Courthouse Gallery Fine Art in Ellsworth is celebrating its 20th anniversary with “Ellsworth As Muse,” an exhibition on view through July 10 that pays homage to the gallery’s hometown. Also on view through June 10 is the gallery’s annual spring group show highlighting new work by gallery artists. A gallery talk with art critic Carl Little, Philip Frey and Kate Hanlon will be held June 3 at 5 p.m. Both the exhibition and gallery talk are free and open to the public.
“Ellsworth As Muse” invites artists to look past familiar associations with the city and consider its layers, contradictions and character. Participating artists include Siri Beckman, Philip Barter (1939–2024), Jeffery Becton, Judy Belasco, Ard Berge, Caroll Thayer Berry (1886–1978), Tom Curry, Heidi Daub, Gregory Dunham, Rick Fox, Philip Frey, Kate Hanlon, William Irvine, Richard Keen, Joseph Keiffer, Rosie Moore, Alison Rector, Gilbert Welch and Katherine Wilkes.
Owners Karin and Michael Wilkes founded the gallery in 2006 when they purchased Ellsworth’s historic courthouse and registry of deeds from the city, restoring the original red birch hardwood floors, horsehair plaster walls and 14-foot tin ceilings of the 1830s Greek Revival buildings, which are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Wilkeses have lived and worked in Ellsworth since 1973. “We always imagined we would open an art gallery someday, we just didn’t expect it to be in Ellsworth,” Karin Wilkes said. “In hindsight, Ellsworth has turned out to be the perfect location with its central position in a vast community of artists and people interested in the arts.”
A second anniversary exhibition, “Rooted in Art,” will pay tribute to coastal communities surrounding the gallery and will include poems about each community alongside paintings. An artists’ reception and poetry reading will be held Sept. 16 from 5 to 7 p.m. The show runs Sept. 14 to Oct. 30.
Courthouse Gallery is at 6 Court St., Ellsworth. Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Call 207-667-6611 or visit courthousegallery.com for more information.
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