Here's a few snapshots from our reception for RED (Again) on Friday night. It's been quite a weekend, with the Seasons of Stonington opening for breakfast, lunch and dinner across the street, "Up in the Air" at the Opera House, "Reflections" at Pearson Legacy in Deer Isle, and of course, our second annual all things red  event. And after all that, Crystal's Blue Persuasions at Lily's.

We had a good crowd Friday night, and some dressed the part. I wore my red chamois shirt, but for some people, dressing-up for a night out is an art.

This end of Main Street has been hopping all weekend. When we opened in May, 2003, people told us that it didn't really get busy until June. Then in June they said "well, wait until July." In July we were assured that August was really the time. But Valentines weekend has been a well-kept secret. Maybe we'll keep doing this.

Where's Waldo?



Susan Webster, Bruce Bulger, Jennifer Lee Morrow

With over 75 pieces of art from 30 artists, RED (Again) is brightening-up Stonington with some much-needed winter  color. After last year’s Valentine’s weekend show, plenty of artists expressed interest in doing it again, already formulating ideas. For some artists, having a theme to work around is as much about rising to a challenge; what  might be seen to some as a limitation, inspires them to go in a direction they might not have otherwise gone, and the results can be exciting.

 found object pendants- J. Fred Woell

 Rebekah Raye: Cedar Waxwings & Berry, ink charcoal, oil, 9.5" x 11.5"

The show includes a great variety of work, including jewelry, pottery and wood, as well as painting, photography, printmaking and sculpture. We’re also seeing a trend toward category-defying artwork: kinetic sculpture, wearable book-art or wearable kinetic jewelry... it’s all fun, and  red, mostly.

Leslie Anderson: Top of the World, acrylic on canvas, 24" x 18"

Sherry Streeter, Mary Howe, J. Fred Woell, Penelope Plumb

If you’d like to find that special something for your  sweetheart, you might want  to stop by Isalos and put a red dot on it before Friday’s reception, as last year’s was well-attended. Remember: nothing says “I love you” like the gift of fine art.

Rebecca Daugherty: Red Boat Study #4, oil on panel, 6" x 6"

I have to admit, sometimes I don't pick up the Island Advantages because I look at the front cover with its usual bits of ongoing news- some committee drama or developments in the mollusk and crustacean world- and I just can't quite get the level of excitement that I need to shell-out the 80 cents. But sometimes there's weather, or a mystery, like the weekly disappearance of about 3000 gallons of water, and, well... I just don't want to miss anything. As the above photograph illustrates, we have had weather. This was January third. I can't tell you how much snow we received, but I shoveled-out three separate times.

I mention that sort of news, because I know that that is what some readers of this blog really want. So I'll lure you in with photos of snow and sensational news, and ambush you with some art. Here's Rebecca poking her head out of her studio in the corner of the gallery. She's flanked by a nice little collection of her paintings. You'd think, having our own gallery and all, that it would always be easy to hang as much of Rebecca's work as we want. Not so. In the summertime, she sometimes ends up with less space than other artists, especially when we have a show. It's a real luxury when you've got the wall space to hang most everything you'd like.

But of course there's plenty of other art hanging as well. Occasionally I notice an arrangement that just seems to work, a little spot in the gallery that I look at and think "someday I'd like to have a spot like that in my home". That's a painting by Barbara Brady with a sculpture by Farrell Ruppert. The sculpture is made from the  flukes of an old anchor, a series he's been exploring for a couple of years now. The plywood bench is by me. There's just something about raw birch plywood that works for me. And don't forget the pedestal, hewn from artisanal organic MDF. The wall color? Adagio. Benjamin Moore.

Above: paintings by Vaino Kola and Eugene Koch. That's Koch & Kola. The Kola paintings are intricately detailed views of rocks along the shore of Greenlaw Cove. Vaino knows these rocks very well by now. The Koch pieces all use lines in different ways with innovative materials. I often describe them as atmospheric, since they might evoke fog or other conditions brought on around here by the ocean and the weather, but I think Eugene gets more excited about discovering new ways to use his materials than any desire to evoke anything. In that piece in the middle, he used three miles of fishing line, wrapped around a panel.

Marble sculpture by Richard Aliberti, rug by someone in the Middle East, a long time ago. That's the fun part about having a gallery. If you're the sort of person who likes to re-arrange furniture, you might enjoy having a gallery. When Main Street is  covered with snow, that's what we often do.



