Åarhus Gallery News

January 20, 2012

Five of Willy Reddick's Lover's Eye Brooches have been selected for The Inspired Hand V, a state-wide biennial juried exhibition of work by members of the Maine Crafts Association held at the USM Lewiston-Auburn Atrium Art Gallery. The exhibition which runs from January 20 through March 16, 2012 will display work by 35 artists from around the state representing the best of MCA members in an inspired perspective of contemporary crafts in the state. The exhibition includes work in all media -- ceramic, fiber, glass, metal, wood, and stone. In addition, the work of 6 recipients of the Master Craft Artist Award will also be featured.

November 28, 2011

There are lots of craft fairs all over the state, but Aarhus Gallery in Belfast hosts one of the biggest and best in Maine. The annual Holiday Extravaganza runs through the month of December, and brings together over 60 talented Maine artists from throughout the Midcoast.

Read more in Bangor Daily News Blog

November 1, 2011

as if stories, a series of live readings of short stories by Maine writers performed by Maine actors, will be broadcast on WERU radio (89.9 FM in the midcoast area, 99.9 FM in Bangor) on the first Thursday of every month at 10 am beginning November 3. Those outside of WERU's broadcast area can listen online at www.weru.org.

The readings, performed live at Aarhus Gallery in Belfast, include "The Blender" by Martha Fenton, performed by Beverly Mann; "The Reach" by Stephen King, performed by Helen York and Bonnie VersbenCoer, with musical accompaniment by Doug Ludwig; "Officer Friendly" by Lewis Robinson, performed by Nathan Raleigh; and many others. For those who miss the first Thursday broadcasts, most of the programs will be available in the WERU archives on the station's web site.

September 26, 2011

Mark Kelly's Gunpowder and Firework drawings previewed on WVii ABC 7, FOX News Bangor

September 1 2011

Belfast Artist Experiments With Fire
By Aislinn Sarnacki

On the hunt for gunpowder, Mark Kelly walked into The Outdoor Sportsman in Northport, and he was asked the typical question, “Do you need it for a pistol or a rifle?”

Kelly doesn’t own a gun. He needed firepower for art.

“I explained what I was doing, and the guy just said, ‘What?’” said Kelly on Monday as he set up his recent artwork in Aarhus Gallery in downtown Belfast. The reception for “Gunpowder and Firework Drawings of Mark Kelly” will be held 5-8 p.m. Friday, Sept. 2, at the gallery.

Kelly is an experimental mixed-media artist with a particular fascination with fire, and more importantly, the beauty of what fire can leave behind. In this case, he controlled the explosion of gunpowder to form the images of birds, a warbler, chickadee, black phoebe, blackbird and swallow.

“Aesthetically, the forms are really beautiful to me,” said Kelly, who referred to his sketchbook of bird studies while controlling the gunpowder explosions.

Read more

July 2011

BELFAST BOUND

July 29, 30, 31, 2011

Belfast, Maine celebrates the book this weekend. 25,000 books, along with authors, illustrators, publishers, historians, humorists, cooks, and more. There will be readings, discussion forums, tastings, demos, humor, music, and Q&A with experts.

www.belfastboundbookfestival.com

June 25, 2011

Interview with Anthony Anderson of Café Des Artistes, interviewing Abbie Read about the July 2011 show of Susan Metzger and Simon van der Ven. interview begins at 2:05.

"Aarhus Gallery is one of my favorite Galleries." Anthony Anderson

MP3 Audio

Spring 2011

The Belfast Free Range Music Festival is an annual, volunteer powered celebration of original music in the beautiful coastal city of Belfast, Maine. Acts come from both near and far, representing a wide range of genres. Visit www.freerangemusicfestival.com for more information.

The 2011 Belfast Free Range music Festival took place on Saturday, April 30th and included performances by: Michael Murley, Grass Widow, Jonny Corndawg, Brenda, Audrey Ryan, Time Crisis, Toughcats, Big Blood, Jacob Augustine, Gawler Family Band, Sunset Hearts, Broken Water, Mehuman Trio, The Rattlesnakes, Marie Stella, The Milkman's Union, Ancestral Diet, The Spaceys, Dead Man's Clothes, The 220s, Press Gang, Full Contact Kitty, CatchaVibe, Tit City, Mark Mandeville, Asa Irons, Cave Bears, VoXX, and In Houses in Trees.

Festival performances took place at: Aarhus Gallery, the American Legion Hall, Belfast Free Library, Belfast Maskers Community Theater, Colonial Theatre, First Church , and Waterfall Arts.

