Art Exhibition Sept. 24, 2004 – Jan. 8, 2005
Contact: Kathryn Jovanelli at (207) 561-3360
BANGOR– The University of Maine Museum of Art is pleased to present the work of two artists this fall at Norumbega Hall in downtown Bangor. Both artists exhibited on the coast earlier this summer, giving those who missed either show an opportunity to see the most recent work by these important Maine-inspired artists.
John Walker
A Winter in Maine
New landscapes from abstract painter John Walker will be presented at the University of Maine Museum of Art from September 24 through January 8. This exhibition, curated by Bruce Brown and Wally Mason, is selected from paintings created by the artist during his first full winter on the Maine coast. Brown interviewed Walker in preparation for the catalog that accompanies the show. During this interview, Walker commented on the influence of the winter on his work, “I suppose what happened was what I expected. I knew it was going to be cold. I knew it was going to be lonely. It was all terribly exciting.” He explained further, “First of all, I endeavor to paint what I’m looking at. And, of course, that’s changing, so my thoughts are changing. You know, the painting is not of me. It’s about me standing there. For the painting to be any good it has to be about everything I’m involved in that day and at that time. A painting is not a passive object.”
Walker’s paintings truly involve everything from the world around him, recording not only the feel of the landscape as it changes with the seasons, but the actual land itself. This is most obvious in his use of mud collected from the flats of Johns Bay. In a recent interview with journalist Bob Keyes, Walker explained the caked on mud in his paintings, “I didn’t want impressions. I’m not an impressionist. I’m a realist. The inspiration is trying to get some realism there. Having tried and tried, it seemed obvious to get a bucket of it and mix it in with the paint, to get the feel for how the tide comes in and out and the patterns that are caused by that constant changing tide on that particular cove where I work.”
Walker has painted the Maine landscape for over thirty summers, but it was not until a sabbatical from Boston University, where he is a professor in the School of Visual Arts, that he could explore the changing coastal landscape throughout a Maine winter. The paintings were introduced at the Center for Maine Contemporary Art in Rockport this summer. The University of Maine Museum of Art will be the exhibit’s last stop in Maine before traveling to Nielsen Gallery in Boston.
Rose Marasco
Domestic Objects: Past and Presence
The University of Maine Museum of Art in Bangor will be exhibiting photographs by Maine artist Rose Marasco, September 24 through January 8. This exhibition brings together ten years of Marasco’s large-format color photographs in which she chronicles the actual and symbolic significance of everyday household objects. The images range from common, utilitarian items to personal, hand-crafted items: from clothespins in a variety of shapes and sizes and rolling pins that echo the curves of landscapes to buttons stitched in patterns, quilt blocks pieced together with newspaper backings, and diaries.
Rose Marasco is an Associate Professor of Art at the University of Southern Maine. This exhibition, sponsored by the Office of the Provost and the Fannie E. Gray Educulture Fund, will travel to the University of Maine at Farmington before concluding its tour of select cultural institutions throughout Maine.
Museum of Art
Hours: Tuesday – Saturday 9 am – 5 pm. Sunday 11 am – 5 pm.
Admission: $3.00 per person. No charge for Museum Members and UM students with Maine Card.
Directions
From the North
I-95, Exit 185 (formerly 48) – Broadway, (Bangor, Brewer)
Turn left at light onto Broadway, Rt. 15
At the 4th light (1.2 m), turn right onto State St., Rt. 2
At the light at the bottom of the hill (.1 m), turn right on to Harlow St. (a one-way street)
Merge into left lane, turn left into parking lot of Norumbega Hall.
From the South
I-95, Exit 185 (formerly 48) – Broadway, (Bangor, Brewer)
Turn left at light on to Broadway, Rt. 15
At the 3rd light (1.1 mi), turn right onto State St., Rt. 2
At the light at the bottom of the hill (.1 mi), turn right onto Harlow St. (a one-way street)
Merge into left lane, turn left into parking lot of Norumbega Hall.