Father Paul's birds of feather flock together

Can you name this bird?  a) Sparrow  b)Vulture c)Owl d)Falcon  for answer see below

This is Gallery talk today your EYE into the world of Art w/host Lars.

Currently one rare bird is showing at the Caldbeck Gallery in Rockland and also in a permanent installation at Maine Audubon in Falmouth.  Who-Who-Who is this Artist?  He's home grow in Sanford Maine, Maine College of Art graduated & pastor of the Lady of the Parish Church in Oqussoc, Maine, everyone calls him Father Paul, that's Father Paul Plante.  I choose to call him the Pastor of Pastel,  his work with oily chalk is indeed beholden.  The macro ( super up close ) views of bird and animal eyes truly reveal the power and beauty of nature.  This brings up the debate of divine intervention in the original creation of the worldly beings.  Is it possible that such beauty comes from a random chance? Or does it make more sense that it is the evolution of a few hard days work by the almighty?  What ever your religious affiliation you cannot deny the fact that the Pastor has some skills and with them shares a world of beauty that is often over looked.

Located in the Maine Audubon Center in Falmouth, Maine is the 5" x 5" collection of Father Paul's Bird Eyes. I call it the "Falmouth Forty" The close up view makes for a great game of guess the bird,  of the forty images how many can you guess (click on image to enlarge)?    You'll have to go to Falmouth to get all the answers.

The 40 image Collection of Avian eyes by Paul Plante  Answer to Top Image: c) OWL

 

                                               Why go see Father Paul's art work? 

Go because your good mind needs good art! 

The Gallery Talk is made possible by the generosity of the WMPG Radio listening community.  The blog is the text version of the art rant heard every Thursday at 7am, 5 & 9:30pm on WMPG college and community radio Broadcasting from the University of Southern Maine
90.9 , 104.1 and streaming on the web at http://www.wmpg.org/

 CALBECK GALLERY is opperated by Cynthia Hyde and Jim Kinnealey.
The Caldbeck Gallery  is on Elm Street across from the entrance to the Farnsworth Art Museum. From the first opening in 1982 it has been the go-to place for the art of Midcoast Maine.
 Calbeck @ 12 Elm St., Rockland ME. 207-594-5935

Maine Audubon @ Gisland Farm in on US route 1 in Falmouth Maine.

Here's a few more Larger Images from the Falmouth Forty
              Find the Woodduck, Ruby Throated Hummingbird & Blue Jay.

 

The BASECAMP Artist Studios Alive and Kick'in!

It's no secret that Portland Maine's art scene is happening.   First Fridays once a cool swanky kinda thing to do has morphed into the GODZILLA OF ART NIGHTS,  bursting forth a cascade of humanity that descends into Portland's Art Galleries onto the sidewalks and into the streets.  It's become more of an "event" than an "art event" and that has been good for the cities stores, restaurants and ancillary  businesses as well as the galleries & artists.

Still my really favorite thing about Portland Art Scene is the surprise!   There's always a surprise around the corner,  at the next gallery or the next art walk.  For me it's this unexpected, unknown that keeps me coming back time & time again.

Two years ago the surprise was the underground 1 day art opening in the BASE CAMP.  Located just outside the mainstream this Presumscot street warehouse opening was edgy, campy and elegant in one fleeting breath.   

Fast Forward to  February 2013 and the BASE CAMP has resurfaced ,  this time not a flash in the scene but as an artist collective,  a co-op of creativity and life.  There are a few things that I look at as barometers of the health of a community: one is recruitment of new blood and the second is leadership with passion.   Last week I found them at the BASE CAMP.  Artist and spearhead Will Sears has retrofitted a section of a Presumscot Street warehouse.  In addition to Will's studio & hand lettered sign business he has organized studio space for 12 other artists.    In my brief experience at last weeks opening I met; Painters, Sculptors, Digital Artists, an Electro-Fiber artist, Wood workers, a Woodcut-Printmaker and a flow-fiber paper 3-D creator those are just the ones I met.  The buzz is big!  I felt the power of a not as yet fully operational art muthership and I liked it!  Like chocolate or Ox Bow Farmhouse ale I like what I tasted and I left that evening wanting more.  The excitement is legit and the birth of a new art environment can only fast track creativity for the BASE CAMP GANG.   I'm looking  forward to the cross pollination of art that will please our eye and blow our mind.   

