Mark your Calendars! Two great Maine art exhibits
Upcoming exhibits you won’t want to miss: SPARK! & Confabulations of Millenia
SPARK!
A new exhibition at Maine Historical Society explores contemporary creative expression in Maine. Opening Friday, November 3rd, on display through March 31st, 2018.
Maine has always been a home and a haven to artists and creative makers. From the earliest projectile points created by Wabanaki people from Mount Kineo rhyolite stone to contemporary artists who flock to Maine for our light, people are inspired to creativity by Maine’s natural beauty and unique lifestyle. A new exhibition opening in November at Maine Historical Society — Spark! Maine ART Stories — explores creativity in Maine and features sixteen contemporary Maine artists. Among them are Halcyon Yarn co-founder Hector Jaeger, frequent Halcyon Yarn instructor Barbara Burns, and Katherine Cobey who has graciously opened her knitting studio to our students in recent years.
More about several of these unique Maine artists can be found in the My Maine Stories forum at the Maine Memory Network.
“Spark! Maine ART Stories looks at the varied ways people in Maine express themselves today” says exhibition curator and MHS Outreach Curator Tilly Laskey. “The artists featured in this exhibition are diverse in their geography, their artistic mediums, and in what compels them to create. We’re exhibiting everything from snowshoes to neon artwork!”
Featured artists: Titi de Baccarat, Gina Brooks, Brendan Bullock, Barbara Burns, Katharine Cobey, Decontie and Brown, Ayumi Horie, Hector Jaeger, Karen Jelenfy, David Johansen, Daniel Minter, Geo Neptune, Edmond and Brian J. Theriault, and Ian Trask.
SPARK • November 3rd through March 31st
Maine Historical Society • 498 Congress Street, Portland, Maine
Confabulations of Millenia at MECA
The ICA at Maine College of Art (MECA) presents Confabulations of Millenia. The show brings together the works of 19 contemporary artists who take direct inspiration from the 18th and 19th centuries. On display now through December 8th.
Using established styles, techniques and objects perfected in the 18th and 19th centuries, the 19 artists assembled deploy history as a springboard in order to speak to the intricacies and inconsistencies of modern life be they social, political or aesthetic. The show especially caught our attention for including the works of Erin M. Riley and Vadis Turner. Riley’s detailed tapestries represent the tension implicit in the show’s theme by using fine traditional craftsmanship to explore challenging and graphic images of modern life and sexuality. Turner’s richly textured pieces are constructed of hand stitched quilts and draw on a series of interviews Vadis conducted with women in her community. Both artists prompt the viewer to reflect on the often-held notion of textiles as simply safe or decorative domestic expressions.
Featured artists: Martha Arquero, John Brauer, Joey Chiarello, Emily Diaz Norton, Douglas Goldberg, Jeremy Hatch, Beth Katleman, Ryan Wilson Kelly, Melora Kuhn, Livia Marin, Oscar Sancho Nin, John O’Reilly, Erin M. Riley, Richard Saja, Anthony Sonnenberg, Ryan Swanson, Vadis Turner, Julia Whitney Barnes, Kehinde Wiley
Confabulations of Millenia • October 6th through December 8th
Institute of Contemporary Art at MECA • 522 Congress Street, Portland, Maine
