The Mid-Coast Salon, a monthly discussion group of about two dozen artists with diverse disciplines and styles present: Art Matters , an exhibit at the UMVA Gallery at 516 Congress Street, Portland, Maine for July 2021. For more than 30,000 years, humankind has used visual imagery to narrate, to translate, and give clear interpretation to the worlds within and around us, with artists often at the forefront of awareness. This exhibit represents what the artists of the Salon interpret to mean as Art Matters . The show will open with the Portland-area First Friday ArtWalk on July 2, 2021 from 5pm to 8pm. Salon members will sit at the gallery thereafter on Fridays and Saturdays from 1-4pm. Guests may also visit when the Portland Media Center is open. Click here for more info on our website . African Zebras by Russell Kahn

Empty Spaces: A New Normal The Union of Maine Visual Artists with the Portland Media Center and I are pleased to host the upcoming exhibition: “Empty Spaces: A New Normal”, with fifteen photographic artworks by myself, Natalie E. Brown, and a collaborative multimedia work section by selected members of the Portland Community. This includes the work of Jasper Gaffney, Josh Heriot, Sam Murphy, and Libby Scutt. This collection addresses the impact of the pandemic on both tourism and everyday life in the world; to illustrate the eerie silence all around us; but, also the beauty of that stillness and an overtake of nature in an otherwise turbulent time. The collection will go live at UMVA Gallery@PMC on March 1st and will be on display through the 27th, 2021. The collection can be visited in person with pre existing appointments and for the duration of the month online from the Portland Media Center , The Union of Maine Visual Artists , and my own website. Call ahead to book in person vi

 As we transition the blog from one (personal) account to another (specific for UMVA), the September show is on the website...  This from Exhibit Organizer Mark Barnette: The September UMVA Gallery show is online now at https://umvagallery.wixsite. com/exhibits     Missing Maine Landscapes features stellar work by 17 UMVA member artists in response to places or things that have been removed, obscured, replaced, or that disappear (and sometimes re-appear) in the landscape which Maine artists inhabit.  The photo above is by the remarkable Dave Wade and entitled: Portland's Fading Past. If you'd like to to grace your home or office, this 2011  16 x 20" pigment print will set  you back only $360! Shoot us an email here at the blog and we will send you Dave's email so you can work out the details.  And for that matter, any of the work in the exhibit is for sale, so if you see a piece you want to add to your collection, contact us here and we will put you in touch with t

UMVA members were representing at the big conference hosted by Creative Portland last week.  Intrepid photographer and valued member Dave Wade was there shooting for Creative Portland and also for UMVA!  Here are the shots....thanks Dave Christine Sullivan Lesley MacVane, Tom Handel (both from Portland Media Center) with Mayor Ethan Strimmling John Ripton Lesley MacVane Titi deBaccarat and John Ripton Christine Sullivan and Ann Tracy