The Gallery is Open!
Energy in flux
October 4 - December 7, 2024
ARTIST TALKS:
Friday, November 22, 5-8pm bernie meyers, caroline savage, john woodruff, luc demers
TODD WATTS
SUSAN NEWBOLD
SARAH HOOD SALOMON
LUC DEMERS
JIM NICKELSON
CAROLINE SAVAGE
ELIZABETH GREENBERG
JOHN WOODRUFF
CLAIRE SEIDL
BRENTON HAMILTON
PAUL RIDER
BERNIE MEYERS
& GUEST PRESENTERS:
MEG WESTON, GARY GREEN AND KEVIN LEDUC
Todd Watts, Second Law, 1/5, 2024, Inkjet print, 66 x 46 inches, $12,000 (print available for $4000)
American Bedroom by Barbara Peacock
An exhibition and a new book.
DECEMBER 13 - JANUARY 31
OPENING RECEPTION: FRIDAY, DECEMBER 13, 5-8 PM
MMPA is happy to include The Baxter Society as part of this exhibition’s celebration + Book signing.
Artist Talks and Book Signing: Friday, January 10, 5-8pm
Barbara Peacock will be reading from American Bedroom.
Henri Pierre Corbacho will be reading from his first novel, Of Many Lands.
Reid Byers will be reading from his two books, The Private Library and Imaginary Books.
Barbara Peacock, Sven and Nicole, From the American Bedroom portfolio, 1/25, 2018, Inkjet print, 60 x 40 inches, $1,800.
‘We are tattered and distressed, emotionally wiped, just lost a baby, and repairing our relationship. We were made for each other from across the oceans, we found each other ‘ - Sven and Nicole
VOLUNTEER POSITIONS AVAILABLE
Office assistant needed with MAC/ Adobe suite skills.
Email us at contact.mmpa@gmail.com with VOLUNTEER in the subject line.
Damir Porobic, Untitled (Casco Flag from Memory) 1/10, 2014, Pigment print, 28 x 37inches, $1150
Born in the city of Mostar in Former Yugoslavia (presently Bosnia and Herzegovina), Porobic moved to the United States at the age of seventeen, and upon graduating High School received a Bachelors of Fine Arts from Kansas City Art Institute in Kansas City, MO, and a Masters of Fine Arts from West Virginia University in Morgantown, WV, where he majored in traditional and contemporary printmaking practice, and the alternative new media approaches to fine art making.
Damir Porobic is a master print maker and teaches at USM. He's a photographer too, but his meditation on the printing process and how the form supports the content of the work is what's so fascinating. The image we're sharing in was made in 2014 and he said recently, "I'm not in a hurry to part with this." He’s thinking decades and history. Time, memory, meditation, WORK (chop wood- carry water) , a haunting, and suffering are what's at stake here. This work represents an ongoing body of work that conveys his life experiences as a Bosnian American. It's what he's coming to terms with and what defines his identity. (His boat's name is Fugee which means refugee in his native language.) This image takes two weeks to print- by hand, constantly printing. He’s using an inkjet print as though it’s off set. It's a registry of a few dots from an inkjet printer laid over and over and over until the registration makes an image that is almost a ghost of the original form. It looks a bit like a pointillist painting in the end but softer with evidence of the labor it took to get there. The process is repeated again and again. It reminds me of another printmaker friend, Greg Shattenberg who has been tap dancing for 30 years on the side (of printmaking). We talk about registry or the sound that his shoes make- the repetition, the pace and beat of the dance. We're really talking about timpani and exertion. Damir Porobic might also be a percussionist whose newly digital sounds comes from the past. His work is precise and random at the same time and somehow the complexity of the process gets at the essence of the subject- is it the democracy that the globe wants? Can we offer it?
Print Offerings/ Fundraising to benefit MMPA
These pieces were donated by the artists who made them and 100% of the purchase goes toward our operating expenses. Thank you to Artists Barbara Peacock and Christine Higgins for their generosity.
Barbara Peacock, Bubble Gum & Cigarettes, from Hometown book, 1/25, ink jet print, 22 x 17 inches. $750.
Hometown is not only about Westford, the town where she grew up and which she called home for over thirty years, but it is also about where she took up photography and took her images. In this book, divided into two sections, she takes us along the path of her life. We start this soulful journey with the early square images that have the subdued color palette of the ’80s medium format film. Although she keeps her distance, it’s clear that she belongs. The images are imbued with poetry. They are delicate, and they show, with a certain nostalgia, an era gone by, a way of life of a small community with all its rituals and celebrations.
