November 2- December 24, 2012
Opening Reception Friday November 2nd, 5-8

The annual HOLIDAY EXTRAVAGANZA at Åarhus Gallery in Belfast kicks off early again this year, and runs from November 2nd through December 24th. This jam-packed show features smaller artworks and a wide range of creative craftwork priced with gift giving in mind. Works in a dazzling variety of mediums, from over 70 talented Maine artists from throughout the midcoast and beyond will be exhibited, including: pottery, poetry and painting, collage, etching and photography, woodblock prints, blown glass, fiber arts, turned wood, handmade books, cards, calendars, ornaments, jewelry, music, new Glass Plate images, chocolates and more!

Artists who have shown in the gallery and in the crafts section over the past year will be featured, along with some newcomers and the Åarhus partners. Artists included will be: Susan Amons, Katia Ancona,Suzanne Anderson, Daniel Anselmi, Jes Anthonis, Bernice Arthur, Joe Ascrizzi, Joe Barberio, Nancy Morgan Barnes, Dan Beckman, Mark Bell, Martha Briana, Phyllis Buchanan, Linda Buckmaster, Cinder Conk, Kenny Cole, Al Crichton, Maryjean Crowe, Bill Davis, James Deane, Dean’s Sweets, Gabriella D’Italia, David Estey, Carole Ann Fer, Sallie Findlay, Mike Fletcher, Stephen Florimbi, Kathleen Newton Foote, Annadeene Fowler, George Fowler, Linden Frederick, Free Seedlings, Jacob Fricke, Elizabeth Garber, Harold Garde, Carol Gater, Gawler Sisters, Jay Gibson, Ellen Goldsmith, Terry Hire, Charlton Hudson, David Jacobson, Kevin Johnson, Jody Johnstone, Judd Jones, Susan Jones, Mia Kanazawa, Mark Kelly, Elena Kubler, A. C. Kulik, Valerie Lawson, Eric Leppanen, Betsy Levine, Joel Lipman, Carol Logie,Edward Mackenzie, Richard Mann, Barbara Maria, Sandy McGaw, Kate McLeod, Holly Meade, Cathy Melio, Kate Bauman Mess, Metaphor Bronze, Leslie Miller, Ed Moffitt, Hanako Nakazato, Nire Art, Novel Jazz, Toki Oshima, Leila Ostby, Dina Petrillo, Robbi Fritz Portela, Jane Ploughman, Ben Potter, Joan Proudman, Ivan Rasmussen, Rebekah Raye, Abbie Read, Wesley Reddick, Willy Reddick, Judy Rock,Julie Rose, Rural Electric, Meryl Ruth, Eleanor Salazar, Erin Seegers, Erica Schlueter, Betty Schopmeyer, Mike Silverton, Karin Spitfire, Tandem Glass, Nitasia Timms, Mary Trotochaud, Nance Trueworthy, Larry Unger, Glen Veevaert, Simon van der Ven, John Vincent, Dayle Tognoni Ward, Whiffletree, Ellen Wieske, J. Fred Woell.

Come join the fun, meet the artists and help kick off the Sixth Annual Holiday Extravaganza with an opening reception Friday November 2nd from 5-8 pm.

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October 2 –28, 2012
Opening Reception Friday October 5th, 5-8pm

Some leading anthropologists hold to the idea that we can place the time at which we became human (the humans that we recognize ourselves to be today), at about thirty-five thousand years ago, the point at which we began making something very special. ( No, not Ben and Jerry’s Chunky Monkey) For a long, long time before then, we made tons of nifty tools, we had vocal communications, we could paint on walls and objects and we could make very sexy sculptures. Auspicious beginnings no doubt, but were those prolific artisans the human beings we know today? Not entirely, apparently. And not just because they didn’t shave with cordless razors, perform plastic surgery or make money and gold framed mirrors. No, we didn’t step into full card- carrying humanhood until we started making….. musical instruments. The arrival of the musical instrument marks a pivotal change in human evolution. Why?… because of the depth of complex creativity that is required to make such a wondrous, magical object and then what the product of the instrument – music! – does for our lives, our spirit, and our sense of self as well as the changes that it inspires us to assimilate, not only socially, but quite likely physiologically within our brains and in our hearts. Since that first bone flute, and that skin drum or that stretched gut string, we’ve been having at it with the whole music thing, to the point of making art, about the art, of the makings of music. We hope you will join us.

