On Friday, February 26th at 7:30 pm.

(Belfast, ME) The band known as Agharta Jazz returns to the Åarhus Gallery for its one year anniversary show, and celebrates with a name change. Luna Madidus is the new moniker for the ensemble comprised of Kristen Burkholder (voice), Mike Whitehead (trumpet, flugelhorn), Tom Luther (piano), Doug Kennedy (bass, French horn), and Jeff Densmore (drums). "Åarhus is a wonderful space that we love to play in. It has a great vibe and a really warm sound," says the band's pianist and composer, Tom Luther.

Luna Madidus will be bringing their spirited, unique, and vibrant original modern jazz sound to the Åarhus Gallery on Friday, February 26 at 7:30 pm. A $10 suggested donation will be collected at the door with refreshments included.

Åarhus Gallery is located at 50 Main Street, Belfast. For more information visit www.aarhusgallery.com or call 338-0001.

(Image: Painting by Marc Leavitt)

(Belfast, ME) Betts Gallery at The Belfast Framer is pleased to announce the opening of Carnevale, a solo exhibition by Marc Leavitt featuring 25 artworks created in 2010. The show runs September 1st through the 25th with a opening reception on Friday, September 3rd from 5:00 to 8:00 pm. Inspired by cross-country travels in 2009 visiting museums in Boston, Philadelphia, Washington, DC, Houston, San Antonio, San Diego, and Los Angeles, Marc Leavitt broadened his ideas regarding meditative abstraction to pursue his concept of musicality through visual stimulation.

(Image: Painting by Marc Leavitt)

For Marc, music enjoys underlying counting systems; he attempts to "hear" his paintings by complicating colored lines--multiplying, crosshatching, twisting, and however else moving them forward, backward, upward, and downward to unify their composition.

(Image: Painting by Marc Leavitt)

Betts Gallery at The Belfast Framer is located at 96 Main Street in Belfast. Gallery hours are Monday to Friday, 10:00 am to 5:00 pm and Saturdays 10:00 am to 2:00 pm. For more information, please call 207-338-6465 or visit www.thebelfastframer.com.

>link to Marc Leavitt's website

The Show Runs September 1st Through the 25th.

There will be an opening reception on Friday, September 3rd from 5:00 to 8:00 pm.

(Belfast, ME) Betts Gallery at The Belfast Framer is pleased to announce the opening of Carnevale, a solo exhibition by Marc Leavitt featuring 25 artworks created in 2010. Inspired by cross-country travels in 2009 visiting museums in Boston, Philadelphia, Washington, DC, Houston, San Antonio, San Diego, and Los Angeles, Marc Leavitt broadened his ideas regarding meditative abstraction to pursue his concept of musicality through visual stimulation.

(Image: Painting by Marc Leavitt)

(Image: "Dreamscape" by Jon Kolkin)

(Rockland, ME) Due to the popular demand of Jon Kolkin's photography, Carver Hill Gallery in Rockland has added images from Jon's surreal Dreamscape Series to its show. These are “stacked” images, all made by the artist, that marry to create places that exist in Jon's dreams. Wildly imaginative and compelling, they create a sense of peace for the viewer.

Carver Hill will also be moving some of the Equilibrium Series to Rockland for the Labor Day First Friday. These are incredible time exposures where the artist “paints” with movement. The show will continue in Rockport, as well, along with some stunning new works in watercolor by Dianne Schelble. Photographer Lynn Karlin's Pedestal Series of "garden produce brought to a higher level" will also be on display in both locations and at the The Edge Restaurant in Lincolnville. There will be an opening reception for Lynn on Saturday, the 11th of September at The Edge.

(Image: "Blue" by Jon Kolkin)

As stated by Jon Kolkin: “It is my feeling that most people’s interpretation of their environment is based on their preconceived perception of reality. This understanding on one’s surroundings is built on previous experiences and the confines of our three dimensional world and five senses. But what if there are other dimensions and other senses? And what might be the benefit of changing ones’ point of view? My art is a vehicle to look below the surface, to see our world from a fresh perspective, perhaps even a fourth dimension. My work is intended to inspire others to recognize that each of us interprets our surroundings in our own unique way. It is my hope that this exercise can lead to more tolerance and understanding in our world.”

For more information, please visit the Carver Hill Gallery website.