Belfast Free Range Music Festival Facebook Page
freerangemusicfestival.com

May 26, 2011
Center for Maine Craft, at the Maine Mall, Portland
Memorial Day through Labor Day

Willy Reddick, as a member of the Maine Crafts Association will be participating in their new seasonal store in Portland, Memorial Day through Labor Day, with Willy Wires jewelry and ornaments.

The Creative Common at the Maine Mall is a collaboration with Maine Crafts Association, Maine College of Art, and Maine Indian Basketmakers Alliance. MCA will be both managing the Creative Common area and opening its new seasonal Center for Maine Craft, Portland on Thursday May 26, 2011.

May 27th - October 23, 2011
Art of the Boat
Penobscot Marine Museum

Featuring the creative visions of more than 50 contemporary painters, illustrators, sculptors, printmakers, modelers, and photographers, this juried exhibit explores the boat as a work of art and the boatbuilder as artist. Presented in memory of Maine artist, author, and boatbuilder George S. Wasson. The show is in their Main Street Gallery in Searsport, with an opening Friday May 27th 5:30-7.

May 28 - October 15, 2011
The Turtle Gallery

Willy's white-line woodblock prints have been included at the Turtle Gallery since 2004. This year's Opening Reception for Print Artists is Sunday June 12th at 2pm. The gallery is located at 61 North Deer Isle Rd, Deer Isle, Maine and is open Monday through Saturday 10-5:30 and Sunday 2-6.

June 3 - July 20, 2011
Hooves, Fur and Feathers
Maine Farmland Trust Gallery

Group show featuring a whimsical view of animals with an Opening Reception on Friday June 3rd, 5:30-8pm. Maine Farmland Trust Gallery, 97 Main St, Belfast is open Monday through Friday from 8-4 and in July and August on Friday evenings during the Belfast Friday Art Walks 5-8pm.

Free Range Music Festival returns to Belfast on April 30

By Emily Burnham

What started out as a lark ended up being a resounding success. The question was, would people come to Belfast for one day in the spring and pay $18 to see a lot of bands they might never have heard before? The answer — a big yes — meant that the Belfast Free Range Music Festival would return in 2011, bigger and better, with an even more diverse lineup of bands and artists from all over the country.

This year’s event, set for 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday, April 30, offers 32 indie rock, folk, alternative rock, reggae, bluegrass, electronic, jazz and Celtic bands, hailing from Belfast to San Francisco and Nashville. There are eight Belfast-wide venues this year, including Waterfall Arts, the Belfast Maskers Waterfront Theater, the First Congregational Church, Aarhus Gallery, the American Legion Hall, the Colonial Theatre, the Belfast Free Library and Three Tides.

Read the full story in the Bangor Daily News

March 8, 2011

People gather Friday evening, March 4, 2011, for the opening reception of the third annual "44N 69W: Radius Belfast" at the Aarhus Gallery in Belfast. Artwork from 159 artists living within a 30-mile radius of Belfast is on exhibit, and a portion of the proceeds will go to Good Shepherd Food-Bank, to be given out to food pantries within the radius.(Read More)
Review by Aislinn Sarnacki.

April 25, 2011

February 16, 2011

Artists fill Belfast Gallery with all things white

By Aislinn Sarnacki, BDN Staff

When artist Wesley Reddick of Belfast thinks of white, he says it’s two Hostess Snowballs covered with coconut that first come to mind.

“I don’t know why I thought that,” said Reddick, one of the artist owners of the Aarhus Gallery. “I did, and I don’t even eat those.”

That’s how the majority of his sculptures come about. An image pops into his head, and he can’t stop thinking about it until he builds the image. In this case, the resulting sculpture was two Hostess Snowballs spinning in a glass box.

Reddick’s sculpture, “Two Snoballs, Twenty-four Cranks,” is a part of the exhibition “White,” on display through Feb. 27 at Aarhus Gallery in Belfast. For the exhibit, 19 artists working in a variety of media created art that is dominantly, if not completely, white.

Click here to read the complete story

January 25, 2011

Trigger & Reconfigure
Jewett Art gallery at Wellesley College
Laura Evans, Abbie Read, Jessica Straus, Antoinette Winters

Jan. 22-Feb. 19, 2011
Opening Reception: Thursday, January 27, 4:45-6pm
Gallery Hours: Tuesday-Friday 11am-4pm, Saturdays 12-4pm

This exhibition explores how an artwork begins with an encounter between an object or image and the artist. The found form, not necessarily interesting or beautiful to others, is so compelling to the artist that it must be engaged with, seized even. Intuitively the artist understands the possibilities this form offers for reinvention. And thus the art-making process begins. There will be dialogue surely, sometimes a grappling, a coaxing or a nudging of this form until new light or a new life emerges. The job of the artist becomes one of championing this object, heralding to others why it matters.