Artists showing work will be Joe Ascrizzi, Tony Ascrizzi, Martha Briana, Stephen Brown, Jake Chase, Lincoln Clapp, Heidi Daub, Linden Frederick, David Holbrook, Kevin Johnson, Mark Kelly, Richard Mann, Edward MacKenzie, Leslie Miller, Toki Oshima, Louise Philbrick, Wesley Reddick, Willy Reddick and Meryl Ruth.

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August 28-Sept 30, 2012
Opening Reception Friday August 31, 5-8pm

Mark Bell
Porcelain Bottle
9″

Mark Bell
Mark Bell of Blue Hill, Maine, works as a full time potter crafting fine porcelain vessels, delicately thrown, and finished with bright, rich glazes. After a wonderful experience as a scholarship student at Haystack, he decided to move to Maine and open a studio and gallery, which he has maintained since 1990. He received his B.F.A. from University of Wisconsin Oshkosh and his M.F.A. in Ceramics from Arizona State University. His work is in the permanent collection of the Currier Museum in Manchester, New Hampshire.

Cathy Melio
Reflective
monotype and watercolor
6″ x6″ 2012

Cathy Melio
Cathy Melio is a painter and printmaker who lives in Stockton Springs. Her monotypes combine one-of-a-kind printmaking with watercolor painting. She is inspired by nature, gardening, music, color, and poetry. She has also worked in a range of other media including radio, pottery, jewelry, and fiber. Cathy is a Program Officer for Midcoast and Downeast Maine at the Maine Community Foundation in Ellsworth.

Artist’s statement:
“Monotypes allow for a unique combination of control and spontaneity. I never tire of the medium because of the surprises that occur, which make it feel like an interactive art form. These one-of-a-kind prints are visual poems, dreamscapes, inviting viewers to read the images, bringing their own interpretations to the pieces. My hope is that, as with poetry, there is an element of mystery which allows for freedom and creativity in the interpretation.”

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July 31-Aug 26, 2012
Opening Reception Friday August 3, 5-8pm

Sweet Heart (green)
acrylic on canvas
40″ x 40″

Mike Fletcher is a graduate of Montserrat College of Art in Beverly, Massachusetts, was a monitor at The Art Students League in New York and has been working in mid-coast Maine for the past twenty years, except for his time as a street artist in New York City. Primarily a painter, Mike refers to his work as visual poetry, without rhyme or reason. Using mostly found imagery including vintage wallpaper, as in his ‘Insomnia’ series, he creates montages in paint to entice the viewer into a dialogue of nonsense, or if they are willing; personal introspection. And then there are the cupcakes, an iconic image that he has used extensively for a decade. Mike’s work has been shown throughout New England and has been collected by celebrity authors, restaurateurs and musicians.

Also showing will be the work of Aarhusians Kevin Johnson, Mark Kelly, Richard Mann, Wesley Reddick and Willy Reddick.

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July 3-July 29, 2012
Opening Reception Friday July 6, 5-8pm

We are pleased to have guest artist Abbie Read of Appleton kick off the summer season with a mixed media exhibit for the month of July. Abbie has taught painting, drawing, printmaking, 2-D and 3-D design, and presently teaches workshops on artist books, bookbinding, altered books and art journaling. She says, “I like to respond to the world metaphorically with imagery from the natural world and through the use of found objects: to conjure associations and trigger memories…”

The installation, Library, takes two years worth of individually crafted pieces, many in book form, and puts them to use as components in a large relief collage. While the approach to crafting the individual parts is formal, presenting mostly mundane found objects as treasures, the overall impact of the diverse collection as a composition, curiously imparts a more personal meaning. The beauty and allure of humble, old things with surfaces that reflect only a nebulous past and indeterminate age may still be understood. The juxtaposition of their colors, forms and textures add up to something greater and tell a bigger story than the sum of their parts.

