Dawn is a time for awakenings. To that end, the Dreaming at Dawn exhibition lived up to its theme by awakening patrons of the Bangor Public Library to the artistic talent all around them.
Dreaming at Dawn exhibition and reception at the Bangor Public Library.
The Union of Maine Visual Artists opened its biggest exhibition of the year on 1 August. The exhibition featured sixty-eight pieces by fifty-one artists. It occupied three gallery spaces at the Bangor Public Library. The works on display ranged from naturalistic landscapes to dreamy explorations of the dawning of ideas.
“It’s a wonderful exhibit, and I was pleased that artists from around the state, through the UMVA, brought their work to Bangor and came back to attend the Meet the Artists event,” said Candis Joyce, the library’s Adult Program and Exhibits Coordinator.
Dreaming at Dawn exhibition crowd at the Bangor Public Library.
About 100 people turned out for the artists’ reception on 6 August. Peter Walls spoke to the crowd about his role as the exhibition juror. He brought a wealth of experience to the task as an exhibiting studio artist for twenty-nine years. Walls specialized in shaped panel paintings and murals.
“I was elated to have the opportunity to speak with many of the artists that I know, but also the many that I had never met personally until that evening,” said Walls. “We had such great conversations about how we create our art, as well as the journeys we each take into the studio and how it impacts our lives.”
Shanna Compton and Sally Stanton were co-coordinators of Dreaming at Dawn. Such a comprehensive exhibition required a correspondingly large organizational effort on everything from the installation to the refreshments at the reception.
Shanna Compton, Dream Shapes 2, acrylic, 12 x 12 in., 2025.
The artists with work in the show are Barbara Bemis Adams, NC Barto, Mark Barnette, Deb Bergman, Dyan Berk, Jennifer Fairchild Brown, Heather Newton Brown, Pam Cabanas, Cheryl Cayer, Shanna Compton, Alan Crichton, Caroline de Mauriac, Janelle Delicata, Shelley Dell, Kelly Bennett Desrosiers, Randy Fein, Martha Ferguson, Gene Frey, Tracy Ginn, Judith Greene-Janse, Arlene Jurewicz-Leighton, June Kellogg, Camille Kouyoumdjian, David Lewis, Robert Lockwood, Bridget McAlonan, Cynthia Motian McGuirl, Bruce McMillan, Ave Melnick, James Q Merrow, Renata Moise, Janice L Moore, Leslie Moore, Lisa Mossel, Anne-Marie Nolin, MaryEllen Ostherr, Wendy Newbold Patterson, Brandy Raymond, Daryne Rockett, Anne Scheer, Kathryn Shagas, Scott Shulman, Sally Stanton, Susan Szwed, Joanne Tarlin, Ann Tracy, Tim Van Hook, Peter Walls, Jean Wiecha, Sandy Willcox, and Andrew Young.
Dreaming at Dawn on view at the Bangor Public Library until the end of September.
New Call for art! Soft Objects for Hard Times: Rebel Yells
UMVA members are invited to submit to this call for textile art, for an exhibition at the Portland Public Library next spring.
Soft Objects for Hard Times asks artists to submit work that is designed to offer comfort and calm. In these times of unrest, how do you offer comfort? What can we make as artists to soften the news and soothe the soul? We are living in an era of rapidly shifting threats and opportunities. The pace is exhausting. While we all want to ‘be the change’, we must acknowledge our need for quiet, for calm, and for comfort.
So what can we as artists make to offer that feeling in these unsettled times?
This is a call for textile-based works that can offer solace or a sense of security. These could include blankets, teddy bears, superhero capes, and weighted clothing. What would you make to ease the stress of a friend? Of a community? Of a country?
Soft Objects for Hard Times will be a companion exhibition to Rebel Yells: A Visual History of American Outrage, under nonprofit sponsorship of the UMVA, coordinated by Jess Lauren Lipton. Donate to support the project here (choose Rebel Yells as the donation category).
Call Closes on 20 January 2027.
Hands at the Cueva de las Manos, Río Pinturas, Argentina (photo: Wikimedia Commons).
Upcoming UMVA Show: Connections
Theoretical, visual and tactile, psychological, and interpersonal actions connect us. Our planet has infinite connections in the oceans and air, on land in the animal and plant kingdoms, and our biosphere. The auto-functions in our bodies made through interactions and connections are miraculous. The artist’s mind and body connect. They intuit the world and these varied associations.
Throughout art history, connections to community, plants, and animals, God and the sublime have been depicted on cave walls, stones, vessels, and sculpted into forms. Figurative and landscape images were woven into tapestries—literal links of fibers. Through art—where materials, color, texture, composition, and structure combine—artists make meaning.
This juried show was open to all UMVA members, deadline was 30 September. Our juror is Amor Díaz-Campos M.S., Curatorial & Development Coordinator, Boston Public Art Triennial.
This show will be exhibited in the Morrell Meeting Room at the Curtis Memorial Library in Brunswick, ME, 1 December–30 December, 2026. Put it on your calendar!
Full view of image at top: Sally Stanton, The Green Before the Storm, mixed media on panel, 30 x 30 in..