Jessica Lee Ives (nèe Stammen) grew up in Camden, Maine. She received her BFA from the renowned Cooper Union School of Art and was named one of Glamour Magazine’s Top Ten College Women of the Year in 2003. After September 11, 2001, Ives worked as an artist-in-residence at Ground Zero in New York City, which earned her the Clark Foundation Fellowship, with which she pursued her MA at NYU, combining work in the fields of art, religion, and public service.
Ives moved back to midcoast Maine in 2008. In 2014, Ives transitioned into full-time studio practice. Today she maintains a vibrant online presence through her website, blogs, and Instagram.
“Immersed in Nature” is Ives’ first solo show with Gleason Fine Art in Boothbay Harbor. For the show, Ives focuses on three activities that she has explored extensively, both in person and in paint: swimming, mountain climbing, and fly-fishing. In both the soaring beauty of her Katahdin painting “Joy Is the Lesson” and the graceful underwater ballet of “Choreographic,” Ives demonstrates her deep respect for the natural world. With “Evening on the Big Eddy,” a solitary figure casts a line into a gorgeous, immense, deep-blue river. The moment is peaceful, reverential. The viewer can feel what it’s like to be there–alone in nature and totally at peace with it and yourself.
As a painter, Ives works in a loose but representational style. As an individual, Ives is both thoughtful and spiritual. Through her painting, Ives seeks to express her relationship with nature, as experienced simply through the act of seeing, and more directly through the many recreational activities in which she engages.
On a personal note, gallery owners Dennis and Marty Gleason have known Jessica since her college days, when she interned one summer at a second gallery they ran in Camden at the time. From her first tentative painting efforts to her current masterful handling of large, complex figural works, it has been thrilling to watch Jessica evolve as an artist.
“Jessica Lee Ives: Immersed in Nature” runs from Thursday, September 6, through Tuesday, October 9. Please join us on First Friday, September 7, from 5 to 7 pm, to share a glass of wine or beer and meet the remarkable young artist, Jessica Lee Ives. Gleason Fine Art is at 31 Townsend Avenue in Boothbay Harbor. Summer gallery hours are Monday through Saturday, 10 am to 5 pm, and Sunday, 11 am to 5 pm. For further information, call the gallery at 207-633-6849 or email the gallery at info@gleasonfineart.com. To view Jessica Ives’ entire show, as well as the gallery’s extensive of contemporary and estate art, visit the website: gleasonfineart.com.
Dominique Ostuni’s solo exhibition, “Would an Angel Apologize for Spilling Champagne,” is on view through Oct. 3 at Dowling Walsh Gallery in Rockland. A centerpiece of the exhibition is “Excess Comes Naturally,” an elaborate mirror standing more than 8 feet tall. The work begins with an ordinary functional object, then overwhelms that function with porcelain, […]
Waterfall Arts will invite the public inside more than 40 artist studios during the Lincoln Street Center Fall Open Studios from 1 to 5 p.m. Oct. 17 at 24 Lincoln St. in Rockland. During the free event, artists will open their studios and welcome visitors into their creative spaces. Guests can explore Rockland’s historic former […]
“Made in Maine,” the Maine Art Gallery’s annual member show, features more than 100 works of art across two floors of the historic Old Academy building in Wiscasset. The exhibition is on view through Oct. 18. Sara Stites of Thomaston, a new member, is showing at the gallery for the first time. Her oil painting […]
High Peaks Artisan Guild in Kingfield features Western Maine watercolor artist Karen Jordan Paul throughout September. Paul draws inspiration from wildlife found throughout Maine, particularly wild birds and fish. The guild celebrated Paul as its featured artist of the month during the Sept. 4 Kingfield Art Walk. High Peaks Artisan Guild is at 245 Main […]
Turtle Gallery in Deer Isle presents “Material Storytelling,” a three-artist exhibition featuring new work by Sheep Jones, Michele Ratté Delphin and Barbara Sullivan, through Oct. 11. The three artists use distinct materials and techniques to explore narrative, light and the quiet poetry of everyday objects. Jones brings her signature combination of oil and cold wax […]
Photographer Melonie Bennett will discuss her exhibition and debut monograph, “Holy Cow!,” from 5 to 8 p.m. Sept. 18 at the Maine Museum of Photographic Arts in Portland. The event will include an interview, reading and book signing. Photographer and writer Robert Diamante, a friend and fellow photographer, will interview Bennett. “Holy Cow!” presents an […]
Centre Street Arts Gallery in downtown Bath will open its fall show during the Bath Art Walk from 4 to 7 p.m. Sept. 18. The gallery represents 20 local artists and will feature new work in its fall exhibition. Visitors can meet the artists, explore the show and enjoy refreshments during the reception. Centre Street […]
Maine artist Daryne Rockett will present “Restoring Liberty,” an exhibition of monotypes and mixed-media work, from Oct. 2 to Nov. 24 at the McDade Gallery at Bangor Public Library. The exhibition brings together two interconnected bodies of work examining freedom, democracy, justice and hope. In a series of layered monotypes, the Statue of Liberty appears […]
Maine Craft Weekend, an annual statewide celebration of craft, community and creativity, will return Oct. 3 and 4. The free, self-guided tour invites visitors to discover the people, places and stories behind Maine’s craft communities. Hundreds of participating artists and locations will host open studios, workshops, pop-up markets, exhibitions, fairs, artist talks, special events and […]