Abbie Read Statement

I’ve made things by hand since I was a child, fabricating my way through every year: finger painting, clothing, fancy desserts, macramé, then etching, block printing, batik, drawing, painting, clay, welding. While my art can appear to be “about” many things, I’ve come to the realization that in my two dimensional work I am most of all interested in exploring the space of that surface and developing a layered, textural depth. In my three dimensional work the idea of containment is more the mission; the layering of thing within thing within thing becomes the metaphor. In both cases I seek to draw the viewer in to a small, intimate, unique world.

I am inspired by many things: patterns in insect wings, worn, marked surfaces, lacy dried leaves, used, gridded paper, old books. A lot of my impulses, whether they are artistic, domestic, or instructive, rise up from a psychology not to be wasteful. Hence, scraps of paper get saved to be used later in collage, a piece of cardboard becomes a box, the rind of a ripe melon, with its intricate linear patterns, becomes a page in a book. I like taking things that already exist and using them to new ends. I try to discover a new purpose in discarded detritus and impose myself on the details. I know I’m not the only one. It’s a way of responding to the world.

Abbie Read has been a mixed media artist for many years, working in both two-dimensional and three-dimensional media. A few years ago Read learned techniques in the Book Arts, and how to properly make a book as well as learning the various processes that go along with it. Read now uses her own paste papers in her own work, which deals more with assemblage than Book Arts. Her art process draws from all kinds of different mediums and approaches.

Website link

August 31, 2010

July 9th - September 17th, 2010

(Belfast, ME) An exhibit of indoor work by creators of Eco-Motion sculptures currently gracing downtown Belfast streets will open on Friday July 9th at Waterfall Arts with a reception for the artists from 5:00 to 7:00 pm. Other artists with a bent towards interactive or moveable work are also included in the Clifford Gallery exhibit which will be on display through September 17th.

ECO-Motion artists Patrick and Victor Plourde from New Gloucester created the large metal “Spiral “ installed near City Hall and plan to exhibit flatwork design drawings and metal sculptures. Paul Cartwright of Camden, who made the popular “Taking Care of Business” bike fountain at the corner of High and Main, will show a handmade wooden unicycle. Cy Klausmeyer from Swanville, who has a number of “winged” creatures on the streets, will include two or three interactive sculptures in the show. Christine Dentremont, from Swan’s Island, made spinning flowers for Main Street and a swooping wooden bench for the exhibit.

Other artists in the show include Wes Reddick, who will bring a large wheeled sculpture to the gallery. Leslie Pontz, from Philadelphia and Liberty, will show some of her crocheted wire pieces and Jay Sawyer from Warren will install one of his welded metal sculptures. Metal pieces by David McLaughlin will also be included in the exhibit.

Following the opening, Waterfall Arts will kick off a new series,” Wait Until Dark”, showing the innovative work of Maine filmmakers on an outdoor screen. The films will begin at dusk, around 8:30 pm. Please visit www.waterfallarts.org for more details.

The Clifford Gallery is located at Waterfall Arts Belfast, 256 High Street. Gallery hours are Tuesday through Friday from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm and by appointment. Please call 338-2222 or visit www.waterfallarts.org for more information.

Read more in Maine Art Scene

July 2010 : Aarhusian Ingrid Ellison on the cover of Artscope Magazine

Finding Inspiration In Natural Objects And Phenomena, Ingrid Ellison'S Paintings Are Seductive Meditations On Color And Design. Featured artist - INGRID ELLISON: painting beyond nature

by Britta Konau

Every time I first see one of Ellison’s paintings I have the same sensation — they take away my breath for a second. Everything seems just so right about them.

A painter and printmaker, Ellison looks up close at nature, even microscopically, at patterns and singular formations — not at the grand gesture of the land. She picks up natural objects all the time, from her own garden or from walks further afield. In layer after layer, she explores these objects with a circumscribed palette of slow, subdued colors, including dark reds, greens and blues, which are inspired by her surroundings in Maine where she has lived since 2007. Repeatedly wiping away areas and working intuitively, she adds marks and symbols of her own imagination that keep recurring in her work like a private vocabulary.

These are quiet pieces that invite the eye to roam, taking in representational motifs as well as marks and fields of color that remain abstract compositional elements. The eye wanders over the surface and penetrates into the many layers of imagery and paint. There are openings through which to peer at an earlier point in time, translucencies that leave the process of creation visible, and webs of lines and scatterings of marks that create dynamic diagonals.