These are exciting times and the artists of the basecamp are not just living it,  they have pitched a tent in the local art scene and look to be here to stay!

Why visit the studios and gallery at the BASE CAMP ?

Go because your good mind needs good art! 

 

The Gallery Talk is made possible by the generosity of the WMPG Radio listening community.  The blog is the text version of the art rant heard every Thursday at 7am, 5 & 9:30pm on WMPG college and community radio Broadcasting from the University of Southern Maine
90.9 , 104.1 and streaming on the web at http://www.wmpg.org/

Season of Love April  2011 Series by Kyle Bryant

The BASECAMP ARTIST  STUDIOS & GALLERY are located at 193 Presumpscot st, Portland, ME. (215) 813-6852 open by chance or appointment.  Use the Facebook link or individual artist website links to arrange your tour.
BASECAMP  Facebook page

Alex Asplund - 

Kyle Bryant - www.KyleBryant.net

Harlan Crichton - http://www.harlancrichton.com/

Luke Dubois - 

Liz Hardy- www.lizhardy.posterous.com

Deborah Klotz - 

Tina McLuckie - www.TinaMcluckie.com

John Nelson - johncalvinnelson.com 

Tessa O'brien - Tessagreeneobrien.com

Will Sears - WillSearsFineArt.com , BetterLetterHandPaintedSigns.com

Griffin Sherry - GriffinSherry.wordpress.com

Ha Ha by Tessa O'Brien

Addendum: Random thoughts on the BASECAMP
  
The diversity of artists is refreshing

The potential pollination is beholden .

Opening vibe was jacked

It's an assemblage of artisans that possess crazy mad skills.

Vision

Bump @ Institute of Contemporary Art Maine

This is Gallery Talk WMPG 's window into the world of art with your host Lars

Bump by the DenDanto Brothers

The Humpback Whale Master of the deep, tireless voyager, perhaps the most fascinating mammal in creation.  Called the Canary of the Sea, Humpbacks are renown for their haunting melodic vocalizations.   Having no vocal cords they create these sounds by forcing air through their very large nasal cavities.

    It's not everyday that one gets to hear whale songs or an opportunity to walk amongst the whales.  We are grateful to the The Institute of Contemporary Art at MECA  for currently featuring "BUMP" an installation art exhibit by the DenDanto Brothers Dan & Frank.  This display features a whale skull and vertebral bones, unlike many "installation" art Pieces  this one allows you to walk, touch and bump the bones.  Suspended in mid air the vertebral bones with their transverse and spinous processes look more like space craft preparing for an attack than sections of a huge aqueous mammal. What really make this piece successful for me is that you can immerse your self in it and the resulting mental gymnastics required to imagine these bones inside a living creature makes this piece visually beautiful, thought provoking and thus powerfully effective.

Some Bumpers in the exhibit during March's 1st Friday Gallery Tour

The Institute of Contemporary Art at Maine's College of Art on Congress Street in Portland is open Wednesday to Saturday 11am - 5pm on Thursdays 11am - 7pm and admission is free.

   
Why go see Dan & Frank DenDanto's "BUMP" Installation Art Exhibit?

Go because your good mind needs good art! 

The Gallery Talk is made possible by the generosity of the WMPG Radio listening community.  The blog is the text version of the art rant heard every Thursday at 7am, 5 & 9:30pm on WMPG college and community radio Broadcasting from the University of Southern Maine
90.9 , 104.1 and streaming on the web at http://www.wmpg.org/

Additional Images from Bump 1st Friday:

 

Valentine's Day Bandit "The Art of Love"

This is Gallery Talk WMPG's Window into the world of art w/host Lars

Happy Valentines Day to all.

