CMCA Sunday Salon | “Materiality” Artists Talk

The Center for Maine Contemporary Art invites the public to attend the first of four Sunday Salon gallery talks with artists featured in the current exhibition, Materiality: The Matter of Matter, on December 3 at 3pm. CMCA’s Sunday Salons are an ongoing series of engaging talks and conversations by artists and leaders in the fields of contemporary art and design. Sunday Salons are free to CMCA members; others by admission. Participants are invited to stay following the talks for further conversation and refreshments.

The first talk in the series is with artists Adam Lampton, Ben Potter, and Ian Trask. Each artist will feature 5 slides of their work, and talk about the materials they use, how they use them, and why.

Adam Lampton, of South Portland, uses common household materials such as plastic bags and flour to create artificial landscapes that he then photographs, constructing a visual memory of the Colorado Front Range region that he left as a younger man.

Belfast artist Ben Potter’s work reflects his interdisciplinary background in the arts and sciences. Working in a variety of simple forms that often recall landscape elements, he experiments with natural materials, such as bee pollen, silver, and clay.

Ian Trask, of Brunswick, is a biologist turned artist. His sculptures transform materials of waste and commercial byproducts into refined aesthetic objects that reinterpret a material’s value and usefulness. Trask chooses to create his art from things that are either discarded or donated by others in a deliberate effort to let scarcity and access dictate the direction of his work.

The series of series of Sunday Salon gallery talks with artists featured in the current exhibition will continue on December 10, 17 and February 4, at 3pm. On Sunday, December 10, the series will include a performance by Heather Lyon (Blue Hill) with a talk following. Sunday, December 17, will include talks by Stephanie Cardon (Cushing and Roslindale, MA), Lisa Kellner (Deer Isle) Loretta Park (Brunswick and Jamaica Plain, MA) and Emilie Stark-Menneg (Brunswick). The final talk of the series will be held on Sunday, February 4 and includes Jackie Brown (Bath), Jonathan Mess (Jefferson) and Aaron T Stephan (Portland).

For more information on the exhibition, Materiality: The Matter of Matter, and the artists in the series, visit cmcanow.org