2 weeks Ago
It’s that time again, when the art world begins waking from its winter slumber. A number of galleries and museums are opening after being shuttered for winter. There is also at least one gallery, Fort Hall in Brunswick, that does the opposite (located in painter Katherine Bradford’s summer studio, the artist lends it for exhibitions from fall through spring).
Collapsing Time and Space Fort Hall’s last show of the season is “Maggie Stark/Shadow Light” (through May 17). Stark is a long-practicing Boston-based artist who happens to be the mother of Maine painter Emilie Stark-Menneg. Stark’s family is of Jewish German descent, though Stark herself was born in Kansas City when World War II erupted.
The conflict’s horrors came vividly alive for her while at college in Munich, when she first encountered Dachau, the concentration camp just a 25-minute train ride from the city. “Maggie Stark/Shadow Light” runs through May 17 at Fort Hall gallery in Brunswick. Photo by Andrew Estey Fifty years later she returned, and that journey (physically, psychologically and spiritually) informs her installation at Fort Hall.
According to her statement, “What matters most in this process is not the details of my life per se, but how time alters the way we live with and within ourselves; and how the liminal state brought about by repetition creates a place where time is unmoored.” Projected around the room are various videos on a continuous loop (repetition). The largest and most moving, “Passageway,” first superimposes archival footage of two men trying to make a meal in the camp onto cell phone camera footage she took of a passageway in the camp.
Eerie and haunting, this portion eventually dissolves into “Ashes,” a scene of a pond located at the family’s farm in Pennsylvania. The atmospheric soundtrack we hear in the gallery is from this place, which is where Stark scattered most of her mother’s ashes. She presents this footage of falling ashes in reverse, making it look as though they are moving upward instead of spilling onto the surface of the water.
It is a poignant, indelible moment, and your heart may skip a beat as it imagines observing the ascension of her mother’s spirit into the heavens. Videos are projected in a continuous loop around the room in “Maggie Stark/Shadow Light” at Fort Hall gallery in Brunswick. Photo by Emilie Stark-Menneg Other videos are similarly moving.
“Passage” layers cell footage of the ovens over that of the modern-day train traveling to and from Dachau. “Portrait” records clouds moving over a picture of Stark as an adolescent, a quizzical, wondering expression on her face. “Transfer Station” films a subway entrance on a busy thoroughfare in Munich.
People bustle around it and enter it, while ghostly negative footage flipped to show them entering from the other side of the frame make them appear to descend into the metro’s (and death’s) underworld. On a pedestal near the ovens video is “Vitrine,” a box made of prismatic glass containing a small copper urn holding some of Stark’s mother’s ashes. Its proximity to the footage of ovens is discomforting.
But we also can never definitively grasp the box’s contents because the glass perpetually distorts the interior, making the urn appear blurry from whatever angle we view it—there, yet inaccessible at the same time. Stark’s methods and visual tricks — the prismatic glass, the reverse-projection of footage, the blending of images from past and present, the multiple overlays of one image over another — all effectively achieve her desire to blur time, conjuring a new memory space where past and present come together, bringing with them all their loss and melancholy. Book Art “to-morrrow, the world answers everything: Andrew Hayes + Tom Phillips” (through May 18) is Sarah Bouchard’s debut show of the season.
The exhibition, which I suppose we could say is ostensibly about books — though it is so much more — is well worth the drive to this private gallery in Woolwich. It presents two artists who use books for vastly different aims. Andrew Hayes, “Scarp,” fabricated steel and book paper, 2025.
Photo by Steve Mann Andrew Hayes creates wall sculptures made of blackened steel and book parts that have been cut and shaped into volumetric forms. These works are interested in the texture and materiality of books, which he exploits purely for their sculptural potential. Text, story and message here are irrelevant, though occasionally, as in “Inlet,” we can decipher the kind of book we’re viewing (in this case, a dictionary, which we intuit from finger holes and letter tabs).
In other works, the crosscuts of the books create rhythmic black markings, but no actual legibility. Andrew Hayes, “Coign,” fabricated steel, book paper and paint, 2025. Photo by Steve Mann Instead, Hayes adopts these quite different materials to explore form and the contrast between soft and hard.
Their “readability,” as it were, is purely sensual in the sense that it speaks through our tactile perception of the materials and the interaction between them. They are impossibly elegant, and they live on the wall in a state of grace and refinement that is silently seductive. Tom Phillips, “Ring of Music (page 79 A Humument).
” Photo courtesy of the estate of Tom Phillips Tom Phillips, “Sun + Stars (page 190 A Humument)” Photo courtesy of the estate of Tom Phillips The work of the now-deceased Tom Phillips has to do with literary inquiry and exploration, as well as literature’s power to be transformative. Bouchard presents basically two bodies of work. One is “A Humument” — that is, the seemingly endless permutations Phillips created of a second-hand book he found for three pence called A Human Document.
In it, 19th-century author W.H. Mallock espoused an ultra-conservative, religious society (interesting in light of the contemporary rise of the religious right).
