While the re-opening of the Bowdoin Art Museum has spot-lighted the campus as a nucleus of artistic style, excitement, and intrigue, the College's artistic talent has recently burst outside of the Bowdoin bubble.
Greenhut Galleries is currently home to "Painters Who Teach," an exhibit that aims to showcase artists who are also teachers at renowned institutions. These places of learning include Maine College of Art, Massachusetts College of Art, Harvard University, Hampshire, Colby and Bowdoin College. Tina Ingraham and Meghan Brady, two artists who have taught at Bowdoin in the past, as well as Associate Professor of Art James Mullen who teaches both drawing and painting, represent the College in the exhibit.
While the exhibit does not discriminate in terms of subject matter, many of the paintings have a strong Maine connection. This includes numerous Maine landscapes, featuring sites such as Katahdin and Damariscotta Harbor. Two of Mullen's stunning landscapes 'Dusk' and 'Last Light,' are also Maine themed. Of particular interest in this exhibit is the noticeable, direct connections between teachers and students which continues on into the next student generation. While this lineage is an unanticipated phenomenon, it speaks to the importance of the instruction of visual arts and to the influence a teacher has not only upon his or her own students, but onto the students of future generations as well.
Blocks away the exhibit "Linear Perspectives," is installed in the Maine College of Art's June Fitzpatrick Gallery. At the entrance to the museum, a wall plaque explains that the intent of the exhibit is to showcase pieces which "invite viewers to consider the various uses of line by 26 Maine artists whose references reach from the Renaissance to the modernist and minimalist movements of the 20th century."
These works are not exclusively paintings, but are rather eclectic pieces that make use of several different mediums including steel, ink, wood, plexiglass, and acrylic painted foam. While the exhibit is home to numerous artistic styles and drastically different representations of line, they are all united by the fact that each artist has a strong connection to Maine. Bowdoin is represented by Visiting Assistant Professor of Art Anna Hepler, a member of the Bowdoin faculty, and Cassie Jones '01.
While united under the Bowdoin umbrella, Hepler and Jones provide starkly disparate pieces in the exhibit. In Hepler's untitled piece, she makes provocative use of layered plexiglass that has been etched and inked to give it a startling 3-D effect. Jones presents two pieces that are both foam, painted with acrylics, and cut to form twisted, intriguing shapes. Both artists follow through on the exhibit's mission statement, redefining and reevaluating the use of line in modern art.
The two exhibits at Greenhut Galleries and June Fitzpatrick Gallery will resonate with those in the Bowdoin community as they speak both to the strong connection between student and teacher, as well as to the immediacy and accessibility of the world of professional art. Sophomore Sam Gilbert, a prospective visual arts major, elaborates on the power of viewing a teacher's work.
Not only is it inspiring, he explains, but it is also exciting to "observe and understand a teacher's piece, acknowledging within it all of the stylistic elements we've learned in class."
Of additional interest to the Bowdoin artistic community is the roundtable discussion housed at the Maine College of Art's June Fitzpatrick Gallery Sunday at 2 p.m. Bruce Brown, the curator emeritus from Center for Maine Contemporary Art will facilitate the discussion between three exhibited artists, Alan Bray, Robin Mandel, and George Pearlman regarding the use and representation of line in selected pieces from "Linear Perspectives."
Greenhut Galleries is located at 146 Middle St. in Portland and open Monday through Friday from 10:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and Saturdays 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. The June Fitzpatrick Gallery is at 522 Congress St., and is open from 12 to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Sundays.