Dowling Walsh Gallery features new paintings by Hannah Secord Wade 

Dowling Walsh Gallery in Rockland will present the exhibition “Hannah Secord Wade: Base Tan / Stagecraft” from May 3 to 25. The exhibition features two new series of paintings by the artist, who lives in Woolwich. The exhibition opens to the public with a reception during Rockland’s First Friday Art Walk from 4 to 7 p.m. May 3.

Hannah Secord Wade is known for her lush, imaginary landscapes that transport viewers to her fictive worlds. Working from representation to abstraction and back again, a process she refers to as “representation being eaten by abstraction,” her imagery is built slowly over time.

“My paintings always begin with a drawing,” she says, “and I have a steady stream of ideas which I sketch out digitally. From this base of sketches, I wait to see which image will keep returning to my mind and decide which feels the most urgent.”

Within this framework, she works on a series-by-series basis, creating individual scenes united by a common color palette and set in the same imagined environment. The recent series, Base Tan, takes place on an abandoned beach resort on Mars and deals with themes of avoidance and escape. The series Stagecraft references the theater and the artificiality of these environments and an ongoing performance played out repeatedly. 

Wade received her MFA from Chelsea College of Arts, London, and her BFA from Hampshire College, Amherst, Massachusetts. She has been a resident artist at Arteles Creative Center in Finland, Open Wabi in Ohio and the Sam and Adele Golden Foundation in New York. Her work has been exhibited throughout the United States, London and Paris and is in the permanent collections of the Farnsworth Art Museum and the Portland Museum of Art.

Dowling Walsh Gallery is at 365 Main St. in Rockland. The gallery is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and by appointment on Sundays and Mondays. Visit www.dowlingwalsh.com, or call 207-596-0084 for more information.