Phillips spent until the end of his life (2022) repeatedly deconstructing and reconstructing every page of Mallock’s book — cutting, painting, collaging them, then working with a master printer to create beautiful prints (these works are from this vast collection). On page 79 of Mallock’s book, Phillips mostly obscured text by painting a fiery circle floating above a field of green to create a new work called “Ring of Music.” Yet the artist left certain words exposed to create what is essentially an erasure poem: “Verse described it first” it now reads, “time began as a ring of music/every hour more days arrived.
” The other body of work, “Inferno,” arose from Phillips’s readings of Dante’s Inferno. Of this series, he wrote: “The range of imagery matches Dante in breath, encompassing everything from Greek mythology to the Berlin Wall, from scriptural reference to a scene in an abattoir, and from alchemical signs to lavatory graffiti.” It is impossible to describe how deeply coded these images are.
Helpfully, Bouchard includes Phillips’s own writings about each piece next to the work. Tom Phillips, “Canto XIV/1: Falling Flames.” Photo courtesy of the estate of Tom Phillips The simplest one, “Canto XIV/1: Falling Flames,” is a reference to Dante’s story of the gluttonous in the third circle of hell, who were perpetually subjected to a rain of icy mud.
“A dance of frantic hands drives off the falling flames,” Phillips wrote. “These particular balletic examples were adapted from various posed hands in La Mode Illustree, the nineteenth century equivalent of Vogue. The vertical lines repeat the rain motif, and indicate the parallel monotony and relentlessness of the fire in this Canto and the rain that falls on the gluttonous.
” It gets far more layered and complicated from there. But these screen prints, lithographs and one etching are consistently stunning, and Phillips’s literary and artistic ruminations infinitely fascinating. It is easy to spend hours poring over them.
One work, “Canto XXXI/2: Artificial Intelligence,” evinces the apparent prescience possible in some literary works. Of a lithograph depicting a monster machine looming before a terrified boy he writes: “Dante foresees the now frighteningly realized possibility of monstrous power allied to intelligence.” Dante, however, speculated that nature was smart enough to make humans fairly stupid so that they could not “make use of their destructive potential.
” Well, he can’t have gotten everything right, I suppose...
This column is supported by The Dorothea and Leo Rabkin Foundation. PORTLAND AND ENVIRONS Cove Street Arts, 71 Cove St., 207-808-8911, covestreetarts.
com “Emergent” (through May 10), Alice Spencer’s prints appear as new life forms, though some also evoke existing organisms such as horseshoe crabs, trees and bushes. Experimentation led Spencer to an entirely new way of working, and we can feel their sense of spontaneous generation. “Infinite Light” (through May 24) presents amazingly woven fiber and mixed media works by Sonja Weber Gilkey.
“Variations” (through June 7) features variously themed work by eight photographers. “Out of Mind” (through June 14) is a survey of Richard Wilson’s perpetually surrealistic, quirky paintings and prints. In “Adventure of the Unknown” (also through June 14) Grant Drumheller takes an unstructured approach to his paintings, letting spontaneous arising determine the plethora of diverse subject matter.
Greenhut Galleries, 146 Middle St., 207-772-2693, greenhutgalleries.com “Maine: The Painted State” continues (through April 26).
Coming up will be solo shows for Jim Flahaven (May 1-31) and Matt Blackwell’s car paintings (June 5-28). Moss Galleries Portland, 100 Fore St., Ste.
B, Portland, 207-804-0459, elizabethmossgalleries.com “Keepers” (through June 21), a figurative show about things we hold dear, with works by Katherine Bradford, Brett Bigbee, M.J.
Viano Crowe, David Driskell, Stephen Pace and Elizabeth King Stanton. Moss Galleries Falmouth, 251 Route 1, Falmouth, 207-781-2620, elizabethmossgalleries.com , “Frances Hynes: Playing Notes,” showcases abstracted watercolor landscapes and other scenes, and “John Hultberg: Angels Above Fear” hones in on Hultberg’s (1922-2005) sometimes apocalyptic landscapes and often inscrutable interior scenes painted between 1960 and 2003 (both through May 31).
Notch 8 Gallery, 52 Center St., Portland, 207-358-9433, notch8art.com .
“Holden Willard: Pictures of Home” is a survey of this promising young painter’s work (May 16-June 21). University of New England Art Galleries, 716 Stevens Ave., Portland, 207-602-3000, library.
une.edu/art-galleries . “Circle of the Sun” (through June 8), the photo-based work of three Arctic Circle Residency alumni — Justin Levesque, Katie McElearney and Shoshannah White.
ROCKLAND AND ENVIRONS Caldbeck Gallery, 12 Elm St., 207-594-4935, caldbeck.com “March into April” (through May 20) is a group show of gallery artists.
Center for Maine Contemporary Arts, 21 Winter St., Rockland, 207-701-5005, cmcanow.org .