Barbara Peacock is an American photographer, living in Portland, Maine. She has published the books Hometown (2016) and American Bedroom (2023)Peacock grew up in Westford, Massachusetts. She studied fine arts at Boston University College of Fine Arts, and photography and filmmaking at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts, also in Boston. Hometown is a 33-year project that documents the small-town people and events of Westford.
Christine Higgins, Falling, 3/6, 2023, Oil ink on Hahnemuhle, 26.75 x 20 inches. $500
Color, pattern, light, and movement are found in my work. I am drawn to contrast and juxtaposition – the presence of fragility and strength. Water wearing down the hardness of rock, moss clinging to untenable surfaces, the abandoned and forgotten, growth despite adversity. Present are layered elements of time in what has come before, vestigial traces of history portraying past evidence in the present. I look to the sublime in the sometimes over-looked ordinary. CH
Christine Johnson Higgins works in her woodland studio in Readfield Maine. She earned her B.A. in art from Marietta College, Ohio, and M.Ed. in Integrated Arts from Lesley University, Cambridge, Mass. Her work has been exhibited throughout the Northeast, Ohio, Ecuador and Finland, and she has been featured in various publications. Seasonally, she explores pulp painting and other fiber techniques during the summer, while taking photographs and translating them into photogravure prints year round.
Print Night
We are very excited to announce our latest outreach project, Print Night. MMPA will pull portfolios and prints (of all sorts and varieties) from the flat files. Masters of photographic prints, conservators, historians, preparators and artists will speak around the topic of editions, materials, conservation, handling, storage and what is new in the print making world. From darkrooms to A.I. you’ll learn all the processes and the various techniques of what’s involved to make, store, frame, gift and steward superior prints. This is an incredible opportunity to learn about and view phenomenally well crafted photographic works on paper, acquire photographic works, and meet the artist maker. If you are a collector, artist, student or generally interested in learning, this night is for you.
Please note: Print Night will become an addition to our monthly Art Talks and Events. Sign up to receive invites and details HERE.
Todd Watts, A Shadow Too Many - Different Kinds of Air #3, Edition of 10, 2008, Inkjet print, 23 x 19 inches, $1,900.
PRINT NIGHT WAS MADE POSSIBLE BY TWO GENEROUS GRANTS FROM THE ONION FOUNDATION AND THE MORTON KELLY CHARITABLE TRUST.
The Maine Museum of Photographic Arts presents a New book in 2023:
Barbara Morris Goodbody, A Life in the Arts
This book sells for a $100. donation to the Maine Museum of Photographic Arts.
sold out
Barbara Morris Goodbody has worn many hats in her lifetime; Artist, Collector, Philanthropist. She is also a visionary, a collaborator and a connector. The goal of this book is to commemorate and illustrate some of her contributions, sharea variety of her artistic efforts, and express the gratitude of individuals and organizations she’s worked with along the way. Barbara has played key roles in shaping the arts in Maine. MMPA wishes to honor and recognize the impact of her legacy, and the contributions she has made to the culture of our state. Barbara is mercurial, intuitive, and operates from the heart in all matters. As an artist you will see her photographs progress from documentary images taken on world travels, to deeply symbolic abstraction or philosophical works that speak about the interconnectedness of mankind. Often one of her interests feeds another. For instance, her evolution and experimentation as an artist influenced her collecting and philanthropic work. Her humanitarian efforts often take the form of involvement. Throughout her life, upon seeing a need in the community, she took the initiative to launch a solution out of thin air. Barbara surrounds herself with the best possible candidates, mentors, artists, and collaborators. She isn’t afraid to give of her time, get entangled or bring about change for the greater good. As a collector, all art is equal in her eyes; folk and native art IS high art. Her collections reflect her interest in humanity and include works from Mexico, India, South America, Cuba, Haiti, Australia, Bahamas, Jamaica, France, Africa, England, Japan, Germany and China as well as North America. Her artistic interests lie in Fiber arts, indigenous arts, Photography, Book arts and portfolios, Sculpture, Paintings and Works on paper. At its peak Barbara’s collections have had over 3000 objects.
Since the inception of MMPA, Barbara has always been a big part of our organization. As the director, it is fitting that I would have a hand in creating this book. She wasan early advisory board member and a passionate supporter from the beginning. Barbara helped us launch the Maine Museum of Photographic arts in 2010, has exhibited her personal work and, her photography collections, collaborated on two earlier books, and most recently, she spearheaded the beginning of our new space in Portland on 15 Middle Street, in the spring of 2022. We are so grateful to Barbara for championing our museum with her guidance and friendship and for supporting the many arts and educational institutions in this state. –Denise Froehlich, Dir. of MMPA
