The Monotype Guild of New England (MGNE) is proud to announce the opening of PRESSTO ! , an invitational exhibit of Maine members of MGNE and the Union of Maine Visual Artists (UMVA) on September 1st  at the UMVA Portland Gallery, 516 Congress St., inside the Portland Media Center.   An artists’ reception is planned for First Friday, September 2nd  from 5 to 8 pm.  The exhibit continues each day the Portland Media Center is open (generally 10 am to 5 pm) along with Friday evenings from 4- 8, plus Saturdays and Sundays from 1-4 pm until September 30th.  All work is for sale and can be purchased by contacting the individual artists.  The work exhibited are all one-of-a-kind unique prints in a variety of media.   The impetus for this exhibit arose when Covid-19 closures cancelled live shows and other education activities sponsored by the Monotype Guild of New England. As a small part of a newly organized and robust virtual presence beginning in spring 2020, MGNE institute

The Union of Maine Visual Artists is presenting its semi-annual Members Exhibit opening at the gallery, this June 1, 2022.  It is an Open Theme exhibit that showcases current Members’ talents and expressions through photography, mixed-media, collage, sculpture and painting.  This exhibit presents such artists as - Diane Dahlke, Gail Wartell and Amy Bellezza. Diane Dahlke presents us with her contemporary piece  Dress Up , an oil on panel and asks the question “As I worked on this painting, I thought about who might have worn the dress.” Gail Wartell shows us that in her acrylic piece  Sand Beach, MDI , her view is at once representational, impressionist, and expressionist, always seeking to capture the freshness, light, and magic of coastal Maine. And, Amy Bellezza exhibits her photograph titled,  Untitled , that dwells on the artist movement that revolved around the Veil of Isis as an allegorical representation of the philosophy of revealing nature’s secrets that led to the Romantic M

Experiments in Watercolor: Diversity in Luminosity Seven Maine artists will exhibit the diversity of watercolor painting at the Union of Maine Visual Artists Portland Chapter Gallery in the Portland Media Center, 516 Congress St, from the First Friday Art Walk, May 6 to Saturday, May 28, 2022. The First Friday Opening hours are from 5:00-8:00pm. Exhibit organizer Greg Mason Burns, and artists Alan Crichton, Rabee Kiwan, Ed Nadeau, Arthur Nichols, Liz Prescott, Jack Silverio investigate the many luminous qualities of the watercolor medium. The artists will be at the First Friday, May 6 opening and invite the public to visit, look, and talk. The exhibit showcases seven different methods of creating watercolor works, from the realist to the abstract or imaginative, from small to large, from the conceptual to the concrete, and from thickly painted to thin, transparent washes. Each artist brings a unique approach to watercolors, and the goal of the exhibit is to showcase this luminous

The Union of Maine Visual Artists is pleased to host the upcoming exhibition: “Unmonetized”, at its Portland Chapter Gallery in the Portland Media Center, 516 Congress Street, Portland Maine, April 1-29, 2022. The exhibition features installations, new artwork, and video by artists Ruthanne Harrison, Kristen Lanzer, Dave Pettingill, and Barbra Whitten. The gallery artists are present each Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 1pm – 4pm during April, (with the exception of April 17). The opening reception is Friday, April 1 from 5-8pm during the Portland First Friday Art Walk. The exhibition is free to the public and the Portland Media Center facility and gallery is ADA accessible.  Artworks in UMVA exhibitions are generally for sale through the artist(s) and a portion of each sale benefits the UMVA.

  Reflections: A Solo Art Show of work by Brooke Lambert runs from March 2, 2022 - March 30, 2022 at Union of Maine Visual Artists Gallery at 516 Congress St, Portland, ME 04101. Join us for an opening reception during Portland's First Friday, March 4th from 5-8 PM. Open Hours: Monday - Thursday: 10 AM - 5 PM, First Friday: 5-8 PM, Other Fridays, Saturday, & Sunday: 1 PM - 4 PM. Reflections is a solo show of abstract original prints and paintings inspired by the coast of Maine by artist Brooke Lambert. Lambert uses materials to create patterns and tangles that represent areas in tidepools or on the ocean floor, symbolizing the darker times we all must get through. She then paints the prints with luminous colors that pour through the cracks and crevices, shining a light that represents hope. Brooke's work can be seen:   www.brookelambertartist.com

  Portland, ME - Like most other things in 2021, the auction of Mail Art Cards, received by the Union of Maine Visual Artists (UMVA) Portland Gallery inside the Portland Media Center, 516 Congress St. in Portland, was delayed in both December and January, because of Covid issues.   But beginning on Thursday, February 17, 2022 at 12:00 PM and continuing to Tuesday, February 22, 2022 12:00 PM (EST) UMVA will be offering an on-line auction of the cards from not only Maine artists but from artists in other states and countries.   The URL for the auction is https://www.charityauctionstoday.com/auctions/UMVA--Mail-Art-Fundraiser-2022-29180 .   Money raised will go towards keeping the gallery open through 2022.     Since one of the founders of the Union of Maine Visual Artists was also a renowned Mail Artist - Carlo Pittore   ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlo_Pittore ), it was decided to go with a mail art show when the January 2021 show couldn't go forward at the last moment.  

  The Union of Maine Visual Artists is pleased to host the upcoming group exhibition Polychroma at its Portland Chapter Gallery in the Portland Media Center, 516 Congress Street, Portland Maine, February 4 – 27, 2022. Polychroma features works from Becky Jane Rosen’s recent experimental quilting project, Matrilineal, alongside a new collaborative video installation by Dani Robbins, Zachary Taibi, and Poorva Singh, NEST. “Matrilineal”  Becky Jane Rosen Works from Becky Jane Rosen’s Matrilineal will be on display Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays February 4 – 27. Her work comprises colorful quilted artworks with messages of financial empowerment and personal finance concepts in paint and embroidery, stemming from lessons about money the artist learned from her mother. The works draw on themes of comfort, physical and financial security, and financial literacy. Rosen hopes to use the gentle familiarity of the tradition of quilting to ignite