“I Forgot to Remember” (Katarina Weslien), From the Collection of Lord Red” (Kyle Downs), “The Sun, Trying to Disappear” (group photo exhibition curated by Dylan Hausthor), “Fruition” (Allison Cekala + Nate Luce, curated by Meg Hahn) — all through May 4. Farnsworth Art Museum, 16 Museum St., Rockland, 207-596-6457, farnsworthmuseum.
org . “Native Prospects: Indigeneity and Landscape” (through July 6), “Capturing Her Environment: Women Artists, 1870-1930” (through July 20) and Anne Buckwalter: Manors Momentum 2025” (through Sept. 21).
Interloc Gallery, 153 Main St., Thomaston, interloc.co “Spring Show” (through May 3).
Work by Bee Daniel, Fred Gutzeit and Sara Stites. Triangle Gallery, 8 Elm St., 207-593-8300, gallerytriangle.
com “Jaap Helder/Paintings 2020-2025,” a solo show of his deconstructed and reconstructed abstract paintings of marine and landscape scenes (May 1-June 1), and “Twentyfour and There’s So Much More/New Work by Gallery Artiwts” (May 1-25). OTHER LOCATIONS Bates College Museum of Art, Olin Arts Center, 75 Russell St., Lewiston, 207-786-6158, bates.
edu/museum . “Under the Parachute: Senior Thesis Exhibition 2025” (through May 24). Bowdoin College Museum of Art, 255 Maine St.
, Brunswick, 207-725-3000, Bowdoin.edu/art-museum . “Reimagining Our Américas: Empathy and Activism Beyond Borders,” “Art, Ecology, and the Resilience of a Maine Island: The Monhegan Wildlands” and “Irreplaceable You: Personhood and Dignity in Art 1980s to Now” (all through June 1).
“Poetic Truths: Hawthorne, Longfellow, and American Visual Culture, 1840-1880” (through June 20), sculpture, paintings and prints that respond to the writings of these two American literary icons. Colby College Museum of Art, 5600 Mayflower Hill, Waterville, 207-859-5600, museum.colby.
edu . “Radical Histories: Chicanx Prints from the Smithsonian American Art Museum” and “Into the Wind: American Weathervanes” (through June 8). “Some American Stories” (through Sept.
26), museum collections presented as different topics within the broader narrative American art and history that illustrate a vast diversity of experiences. The Parsonage Gallery, 8 Elm St., Searsport, parsonagegallery.
org “Heard: Sal Taylor Kydd” and “Dawn: Matt Jones” (both May 3-June 22). Kydd’s assemblages use cross-generational women’s voices to relate our shared histories, and new paintings by Jones, who is known for mixing art historical references with contemporary awareness of global climate issues. Ogunquit Museum of American Art, 543 Shore Road, Ogunquit, 207-646-4909, ogunquitmuseum.
org . “A Sailboat in the Moonlight” (Apr. 18-July 20) kicks off a trio of exhibitions of work by Nicole Wittenberg (the CMCA in Rockland and the Fondation le Corbusier in Paris will have other iterations).
This Maine artist’s work draws from and expands and illuminates the entire lineage of plein air painting. “Where the Real Lies” explores fantastical parallel spaces that offer an alternative to the dehumanization, alienation and instability of contemporary life, places that serve as refuges for self-reflection and representation. “Henry Strater’s Ogunquit” is a chronicle of this Louisville, Kentucky-born painter’s lifelong relationship with Maine.
(All through Nov. 16) University of New England Art Galleries, 716 Stevens Ave., Portland, 207-602-3000, library.
une.edu/art-galleries . “As Above, So Below” (through May 4).
Work of Liz Awalt and C. Michael Lewis. University of Southern Maine, 5 University Way, Gorham, 207-780-5409, usm.
maine.edu/gallery . “2025 Bachelor of Fine Arts Exhibition” (through May 2), 10 degree-program artists exhibiting in various media.
We believe it’s important to offer commenting on certain stories as a benefit to our readers. At its best, our comments sections can be a productive platform for readers to engage with our journalism, offer thoughts on coverage and issues, and drive conversation in a respectful, solutions-based way. It’s a form of open discourse that can be useful to our community, public officials, journalists and others.
Read more...
We do not enable comments on everything — exceptions include most crime stories, and coverage involving personal tragedy or sensitive issues that invite personal attacks instead of thoughtful discussion. For those stories that we do enable discussion, our system may hold up comments pending the approval of a moderator for several reasons, including possible violation of our guidelines. As the Maine Trust’s digital team reviews these comments, we ask for patience.
Comments are managed by our staff during regular business hours Monday through Friday and limited hours on Saturday and Sunday. Comments held for moderation outside of those hours may take longer to approve. By joining the conversation, you are agreeing to our commenting policy and terms of use .
More information is found on our FAQs . You can modify your screen name here . Show less Please sign into your Press Herald account to participate in conversations below.
If you do not have an account, you can register or subscribe . Questions? Please see our FAQs . Your commenting screen name has been updated.
Send questions/comments to the editors. « Previous.
