Join us on Thursday, September 19 from 5-7 pm for the Opening Reception of: Exquisite Beauty. The enduring legacy of grace at Cove St. Arts in Portland.

The exhibition, curated by Indigo Arts Alliance co-founder Marcia Minter, showcases the international photography of two Maine artists, David Caras and Meredith Kennedy.

Soup chef gets engulfed in soupy steam near Yu Yuan.

“Grace,” as a noun, refers to the elegance or beauty of form, manner, motion or action. As a verb, it means to confer dignity or honor upon a subject. Through the work of two Portland-based artists, Marcia Minter curated an exhibition that explores both concepts.

The Cuba-based work of photographer David Caras depicts everyday life set in decaying colonial grandeur. Meredith Kennedy transports the viewer to the other side of the globe, to Asia and to scenes immediately recognizable as foreign whether depicting frenetic city streets or quiet village scenes.

In both artists’ work, there is an elegance of form and a beauty in the human environments depicted. Through their lenses, Caras and Kennedy document the dignity in their subjects and confer that dignity upon the viewer by evoking our shared humanity across cultures and the often exquisite (acute, even painful) beauty we create.

Marcia Minter is the co-founder of Indigo Arts Alliance, VP Creative Director of L.L. Bean, and a member of the board of trustees of the Portland Museum of Art.