Happy New Year from downtown Stonington! The plows have been busy clearing the streets of some slushy snow, and the gallery has been open. This winter Rebecca has her studio set-up in a corner of the gallery, which allows us to be open quite a bit, even if there's not much traffic.

The Harbor Cafe is also open today, and this morning we watched as a new awning was hung across the street at the Maritime Cafe, which will re-open soon under new management as "The Seasons of Stonington".

We've kept busy, both with our work and in trying to keep up with the fast-paced life of Stonington in the winter. The Opera House has at least one movie every week and is now in rehearsal for "Brilliant Traces", a play which will be performed during the first weekend of February.

On the wall:

Rebecca Daugherty: Stephen Taber with Peapod, oil on canvas, 30" x 30"

When you're in town to see "Brilliant Traces", you can check out our new show: RED (Again). Last February we had so much fun filling the gallery with red that we decided to do it again. The show will hang February 5th through 15th, with a reception on Friday the 12th from 4 - 7 pm. It's just in time to find that special something for that special someone. Winter is a good time to check out art around here since there's less competition from other buyers! I'll be posting some previews of the RED (Again) show soon.

Carolyn Caldwell, Pemaquid Light, pastel, 11" x 14", $975

Today is Open Lighthouse Day in Maine. All over the state, a bunch of lighthouses are open to the public, and accessible through boat tours. We chose not to do a special show, but I wanted to get some  lighthouse-oriented work in the gallery. Carolyn Caldwell just brought by this pastel, which she did on location at Pemaquid Light.

Whether or not Lighthouse Day brings hordes of lighthouse-seekers to the island, the Chamber of Commerce has published a new Lighthouse Trail brochure, pointing visitors to eight lighthouses that aren't too far from here. Not wanting to miss-out on any potential hordes, we put an ad in the brochure, so now we'll need to always have a lighthouse department. I began a couple of  (somewhat crude) block prints, but they're not quite there yet. Maybe some day.

Carolyn Caldwell, Bay Islands #4, Orange, pastel, 12" x 12", $950

New paintings by Barbara Brady, Carolyn Caldwell and Rebecca Daugherty will be featured at Isalos Fine Art  from September 4th through 13th. An artist’s reception will take place in conjunction with Stonington Galleries First Friday Open Gallery  Night on September 4th from 4 to 7 p.m.

Rebecca Daugherty’s realistic oils are inspired by the recent repaving in downtown Stonington, and are the latest in an ongoing series of roadwork paintings. Barbara Brady’s oils begin with the landscape or personal narrative, and are expressive through the use of gesture and manipulation of surface texture. Carolyn Caldwell’s pastels have drawn from island forms in Penobscot Bay, exploring the interaction of colors and dark abstracted shapes.

Isalos Fine Art is open Tuesday through Sunday, 10 to 5.

Check out the show here!

It's always a challenge  for us to get a few good pictures of our openings. We're always so busy dealing with the food, opening wine or  counting huge stacks of money that it's tough to get the camera out. Rebecca did at our August 21st opening for Eugene Koch's Lines of Sight, and came up with a nice group of photographs, documenting the end of the hanging process and the gallery as guests began to arrive.

I've posted them on Facebook: have a look!

One  thing that impressed me about these photos, is that most of the time, the people are actually looking at the art! Often, our photos from an opening show groups of  people standing around talking and eating, their backs to the artwork. This time, our guests seem to be looking and discussing the artwork, perhaps scratching their heads, wondering "how'd he do that?"

Rebecca Daugherty: Roadwork: Steamroller, oil on panel, 10" x 10", $550

We're getting some perfect weather  in Stonington now. Sunny, maybe a little cool with crisp, clear air. To be sure, it feels autumnal. The sidewalks are less crowded than they  were a short time ago. In the gallery, we have a couple more days left of Lines of Sight, before re-hanging for a three-artist show that opens Friday, featuring Barbara Brady, Carolyn Caldwell and Rebecca Daugherty. As I write, Rebecca is upstairs in her studio, working hard to get her new paintings done. The Department of Transportation has been on the island for the  last week, repaving. Rebecca has been following their progress, and has several new paintings that will undoubtedly still be a bit wet for the opening.

Eugene Koch, Sweet Sea, scored acrylic, oil, 24" x 24"

Lines of Sight, new work by Eugene Koch will show at Isalos Fine Art, Stonington from August 21st through September 3rd. An artist’s reception will take place on Friday, August 21st from 4 to 7 p.m. The public is welcome.