(Image: Painting by Jill Caldwell)

CLEARING: A Solo Show Featuring Abstract Landscapes by Maine Artist Jill Caldwell will be on display until Monday, October 18th.

(Belfast, ME) One can hardly imagine a more vivid landscape than rural Maine in the fall. With its fiery reds, ochre yellows and crisp blue skies, Maine's autumns have inspired many an artist. Perhaps even more than the colors it is that particular clarity - the invisible clearing of air and mind that happens as the cacophony of summer recedes and winter announces itself in the distance - that calls to be captured on canvas.

(Image: Painting by Jill Caldwell)

Maine Farmland Trust Gallery's first fall show, “Clearing,” celebrates the art of Jill Caldwell, an artist from Rockland, whose abstract landscapes manage to capture the essence of a panorama. Openness, clear lines, richness of color and texture and a sense of transcendence beyond space and time are some qualities that characterize Caldwell's work.

Clearing opens on Friday, September 3rd, with a public reception from 5:00 to 8:00 pm at Maine Farmland Trust Gallery, located at 97 Main Street in Belfast.

In tandem with Belfast's Poetry Festival (www.belfastpoetry.com), Lincolnville poet Vincent Abaldo has written a number of poems in response to Caldwell's paintings, which will be exhibited as part of the art show.

(Image: "Zucchini Blossoms" by Lynn Karlin)

(Rockland & Lincolnville, ME) Carver Hill Gallery, Rockland, and The Edge Restaurant, Lincolnville, are pleased to announce a delectable showing of work by Photographer Lynn Karlin. An opening reception is scheduled at the gorgeous waterfront Edge restaurant on Saturday, the eleventh of September, from 4:00 to 6:00 pm.

Lynn has something beautiful to share with the world about gardens, and both Carver Hill and The Edge are huge fans. She has co-produced three books, the first of which, Maine Farm, A Year of Country Life, written by Stanley Joseph, recounted their experiences living on the farm they purchased from famed homesteaders and authors of The Good Life, Helen and Scott Nearing. Her next book, Gardens Maine Style, written by Rebecca Sawyer-Fay, became an instant best seller and award winner. In 2008 another book, Gardens Maine Style: Act II, also co-produced with Sawyer-Fay featured even more magnificent Maine gardens.

Originally from New York, Lynn graduated from Pratt Institute with the goal of becoming a fine art photographer. Realizing the time it takes to pursue this option as a career, and the amount of effort it takes to market oneself, Lynn decided to change gears and try commercial work. She put all of the creative energy she would have applied to her fine art work into personalizing a style for her clients, and was awarded with accolades for her projects. Lynn has had an impressive list of employers and clients over her four-decade career shooting fashion, interiors and gardens including WWD and W, as the first woman staff photographer, as well as Country Living, NY Times Magazine, NY Magazine, HG, Coastal Living, Garden Design and England’s Gardens Illustrated.

Lynn Karlin’s new body of work is purely personal – it is about the obvious but often overlooked beauty of the harvest. “Weekly visits to photograph at the Belfast farmers market and Chase’s Daily took a new direction when I brought an amazingly beautiful purple cauliflower back to my studio and placed it on an old white pedestal by an east-facing window. The joy I got from that photograph started me on a quest to continue with my concept: honoring vegetables by literary placing them on a higher level. Two years later, I have collected more than a dozen various pedestals and have expanded my search of subjects to fruit, edible plants and flowers.”

Lynn has succeeded wildly in showing her reverence for the remarkable colors and forms of the garden in this show, and “The Pedestal Series” has now brought her full circle - back to her roots. “I am now at a turning point where I am incorporating what I love best about my career and my life’s journey. These still-lifes bring together my technical skill, design background, lighting aesthetics, propping and styling experience, and a commitment to promote organic, local produce.” Her images are breathtaking. They evoke, through beauty that is also sustenance, a sense of connectedness to this planet.

The work is currently on view at The Edge in Lincolnville through Columbus Day, seven days a week from 4:00 to 9:00 pm. Starting on September 14th through Columbus Day, The Edge will be closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Work is on view at Carver Hill Gallery's Rockland location from now through October 11th. The gallery is open Monday through Saturday, from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm.

>link to Carver Hill Gallery website

(Image: "A Short History of Warnings" by Robert Shetterly)

(Belfast, ME) Aarhus Gallery is proud to announce their guest artist for September, the distinguished and seriously prolific Robert Shetterly. The show will run August 31 through September 26, 2010. An opening reception will be held on Friday September 3rd, from 5:00 to 8:00 pm, and the public is most warmly invited.

