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Myth & Magic Coming to Oak St Lofts Gallery in Portland

 


Magic, Myth, Machine & Matter is the title of the September 6 – 29, 2024 UMVA (Union of Maine Visual Artists) exhibition at the Oak Street Lofts Gallery, 72 Oak St., Portland, Maine featuring UMVA members Eva Rose Goetz, Gregg Harper, William Hessian and Abbeth Russell.  An opening artists’ reception is First Friday, September 6 from 5 to 8 pm.  This event is free and open to the public.  Gallery hours are Saturday and Sundays from 1 to 4 pm until September 29th. 

 

The exhibition themes are inspired by the main “epochs” in the development of human thinking on the nature of the cosmos, presented so beautifully by the late UMass-Amherst astrophysicist Edward Harrison in his book “Masks of the Universe” (2003/2015). The four artists will exhibit four artworks each with their own “riff” on each of the four themes of magic, myth, machine and matter – 16 artworks in all.  Oak Street Lofts is an Avesta property originally built to provide live/work space for older artists and has designed a beautiful lobby gallery space. 

 

UMVA, founded in 1975, is a non-profit organization that promotes and advocates for the visual arts, artists, and all arts supporters.  It is a statewide arts network connecting Maine artists.  As artist advocates, the UMVA initiated and saw enacted into state law the Maine Percent for Art Program (requiring a percentage of funds for state buildings to include art) and the Artist's Estate Tax Law (allowing art work to be used to pay artists estate taxes).  Other programs and projects supported by UMVA include: The Maine Arts Journal, an online, quarterly publication The Journal features essays by and about artists, interviews, UMVA member submissions, poetry, UMVA updates about its current projects, local chapters, and more; ARRT! Artists' Rapid Response Team, a collaboration of artists & progressive groups making art to create positive change; Lumen ARRT!!, a group creating large-scale video projections in public spaces to give a visual voice to progressive non-profits; and the New England Emmy Award-nominated Maine Masters Project, a video series of 19 compelling profiles of some of Maine’s most distinguished and often less recognized artists. There are currently two chapters: Portland and Midcoast. More information is at www.TheUMVA.org.

 

 

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