Siri Beckman, The Riddle, oil on canvas, 8" x 10"

That's right- our fourth annual Valentines show at Isalos Fine Art. Once again, Isalos has brought a splash of mid-winter color to Main Street, Stonington with a red-themed show. The gallery is packed with the work of 37 artists who used all kinds of media to visit the themes. It's a fun show. The artists had fun and you will too if you drop by for our reception today.... that's right- TODAY from 4 to 7 pm. As always, we'll have some awesome refreshments for those who make the appearance on the red carpet. Wear your red if you want- you won't be the only one!

Stop by on your way to see "The Aliens" at the Stonington Opera House. Eat at one of Stonington's restaurants, put your toes in the sand and watch the sun set over the azure waters... (guess which of these statements is an exaggeration). We hope to see you.

Eric Hopkins, Rolling Fog Over The Islands, oil on wood, 10" x 24"

Eric Hopkins: Cutting Loose is now hanging, through August 14th, with an opening reception tomorrow, Friday, August 5th from 4 to 7. Come to the opening and then head over to the Opera House to hear Jason Moran and Kaoru Watanabe.

Images of all the work in the show can be seen on the link to the left.

You can download your very own E-Catalog for the Hopkins show- just click here!

Carolyn Caldwell's new show, Fields to the Sea is hung in the front of the gallery now. The hanging took place Monday night: yet another configuration of the gallery space. We moved the walls around until it all seemed to fit, and then the show came together. Then we stuck the couch in the front window- right where you can sit and take-in the show like you would at home.

Carolyn Caldwell, Unrest, oil on canvas, 20" x 20"

This spring, Caldwell, a Deer Isle artist, took a drive west in search of landscapes. Her travels took her to Texas, Montana, California, and many miles in between. In what might seem diverse scenery, Caldwell searched for what she calls “the universal landscape”, focusing on atmospheric skies and the interplay of light and dark over colorful hills, fields, and finally, as she returned home, Penobscot Bay. Local waters figure heavily into the show, but Caldwell has returned to them with a fresh perspective gained from her travels.

Carolyn Caldwell, Trade Off, oil on linen, 19" x 23"

The show will be up through July 31st, with a reception tomorrow, Friday, July 22 from 4 to 7. A catalogue is available. We hope to see you tomorrow!

Carolyn Caldwell: River to the Sea, oil, 24" x 24"

We've been keeping regular hours since Memorial Day, with work currently hanging from fifteen different artists. Within the next week, we'll be getting even more work, so we'll have a diverse selection until July 19, when Carolyn Caldwell's new show will be hung. Her show this year will feature atmospheric landscapes in oil. We'll have an artist's reception on Friday, July 22 from 4 to 7, and the show will hang through July 31st.

Eric Hopkins: Summer Island with Cove & Roses, watercolor, 22 x 30 

Next up is Eric Hopkins' show Cutting Loose, which will include work in his new series of oil on wood relief landscapes. Hopkins shapes wood into patterns similar to those he has been exploring in paintings for the last three decades, and paints the assemblage with his signature bright palette. Cutting Loose will hang from August 2 through 14th, with an artist's reception on Friday, August 5th from 4 to 7.

"Love Shrimp"

 2011, archival pigment print of shrimp assemblage, by June Hopkins. Photo by Hal Hagy/Lucky Dog Gallery

The show ponders three themes:

WE - oneself and another or others

LOVE - a feeling of warm personal attachment or deep affection

RED - the hue of the long-wave end of the visible spectrum, evoked in the human ovbserver by radiant energy with wavelengths of approximately 630 to 750 nanometers

"Red Kiss"

Pat Wheeler, cold wax, acrylic, 24" x 24"

The work in the show is contributed by over thirty artists working in jewelry, photography, sculpture and painting. The reception is open to the public, and the gallery will remain open through Monday the 14th, 10 to 5 each day.

Red Shoes

Alice Wilkinson, photograph, 16" x 20"

Rebecca Daugherty, Study for new un-named painting, oil

What many others refer to as "Black Friday" (in which consumers everywhere go into the red so the big stores can put their bookkeeping into the black) I think of as "The Day After Thanksgiving". And to celebrate this day, we often have a show. We just did a "Jumbo Shrimp" small works show, and we didn't feel like imposing a theme, so we just asked a few artists what was new.

"Fredheads" by Sarah Doremus

The show is mostly hung, and we'll be open tomorrow (Friday) morning through the weekend, with a reception Friday from 4 to 7. We have a nice assortment of work. With some of our usual suspects and a few others. Many of you have seen the documentary films in the Maine Masters Project, a series of films about Maine artists who have made a considerable impact. J. Fred Woell is the subject of the next documentary, and to help raise funds for it, Sarah Doremus is creating a series of "Fred Head" pins. We have forty (or we did until the first red dots started appearing) of these innovative, one of a kind wearable sculpture pins. Each features the iconic profile of Fred... but beyond that, anything goes. You really just have to see them.