Ellison often develops variations on a theme until she has reached a point where a new idea seems to require its own space. Then it is time to stop and start anew. The related pieces “Drifting” and “Grace of Morning Fog” exemplify this working method. They both started with a layer of metallic paint and encompass a variety of blues and browns in their palettes. The push and pull of advancing and receding colors segment the shallow pictorial space. Veils of light and color are juxtaposed with linear designs, including a spidery net of interconnected leaves. One can just make out the natural forms that served Ellison as inspiration, such as the dried Allium and a desiccated, perforated leaf. And is that vertical construction a strand of DNA.

All elements in her paintings work together to create a general effect of complex beauty. Ellison almost does not need the barely recognizable origin in nature for her harmonious balances and interconnections, for her investigations into color, form, gesture and rhythm. She does not idealize or embellish nature; instead Ellison delves deeper into its organizing principles, grasping a quality of nature that is ineffable. Maybe that is why her work always gives me pause.

Read the entire article in the July issue of ArtScope Magazine...

Tuesday June 22, 2010 5pm
Aarhus Gallery, 50 Main Street, Belfast

Belfast is Happening. Aarhus is Cool. You know it and so does Midcoast Magnet! So, we’re bringing the Juice Box series north for a night of networking.

• Come and learn some of the techniques introduced at Juice 2.0 Conference seminar “Why are the Bankers Dancing?”
• Try this “warm networking” method done in a “musical chairs” style that’s easy and fun.
• Practice your networking skills and learn new tips.
• Promote your business and learn what others are doing in the area.
• Effective networking requires more than exchanging business cards. Juice us at this Juice Box and strengthen your local business relationships.

“Intelligent people know facts. Successful people know people.” Ivan Misner

A Juice Box is full of the energy and expertise of a Juice Conference - just wrapped up in a smaller package. Created by the Midcoast Magnet, these events offer skills, networking opportunities and fun. Join us to promote the creative economy as we bring together the arts, business and technology in the Juice Box series.

Please RSVP at info@midcoastmagnet.com
We will have food, wine and beer

May 7, 2010

Portland Art Walk:

MAINE HOME+DESIGN MAGAZINE
75 Market Street, Second Floor

Fertile Ground paintings by Ingrid Ellison, Mary Barnes & John Knight Maine Home+Design and Maine magazines open our offices and bring the works from the MH+D Canvas series to the Art Walk for the first time, May 7th.

April 20, 2010

Aarhus in the news

Breaking down barriers in Belfast

This weekend's Free Range Music Festival is part of the city's change from a community known for chickens and shoes to a thirving hub of creativity. Read more in the Bangor Daily News

Free Range Music in Belfast. Read more in Maine Maven

April 23 - June 12, 2010

Aarhus Partner, Ingrid Ellison, joins 40+ contemporary artists for
I-95 Triennial: A Survey from Four New England States
University of Maine Museum of Art, Bangor

Artists include: June August, Susan S. Bank, Resa Blatman, Sarah Bliss, Patricia Brace, Gabriella D'Italia, Dan Dowd, Sean Downey, Adele R. Drake, Linda Eastman, Ingrid Ellison, Jay Gibson , Joseph Haroutunian, Ayumi Ishii, Stella Johnson, Richard Keen, Lisa Kessler, Walter Kopec, Rania Matar, Tim McDonald, Mara Metcalf, Julie Miller, Hazel Mitchell, James Mullen, Blake D. Ogden, Christopher D. Peary, Marcy Pope, Barbara Putnam, Richard Raiselis, Stephen Remick, Beverly Rippel, Rebecca Rivers, Ken Sahr, Jo Sandman, Nancy Simonds, Steven B. Smith, Barbara Sullivan, Lorraine Sullivan, Emily Leonard Trenholm, Grace Vasta-Carr, MaryJean Viano Crowe, Anne Sargent Walker, Patricia Wheeler, Antoinette Winters

