Calendar of Artists and Events

July

Kate Chapin & Lesia Sochor
June 30-July 19
Reception Friday July 3, 5-8pm

Kate Chapin

What strikes me is the fact that in our society, art has become something which is only related to objects, and not to individuals, or to life.
-Michel Foucault

Any work dealing with possibilities must lead to new work... What education finally serves us, if at all. There is a pause, a rose, something on paper. The small green shadows make the red jump out. That is not a telescope, nor do I have stars in my belly. Such displacements alter illusions, which is all-to-the-good.
-Lyn Hejinian, My Life

My work is an attempt to create or explore imagery that wound up in attics, old trunks or garbage heaps. Lost images, found images, silent images which somehow find voice. Stories find themselves through images & re-presenting of images found, saved and collected... that evoke through a proximity (or overlap or opposition or connection or repetition) tellings of our own stories.

The beauty and simplicity of utilitarian objects such as canning jars is that they themselves come loaded with story. The story of the glass they are made of and bale wire that holds the cap. The story of the hands that held them, cleaned them filled them, stowed them. The history of a culture of sweat and labor. The passing on of knowledge of sustenance, sustainability and process. The story of the growing, harvesting and preservation of foods. The story of the hunger that the contents of this object satisfied. The story of seasons and years gone by, rains, suns, good years, poor years.

The story of the woman in a kitchen full of heat and steam.

Photographs are, of course, vastly different objects from canning jars, but in many ways the intent is similar. Snapshots are taken by everyday people to preserve a moment or a loved one. These humble proletarian photos inevitably wind up in suitcases or trunks or flea market stalls. Their importance is now only what we can imagine from the fading images. People are nameless. The moments are lost. But at some point in time, on some sunny day when the shadows fell just so, somebody took a picture. Somebody in love with their new camera or the moment or the angle of light clicked a shutter, preserving time and space, light and shadow and that mysterious intangible, feeling.

The wonder to me is that the jars and the photos come together and through glass and shadow, light and refraction, the captured past and the observable present, combine to create a tangible pause. And I find myself waiting for the red to jump out. Will one of the people move or speak? It seems almost possible. The photo-in-jar is a displacement that alters illusions. And that, I am hoping, is all to the good.

Lesia Sochor

A spool of thread, a humble form of utilitarian simplicity holds a current of meaning that crosses all borders. Exploring this iconic image in oils has connected Sochor to family but also to the thread, which sews an endless seam around the world. From one generation to the next 'thread' metaphorically as well as physically has linked her to the past and continues its weave into the present. An accomplished artist and teacher, Sochor was born in Philadelphia where she received her BFA from the Philadelphia College of Art. She moved to Brooks Maine in 1979 where she has lived and painted for 30 years. Her watercolors and oils have been widely exhibited throughout the state in galleries, universities, and museums including Mathias Fine Art, Center for Maine Contemporary Art, Caldbeck Gallery, USM, the Farnsworth and Gilley Museums as well as the State House in Augusta. Sochor's artistic career includes curatorial work in Woodstock, N.Y., the Ellsworth Public Library, and the Marsh River Theatre in Brooks, involvement with the Ukrainian Art Ass. in N.Y.C., Co-founding the first gallery in Belfast, Me., and proliferating the ancient art form of the Ukrainian decorated egg throughout the state of Maine. Sochor has also taught privately and publically for twenty years.She is currently teaching the art program at the Toddy Pond School as well as chidren, teen and adult workshops in Brooks, Camden, Morrill and Belfast.

August

Charles Duback
July 21-August 9
Reception Friday July 24, 5-8pm

Jay Gibson

Artifacts and Narrative
August 11-30
Reception Friday August 14, 5-8pm

J.T. Gibson – Raison D’etre

I was born in 1958. I inherited my father’s love of model airplanes and began work on numerous kits but could never finish any of them. Frustrated by having to follow directions (still a problem), I built my first successful glider from scratch and flew it off the back porch. Thus began a love affair with working with my hands and building and creating art. As a teenager, I constructed a darkroom in our basement and embarked on a journey with photography that continues today.

In 1977, I attended Pratt Institute, studying Photography and Sculpture. But after two years (couldn’t follow directions), I left and got part time gigs as an assistant to many New York photographers. With one – Neil Selkirk – I became the printer of the Diane Arbus work. I went on to assist in the printing of Richard Avedon’s portfolio for his first retrospective at the Metropolitan Museum of Art with master printer Randy Levensen. For five years I had a studio in New York, printing some of the greats of photography. I had a portrait show at the Small Walls gallery on the lower east side. One of my subjects was Andy Summers – guitarist for the rock band, the Police. I also printed the exhibition photos for his New York, London, Paris shows from his book of photographs, THROB.

