(Belfast, ME) Betts Gallery at The Belfast Framer will be hosting a kickoff exhibit of the 2012 season on Friday, June 1st. There will be an opening reception from 5:00 to 8:00 pm. STILL LIFE is an exhibit of artists Stephanie Bartron-Miscione, Kerstin Engman, Kathleen Mack and Dina Petrillo. Their interpretation of the words “still lIfe” ranges from Images of beautiful eggs to a water faucet and much more. The work encompasses many individual unique styles.

About Petrillo's work, poet Rick Benjamin writes, "Dina creates new pedagogies, new processes and forms that suit and accommodate her impulses and predilections as an artist-thinker. She consistently puts her hands in the earth - in the muck and the mire of animals, plants, minerals—in order to develop practices that are fully in touch and alive with the rest of the sentient world."

Bartron-Miscione says “I want my subjects to come alive with rich detail, layers of color that glow against contrasting values and textures, and more information than a single light source can provide.”

Engman has been painting for the past decade, although her artistic focus for 25 years was as a sculptor. She has painted the Maine landscape and worked from what she defines as “the simplest of still lifes.” Her work is an expression of color and pattern in a balance that connects to daily routines and events.

Mack, a self-taught artist, began her professional painting career in 1993. She works in oil and water media. Her primary interest is in the human form, alone and in relationship to other figures and surroundings. “The gesture,” she says, “is all important.”

STILL LIFE can be viewed June 1st through June 30th, Monday to Friday 10:00 am to 5:00 pm and Saturdays from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm. Betts Gallery at The Belfast Framer is located at 96 Main Street in Belfast. For more information, please call 207-338-6465 or visit thebelfastframer.com.