Upcoming Exhibits at the Caldbeck Gallery

From June 18 through July 16, the Caldbeck Gallery, 12 Elm Street in Rockland, will exhibit new work in oil on canvas by Nancy Wissemann-Widrig of Cushing, and Southold NY, and new work in graphite on paper by Dennis Pinette of Belfast.  Also on view will be work by gallery artists Lise Becu of Tenants Harbor, Sam Cady of Friendship, David Dewey of Owls Head and Blairstown NJ, Jeff Epstein of Cushing and Brooklyn NY, Bayard Hollins of Islesboro and Basalt CO, K.Min of Friendship, Dan West of Friendship, and Susan Williams of Camden.  The opening reception for the artists will take place on First Friday, July 1.

In her exhibit of new work, titled “On Reflection”, Wissemann-Widrig dives ever deeper into the world of the sea.  Painting directly from nature, she says that “the pressure and excitement are the reward for painting on-site”.  She describes the beauty of “a perfectly calm morning with the water gently undulating as the tide laps the shore.  Hints of hidden worlds are visible in the depths, when suddenly a lobster boat steams by, far out on the (St. George) river, and in a few minutes, its wake sends waves crashing, with turbulent foam breaking over the rocks.  And then…everything returns to serenity.”  Through this experience, the painting becomes a “balancing act between what it feels like and how it looks.  Everything is in flux”.   The works in this show range in size from 30 x 60 inches to 8 x 10 inches, and were painted over the past 3 years.   From 1974 to 1983, the artist was represented in NYC by the Tibor de Nagy Gallery, followed by the Tatistcheff Gallery through 1992.  She first showed with the Caldbeck in 1987; this will be her 7th solo show with the gallery.  Wissemann-Widrig’s work is in numerous corporate, private, and public collections.  In Maine, her paintings are in the permanent collections of the Farnsworth Art Museum, and the Portland Museum of Art.

Pinette’s exhibit, “Rough Water”, is comprised of 9 works in graphite on paper, measuring 9 x 12 inches, and 6 x 16 inches.  More often than not, the artist works in oil on canvas and on paper, but of this new body of work, he says, “I began painting and drawing with water soluble graphite about three years ago. It’s just a hard, dense cake of graphite that reacts by degrees of viscosity as it engages water. Subtle and brutal marks are possible within a very close range. Although I’ve been working allot on Yupo, which is polypropelene and totally without an inherent character, the 9 paintings at Caldbeck are on Arches, which is cotton paper whose surface comes automatically loaded with its own character. The paper has as much to do with the image as the graphite does. I love the irony of depicting water in motion through a medium that is exactly that…water in motion…shifting densities, fluid lines, restless contrasts that engage an infinitely repetitive form. I’ve found the absence of color very liberating.”  Pinette’s work has been shown widely in Maine, New York, and Connecticut.  In 2003, his 25 year retrospective exhibit at the Farnsworth Art Museum, “The Lucid Mark”, curated by Suzette McAvoy, was reviewed at length in the New York Times by reviewer, Deborah Weisgall.  Maine museum collections include the University of Maine at Machias, Bowdoin College, Bates College, Colby College, the Portland Museum of Art, and the Farnsworth Art Museum.  Pinette has shown with the Caldbeck since 1985.

Gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday 11-4, and Sunday 1-4.   For more information, please call the gallery at (207) 594-5935, or email caldbeck@midcoast.com.