November 4th- December 24, 2011
Opening Reception November 4th, 5-8pm

Aarhus Gallery announces its Holiday Extravaganza small works show with 70+ Maine Artists, Craftsmen, Poets and Musicians: 51 days

The annual HOLIDAY EXTRAVAGANZA kicks off early again this year and runs from November 4th through December 24th. This jam-packed show features smaller artworks and a wide range of creative craftwork priced with gift giving in mind. Over 60 talented Maine artists from throughout the midcoast are represented in a dazzling variety of mediums, including pottery, poetry and painting, collage, etching and photography, woodblock prints, turned wood, fiber, assemblage, cards, calendars, ornaments, new Glass Plate images, jewelry, music, chocolates and more!
Felt Puppets by Mia Kanazawa from Extravaganza 2010

Artists who have shown at Aarhus over the past year will be featured, along with some newcomers and the usual Aarhus partners. Artists include Vincent Abaldo, Katia Ancona, Suzanne Anderson, Jes Anthonis, Bernice Arthur, Kate Bauman, Dan Beckman, Jolene Bryant, Phyllis Buchanan, Michael Buckley, Nancy Buckley, Linda Buckmaster, Anne-Claude Cotty, Mj Viano Crowe, Heidi Daub, Bill Davis, Dean’s Sweets, James Deane, Liz Deane, Gabriella D’Italia, Ingrid Ellison, Carole Ann Fer, Sallie Findlay, Kathleen Newton Foote, Annadeene Fowler, George Fowler, Free Seedlings Band, Elizabeth Garber, Harold Garde, Carol Gater, Edith Gawler and Bennett Konesni, Gawler Sisters, Jay Gibson, Ellen Goldsmith, Frances Hodsdon, David Jacobson, Jeffrey Jelenfy, Karen Jelenfy, Kevin Johnson, Jody Johnstone, Judd Jones, Paul Jurutka, Mia Kanazawa, Mark Kelly, Michelle Kelly, A. C. Kulik, Valerie Lawson, Betsy Levine, Joel Lipman, Carol Logie, Richard Mann, Barbara Maria, John McAlevey, Kate McLeod, Holly Meade, Cathy Melio, Jonathan Mess, Metaphor Bronze, The Montville Project, Hanako Nakazato, Nire Art, Novel Jazz, Petrea Noyes, Toki Oshima, Leila Ostby, Dina Petrillo, Ben Potter, Rebekah Raye, Abbie Read, Wesley Reddick, Willy Reddick, R. Keith Rendall, Judy Rock, Betty Schopmeyer, Erin Seegers, Lesia Sochor, Karin Spitfire, Prairie Stuart-Wolff, Sarah Szwajkos, Tandem Glass, Ieva Tatarsky, Mary Trotochaud, Troy Howard Middle School Garden Project, Nance Trueworthy, Larry Unger, Walter Ungerer, Simon van der Ven, Glen Veevaert, John Vincent, Ellen Wieske, J. Fred Woell, Seth and Tyler Yentes.

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Pat Plourde
Prairie Stuart-Wolff
October 4-October 30, 2011
Opening Reception Friday October 7, 5-8pm

In an attempt to find a balance of the earthly and the ethereal, Åarhus Gallery is pleased to have two guest artists for the month of October, sculptor Pat Plourde and photographer Prairie Stuart-Wolff. The show runs from October 4th through the 30th, 2011. Please join us for an opening reception Friday October 7th, 5-8pm.

Pat Plourde’s work should look familiar to you. If not…. maybe you should get out more. But chances are you’ve seen it or even sat on it and not known it. He has specialized in studio furniture, sculpture, railings, lighting, and custom residential and commercial furniture in steel and vintage wood for over 25 years, and has designed and built fixtures for nationally known retailers such as L.L.Bean, Timberland, and Whole Foods Markets as well as for several fine restaurants in Portland and the surrounding area. His work has also appeared in Architectural Digest, Log Home Designs, Fine Homebuilding, and Maine Home and Design. He lives and works in New Gloucester, Maine.

Prairie Stuart-Wolff’s work may be another matter… and there’s a good reason you may have not chanced upon her photographs, unless you live somewhat west of here. Prairie admits, “To date, I have primarily exhibited my work in Japan, both in art gallery settings and in design showrooms.” Prairie’s images are graceful, fragile, airy, ethereal, “Though I am dedicated to the photographic traditions of film capture and silver gelatin or platinum/palladium printing for my work, I’ve also embraced digital innovations and find that the two processes are best treated as collaborators, not competitors… I probe for clues about the intangible designs behind the tangible world. But I never seek answers. It’s the wondering that keeps me interested.” Prairie attended the Salt Institute in Portland and the Maine Media Workshops in Rockport. She divides her time between Union, Maine and Japan.

Along with these two fine guest artists, the work of Aarhusians; Kevin Johnson, Mark Kelly, Richard Mann, Abbie Read, Wesley Reddick and Willy Reddick will also be on view.

patplourds.com
prairiesturtwolff.com

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August 30-Oct 2, 2011
Opening Reception Friday September 2, 5-8pm

Åarhus Gallery is pleased to have one of their own, Mark Kelly, as their guest artist for the month of September. For years now, Mark has been inspiring, amusing and wowing viewers with his unique sensibilities and at times pointed, maybe ominous observations on the human condition. The partners at Åarhus figured that it was high time they had a partner as a featured artist and it seemed natural for Mark to be the first. This show runs from August 30th through October 2nd, 2011and the public is invited to an opening reception Friday September 2nd, 5-8pm.

He will be showing two separate bodies of work. First, a series of gunpowder drawings, which are made by setting up the gunpowder, like sand-drawings, and lighting them on fire. “What I am trying to do is control these tiny explosions – which is (I realized after starting them) a perfect metaphor for human existence; trying to control the chaos of life after the penultimate explosion…”

The second body of work is a series of fireworks drawings, in which he says he is “…simply experimenting. Laying the works on paper and capturing the results of the explosions. With these I am relinquishing the control I strive for in the other works – allowing the chaos to happen, without my imposition.”

The issue Mark finds himself dealing with in this work is the balance in life between trying to find peace by controlling (to some degree) the chaos, and finding peace by knowing when to let the chaos happen, and appreciating what is there.

Born in Amityville, New York, Mark moved to Boston in 1990, and earned his BFA from the Massachusetts College of Art in 1997. Besides showing regularly as a partner at Åarhus gallery, Mark’s exhibitions include: The 18th Annual Drawing Show at the Boston Center for the Arts/Mills Gallery; The Lincoln Street Center for the Arts 2005 Invitational, Rockland; The Out of Bounds Altered Book Show, Rockport; First Traces, Center for Maine Contemporary Art, Rockport, ME and The Crossing of Time and Environment: Micro Installation, Tainan County, Taiwan. He lives in Belfast with his wife Michelle and their three daughters.

Showing with Mark will be Åarhusians; Annadeene Fowler, Kevin Johnson, Richard Mann, Abbie Read, Wesley Reddick and Willy Reddick.

Belfast artist experiments with fire
In the Bangor Daily News by Aislinn Sarnacki

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