Skip to main content

Visible Discourse


Visible Discourse from Maine's Western Foothills: Arcadipone, Best, Millonzi and Schneider
UMVA GALLERY AT PORTLAND MEDIA CENTER
Visible Discourse from Maine’s Western Foothills Artists Diana Arcadipone, Don Best, Nikki Millonzi and Judith Schneider Opens First Friday, September 6th, 5-8pm...open Fri, Sat and Sun, 1-4 pm through 9/28.
 Visible Discourse is an exhibition that celebrates Maine’s natural and diverse environment; the wildlife, woodlands, lakes and ocean that draw visitors to Maine from around the globe. This exhibition is a collaborative installation by four artists living in Oxford County: Diana Arcadipone, Don Best, Nikki Millonzi and Judith Schneider. Four distinct voices visually explore their surroundings and collectively celebrate the beauty of Maine. These artists share works inspired by the magic and collective energies of the Oxford Hills, an area with a rich visual and performing arts culture. One well known artist claims the local art springs from “something in the water.” The juxtaposition of this work celebrates the beauty of Maine and offers a poetic contrast and respite from the historic vitality of urban Portland. Through this presentation of work, the artists hope to advocate for the need to preserve the natural beauty that exists throughout Maine as well as help the viewer perceive new ways to “make sense of things”. Diana Arcadipone creates artworks on and of paper. Her passion for making art with natural materials and mixed media emerged from an early devotion to traditional craft techniques such as papermaking, book arts, basketry, and textiles. Trained as a painter and printmaker, Arcadipone's work is informed by primitive art, folk art, traveling, and the natural world; it is the intersection of these influences that defines her work. Don Best works mainly in wood. He carves, paints, assembles, burns, and hand colors his work, which often uses animals as its subject and theme. Much of Best’s recent work has been reliefs, which give him the opportunity to use his drawing, painting, and sculpture skills to create engaging narratives. Shadow boxes become stages for his carved animals. Best’s work has a playful quality that makes it accessible to people of all ages. For Nikki Millonzi, nature, the arts and the world around her all help her to make sense of things. She loves and cherishes the natural world so political activism is important to her. This year Nikki felt an increasing need to express the interconnectedness of life on this planet. Using newspaper and ink, her installation We Are All In This Together helps us resonate with this underlying unity. Judy Schneider investigates place and memory through the physical properties of landscape. By collecting and analyzing nature - dissecting it by color, form and line and then reassembling it, she finds meaning. Scale, density and layering are important. How the images find their natural edge and how memories form present a nice duality. She is in pursuit of what is physically present, woven with memory, dreams and how the energy of “place” is conveyed. For more information, contact Judy Schneider, curator, at judywestschneider@gmail.com Image: Diana Arcadipone
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Several Midcoast Chapter calls for Art

Although the following call is for an exhibit Jan 2025, the deadline to submit work is June 15, 2024. Waterfall Arts, Belfast, January 17 - February 28, 2025 A collaborative exhibition honoring the beautiful dark, night skies of Maine.  With its focus on the night sky itself, (the stars, the moon, celestial phenomena, etc.), as well as depictions of all the wildlife that benefit from dark skies (such as pollinators, night frogs, birds, etc) and the artistic interpretation of “dark skies as a metaphor- -we envision a dynamic show of paintings, photographs and other artworks that celebrates and encourages the appreciation of the night sky. JURORS: Nancy Hathaway, (President/Co-founder of Dark Sky Maine); Liv Kristin Robinson (photographer); Emily Sabino (painter) & Arlene Jurewicz Leighton (photographer). SUBMISSION DEADLINE: June 15th, 2024 Submission Contents: (Please read carefully and follow instructions) • Provide us with the following info in an MS Word Doc: • Your name and con
Post a Comment
Read more

Maine’s Coastal Islands Engage Midcoast UMVA Artists

  The Union of Maine Visual Artists (UMVA) - Midcoast Chapter, in partnership with the Friends of the Maine Coastal Islands National Wildlife Refuge in Rockland, presents “REFUGE”, a dynamic exhibition of artwork inspired by the unique beauty found in and around Maine’s coastal islands .  The exhibit opens with an artists’ reception on September 27th from 5 to 7 pm at the gallery at the Visitor’s Center, 9 Water St., Rockland, ME.  The gallery is open during the Visitor Center’s open hours from 8:30 AM - 4:30 PM, Monday through Friday.  The exhibit continues to Dec 13, 2024.    "Pemiquid Parkbellhouse" by  Bernadette de Cesare   Contemporary realist painter Jane Dahmen juried this exhibit which features both representational and abstract works. Dahmen, whose landscapes explore the coastal regions of midcoast Maine, has shown in solo and group shows both within the U.S. and abroad. She is represented by The Portland Art Gallery.  Viewers can explore moments of quiet connec
Post a Comment
Read more

Take a Closer Look at Mainely Gallery and UMVA Midcoast in August

Alternative Vision is the name of the exhibit featuring both artists from UMVA Midcoast as well as the regular artists who show at Mainely Gallery, 181 Searsport Ave., Belfast, beginning August 2nd and continuing through August 21st. An opening reception is planned for Friday, August 2 at 5:00 p.m. This marks the first time that the Midcoast chapter of the UMVA has collaborated with a commercial gallery. Gail Wartell Keeping Our Heads Above Water The exhibit features the work of local artists exploring the theme of alternative vision. This broad theme applies to a different way of looking at things and interpreting them, including different technology, or perspective of other creatures, including a dog and a fly. It includes new digital work, as well. UMVA artists include: Bernadette deCesare, Deb Bergman, Janelle Delicata, Gail Wartell, Sue Garrett, Arlene Leighton, and Pamela Faber.   The UMVA, founded in 1975, is a non-profit organization that promotes and advocates for the visu
Post a Comment
Read more