We also have some work from J. Fred Woell himself: popcan pins, precious metal clay necklaces... and yes, we are pretty much a painting gallery, so we have them hung on the wall. Aside from that, we have a bunch of paintings: Frederica Marshall, Siri Beckman, Suzanne Siegel, Pat Wheeler, Carolyn Caldwell, Jennifer Lee Morrow, Eugene Koch, and Rebecca Daugherty.

The gallery will be open Friday through Sunday 10 - 5, with an opening reception on Friday from 4 - 7. We'll be open by chance or appointment through December. We hope to see you!

Suzanne Siegel, Full Moon Night, watercolor, 27" x 18"



Elizabeth Kelley, Kendall Eaton Fixing The Roof, oil on panel, 10" x 10"

Given an oxymoronic-titled event like "Last First Friday", it seemed only fitting to hang a show with an equally oxymoronic title, like "Jumbo Shrimp". So for next Friday we'll be hanging a selection of small work, including work from Carolyn Caldwell, Rebecca Daugherty, Eric Hopkins, Eugene Koch, Vaino Kola, Rebecca Raye, and introducing Elizabeth Kelley, an Ogunquit painter who recently completed a series of on-location paintings in downtown Stonington.

oil on panel, 10" x 8"

New Work for First Friday
from 

Rebecca Daugherty
Eric Hopkins
Philip Koch
Gina Sawin
Suzanne Siegel

Eric Hopkins, Early Sun #1, watercolor, gouache & crayon, 2010, 4-20-10, 9.5" x 9.5"

Philip Koch, Yellow House, Rte. 6, oil on panel, 14" x 15.25", 2009

Gina Sawin, Storm Petrel Alighting, graphite, 11" x 11"

Suzanne Siegel, Two Shacks, Full Moon,

watercolor, 20.5" x 28.5"

and special guest
Earl

Fernald's Neck - New Pastels

John Woolsey: Fernald’s Neck - New Pastels will hang at Isalos Fine Art, Stonington from July 20 through August 8, with an  opening reception  on Friday,  July 23rd from 4  to 7 PM.

John Woolsey: Fernald's Neck #6, 22" x 30", pastel

The pastels were inspired by Fernald’s Neck, on Lake Megunticook in Camden. Woolsey focuses on small spaces in the dense woodland, referring to them as “interiors” because, like rooms, they are enclosed on all sides by dense woods. In these spaces, Woolsey finds dynamic compositions among the tangled branches, pine needles and boulders. Fernald’s Neck, a preserve managed by the Coastal Mountains Land Trust, encompasses 328 acres and about four miles of shoreline.

John Woolsey earned his MFA at the University of Pennsylvania in 1973, studying with Neil Welliver and others; his work now hangs in numerous public and corporate collections He divides his time between Philadelphia and Maine. 

Available Work

Vaino Kola: Penobscot Bay, oil on canvas, 24" x 62"

We've shown the work of Vaino Kola since 2004, when we filled the entire gallery with his Paintings of Two Islands: Iceland and Deer Isle show, and every year the arrival of a new painting is  a greatly-anticipated event. This year we've collected a group of his etchings and paintings spanning over thirty years of his career, including his newest oil: Penobscot Bay.

Vaino Kola: Sundown, oil on canvas, 24" x 48"

Kola, a Deer Isle resident, finds inspiration from the woods  and shoreline near his home, but his paintings require months of quiet solitude in his studio, resulting in images that convey his inner landscape as much as the  one outside. Penobscot Bay blends elements from Causeway Beach with Kola’s imagination.

Vaino Kola: Roots, etching, 9" x 12"

Kola, born and  raised in Finland, received an M.F.A. from Yale  University and taught  at Wheaton College in Massachusetts for 26 years before retiring to Deer Isle to paint full time. His paintings hang in over forty museum and corporate collections. Well, that's the  kind of propoganda we like to hear  about artists, but from my point of  view, getting to know Vaino and his work has been one of the things  that has made having this gallery worthwhile. You're not likely to find anyone more dedicated to their work, and yet so modest about  it.

Vaino Kola: Winter Light, Homage to I.B., etching, 19" x 18"

One difficulty in hanging the  show was that each painting and etching deserves a quiet space around it. With six large paintings and eleven framed etchings (two of them quite large) this took some effort, but if you spend some time with any one  of these, you can get a sense of what it  took to create them: the  months of quiet solitude, the meditative focus, and of Kola's awe for the natural world around him.

Vaino Kola: Dusk, oil on canvas, 36" x 56"

These are all things I could use more of in my day to day life. As Stonington's Main Street experiences it's usual early July chaos, it's nice to step into an oasis of relative calm here in the gallery. Hope you can check it out.

On display at Isalos Fine Art from July 2 through July 18, 2010.

Artist's reception Friday, July 2, 4 -7 PM, in conjunction  with Stonington Galleries First Friday Open Gallery Night.