Natural Wonder of Midcoast Maine (12/2016)
Opening Reception
Thursday December 8, 2016
4:00pm to 6:00pm
Show Through January 27, 2017
Three local Maine artists will be displaying their work at a new gallery exhibition at the Chocolate Church Art Gallery, located at 804 Washington Street. Accomplished local artists Ernest “Bev” Bevilacqua, Susan Gilbert, and Elaine Reed collaborate on the show titled “The Natural Wonder of Midcoast Maine” that is open now through January 27, 2017. The opening reception is scheduled on Thursday, December 8, from 4-6 p.m. when the artists will be available to greet patrons and answer questions about their work. Each of these artists bring their own interpretation of mid-coast Maine’s natural beauty, from Popham Village to Monhegan Island.
Watercolor artist Bev Bevilacqua of Popham Beach paints familiar images such as piers and lighthouses like Pemaquid and Seguin, as well as scenes of town life in Bath and Brunswick. In addition to his painting, Bevilacqua spent years as an industrial designer, receiving patents for the IBM Selectric typewriter, as well as the Mobil round gasoline pump, which are now in the design section of the Museum of Modern art in New York.
Monhegan Island resident Susan Gilbert also paints scenes of natural wonder, from rocky coasts to winter landscapes. From her first visit, she says, “I have loved the natural beauty and mystery of Monhegan, its constant inspiration to renewal, to make art.” A graduate of the Boston Museum School, Gilbert paints in a variety of mediums, on canvas, clay and paper. Her painting gives testament to the daily patterns of weather, fog, boating, cliffs, water and sky on the island. Says Gilbert, “Living with tides I find an atmosphere saturated with history: art, fishing and hard work.”
Elaine Reed paints in a variety of different settings, from industrial landscapes, to rain-streaked city streets, to quiet scenes of life in mid-coast Maine. Reed is part of the Women Artists of Monhegan Island collective that produced an exhibition in 2007 at the University of New England, as well as 2014 documentary film aired on MPBN. A longtime arts educator in both New Jersey and Vermont, Reed is inspired by painting outdoors, saying, “I am energized by the sounds, the weather and the scents that surround me.” As a painter, she looks for the moment when conditions in the light and atmosphere transform the ordinary landscape into something extraordinary.
“The Natural Wonder of Midcoast Maine” at the Chocolate Church Arts Center continues through January 27.