In his studio atop Russ Hill in Stonington, Eugene Koch has created art for over twenty years. During that time, his work has taken various forms, but his improvisational and intuitive process has been a constant, as has his preoccupation with using lines as mantra, a repetition intended to clear the mind as one passes into a contemplative state. In this show, Koch created lines either by scratching into acrylic panels or wrapping fishing line around panels, creating varying degrees of translucency that suggest water surfaces and fog. The largest, “Fogbound #2” uses over three miles of fishing line.

(isalosfineart.com)

OHA Moments

Often, after a show at the Stonington Opera House, we step out the back door and pause atop the steps, savoring the view: everything from the Fishing Gear and Auto Parts store to the harbor full of lobster boats. We may have just seen a movie or danced to a local band, or perhaps we’re part of a large summer crowd, having just experienced a new take on Shakespeare, or had our socks knocked-off by a jazz performer. Sometimes, when the entertainment has truly transported us, the baity, salt air aroma comes as a mild shock, and we can only savor our good fortune; our lifestyle in Stonington is shaped as much by the ocean and its moods as it is by the stage and screen just down the street. I find it hard to imagine Stonington without the Opera House, or the Opera House without Stonington.

Carolyn Caldwell, OHA Rocks Lobsterville,

collage, 24" x 18"

Much of the time, the seats around us are filled with people we know. They are the same people who come to our gallery openings: artists, patrons and people who really like wine & cheese. Odds are, they’re all of the above. Sometimes we’re volunteering alongside each other, handing-out programs, painting sets or bagging popcorn. The motto, Incite Art, Create Community is amazingly apt.

Julie Morringello, Hive, lobster bands, paint, wood, 30" x 30"

So, while the building has stood at the end of Main Street for nearly a century, it has grown a new heart and soul over the last ten years. It seemed only natural to celebrate that decade by inciting yet more art and asking a few artists for their take on life at the Opera House and the sense of community it has inspired.

The artists took widely different approaches, suggesting not only their diverse talents, but also the varied role of the Opera House in their lives. Julie Morringello and Eugene Koch, frequent volunteers, focused on an idea about what happens there: the network of activity that makes it all happen, expressed as a net-like grid, or a hive-like assemblage. Jennifer Lee Morrow also took a conceptual route, creating “set changes” that rotate, alternating the “on stage” lighted section. Others focused on particular elements of the place, like Judith Ingram evoking the new stairway that made the Opera House more accesible to her, or Rebecca Daugherty painting a moment at the concessions stand.

Buzz Masters, Three Witches, mixed media, 24" x 24"

Tying together performance and the sense of community it inspires, Jill Hoy’s Quarryography features recognizeable community members, both performers and audience members. Quarryography and Shakespeare have worked deeply into artists’ imaginations, as has Peter Beerits’ dragon sculpture and the second line parade that brought the spirit of New Orleans to Main Street Stonington.

Susan  Webster, Kick Up  Your Heels at the Opera House

acrylic paint on size 10 high-heel shoes

The tenth anniversary of Opera House Arts provided a theme for several collage-like pieces, as well as for Susan Webster, whose painted high-heeled shoes (size 10) suggest a celebration befitting an auspicious milestone. More than a theme or a tribute though, the work in the show is personal to the artists, evolving from their own experience. As they have been inspired to make their experience more tangible, perhaps their efforts will nuance our own enjoyment, and the next time we step outside after a show, our experience will be that much richer.


Thanks to our panel of jurors: Larry Estey, Judith Jerome, Macy Lasky and John Ollman, and also to Linda Nelson and the staff at Opera House Arts for their help and encouragement.

Rebecca Daugherty, Concessions, oil on panel, 10" x 15"

An exhibition celebrating Opera House Arts’ tenth anniversary will be on display at Isalos Fine Art in Stonington from August 7th through 20th. An artist’s reception will take place in conjunction with Stonington Galleries First Friday Open Gallery Night on August 7, from 4 to 7 p.m.

Jill Hoy, Quarryography, oil on canvas, 46" x 64"

The show features work by 21 artists, offering meditations on the Opera House and its place in the community. The artists took widely different approaches, suggesting not only their diverse talents, but also the varied role of the Opera House in their lives. Some pieces celebrate particular performances, like the Shakespearean plays or Quarryography, while the more conceptual works explore the network of community activity inspired by those performances. The show is accompanied by a 28-page catalog, featuring a monograph by Alicia Anstead.

Carolyn Caldwell, Three Dancers, photograph, 5" x 8"

Isalos Fine Art is at 26 Main Street in Stonington, and is open Tuesday through Sunday, 10 - 5. For more information, call 367-2700.