Robert Shetterly was born in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1946 and although he graduated from Harvard College with a degree in English Literature, the drawing courses he had taken at the time changed the direction of his creative life from written word to image. Moving to Maine in 1970, Robert began a career as an illustrator, drawing for the Maine Times newspaper, Audubon Adventures children’s newspaper and on to illustrating over thirty books as well as having shown work in art galleries around Maine and elsewhere. His prints and paintings are housed in collections across the U.S. and Europe. It may be true however, that Robert Shetterly is most widely known for his evocative series of painted portraits called “Americans Who Tell the Truth,” which has toured the country for over seven years and is scheduled to continue over the next two. In 2006, a book of the portraits by the same name won the top award of the International Reading Association for Intermediate non-fiction. Since 1990, Robert has been the President of the Union of Maine Visual Artists (UMVA), and producer of the UMVA’s Maine Masters Project, an on-going series of video documentaries about Maine artists.

(Image: "The Silence Between Old Friends" by Robert Shetterly)

The work that Aarhus gallery will be highlighting for this show is Robert’s more personal work: “These paintings come from two very distinct periods in my life—from when I believed my obligation as an artist was to be as honestly ambiguous as I could be about the baffling mysteries of life, to revel in the blindalley narratives that must be solved by each person imaginatively and idiosyncratically. And many of them come from a more recent time when I have been dedicated to doing didactic work because the earth is in such a precarious situation, because governments have failed to care for nature and people have failed to require that of their governments. These recent paintings are not didactic but they do reflect that mood. What's curious to me is how similar they are to the earlier paintings. Art allows itself to be used for teaching as well as exploring. One can go back & forth and remain the same. We paint not to express ourselves but to find out what it is we want to express”.

The works of Åarhusians, Ingrid Ellison, Annadeene Fowler, Kevin Johnson, Mark Kelly, Richard Mann, Abbie Read, Wesley Reddick and Willy Reddick will also be on display. Aarhus Gallery is located at 50 Main Street in Belfast, and open daily from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm. For more information, please call 338-0001. To see a slide show of the current exhibit, please visit www.aarhusgallery.com.

August 31 through September 26, 2010

(Belfast, ME) Aarhus Gallery is proud to announce September's guest artist, the distinguished and seriously prolific Robert Shetterly. The show will run August 31 through September 26, 2010. An opening reception will be held on Friday September 3rd, from 5:00 to 8:00 pm, and the public is most warmly invited.

(Image: "A Short History of Warnings" by Robert Shetterly)

(Image: Fabric Banner #9 by Karen Gelardi)

(Belfast, ME) On Thursday, August 26th, Perimeter Gallery opens "Banners," a new exhibition of “botanical propaganda,” by South Portland artist Karen Gelardi with an opening reception to meet the artist from 6:00 to 8:00 pm. Colorful hand-sewn fabric drawings, photocopied posters, and publications depicting urban and suburban plant life comprise Gelardi’s latest work in which she examines resiliency, adaptation, and a re-invented nature in the territories shared by man-made architecture and plants.

“I explore, through my work, the notion of city blocks being transformed into farmland, weeds pushing through concrete, and potted plants sitting on a front stoop—how these areas mix organic and architectural structures, and, in particular, the resulting emotional and psychological dialogue between the two,” explains the artist. Karen Gelardi studied painting at Rhode Island School of Design and has been influenced by the design and manufacturing processes of her family’s plastics factory in Biddeford, Maine, as well as Asian brush painting. She has exhibited widely in New England, including a solo show at The Center for Maine Contemporary Art in Rockport, and recently had her first show in New York City at Coleman Burke Gallery. Gelardi is a “Smocker” in Andrea Zittel’s internationally exhibited Smockshop, and a “panelist” in Zittel’s newest artist enterprise, “Group Formerly Known as Smockshop,” which will launch as a one-day event at the Portland Museum of Art on September 11th.

“Karen Gelardi: Banners” will be on view through October 3rd. Perimeter Gallery is located in Chase’s Daily at 96 Main Street in Belfast. Hours are Tuesday through Saturday 7:00 am to 5:00 pm, and Sunday, 8:00 am to 2:00 pm.

