(Image: "Cow Parsnip" by Lois Dodd; Courtesy of Alexandre Gallery, New York)

(Augusta, ME) Two art exhibitions will go on display in Maine’s Capitol complex this week as part of the Maine Arts Commission’s Arts in the Capitol program.

One exhibit features a significant painting by renowned artist Lois Dodd that has been generously loaned by the Colby College Museum of Art. The artwork by the long-time summer resident of Cushing, Maine, will be on view in the Capitol’s Appropriations Room through the end of the year.

The more extensive exhibit, titled "Creative Research", features work by art professors from the University of Maine in Orono. This show is now on display throughout Maine’s Capitol complex, where it will remain until February 28th.

(Image: "Pink Field" by Ed Nadeau)

“The pieces of art that form this exhibition are experiments by individuals who are dedicated to expanding the imagination of, not only our future artists, but also our future architects, designers, civil engineers, entrepreneurs, museum directors, scientists, and maybe even, politicians,” said Alison Ferris, the assistant director of the Maine Arts Commission.

Artists featured in the exhibition include Michael Lewis, Susan Groce, James Linehan, Laurie E. Hicks, Owen F. Smith, Michael Grillo, Andy Mauery, Nina Jerome, Ed Nadeau, Kerstin Engman, and Alan Stubbs.

This exhibition was curated by Laurie E. Hicks, PhD, Professor of Art and Curator of the Lord Hall Galleries at the University of Maine.

“In thinking about our work as a form of creative research, we are motivated in similar ways yet, we all come at it from very different perspectives,” said Hicks. “We create within different conceptual frameworks, use distinct forms of visual language to articulate our concerns, insights and inquiry, and work in different media.

“As a result, this exhibition shows a diverse landscape of thought and imagery that communicates in some way our experience of the visual world and our engagement within it. As the curator, I was trying to provide some degree of insight into the complexity of our creative research and our commitment to the process of visual inquiry.”

(Image: "Train Couple" by Michael Grillo)

Owen Smith, Maine Arts Commission vice chair and one of the artists featured in the exhibit, is thrilled to see his work in Maine’s Capitol. “As we move into the 21st century the arts will have an ever increasing role for the state and the nation in meeting the challenges ahead of us,” said Smith. “It is through the arts and arts education that we train the creative thinkers and visionaries of this new century and it is they who will create the new Maine, a Maine that will not only honor our state's traditions but will grow and flourish in the opportunities and challenges of the coming decades."

All of the Arts in the Capitol events are free and open to the public; however exhibitions are self-guided and may only be viewed within prescribed times indicated below:

Maine Arts Commission Office from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm, Monday through Friday

Maine Statehouse from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm, Monday through Friday

Blaine House from 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays (please call ahead at 207-287-2121).

For more information on this and all programs available through the Maine Arts Commission, please visit MaineArts.com.

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