About the Arts
About the Arts
By Rose Safran
Like flowers blossoming everywhere, tree sculpture obscured by leafy abundance, fluttering birds singing, a-nesting and feeding their young, southern Maine's coastal arts season is exploding.In York Beach, Nancy Davison's Blue Stocking Studio at 8 Railroad Avenue opened featuring her annual Miniature Show that brought together so many artists active in this area. This year she extended this popular show to eight days, and reports that she was able to open because of so much incredible cooperation from everyone. Not only busy with her own art and gallery exhibits, printmaker Nancy Davison, who specializes in locally-inspired architecture, is president of the venerable Ogunquit Art Association (OAA), which shows its members' art at the Barn Gallery/Ogunquit Arts Collaborative in Ogunquit.
Ogunquit Art Association
The Barn Gallery is proud of itself this year, with several fine inaugural exhibits as well as a new roof on its North Gallery. Along with its annual diversified "OAA Expressions" featuring the work of member artists, a special "Black is Back" thematic exhibit has been mounted, with lectures and a music festival scheduled.
For years, I've admired the whimsy of printmaker-satirist Carol Travers Lummus, who along with seasoned sculptor Lindley Briggs is a selected showcase artist for the OAA opening exhibitions. The mix of these two fine artists, both of whom are conceptually interesting innovators, albeit in different media, makes for a joyful experience. One only has to hear the clever names applied to the Lummus "tongue-in-cheek" creations to understand that we are in the presence of a social commentator who uses her drawing skills to poke fun at various forms of life on our planet.
"Where is Cambridge on Charles?" … "How could you weave so much guilt?" … "Opening Knightmare"..."Pas devant les domestiques"..."The duck and duchess of York Beach"..."Nouveau is better than no riche"… "Veni, Vidi, Visa - I came, I saw, I spent"... "Donnez-moi un break"... "I know I'm fat"... "He was in the right place"..."Archangel of the Arctic," etc., are among the unique captions Lummus consistently applies to various shapes and forms of intricately drawn people and anthropomorphic specimens set in assorted humorous situations.
Nicely complimenting these comments on "society" at large are the Lindley Briggs bronzes, some colossal, others tiny, with an array of motifs: proliferating in this skillful work are shells, waves, mermaids, hands and deities from classical Greek and Roman mythology.
A Skohegan alumnus, Briggs states, "The boundaries between fantasy, reality and surreality are not necessarily firm. I love to explore and manipulate these boundaries. For years I have created fantastic winged, feathered and finned creatures in both two and three dimensions... They fly, swim or otherwise waft through their environments ... inspired by my lifelong fascination with the beauty of natural forms."
The OAA Expressions show is especially select this year, with member artists entering recent original work in a variety of media and styles.
I thought George Burke's larger-than-usual "frame-within-a frame" technique especially effective in his depiction of "Rachel Carson-Agamenticus." DeWitt Hardy's man with his back to the viewer in "Rollinsford Wye" is a glimpse of pure realism angled interestingly. Richard Letham's "Dark Arc" suggested extinction with its shadowy animal forms. Michael Palmer, a restless spirit continually changing his approach to art, surprises again with his "Inlet" - a landscape of modernist planes. Patience Haley effectively applies her watercolors in repeat patterns in "Ash Grove" and is more colorful in her abstract "Carousel Fragment." Katherine Doyle's pastel and charcoal of lovers is characteristic of the artist's superb technique while Theresann D'Angelo's nicely framed "Deep Woods Pond" reflects her soft-toned approach to color.
"Black is Back" is a difficult theme, but the OAA artists did come up with some interesting concepts - such as Jane Adams with her dark figured "Sentinels," Eve Corey with her black-framed modern landscapes in her "Italian Postcards Quartet," Michael Palmer with a black woman and Fran Scully with a charcoal and acrylic gray-toned "Early Light, Marginal Way."
Discussions of "Black is Back" by member artists are scheduled for June 15th at 7:30 p.m. while Lindley Briggs and Carol Travers Lummus will describe their images and techniques on June 22 at 7:30 p.m.
The Ogunquit Arts Collaborative, a non-profit organization, raised $50,000, successfully meeting a Kennebunk Savings Bank challenge grant for $15,000. Currently underway is a $300,000 capital campaign to be used for renovations of the Barn Gallery. Friends of Ogunquit Art membership is open to both artists and non-artists and helps cover operating costs for the Barn Gallery/Ogunquit Arts Collaborative. The Barn Gallery is located on Bourne Lane at Shore Road in Ogunquit.
York Art Association
The York Art Association (YAA) has been renovated with a new floor and the space has never looked better. The ongoing Spring Show reflects an infusion of new talent to the organization as well as new approaches to art by long-time members.
The organization has renewed vitality with high attendance at recent opening events: both the Student Show, which included many fine expressions by students (a reflection of our York studio art teachers' ability to inspire these students) and at the Spring Show that is awash in color.
Workshops and classes are offered in June, July and August. The president is Helen Hennessey who owns, paints and sells her art at the Sea Rose Gallery in York Beach. The York Art Association is located on Route 1A in York Harbor and is open daily.
For further information, call 363-4049, e-mail helenhennessy@hotmail.com or visit www.yorkartassociation.com.
Upcoming Juried Exhibition in Portsmouth
Ogunquit artist Norman West will be the juror for the Prescott Parks Arts Festival Juried Exhibition, which takes place annually at the Sheafe Warehouse. The delivery dates for artists' submissions are June 10 and 11 from noon to 4 p.m. at the Sheafe Warehouse.
