherry Palmer

Exhibitions at Barn Gallery

May 25, June 29, Aug 10, Sept 14 Annual Art Auction August 6

Auction Preview Aug 3 - 6 Bourne Lane at Shore Rd, Ogunquit, Maine 207-646-8400 www.ogunquitartassociation.com

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Book your Winslow Homer Studio Tour now!

(207) 775-6148 | PortlandMuseum.org

May/June 2016 

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PORTLAND PORTLAND & & S. S. MAINE MAINE One of Portland’s freshest new galleries is the artist-run Able Baker Contemporary half a block off Congress on Forest Avenue. Founded by painters Stephen Benenson and Hilary Irons, Able Baker combines a white box gallery facility with curated exhibitions largely drawn from an open submission policy.

Art is all around southern Maine, and it is not always relegated to obvious venues. One of the region’s most art-friendly places to stay is the Pomegranate Inn in Portland. The eightguest-room boutique B&B is dedicated to its eclectic decor of furniture, sculpture, paintings, ceramics and textiles—all work of contemporary artists from Maine and across the globe including renowned printmaker Leonard Baskin and painters Eric Hopkins and Frederick Lynch.

One of Maine’s best art spaces is the Institute of Contemporary Art at the Maine College of

Art (MECA) on Congress Street in Portland. The ICA, which uses a rotating curator model for mounting new shows, is one of the state’s leading venues for cutting-edge contemporary art.

MECA unveiled its updated facilities this year and the project has greatly expanded its exhibition spaces while reclaiming much of the architectural elegance of the old Porteous building.

The star of the Portland area art scene is also in the midst of a long-term campus expansion project. The Portland Museum of Art (PMA) is best recognized by its Henry Cobb-designed façade (Cobb is best known as I.M. Pei’s lead designer), but under director Mark Bessire, the PMA is rethinking its spaces, particularly John Calvin Stevens’ Renaissance-inspired Sweat Memorial Galleries and the Federal style McLellan House behind it. The PMA balances historical and contemporary exhibitions showcas-

ing its own significant holdings, while additionally bringing major artworks to Maine.

Portland is enjoying a great moment of growth and energy. Although a few high profile galleries have closed recently, many new galleries have opened. Leading venues like SPACE Gallery, the ICA, Susan Maasch Fine Art, Tom Veilleux Gallery, the Maine Jewish Museum and the PMA have all been expanding and artists groups, like Peregrine, have been growing. The Union of Maine Visual Artists not only opened a Portland chapter, but also a gallery on Congress Street. Make no doubt about it: Portland is bustling with culture. If you want to experience the serious art energy of Portland, just hit the always-crowded streets during the First Friday Art Walk. There is nothing remotely like it in New England.

—Daniel Kany

Betsey Telford-Goodwin’s

Rocky Mountain Quilts Antique Quilts York, Maine www.rockymountainquilts.com 207-363-6800

Part B&B, Part Art Gallery ~Arrive Magazine

800-356-0408 www.pomegranateinn.com

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