(Image: "Journal" by Diane Bowie Zaitlin)

Through Sunday, February 28th.

(Portland, ME) Diane Bowie Zaitlin will be part of Some Like it Hot!, a group show of artists using heat in the creative process at Toby Rosenberg Pottery in Portland. Her encaustic paintings reveal her fascination with the power of color, sensuality of surface, and use of a veiled narrative. She is especially attracted to the luminosity, depth, and fluidity of encaustic that allows a natural combination of painting and collage.

Diane has shown her work extensively and has been included in various group shows in New York, Massachusetts, Oregon, Iowa, and Connecticut and throughout Maine including exhibits at the Saco Museum, Leighton Gallery, Elan Fine Arts, Greenhut Galleries and the George Marshall Store Gallery.

The Some Like it Hot! featured artists are:
Diane Bowie Zaitlin – encaustic paintings
Melissa Mattes – felt paintings
Allyson Humphrey – stained glass
Betsy Levine – wood & stoneware
Toby Rosenberg – gold detailed pottery

In addition, there will be two special events at Toby Rosenberg Pottery on Sunday, February 7th. From 10:00 am to 5:00 pm, there will be a trunk show of Susan Bryant Caron handcrafted silver jewelry, and from 1:00 to 4:00 pm, visitors will be able to taste delicious hand made chocolates by Sweet Marguerites.

Toby Rosenberg Pottery is located at 293 Read Street in Portland. For more information, please call 207-878-4590 or visit Toby Rosenberg Pottery online.

>link to Diane Bowie Zaitlin's website

On Saturday, February 13th at 8:00 pm.

Don't miss this amazing co-bill of talented performers who will share the Strand stage on this special holiday weekend!

Harry Manx has been called an "essential link" between the music of East and West, creating musical stories that wed the tradition of the Blues with the depth of classical Indian ragas. Playing the Mohan veena, lap steel, harmonica, and banjo, he has created a unique sound that is exotically hard to forget and deliciously addictive to listen to.

Susan Werner composes skillful songs that effortlessly slide between folk, jazz, and pop, all delivered with sassy wit and classic Midwestern charm. Throughout her expansive career, boundless versatility has emerged as a hallmark of Werner's talent, and has proven to be a quintessential ingredient of her engrossing musical persona.

For more information or to purchase tickets, please visit the The Strand Theatre website.

>visit Harry Manx's website

>visit Susan Werner's website

(Image: "Untitled" by Meg Chase)

Through April 3, 2010.

(Bangor, ME) Meg Chase exhibits a series of expressionistic landscapes in "Resonant Places”, Simple Complexity: Installation and Works” features art by Gerry Stecca, Gerald Matthew Immonen shows his “Burnt Cove: Watercolors and Maine Landscapes” and "Bio-Permutation” is the exhibit of sculptures by David Isenhour.

Admission to the museum is free in 2010 because of a grant from Machias Savings Bank. Museum hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday to Saturday. For information, please call 561-3350 or visit The University of Maine Museum of Art website.

(Image by Damion Silver)

The Exhibit Runs Through March 31st.

(Portland, ME) Corduroy Boutique & Gallery is proud to present “Mediumship”, a collection of new works by Damion Silver and curated with love by Ms. Tyler Briggs. “Mediumship” is a look into the communication between the spiritual and physical worlds. There will be an opening reception on Friday, March 5th at 6:00 pm.

“Mediumship” explores our everyday lives, as we bounce in and out of states of mind, absorbing information in conscious and subconscious ways; the fragments of moments, faces, places, sounds and such stay with us along the way. This collection of work embodies this experience. The pieces all have common threads woven throughout using lines, letters, characters and so on. This collection is a snapshot of travels, places, faces, dreams, emotions and experiences.

Silver creates multi-layered, interlacing compositions by combining his own drawings, collage, and appliqué. Employing provocative found images from magazines, bold comic strips, and graphic labels, he creates a rhythm of repeating form and line within each work and between the full set of works on display. In counterpoint, his whimsical hand-drawn and darkly repetitive characters duel for co-existence across the surfaces of these multi-dimensional canvases. The works are Mr. Silver’s interpretation of the frenetic nature of advertisements and images of mass media that are now given a lyrical and raw appeal relevant to the contemporary current of urban culture.

As a fine artist, Silver’s work has been presented in galleries in the US, Europe, Australia and Japan. As a designer, Silver has created graphics for Converse, Kool, Compatriot Snowboards, Timex, Scratch World Wide and Ito Yokado in Japan. His innovative designs have earned him several prestigious acknowledgements and a place in the new book, Dos Logos. Mr. Silver’s street murals and live painting demonstrations have brought him to the cultural forefront as one of the innovative talents of the Nu Art movement.

Corduroy Boutique & Gallery is located at 59 Market Street in Portland. For more information, visit corduroyboutique.com or call 207-347-3545. Corduroy is open Tuesday through Saturday from 11:00 am to 6:00 pm.

>link to Damion Silver's website