Lucky, is also a collage, representing in paper, a quilt; emblematic of home and comfort. Abbie asked friends and family to participate in this piece by relating to her stories of a time or an incident when they felt particularly lucky. This idea grew out of her personal cathartic search to identify and explain the unexplainable.

Also showing will be the work of Aarhusians Kevin Johnson, Mark Kelly, Richard Mann, Wesley Reddick and Willy Reddick.

Artist Talk

On Saturday July 28th at 11:30 in the gallery, as part of the Belfast Bound Book Festival, Abbie will be giving a brief artist talk about her exhibition. Later in the day, at 2:00 also at Åarhus, she will be teaching a workshop entitled “Hand Crafting Your Own Book”. Participants will make a small blank book with a sewn binding. The workshop will cost $30 per person including materials and will run about two hours. Please call the gallery at 338-0001 to register. Class size is limited to 8 people.

Library (and other Endangered Species)
detail, mixed media, 18′ X 8′

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May 31-July 1, 2012
Opening Reception Friday June 1, 5-8pm

With Åarhus coming up to it’s fifth anniversary, the partners take a Belfast moment and look to the contemporary significance of the number five; motion, expansion, adventure,… and we realize we haven’t lived up to five very well at all. We haven’t moved, our partners have dwindled somewhat, and although this endeavor has been quite an adventure for us, we don’t think we come across as terribly ‘adventuresome’…. do we? On the other hand, classically, the number five draws our attention to the wonder of life, and invites our appreciation of this crazy world, the chaos around us: the human condition. In this way maybe we can hold our chins up to five. Over these five years, hundreds of artists have shown their view of the world on these white walls and this heart pine floor. We’ve been witness to many smiles and some tears as well. And we hope that the five senses have at least been paid tribute to. Though we’ll admit, the sense of smell has been hard to exhibit unless you count the nose of the countless bottles of wine from the Co-op we’ve poured.

At any rate, in celebration of our fifth anniversary, we invite the public to join us, with all five senses, Friday June 1st for an Anniversary show reception, from 5-8. Come, smell the wine, meet and converse with local artists and art appreciators, and a whole bunch of normal people too!

The show runs from May 31st through July 1st and features artworks by Åarhus partners: Kevin Johnson, Mark Kelly, Richard Mann, Wesley Reddick and Willy Reddick.

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May 3-27, 2012
Opening Reception May 4th, 5-8

It may have taken a congress of baboons to come up with ‘murder’ as the collective noun for a flock of crows, but knowing how congress can act like a colony of vultures at times, it’s not surprising. What also may not be surprising is the range of interpretations the precocious crow can elicit, which is likely why they’ve found a place in myth, magic and folklore for centuries now. Indeed crows are intelligent, social creatures, often displaying more sense than some of us, and family values as strong as any warren of wild turkeys. Is all this why Åarhus is doing a show on crows?….you betcha. Not to mention we think it will look really great in here with a murder of crows on the walls.

Featured artists include; Susan Amons, kdb-Karen Dominguez, Sallie Findlay, Stephen Florimbi, Kevin Johnson, Mia Kanazawa, Mark Kelly, Mark Kindschi, Elena Kubler, A. C . Kulik, Richard Mann, Holly Meade, Ivan Rasmussen, Rebekah Raye, Abbie Read, Wesley Reddick, Willy Reddick, and Susan Webster.
 
 

Holly Meade
Seven Crows
woodblock & linoleum print
48″ x 17″

Susan Amons
Crows Sunset II
monotypes with pastel
28″x 36″

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