Quarterly Update UMVA Portland Chapter
This fall the Portland Gallery hosted several shows. In September, PRESSTO, featuring work from the artists Kris Onus, Jo Ann Bianchi, and a collective exhibition from the Monotype Guild of New England. Two solo exhibitions of photography were hung in October: Amy Bellezza’s A Wicked Tiny History of Playing & Tarot Cards and Tom Bloom’s Portland Works. An Open Members’ Show was hung in November with an eclectic grouping of fiber hangings, sculpture, photographs, and paintings.
Tom Bloom, Terri, Firefighter, photograph (fall exhibit Portland Works).
Tom Bloom, Willis, Fisherman, photograph (fall exhibit Portland Works).
A dozen exhibition proposals from both members and prospective members were reviewed at the November Zoom meeting for the 2023 calendar year. They also include three members’ exhibitions, one of which will be themed, one a juried show, and one an open show. Watch your email for updates. To participate in organizing the member shows, contact Amy Bellezza, amybellezza@gmail.com.
The January exhibitions are Taking Up Space, paintings by Nancy Grice, and Black Fawn: A Photographic Folktale by Nathan Meyer, at 516 Congress Street, Portland, 2–31 January 2023.
Nancy Grice, Quark Flower, acrylic and metallic pigment on canvas, 24 x 36 in.
Nancy describes her work as embracing an abstract and geometric approach to suggest planetary or celestial objects and subatomic particles. She explains that for many years she painted the landscape, and now she is still painting nature, but the lens has been adjusted both inward and outward.
Nathan describes Black Fawn as photographic storytelling evoking themes of transformation, magical realism, “memento mori,” and hunting for survival in a hostile world in nervous pursuit of some unknown end.
The opening reception is 6 January 2023 from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., during the Portland First Friday Art Walk.
2023 UMVA Gallery Schedule
516 Congress St, Portland ME
January – Nathan Meyer – Black Fawn
Nancy Grice – Taking Up Space
February Maria Paz Lundin – Hierophanies
Norajean Ferris – This Energy of Mine
March – Haley Linnet, Aiden Fraser, & Jessica Parker Foley – Bodies of Work, Bodies are Work
April – UMVA Members’ Exhibit
May – Dave Wade, C. E. Morse, & Roland Salazar Rose – Transformative Visions
June – Kimberley Bentley, Ann Tracy, Anne Strout, Lesley MacVane, Tracy Ginn, Joyce Ellen Weinstein, Christine Sullivan, & Cynthia Ahlstrin – In the Making
July – UMVA Members’ Exhibit in conjunction with the Maine Arts Journal (Summer Issue) and the LC Bates Museum – In Balance/Imbalance
August – Tom Bloom – Theater & Dance
Milly Bachrach – Losses
September – Judy O’Donnell, Roberta March, Ellen O’Donnell, Christine Morgan-Phillips, Rhonda Pearle, & Gary Perlmutter – The Divine Feminine
October – Judy Greene-Janse, Ann Tracy, & Joanne Tarlin – Alight on the Rocky Shores
November – UMVA Members’ Exhibit
December – Holiday Show/Sale
For more information and updates check the UMVA online at the website, the Portland chapter Facebook page, or the UMVA Portland Gallery Facebook page.
Image at top: Nathan Meyer, Transmutation, double-exposure 35mm film, 16 x 24 in.