(Image: "Roots XVI" by Jane Hesser)

(Kittery, ME) Drift Contemporary Art Gallery will be opening the exhibition Tangles & Snarls with an artist reception on Friday, September 10th from 5:00 to 8:00 pm. Jane Hesser, adjunct faculty at Rhode Island School of Design, will show her body of work entitled Tangles & Snarls, which had a full review and was featured on the cover of Artscope magazine in 2009. Tyson Jacques, a recent MFA graduate of Rhode Island School of Design, will show paintings from The Imperative Series based on a collaborative handwriting experiment.

(Image: "Self Portrait" by Tyson Jacques)

In addition, Drift Gallery will have a simultaneous installation by Jacques at the BUOY Gallery in Kittery where he will take the shared experience of mark-making one step further into wall drawings and a collaborative narrative through audience participation with the work. He will re-create a chapter from Gulliver’s Travels on a chalkboard wall and invite the audience to edit the story and the facts as they see fit. Over time, the story changes and the work matures into an examination of the collaboration, a form of collective portraiture. Sculpture by Sean Hasey from the Corey Daniels Gallery in Wells, ME will also be on exhibit. The exhibition runs from September 1st through September 30th.

The opening and artist reception is part of the Kittery Art Walk also being held that evening from 5:00 to 8:00 pm. For a complete list of participating artists and galleries, please click here.

Drift Gallery is located at 7 Shapleigh Road in Kittery, and will be holding exhibitions throughout the summer and fall of 2010. For more information, please contact Ali Goodwin at 207-438-0417 or This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it Visit Drift Gallery on the web at www.drift-gallery.com.

Opening and Artist Reception on Friday, September 10th from 5:00 to 8:00 pm.

(Kittery, ME) Drift Contemporary Art Gallery will be opening the exhibition Tangles & Snarls on Friday, September 10th from 5:00 to 8:00 pm. Jane Hesser, adjunct faculty at Rhode Island School of Design, will show her body of work entitled Tangles & Snarls, which had a full review and was featured on the cover of Artscope magazine in 2009. Tyson Jacques, a recent MFA graduate of Rhode Island School of Design, will show paintings from The Imperative Series based on a collaborative handwriting experiment.

(Image: "Roots XVI" by Jane Hesser)

(Image: "Burning Ranch One" by Dennis Pinette)

(Rockland, ME) The exhibit runs through September 18th. The intersecting geometries of fire, water, industrial installations, and the woods form the base for Dennis Pinette’s paintings. His work is defined by improvisation layered over direct observation. Four old buildings overlooking Penobscot Bay serve as home and studio.

(Image: "Power Grid Three" by Dennis Pinette)

For more information, please visit the Caldbeck Gallery website.

>link to Dennis Pinette's website

Proceeds to Benefit Marine Mammals

(Portland, ME) The University of New England Art Gallery will celebrate its 1st Annual Art for Marine Animal Rehabilitation Center (MARC), with an evening event at the UNE Art Gallery on Tuesday, August 31st from 5:00 to 9:00 pm, celebrating the integration of arts and science. The 1st Annual Art for MARC silent art auction and reception will feature original art from a variety of talented artists whose work is inspired by their passion for our ocean environment. Through this reception, they hope to raise awareness of and support for marine mammals and the waters they call home.

(Image: "Tort" by Jean Noon)

(Image: "Untitled 89" by Frankie Dailey)

(Brunswick, ME) VSA Maine announces "Interference with Life/Light: Works by Frankie Dailey," on view through September 6th at the Eleven Pleasant Street Gallery in Brunswick.

"Interference with Life/Light" is a unique collection of paintings and sculpture from one of
Maine's most original artists. Mr. Dailey's paintings reflect his 20-year exploration of
Interference color — opalescent, angle-dependent paint that changes color depending upon the viewer's perspective. These mercurial pigments serve as the perfect complement to Mr. Dailey's art, which is bold, utterly random and constantly in a state of flux – a reflection of the artist's inner spirit.

Accompanying his acrylic work is a delightful collection of inventive, sometimes irreverent
sculpture created from recycled material.

The VSA Gallery at Eleven Pleasant St is open Monday through Friday, 10:00 am to 5:00 pm. For more information, please visit vsartsmaine.org.

(Image: "One Lotus Flower" by Ann L. Krumrein)

(Lewiston, ME) In conjunction with The Dempsey Challenge presented by Amgen, Colors of Hope is a a fine art exhibit at L/A Arts Gallery 5. The exhibit runs August 27th through October 9th, with an opening reception on Friday, August 27th from 5:00 to 7:00 pm.