University of Maine Museum of Art’s inaugural exhibition I-95 Triennial: A Survey from Four New England States offers a unique glimpse into the diversity of contemporary creative practice in four New England states: Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Rhode Island. Forty-four artists were chosen through a highly competitive jury process. While the exhibition showcases a wide range of approaches to materials and styles including representational, abstraction and conceptual art, there are noticeable common threads that run through the exhibition. Color photography is represented by numerous artists including Stella Johnson, Steven Smith, Lisa Kessler, Rania Matar, Linda Eastman, and Blake Ogden, each of whom works in a fine art documentary style and offers an in-depth investigation of subjects ranging from the humorous to the reflective. A number of artists including Sarah Bliss, Walter Kopec, Marcy Pope and Barbara Sullivan address social concerns, issues of consumption, and the fast-paced nature of contemporary culture. The landscape serves as inspiration for works by James Mullen, Richard Raiselis, Stephen Remick, and Ken Sahr; each painter works in a realist fashion, and several explore panoramic depictions of natural settings with shifting light and seasonal environmental conditions. Contemporary abstraction is reflected in the ornate, decorative cutouts of Resa Blatman, the layered images in works by Ingrid Ellison and Antoinette Winters, and the sumptuous surfaces in Joseph Haroutunian’s large-scale painting. Several pieces such as Patricia Brace and Gabriella D’Italia’s hand-quilted compositions employ labor-intensive patterning and color palettes that bring to mind ideas explored in hard-edge and minimalist abstract painting. The 82 works by the New England artists in this exhibition attest to the multitude of approaches to art-making and the pluralistic nature prevalent in contemporary art.

Website

Friday, March 26

Two Aarhusians will be presenters at the upcoming Pecha Kucha Night in Rockland.

Mark Kelly will show his artwork, and Kevin Johnson will present his work as a photographic archivist at the Penobscot Marine Museum.

Pecha Kucha Night is an energizing evening of creativity celebrated in more than 200 cities worldwide. Based on a unique presentation style in which artists share 20 images with 20 seconds for each image, Pecha Kucha answers the global need for open dialogue about the creative process. Pecha Kucha Night Rockland is a collaboration among Midcoast Magnet and multiple arts organizations, educational institutions and partners from Thomaston to Belfast, including the Farnsworth Museum and Waterfall Arts. For more information about being a presenter, e-mail rockland@pechakuchamaine.org.

Date & Time: Friday, March 26, 7pm

Location: Lincoln Street Center Auditorium, top floor
Seating: Limited to 280 people
Cost: $5 admission at the door
Reservations: advanced reservations are not required

March 4th, 2010

Mark Kelly Exhibition

The Leonard R. Craig Gallery at Unity College Presents
Mark Kelly Exhibition March 3 – April 9

The Leonard R. Craig Gallery at Unity College will present an exhibition of two-dimensional work by Mark Kelly from March 3 – April 9. The images are experimental drawings, some of which involve scorching the paper with matches.

Gallery Hours are Mondays through Fridays, 10am to 6pm, and Saturdays, 1-5pm. The gallery will be open by appointment only March 8-19th. For more information contact Associate Professor Ben Potter at 748-3131x239 or e-mail bpotter@unity.edu.

Unity College is located at 90 Quaker Hill Road, Unity, Maine. The Leonard R. Craig Gallery is located in the South Coop building.

February 23, 2010

A New Vaudeville Revue Returns

Prepare Your Laugh: A New Vaudeville Revue Returns

Tickets available at Åarhus Gallery

Come see, hear, and experience home grown comedy, music and dance at its finest in the upcoming production of A New Vaudeville Revue.

The season's only production will be at The American Legion Hall, 143 Church Street, Belfast. Saturday Feb. 27, at 7 pm.

Usual suspects Peter Conant, Jenny Tibbetts, Kristen Burkholder and Ando Anderson provide original comedy and general hijinks. Expect an appearance by Professor Scientist, Tarzan and Jane (and Boy), a yoga class and a poetry writing workshop.

Special guests include Singer /songwriter Travis Lloyd, Dancer Shana Bloomstein and poetry reading by Ivy Lobato. The house band includes Phil Clement, Jeff Densmore, and Mike McFarland.

Admission is $10 with tickets available at Åarhus Gallery (50 Main Street, Belfast: Thursday, Friday & Saturday 12-6) or at the door. Fun for all!

February 23, 2010

Åarhus artist, Ingrid Ellison, interview on the Maine Art Scene

Maine Arts Scene

February 1, 2010

CALL FOR ART, 2nd Annual "44N 69W: Radius Belfast" to Benefit Local Food Pantries

Åarhus Gallery once again, toasts our vast creative community by opening its walls to Maine residents of any age or training, living within a thirty mile radius of Belfast, to show their stuff - artwork, that is - in our all-encompassing 2nd Annual show entitled "44N 69W: Radius Belfast". From potters, painters, and welders to musicians, knitters and mobile makers, all work falling within the gallery's fairly liberal view of 'decency' will be presented on the walls, floor, or ceiling, as the case may be.

• Works in all media or size are eligible and preferably for sale.
• Please have work ready to hang; picture wires or sawtooth hangers properly affixed to work, sculpture pedestals can be made available.
• Work must have been made in the last year by any resident living within 30 miles of Belfast (as the crow flies).
• Deliver work to Åarhus Gallery, February 26-28, 12-6pm.
• Sorry, no mail entries can be accepted.
• Unsold work must be picked up April 1st through April 4th One entry per person, all works will be shown (within our discretion)
• There is a $5 entry fee, which will be donated entirely to local food banks.
• Sales: Artists will receive 50% and Aarhus Gallery will donate 20% of total sales from the show to Food Banks within a 30 mile radius of Belfast.

