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

We've been zooming and zooming trying to figure out when/how to open again.  There won't be any artist receptions this year, but we might be able to get the gallery open for some shows that had been switched around.  Please remember that this is a flexible approach which means if Covid rates go up here in Portland, this will most likely change. But we are working toward the future, even though it's foggy.  And in that vein, the Members On-Line show (happening here on the blog) has a deadline swiftly approaching - June 10 - Friday! UMVA Portland calls on UMVA members across the state to contribute work to our curated online exhibition “Sheltered In Place: UMVA Artists and the Pandemic.” Extended Deadline : July 10, 2020 – Submit One Image Only Label your single image (in the name line at the top of the image) in this format: FirstName_LastName_Title (no spaces in title and include all the underscores as shown here).   Sizing: A single jpg image approximately 2800