Courthouse Gallery presents three solo shows

Ellsworth Courthouse Gallery Fine Art presents three solo shows through Sept. 8: “Tom Curry: Edge of Light,” “Rosie Moore: Fragments” and “Lisa Tyson Ennis: Botanical Alchemy.”

The shows are free and open to the public at the gallery and can also be viewed online at www.courthousegallery.com.

“Tom Curry: Edge of Light” takes the viewer on a journey of spectacle, spread out across nature’s stage. Curry rivets our attention in “Summer Storm,” with his daring use of bold chartreuse, jolting us into a keen awareness of the sun’s intensity. Islands sizzle under the blaze of a setting sun in “Evening Light on Camden Hills,” and in “Barren,” a midday sun reveals the shocking crimson of a Maine blueberry field in autumn. The drama continues with a majestic painting of Chatto, a small island just offshore from Curry’s home in Brooklin. Mirrored reflections of a deep, ominous cool grey sky contrast with just a hint of spark, shimmering across the treetops of Chatto, in solemn stillness. Again and again, Curry’s paintings entice away from modern distraction into another world that is vast and eternal, one where we can witness the Earth in all her glory.

“Rosie Moore: Fragments” highlights a new collection of mixed-media paintings by the Blue Hill artist. Intrigued by the complications of space, Moore has found that working with media offers her more freedom to experiment with abstraction through the integration of texture, shape and color. She uses a combination of ink, acrylic paint and collage, including fragments of earlier work on paper, handmade papers, magazine images or any other materials useful in the development of the final picture. Known for her loosely painted expressionistic seascapes, Moore finds the complex relationships of the objects and patterns in a still life or interior especially intriguing. Moore splits her time between Blue Hill and Washington, D.C.

“Lisa Tyson Ennis: Botanical Alchemy” features work by the Castine-based photographer, who uses historical processes, large- and medium-format cameras, black-and-white film, handmade toners and oil paints, and cyanotypes, a beautiful 19th-century photographic process whereby two benign iron salts become light sensitive when mixed together with water. Ennis combines these salts in her darkroom and gently brushes several coats onto heavy watercolor paper. She then lays plant material onto the wet paper and places it under glass, which is left outside to be exposed to the elements for many hours, sometimes days. Together, the sun, wind, humidity, type of plant etc. create the image, a true record of time and place, as the landscape literally imprints itself on the paper. Petals, seeds, or colorful extracts from the plants themselves often remain, embedded into the surface of the paper.

Courthouse Gallery is located at 6 Court Street in Ellsworth. For more information call 667- 6611, or visit www.courthousegallery.com.