An Opening Reception will be held Friday March 5th, 5-8pm. The show runs from March 4th through March 28th 2010.

Åarhus Gallery is located at 50 Main Street, Belfast and open Thursday-Sundays 12-6pm. Call 207-338-0001 for more information.

February 1, 2010

as if

Åarhus Gallery seeks literary short fiction by Maine writers for as if, an evening of readings by Maine actors.

Submit one or two stories
of up to 5,000 words (double spaced/12 font/numbered pages) via snail mail or email (Word attachment) to the address below. Include your name, street address, phone number and email address on the first page of the manuscript.

Complete, polished stories only, please; no drafts, exercises or excerpts! If your story is suitable for our program and actors, we will contact you for permission to perform it. This is an OPEN CALL for an ongoing series, but writers who want their stories considered for the inaugural evening (spring '10) should submit their stories by March 1.

Note: Manuscripts will not be returned -- they will be recycled or deleted - so please retain your original.

Snail mail:

Åarhus Gallery
attn: as if
50 Main Street
Belfast, ME 04915

Or, Email:

asifstories@gmail.com
Subject line: submission

January, 2010

New Partners at Aarhus Gallery

Aarhus Gallery is pleased to announce the rare addition of gallery partners, Ingrid Ellison and Abbie Read.

Abbie(work on right) is a multi-faceted mixed media artist from Appleton and Ingrid (work on left) is an abstract painter and printmaker living in Camden. They both bring with them unique qualities and experiences that the six founding partners are confident will integrate well into the Aarhus tradition of organizing unusual and stimulating exhibits, events and concerts.

HARVEST at Maine Farmland Trust

As part of their tenth anniversary celebration, Maine Farmland Trust (MFT) is hosting a gallery show honoring the yearly time of harvest through art and poetry. “We will not only be celebrating this year’s farm harvest, but symbolically we are also celebrating MFT’s rich harvest of over 16,000 acres of farmland preserved over the past ten years,” says Anna Witholt Abaldo, gallery coordinator for MFT.

Over a dozen of Maine artists and poets are participating in the HARVEST show: Laurie Lofman Bellmore, Anna Boll, Carol Ginandes, Beth Henderson, Lynn Karlin, Jean Kigel, Jude Nickerson, Michelle Olson, Kathy Perelka, Dina Petrillo, Willy Reddick, Karin Spitfire, Martin Steingesser and Barbara Sullivan. HARVEST will open with a festive reception on Friday October 23rd from 5-7pm at Maine Farmland Trust Gallery, 97 Main St, Belfast.

The gallery show simultaneously functions as a preview for a silent auction of the art works, to be held November 16th at Maine Farmland Trust’s tenth anniversary celebration. Purchase of any of the pieces, whether at the gallery or auction, will benefit MFT in their ongoing effort to preserve farmland forever.

Maine Farmland Trust is a membership-based organization dedicated to preserving Maine's working farmland and providing services to help farms stay in production.

For more information about the gallery show or auction, please contact Anna Witholt Abaldo at anna@mainefarmlandtrust.org, (207) 338-6575.

http://mainefarmlandtrust.org/

CMCA's Work of the Hand celebrating its 20th Anniversary

Willy Reddick has been invited back to exhibit her jewelry in the CMCA Work of the Hand Crafts Show and Sale. She will be showing sterling silver earrings, beaded baskets and miniature painting brooches.

The Show opens Friday, October 9 with a Collectors’ Preview Evening from 5 to 8 pm. Guests can meet the artists and will have an opportunity to purchase exceptional work or commission a custom piece as they enjoy the reception. Admission is $15. Artists will be present on certain days as the show continues, October 10 through 18, 10 am to 5 pm daily, admission $5.

Thursday, September 24 2009

CMCA's Monthly Marketing Series for Artists

Aarhus has been asked to participate in a panel at The Center for Maine Contemporary Art's (CMCA's) Monthly Marketing Series for Artists.

This month's topic

Making Connections: Marketing Series for Artists

Main Gallery

CMCA's Monthly Marketing Series for Artists takes place on the fourth thursday of each month through October.

Attend one or more sessions.
PRE-REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED.

Thursday, Sept 24, 7 - 8:30 PM: Connecting with Galleries and Other Opportunities for Exhibiting

To print a PDF Registration form, click HERE.

