Ellsworth Courthouse Gallery Fine Art will host an Artist Talk on Thursday, October 12 at 6pm for painter William Irvine and potter Mark Bell. These two artists, who are masters in their respective fields, will discuss about their process and the challenge of working together to create vases and plates. A selection of their individual and collaborative works will be on view through the end of October. The Artist Talk will be held in conjunction with “Art of Ellsworth: Maine Craft Weekend,” a citywide event celebrating Ellsworth’s creative community. The talk is free and open to the public.
William Irvine has established himself as a Maine and American master, known for his seascapes and his enchanting figurative and still life paintings. Irvine believes “Every artist is born with a small set of poems,” and it is the exploration of that personal mythology that defines him as an artist. Born and raised in Troon, a small coastal village in Scotland, he was introduced to modern art through the collection of whiskey magnate Johnnie Walker. After graduating from the Glasgow School of Art and serving in the Scottish army, Irvine came of artistic age in London where he was a part of a lively avant-garde scene. Moving to downeast Maine in 1968 proved a turning point artistically: Harbors, islands and boats, the sea and the sky, inspired bold work that combined Irvine’s abstract instincts with new pictorial concepts based on the landscape. His work is in numerous national and international collections. In 2014, Marshall Wilkes published William Irvine: A Painters Journey, a comprehensive book by Carl Little on Irvine’s work and career. Irvine lives in Brookline, Maine.
Mark Bell is a full time studio potter, who maintains a studio and gallery in Blue Hill, Maine. He received his B.F.A. in ceramics from The University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, and his M.F.A. in ceramics from Arizona State University. As a graduate student, Bell escaped the Arizona summer heat by working as a studio assistant at the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts in Deer Isle, Maine. Lured by the strong craft community and Maine’s rocky coastline, Bell moved to Blue Hill in 1990. Bell teaches and exhibits his work locally and nationally. His finely thrown and delicately glazed porcelains have been exhibited at the American Craft Museum in New York City, the Portland Museum of Art, the Smithsonian Craft Fair in Washington DC, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art Craft Show, among others. His pots have been highlighted in Ceramics Monthly and Clay Times, and are in numerous private and corporate collections, including the Crocker Art Museum, CA, and the Currier Museum of Art, NH.
Courthouse Gallery is located at 6 Court Street in Ellsworth. Off-Season Hours: Tuesday–Saturday 10am–5pm. For more information on upcoming shows call 207-667-6611, or visit www.courthousegallery.com