During all this time, I was carving stone and building small works out of cast off parts of pianos and other detritus found in the streets of Manhattan, and participating in many group shows.

Wanting to branch out and further explore sculpture and cast bronze, I moved to Mercerville New Jersey to work at the Johnson Atelier Institute for Sculpture. There, I met many leading artists, and discovered the methods and techniques of sculptors like Joel Shapiro, Beverly Pepper, Julian Schnabel and others. I left after four years to start Gibson Design, producing architectural metal work and art furniture. Entre Libre in New York’s Soho and Agnes Bourne in San Francisco represented my bronze art furniture. I also began a long association with New York designer, Clodagh, interpreting many of her designs.

I started experimenting with short films and writing plays. One of my full-length plays, RAGMAN’S ROLL, was a Panelist’s Choice Award winner at the Edward Albee Theater conference in Valdez and went on to be a finalist for the O’Neil Playwrights Conference.

In 1998, tired of working with others’ ideas (following directions again) and needing a regular paycheck, I founded a decorative bronze tile business – Metaphor Bronze Tileworks - that is a major art tile maker in America. I am currently the head designer, art director and sculptor for Metaphor.

I vacationed in Maine for ten years, and it always provided great inspiration and regeneration of the spirit. In 2004, I decided to move to this great landscape and set up shop. I bought a small farm near the coast and built a studio where I pursue my large-scale work in wood and bronze.

My work is in numerous private collections.

William Pint & Felicia Dale

Concert: Sunday August 2, 7pm

That's right, maritime music, nautical music - the music of the sea. Whether they be contemporary songs with the sea as a theme or shanties, (or chanties, if you prefer) the traditional work songs sung aboard the tall ships to organize the labor of the crew. Those crews were English, Irish, German, French, from the West Indies, The United States and other sea going nations, but the music itself was inspired by the oceans that link all these places together and cover two thirds of our planet. We take all of this as a source of inspiration for our music - giving it our own spin with guitar, hurdy-gurdy, mandolin and other exotic sounds. The result is an unusually energetic and exciting approach to folk music.

We have a tremendously good time playing this music and hope that you will enjoy listening and participating in it either at a live performance or through our recordings.

"William Pint and Felicia Dale rank among North America's most exciting interpreters of music based in the traditions of the British Isles and France... unconventional but spine-tingling... unique and mesmerizing "
Dirty Linen

Website

September

Harold Garde
September 1-20
Reception Friday September 4, 5-8pm

B I O G R A P H Y

I was born in New York City in 1923. I attended public schools with three years as a science major at the College of the City of New York. In Wyoming, on the GI Bill of Rights after three years in the military (Army Air Forces, with time spent in the Philippines) I worked for the art department as a student assistant and received my BA in Fine Arts. The faculty included the surrealist Leon Kelly, the abstract expressionist George McNeil and the geometric abstractionist Ilya Bolotowsky. Back to New York, I attended Columbia University and received my MA in Fine Arts and Art Education. I taught secondary school art for two years in Roselle, New Jersey before returning to New York City where I worked at commercial interior design.

In 1968 I became a professor, adjunct faculty Art Department at the Nassau Community College in Garden City, NY. I continued painting and exhibiting, and in 1971 in addition to the college teaching, I began full time art teaching in the secondary school system of Port Washington, N.Y.

In 1970 I had my first solo showing in Huntington, N.Y. and I continue to exhibit regularly. In 1984 I retired from teaching and I moved to Belfast, Maine, with my second wife, the late writer, Barbara Kramer. Ten years later we bought our winter home in New Smyrna Beach, Florida. I continue to divide my time between my homes and my studios in Maine and Florida. I exhibit regularly in both states.

Artist Statement:

I have an abstract expressionist background. It was the most excitingly new development in art when I was a young painter. Much of that training remains. I am interested in what paint can do, making marks that expressively respond to my thoughts and actions. Now, although I rarely choose to allow the non-figurative (the ‘abstract’ of “abstract expressionism”) to remain as the final work. From this first non-figurative stage I will continue working until I find an image that becomes an identifiable subject. When I have decided on this image, then comes the careful exploring and developing needed to finalize each work, each with its own unique integrity.

Although I enjoyed my experiences with sophisticated techniques and equipment, I now want the simplest, the most direct, the most basic. I choose to work in acrylics because of the easy application when painting on paper or canvas. For more recent print-making I have developed and taught my dry image transfer “strappo” technique. I relish the effects I can create with the use of simple tools, acrylic paints and glass plates.