This series features curators, artists, gallery owners, web designers, marketing professionals, and others sharing information, expertise, and advice in areas many artists find difficult, unpleasant, or simply avoid altogether. Requests from artists resulted in CMCA offering this series, which will take place on the fourth thursday of each month, May through October.

Marketing is about connecting; connecting with the public, with galleries, with museums, with the media, with other artists, and more. Marketing is not only about selling your work, it's about completing the artistic equation of having viewers experience the art you create rather than letting your work gather dust in your studio. Many artists find it difficult to speak or write about their work. With this series, CMCA hopes to delineate the components of marketing and provide concrete steps for getting your work out there in the world.

$20 each session.

10% additional discount for CMCA members.
Registration or questions call CMCA 207-236-2875 x303

September 2009

Pets Gone Green

Willy Reddick's white-line woodblock prints are featured as illustrations for the new release of the book Pets Gone Green: Live a More Eco-Conscious Life with Your Pets by Eve Adamson. Books and woodcuts are available for purchase at Åarhus.

Also available at Amazon

September 2009

48 Hours in Belfast

Aarhus is mentioned in the inagural issue of Maine. Magazine's article "48 Hours in Belfast" by Kristen Andresen Lainsbury

"Belfast is know for its vibrant arts scene, and you could spend an entire morning browsing the city's galleries. Check out the contemporary art at Aarhus Gallery, a gorgeous collective space owned by six artists..."

Maine Magazine

September 2009

We need this land, this land need us

Poetry and assemblages at Maine Farmland Trust Gallery

Maine Farmland Trust welcomes the public to attend the opening reception for the exhibit “We need this land, this land needs us” on Friday September 4th, from 5-8pm at MFT Gallery in downtown Belfast (97 Main Street).

The show is an on-site, interactive collaboration between Belfast artist Mark Kelly, and poet-artist Vincent Abaldo from Lincolnville. Visitors to MFT Gallery will find the space transformed into a mosaic of assemblages made from found farm objects and poetry inspired by a small handful of Maine farms. The artists and some farmers will attend, and of course farm-fresh hors d’oeuvres will be served; for more information please contact our Gallery Coordinator at anna@mainefarmlandtrust.org.

The show will be on display through October 20th; opening times of the gallery are Mo-Fri 9am-4pm.

August 2009

Aarhus is mentioned as a "stand out" in Belfast in the August/September issue of Art New England's "Art Safari" column.

A working waterfront similar to Rockland’s is found in Belfast to its north, where the downtown is a short detour from Route 1. From Belfast’s port full of fishing boats stretches a nineteenth-century Main Street with a handful of galleries. Of the latter, the stand-out is the Åarhus Gallery established near the waterfont in 2007 with the express intent of appealing to “lovers of community, form, and design, as well as admirers of contemporary and unique art.” Featured are many young Maine artists who migrated northward after art school in Boston.

Read Modern Art Destinations in Downeast Maine.

July 2009

Aarhus is excited to be the Belfast pickup for Fail Better Farm's 2009 CSA!

If you've got a hankering for fresh, healthy, local vegetables grown by a fresh, healthly, local family, Clayton of FBF tells us there are shares available. Details can be found on their website: www.failbetterfarm.com

May 2009

Aarhus Gallery was mentioned in an article in the May issue of Maine Home+Design, "Art Imitating Life," which featured potters of Maine, including Simon van der Ven who's work is one of the highlights in our Fine Craft Section.

Download PDF

April 30, 2009

CREATURES reviewed in ArtScope Magaine's eBlast

"Animal inspired exhibits: The DeCordova Museum had one a few years back, as has ArtSpace, New Haven. Yet I don't think I have ever seen such a varied interpretation on the theme than in Creatures at Belfast, Maine's Åarhus Gallery, which is made even more impressive by the relatively focused radius of the artists included; all hail from New England's northernmost state. Extolation of the animal kingdom has been going on for thousands of years, as cited in Betsy Levine's Iranian-inspired stoneware vessels, each shaped, as ancient vessels were, like a different real or mythological creature. Folklore, rhymes, local fauna, and prehistoric cultures inspire Levine and 21 others who work in a variety of mediums. Mike Libby, owner of Insect Lab, creates creepy crawlies from old watch parts and other miniature gears and gadgets. Mia Kanazawa's fiber sculptures and puppets have been used in theatres, operas, parades, and even on PBS. Megan Cafferata's more surprising work includes the use of found butterfly wings, feathers, and small skeletal remains reassembled and embedded in handmade paper for pieces that resemble layers of an archaeological dig. Muses for millennia, it's no wonder birds and beasts keep popping up in gallery manifests today. Creatures remains on view through May 31st. "
Sarah E. Fagan, ArtScope Magazine

April, 2009

Aarhus Gallery would like to thank the artists, viewers, and patrons of 44N 69W: Radius Belfast

This past March in an effort to beat the winter doldrums, open our doors to a wider cross section of our community as well as celebrate the amazing people in this extraordinary area, we put together a show called 'Radius Belfast' with 20% of sales to go to local food banks. It was open to anyone making art or craft within a thirty-mile radius of Belfast, any age, any experience, any medium, one piece per person. The show was non-juried so if it walked in the door, it went on the walls... or floor or ceiling as the case may be.

