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Museum And Gallery

Marveling at MECA’s annual MFA Thesis show

Star students
At the 2012 MFA Thesis show at the ICA, the idea of a common thread is gratefully, dizzyingly absent.

By: NICHOLAS SCHROEDER | May 23, 2012

Printmaking continues to matter

Paper, ink, and pressure
Essential to printmaking, and non-digital photography, is the frustrating, annoying time lapse between the creation of the matrix and the final image.

By: BRITTA KONAU | May 16, 2012

Emily Nelligan inspires at Bowdoin

Seriously committed
My friend the late Sidney Tillim has been much on my mind in recent weeks.

By: KEN GREENLEAF | May 09, 2012

The Art Department gets rolling

Growth + Development
Since it opened in January, you might have wondered what's up with the Art Department storefront on Congress Street.

By: NICHOLAS SCHROEDER | May 02, 2012

A trip to York yields excellent finds

Branching out
The George Marshall Store Gallery is located in a smallish, pale yellow building next to the York River.

By: NICHOLAS SCHROEDER | April 25, 2012

A contemporary artist shows one way forward

Painting past and future
There are many different ways to talk about Lesley Vance's paintings, yet we don't really have the right words yet.

By: BRITTA KONAU | April 18, 2012

Installations at Coleman Burke

Quiet witness
"A Thickening Rhythm" is a show of five artists, one of whom, Julie Poitras Santos, also curated the show, at Coleman Burke in Brunswick.

By: KEN GREENLEAF | April 11, 2012

Victoria Mansion stages an unsettlingly brilliant show

Going back in time
In a prodigious steampunk exhibit, the collective works in "Victoria's Wonderama" compound the motifs and fascinations of the 19th century with a wealth of fresh and fantastic interpretations, updating the genre without limiting its scope to orthodoxies.

By: NICHOLAS SCHROEDER | April 04, 2012

Rebecca Goodale’s artist’s books at UNE

Binding imagination
As the seeds of spring burst from their burrows once more, a fine artist's book exhibit at the UNE Art Gallery brings a master's craftsmanship to a compelling ecological theme.

By: NICHOLAS SCHROEDER | March 28, 2012

Greenhut’s ''Portland Show'' welcomes spring

Local joy
Every so often Greenhut organizes a "Portland Show," gathering works mostly about the city, or by artists who are identified with it, or both.

By: KEN GREENLEAF | March 21, 2012

Negotiating femininity in photographs

What is real?
Myths are inventions, not based on truth.

By: BRITTA KONAU | March 14, 2012

Bringing cardboard — and a gallery — to life

Recycling Biddeford
In case you're not familiar, MERC (Maine Energy Resource Company) is a massive waste-to-energy facility (a/k/a trash incinerator) that's been looming over Biddeford since 1987.

By: NICHOLAS SCHROEDER | March 07, 2012

The PMA offers a glimpse inside Degas’s world

Private showing
The work of Edgar Degas has been getting much attention from museums in the past few years.

By: KEN GREENLEAF | February 29, 2012

Pondering the Southworth Planetarium’s laser shows

Galaxy defenders
Every year as spring approaches, the Southworth Planetarium hosts its weekly Laser Fest, a 3-D bonanza of about a dozen programs that light up the dome theater with retro-futurist animation.

By: NICHOLAS SCHROEDER | February 22, 2012

‘Amplified Moments’ of power and knowledge

Pensive musings
Power and intellect don't need to be opposites but often appear locked in reciprocal suppression and propagation. Bates College Museum of Art shows an excellent selection of works by Chinese artist Xiaoze Xie in which he muses on this complex relationship.

By: BRITTA KONAU | February 15, 2012

Tanja Hollander takes Facebook to the PMA

Friend quest
If you've been buzzing about "Are You Really My Friend?" the new installation of Facebook-inspired portraits by local photographer and Bakery Photo Collective founder Tanja Alexia Hollander, you're not alone.

By: NICHOLAS SCHROEDER | February 08, 2012

Cultural feedback mixes at the ICA at MECA

‘Played simultaneously’
If you can't find the link between the print archive Whole Earth Catalog exhibit and Michael Bell-Smith's installation of tech art, update your browser (haw!).

By: NICHOLAS SCHROEDER | February 01, 2012

Time travel in miniature

What the future holds — or was it the past?
Although comprised of only six photographs, "Lori Nix: The City" at the University of Maine Museum of Art is a show not to be missed.

By: BRITTA KONAU | January 25, 2012

Aucocisco shows early works from Bernard Langlais and Jean Cohen

Very fine years indeed
A long time ago in a galaxy . . . well, it was just New York and it may seem like ancient history, but it was real life and what happened is part of who we are. We do like our stories about those days, and they quickly accrete the patina, and lack of detail, of legend.

By: KEN GREENLEAF | January 18, 2012

Domestic life viewed by 17 Maine photogs

Still tales
In the theater of Maine photography, the winter exhibit assembled at the Portland Public Library might be thought of as a kitchen drama — a show that tells the rich tales of the many and diverse voices of Maine domestic living — and it deserves to be seen by all who can afford to.

By: NICHOLAS SCHROEDER | January 11, 2012