I was thinking about the whole "Occupy" movement and how vogue it has become over the last couple of years to get out and take a stand in a non sanctioned semi-radical demonstration for what you have a passion for. 

Then came Valentines Day.
Suddenly I realized that in the city of Portland we have one of the longest running traditions of a non sanctioned public display of passion.  It's the Great Grandaddy of Occupy Style Art!

Since 1976 the Valentines Day Bandit or Valentines Day Phantom as Wikipedia likes to reference, has been plastering Portland Maine's Old Port store front windows, doors, mailboxes, Church's, City hall, Hotels, Bars and Buildings with a simple 8' x 11' white piece of paper with a single large red heart.  The international symbol for love.  It's not focused towards anyone in particular it's just broadcast through out the city a random plastering of passion on every building , every corner and the message is simple and easy to understand,   LOVE.

Great thing about it is it is contagious and it has spread to love bandits in Vermont and Colorado.

Love pass it on... because everyone needs a little more love 
and 
your good mind needs good art! 

The Gallery Talk is made possible by the generosity of the WMPG Radio listening community.  The blog is the text version of the art rant heard every Thursday at 7am, 5 & 9:30pm on WMPG college and community radio Broadcasting from the University of Southern Maine
90.9 , 104.1 and streaming on the web at http://www.wmpg.org/

Here are some more Pictures from Feb 14 , 2013 Portland Maines Valentines Day Bandit's antics

 

Dorothy Schartz's Evolution for your Mind

This is Gallery Talk WMPG's window into the world of Art with your host Lars.

Charles Darwin's ideas are his legacy.  To publish his concepts on evolution required one part understand and two parts bravery.  Furthermore to developing the concept of the origins of man required a life's worth of examination and steely resolve.

Daedalus & Icarus 1957

Maine artist Dorothy Schwartz's current exhibition is titled  Evolution of a Printmaker  and cascades the gallery in Portland's Maine Jewish Museum with visual history that as with a species, so with an artist,  evolution is eminent.

  The woodcut print is her primary medium but this show allows the viewer to trace back the origin of originality & idea within her collagraphs, collages, pen & paintings.  Who knows when the seed of an artist was planted but it's apparent it blossomed for Schwartz while she was an undergraduate at Smith college.  It was there that artist and educator Lenard Baskin broke trail and shared with her the power of the woodcut print.  Bold of line the woodcut is not shy in its ability to summon emotion.  From her early work at age 19 "Daedalus and Icarus"  to more recent cuts the exhibit the Evolution of a Printmaker stands the test of time, providing a legacy of learning, morality and vision. Proving to me that ink has power and that as a means of communication it is bounded only by ones imagination.

Why Go see the EVOLUTION of a PRINTMAKER?

Go because your good mind needs good art! 

PS: The Maine Jewish Museum is a treasure in it's own right and worth spending a some time touring. It boasts a cozy warmth and proud history.  Exploration of the upper levels is worth it just for the views of the colorful stained glass.

The Gallery Talk is made possible by the generosity of the WMPG Radio listening community.  The blog is the text version of the art rant heard every Thursday at 7am, 5 & 9:30pm on WMPG college and community radio Broadcasting from the University of Southern Maine
90.9 , 104.1 and streaming on the web at http://www.wmpg.org/  

Yin & Yang - Balance in Portland's art world!

This is Gallery Talk your Window to the art world w/Host Lars

YIN & YANG  The ancient Asian philosophy the existence of opposites is perfection and necessary to create balance in an unstable universe.

A Perfect example of the Yin & Yang at work is happen'n right here in the Portland Maine with the current art exhibition in the June Fitzpatrick Maine College of Art Gallery by Tom Hall & the Yang to Tom's Yin is Angela Ferrari's "SCAPES" exhibition in the HOT SUPA' Gallery.