As one might expect, the community rose to the occasion and came out in full bloom. We hung over one hundred and fifty pieces of art to the delight of hundreds of visitors, friends and loved ones and we're happy to say we sold over $2000 worth of art and took in a $50 donation. As a result we sent a check, to Good Shepherd Food Bank in Auburn, for $511.20 with a request that it be distributed to the food pantries and food banks that have the greatest need within a 30-mile radius of Belfast.

Because of the success of this show, we're considering making this an annual endeavor with hopes of bringing in more people, more art, more smiles and more money for the food banks. Thank you to all who participated!

April 5th, 2009

Aarhus Gallery gets mentioned in a Boston Sunday Globe article by David Lyon about Belfast- with a quote from Aarhusian Richard Mann.

“It would be hard to imagine Aarhus Gallery, which opened in June 2007 in a former gravestone carver's shop on lower Main Street, as a Camden-style gallery. Raised near Portland in Falmouth, Richard Mann, one of six artists who founded the gallery, left Maine but returned when he found a critical mass of artists in Belfast. "It's surprising," he says, "to find out how many people have been working in their homes and have something to show us."

The artists who exhibit at Aarhus are an individualistic bunch, but they embody an evolving regional style that owes as much to Yankee know-how as to any MFA program. I found myself admiring a Wes Reddick kinetic sculpture set in motion by an old hand drill. I was reminded of a scallop dragger I sometimes worked that consisted of a demasted sailing ship powered by a marine conversion of the straight-eight engine from the skipper's rusted-out Pontiac. There has always been a Belfast ethos of salvaging parts that still function, and putting them to work. Reuse, recycle, reimagine - it's a mantra that keeps bringing Belfast back to life.”

April 21-24, 2009

Mark Kelly selected as Waterfall Arts Earth Week Artist in Residency '09

Waterfall Arts holds its third consecutive Earth Week Residency this April. Artists Abby Sadauckas ('07) and Blake Hendrickson ('08) worked with high school students to make art out of recycled and unusual materials. This year mixed media artist Mark Kelly will work with students selected from the Waldo County Technical Center. Mark says that "What I want the students to experience and come away with is a great awareness of the things, natural and man-made, that surround them. Working with the materials they choose, and studying those materials on their own terms, for use in a different context will, hopefully, open doors to how they view the world. My ultimate goal is to foster a profound respect for the environment and for everything and everyone the students come in contact with." Each participant will make several sculptural pieces of their own; other activities include meeting and talking with local artists; researching and looking at artwork that utilizes found natural and man-made materials. The students' work will be exhibited at Waterfall Arts at the completion of the residency.

March 23, 2009

Mark Kelly was part of Second Lives, a show featuring recycled materials, at Waterfall Arts. The show was written up in the Bangor Daily News.

Second Lives' prompts second look
Artistic creations in Belfast show grow from 'repurposed' materials
By Lynn Ascrizzi
Special to the News

One humorous piece created in this vein is the 4-foot-by-5-foot wall hanging titled "900," so named because it was crafted from 900 used tea bags by artist and unquenchable tea-drinker Mark Kelly of Belfast.

"It's like a quilt; it just happened. I stapled them here, onto the wall. When I take them down, the piece will be destroyed," he said.

Kelly is co-founder of Aarhus Gallery, located at 50 Main St., Belfast. The piece grew out of his habit of hanging used tea bags on his art studio wall, he said. He also crafted a long chain of tea bags for the show, called "Teabag Stack."

Jane Phillips, a retired art writer from Key West, Fla., who now lives in Northport, thought the tea bag assemblages had all the right stuff.

"It's very inventive. He's taking something so ordinary and turning it into something quite different," she said. Phillips also was impressed by the lively art scene in Maine and at the gallery.

Read the full story in the Bangor Daily News

January/February, 2009

Aarhus Gallery Partners Wesley Reddick and Mark Kelly were two of nine featured Assemblage Artists in the Jan/Feb. Maine Home and Design article "The Art of Assemblage"