Participating artists are: Pam Bell, Stephanie Berry, Melinda Campbell, Nancy Engdahl, John Girouard, Susan Guthrie, David Hill, Sara Karam, Deanna Kersey, Ann L. Krumrein, Daryl-Ann Leonard, Marilyn Lucey, Daniel J. Marquis, Kay McKeever Allison, Valerie Provencher, Judith Shoob, Jim Walker, and Helen Warren.

Gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday from 5:00 to 8:00 pm and and by appointment with L/A Arts. For more information please call 207-782-7228 or visit the Lewiston/Auburn Arts website.

(Image: Photograph by Jonathan Levitt)

The exhibit continues through August 28th.

(Brunswick, ME) Ducktrapia is a settlement along the shores of the Ducktrap River in Ducktrap, Maine. For ten years, photographer Jonathan Levitt has been living among the Ducktrapians, documenting their way of life. Jonathan, who spent time both at culinary school as well as on farms, photographs images that give the lure of some kind of quiet life, capturing elements of the spirit of rural Maine.

(Image: Photograph by Lily Piel)

Lily studied history at Bates College, and after a brief hiatus, she returned to Maine in 2001 to study film-making at Maine Media Workshops. There, she discovered a love for still photography and local food systems, taking pictures of farmer friends in the fields while working on their Community Supported Agriculture farm. For the last eight years she has been photographing for magazines and private clients. Her favorite subjects are people, agriculture, and community. Her work celebrates the beauty and authenticity of sustainable agriculture in Maine.

>link to Jonathan's website
>link to Lily's website

On Saturday, August 21st at 7:30pm.

(Brunswick, ME) The traditional music of New England can be as warm and comforting as a winter fire or as potent and exhilarating as a summer thunderstorm. Fiddler and singer Lissa Schneckenburger is a master of both moods, a winsome, sweet-voiced singer who brings new life to old ballads and a skillful, dynamic fiddler who captures the driving rhythm and carefree joy of dance tunes old and new.

For more information, please visit the Frontier Cafe and Gallery website.

(Image: "Clyde and Myrtle" by Jeanne Dawson)

(Belfast, ME) Jeanne Dawson joins Susan Tobey White, Sheep Jones and Julie Cyr at High Street Studio & Gallery from August 20th through September 15th. There will be an opening reception Friday, August 20th from 5:00 to 8:00 pm.

Dawson's career in art began as a fiber artist. She created sculptural two and three dimensional pieces, using materials she dyed herself. She enjoyed numerous awards for her fiber art through the eight years she worked in the arena. Like so many others, Dawson left one arena and entered another. She carried with her her love of texture, color and layering. Each of these are strong elements in her painting. For the past five years, Jeanne has worked in acrylic and is excited with the opportunities it lends her.

High Street Studio & Gallery is located at 149 High Street in Belfast. Hours are 11:00 am to 5:00 pm Monday through Friday and Saturday from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm. For more information, please visit www.highstreetgallery.com.

Friday, August 20th.

(Belfast, ME) Jeanne Dawson joins Susan Tobey White, Sheep Jones and Julie Cyr at High Street Studio & Gallery from August 20th through September 15th. There will be an opening reception Friday, August 20th from 5:00 to 8:00 pm.

Dawson's career in art began as a fiber artist. She created sculptural two and three dimensional pieces, using materials she dyed herself. She enjoyed numerous awards for her fiber art through the eight years she worked in the arena.

(Image: "Clyde and Myrtle" by Jeanne Dawson)

New Efforts Will Help Raise Awareness

(Kittery, ME) After the successful exhibition "Save Our Bridges" at Drift Gallery in Kittery, which featured local artist’s works depicting the Sarah Mildred Long and Memorial Bridges, a local student felt compelled to create a new T-shirt to help raise awareness. The "Save Our Bridges" T-shirt, a fundraising project recently launched by Lynne and Alex Bailey of Graphiti in York, depicts an abstract image of the Memorial Bridge that was inspired by several photographs, like the special photograph taken by Drift Contemporary Art Gallery owner Ali Goodwin for the recent exhibition.

(Image: Seacoast Media Group, Rich Beauchesne, T-Shirt; Ali Goodwin, “Memory Bridge")