Ok so Tom Hall has a fantastic brain and some mad skills,  he makes it easy for guys like me to see a feeling!  His current show is Powerfully Apocalyptic!  His work is mostly large format black oil paint on white background, bold - stark - demanding your visual attention.  A piece that really caught me was a diptych called "Greenville" First off it's huge two 6' X 6' canvases Thats 72sq feet of viewing surface , it's a black hillside with a slash & burn'esk trees scathered on a slopping horizon.  Oh and then theres the varnish.  The painting is coated with a thick mostly translucent wash that gives the image a tan almost dirty old world feel.

Click to see Angela's "SCAPES" exhibit version

Now contrast that Yin Flow with the Yang : Pop the Champagne, sunny day, give me some psychedelic's,  hold on and tighten your seat belt work of artist Angela Ferrari.  (Maybe it's the Ferrari thing that hyped me up, but no I was hyped by the work before I saw her name.)   Angela's current exhibition at the HOT SUPA Gallery is titled "Scapes" and presents her take on many of Portland's recognizable landscapes.  Angela works with brilliant acrylic day glow paints,  I call her style (at least one of her styles) Electro-Alt-Indie-Neo-Cubism .  Call it what ever you want, I love her take on Portland's famous Flat Iron Building  (see right) and her water front Images scream of Portland meets the Wizard of  Oz and gets colorized for a new generation!

The YIN  Tom Hall at MECA's June Fitspatrick Gallery is in it's final days  so see it before it's gone.

The YANG Angela Ferrari's  "Scapes" is at the HOT SUPA gallery I hope forever!

Why get out and go see these two shows ?

Go because your good mind needs good art! 

The Gallery Talk is made possible by the generosity of the WMPG Radio listening community.  The blog is the text version of the art rant heard every Thursday at 7am, 5 & 9:30pm on WMPG college and community radio Broadcasting from the University of Southern Maine
90.9 , 104.1 and streaming on the web at http://www.wmpg.org/    

Yarmouth Art Festival returns!

This is Gallery Talk.
   The text version of WMPG Radios window into the world of art with your host Lars

Rick Green's Chebeague Island

It was the Wabanaki's who originally called the area of land between two of Maine's mid coast coastal rivers "Westcustogo".  These beautiful coastal marsh lands were abundant with clams and fish, this beholden land was not only attractive the native population but also to the settlers of this new (to them) world. Twice settled and abandoned it was not until 1713 that a final successful settlement was established.   Westcustogo now called Yarmouth is just a 11 trip north of  Maine's largest city Portland and it's coastal beauty remains an attraction to this day.

Why do I share this Information with you?

This week the attraction in Yarmouth is the YARMOUTH ART FESTIVAL!  This jurried art show is more akin to a limited engament group art show , from Oct 17-20th the festival features 165 works of art from 79 different artists.

Like the original native residents & new world settlers who were drawn to the beauty of coastal Maine, my favorite artist of the 79 is Cumberland Encaustic Artist Rick Green.   His work embraces the coastal lands & Maine's coastal islands.  The work is bold in color and presents the viewer with a "Jonathon Livingston Seagull" view of the trees, rocks, waves & ocean.  Rick allows us to experience the beauty of the Maine Coast not like Homer or Wyeth presented it, but with more of a heavenly perspective.  Recipient of a Good Idea Grant from the Maine Arts Commission, Rick's interpretations of the Maine Coast are now captured, the beauty embedded in a mix of bees wax & crystals for all time.

The Yarmouth Arts Festival show is in the St. Barts Church on the Gilman road in Yarmouth Maine.  The show is open Thursday & Friday from 10am - 7pm  and Saturday from 9am - 4pm.
To learn more and see a digital gallery of the Works click here YARMOUTH ART FEST  

 

Why Go see the 165 pieces of art work at the

 Yarmouth Art Fest?

                 Go because your good mind needs good art.

The Gallery Talk is made possible by the generosity of the WMPG Radio listening community.  The blog is the text version of the art rant heard every Thursday at 7am, 5 & 9:30pm on WMPG college and community radio Broadcasting from the University of Southern Maine
90.9 , 104.1 and streaming on the web at http://www.wmpg.org/