“Touch of Gold” at CRAFT Gallery

CRAFT Gallery opens “Touch of Gold” on Friday, September 1st through October 5th, presenting new work by gallery artists. Four featured artists use gold as a common element in their work: potter Paul Heroux, calligrapher Jan Owen, quilter Daphne Taylor and sculptor Jacques Vesery. Quilt maker Daphne Taylor’s powerful design sense and minimalist aesthetic are expressed in her ”drawings” with thread. Her use of gold and silk recall the Middle Ages and Renaissance art, sumptuous with gold and precious materials to add value.She uses wool and silk as a surface to create her work with thread. Potter Paul Heroux treats the ceramic vessel as a painting surface and 3 – dimensional canvass, combining colors, patterns, angles and metallic lusters to his abstract and architectural approach to pottery. Calligrapher Jan Owen’s hand lettered piece, “Benediction” features a poem by Wesley McNair from his newest book “The Unfastening” McNair was poet laureate of Maine from 2011 to 2016. This is the ninth collection of his published work.

CRAFT Gallery is also privileged to present the newest clay sculptures by Lynn Duryea, co-founder of Watershed Center for Ceramic Arts. Duryea began her career as a functional potter and progressed to making minimalist abstract forms. Her geometric and architectural clay sculptures combine angles, colors and textures that she has observed in smokestacks, dock pilings and worn building facades. She was included in the Center for Maine Contemporary Art’s 2016 Biennial and has taught and lectured widely in the U.S. Many of the artists will be present during the September 1st First Friday Art Walk and books pertaining to their work will be available for purchase and signing including the new “Handcrafted Maine” featuring weaver Sara Hotchkiss.

CRAFT Gallery is located at 12 Elm Street in Rockland and will have live music by “Good Vibrations” in the gallery courtyard during the evening Art Walk. For more information call (207) 594-0167 and visit www.craftonelm.com