Artists tell their stories with an eclectic mix of materials and genres in Maine Art Gallery exhibit

“Lost and Found,” the current online show at the Maine Art Gallery, features three Maine artists who create mixed-media narratives with all manner of materials from traditional art supplies to textiles, papers, and found objects. The show, which can be viewed at www.maineartgallerywiscasset.org through Sept. 4, is a preview of an in-person show to be held at the gallery next summer when it is hoped that COVID-19 will be under control.

Katy Helman, Buzz Masters, and Jennifer Lee Morrow tell their stories in a rather unorthodox way that reflects the human spirit through symbolism and patterns and a synthesis of styles. The work is so powerful that Elaine Pew, curator of the show, was inspired to bring it to the gallery when she first saw the work of Buzz Masters. “The way Buzz combines fresco with collage, telling stories that involved the viewer, really struck me. I knew then that I had to show her work at the Maine Art Gallery,” Pew said.

Masters describes her own work as an investigation of malleable nature of memory — what we hold onto and what we leave out in order to make our story. She uses wooden panels covered with her recipe of materials reflecting the genius of Italian plasterers. More recently, she has been working on paper, using mixed-media collage.

Pew found Katy Helman’s work to be joyful and humorous. As Helman says of her paintings, “I mix stripes and paisleys, synthesize genres and styles. Whether obvious or not, my work is autobiographical, describing my state of mind and the current events of my life.”

Jennifer Lee Morrow describes herself as a magpie, collecting bits of paper and cloth and other objects that come into her life. “I collect the stories I hear and the ones I imagine. Then, through alchemy, tinkering, and stitching, I combine and alter these substances until the stories deepen and become my own.”

The Maine Art Gallery is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the advancement and preservation of painting, sculpture and graphic arts through exhibitions, lectures, demonstrations, and educational programs for children and adults. More information is available at www.maineartgallerywiscasset.org and on Facebook at Maine Art Gallery Wiscasset. The gallery is located at 15 Warren St., Wiscasset. The gallery is closed for the 2020 season.