Maine Art Gallery
Sarah Steedman, “The Painted Table in Maine.”

Maine Art Gallery in Wiscasset opened “Art to Table: Visual Sustenance” to an enthusiastic crowd, with 88 works across all mediums filling the historic building’s two floors. The exhibition, juried by internationally recognized Maine-based figurative painter Tina Ingraham, traces the broad spectrum of ways artists interpret food, farming and the table — from abstract to representational, and across paintings, sculpture, photography and assemblage. Works depict vegetables and fruits, dairy cows and lobsters and people gathered for a meal. The show runs through June 14.

“This is such a fun and engaging show,” one visitor said at the opening.

Sarah Steedman, “The Painted Table in Maine.”

Gallery president Kay Tobler Liss thanked the artists for their role in bringing people together “to celebrate and remind us, despite the news headlines, that the central truth of life on our planet is beauty and the creative spirit.”

In conjunction with the exhibition, the gallery held a panel discussion on Maine’s sustainable agriculture May 21. Anna Fiedler of Maine Farmland Trust highlighted the role farms play in local communities, focusing on the successful effort to keep the Morris Farm — now The Commons at Morris Farm — in Wiscasset operating as a working farm. Ryan Esberg, one of the farm’s new owners, shared his family’s vision for its future.

Erica Berman, co-founder of Veggies to Table, a Newcastle farm that donates organic produce and flowers to locals in need, discussed the farm’s founding and its record over seven seasons: 95,050 pounds of food and 153,700 flowers donated to more than 35 local organizations and families.

Toby Tarpinian and his mother Susan, who founded Morning Glory Natural Foods on Maine Street in Brunswick, spoke about the store’s 40-year history as a pioneer of the organic food movement in Maine, providing a market for local vegetable farmers, dairies, organic meat farms and bakeries. The talk was followed by a reception with food provided by Morning Glory. Back River Bistro in Wiscasset sponsored the program.

The gallery also thanked Les Fossel Restoration Resources, sponsor of “Art to Table;” Sherri Dunbar of Tim Dunham Realty, season sponsor; Ames True Value Hardware, capital sponsor; and Maine Farmland Trust, sponsor of the opening reception.

Gallery hours are 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday through Sunday. The Maine Art Gallery is at 15 Warren St., Wiscasset. Visit maineartgallerywiscasset.org for more information.