There are themes that recur in my work and often re-emerge as current challenges. Although an individual work must be a unique statement, I welcome a subject that invites a multitude of solutions. When that occurs, and I am concerned with a series, there is a helpful direction as I reach for a solution. A new and separate version can be an answer to the puzzle that is every painting. Looking for a new solution challenges and keeps me energized. The accumulation that results from these explorations can present me or viewers with a rewarding overview.

Over the years I have used as subjects the images of chairs, single and in groups. I have a pinnacle series, a series with still life references. There are some series have figures and faces, puppeteers and puppets. A group of recent work related to the “T” shape of the kimono. Such subjects, suitable for a series, attract me when they are generic, ones that are familiar, readily recognized, capable of being rendered with many variations. Whether they are presented subtly or boldly, small or large, fragile or monumental, I want my works to be visually exciting, capable of engaging the eye, the emotions and stimulating the mind of the viewer.

Holly Meade

September 22-October 11
Reception Friday September 25, 5-8pm

Artist's statement - Woodblock Printing

A multi step process, printing with woodblocks is certainly an indirect path taken, but surprisingly, one that frequently results in images of great immediacy. Each step; the drawing, carving, inking, and printing of the block, all must come together in harmony to create a successful image. The results of this age old technique are most often energetic and insistent. The pattern and surface tension caused by the negative and positive shapes are part of the reason for this. I find it to be a challenging process, sometimes frustrating, always engaging. I am quite taken with it.

Art…its true effort is to open to us dimensions of the spirit that normally lie smothered under the weight of living.
–J. Winterson

Meade works as a printmaker and children's book illustrator.

The exploration in woodblock printing has been the focus of her work life for the last 6 years. This interest developed following a workshop with printmaker Hester Stinnett at the Haystack Mountain School on Deer Isle in 2002.

Illustrating children's books is the other part of her work life. Over 25 books been published in the last 15 years, many receiving awards, including a Caldecott Honor. These books have been illustrated primarily with collage techniques, although two recent books are done with woodblock prints.

Meade's studio and gallery are in Sedgwick, near Blue Hill. The gallery is open during the summer months.
Reach Road Gallery - www.reachroadgallery.com

Education - BFA / Painting / Rhode Island School of Design

October

"Obscura:The Alternative Process Show"
October 13-November 15
Reception: Friday October 16, 5-8pm
Open daily 10am-6pm
Featuring Maine Artists working in Alternative Process Photography

Belfast Poetry and Art Festival: Friday/Sat October 16&17

November

Stuntology & Notorious Trio
Saturday November 7th, 1pm
Sam Bartlett, Eden MacAdam-Somer, Larry Unger.
Awesome Music, Stupendus Stunts & Book Signing

Notorious musicians Eden MacAdam-Somer, Larry Unger, and Sam Bartlett bring together traditional and contemporary acoustic music from around the world, creating a dynamic, swinging sound that is sure to get you on your feet. Seasoned dancers know Larry Unger not only as a performer who sparks nationally renowned bands but also the composer of countless fiddle tunes and lilting waltzes. Declared “guitar genius” by Sing Out Magazine, Unger joins with rabid mandolinist Sam Bartlett and demon fiddler Eden MacAdam-Somer to push the envelope towards swing, blues and Gypsy modes.

Absurd pranks and pointless techniques to amuse yourself, amaze your friends, and annoy everyone else.

I've always been fascinated with how people stay completely engaged using only what they have at hand. Whether it's balancing a napkin on the end of their nose or balancing potatoes over every door in a friend's house, boredom is unnecessary.

I documented stunts for about 20 years, got many of them while touring the country as a musician. Every time I got a new one I'd illustrate it and put it into my zine, The Journal of Stuntology. In my travels I distributed tens of thousands of these, and later self-published two books, both (almost) out of print.

Luckily, Workman Publishing just put out a compilation of the out of print books, which also includes many never published stunts. It's awesome!!!!! ~Sam Bartlett, Stuntologist Stuntology interview with Sam Bartlett.

Stuntology website

Notorius on Myspace

December

3rd Annual Extravaganza

November 27-December 25
Reception: Friday December 4th, 5-8pm
Open daily 10am-6pm, Christmas Eve only until 3pm

Unique small works and gifts from over 50 talented Maine artists and artisans. A stunning variety of items in a multitude of disciplines including: pottery, etching, painting, collage, photography, woodblock prints, assemblage, sculpture, furniture, fiber, stone, turned wood, cards, calendars, books, ornaments, music and more.