TURTLE Gardener
Sheep Jones, “Gardener 49.”

Turtle Gallery in Deer Isle presents “Material Storytelling,” a three-artist exhibition featuring new work by Sheep Jones, Michele Ratté Delphin and Barbara Sullivan, through Oct. 11.

The three artists use distinct materials and techniques to explore narrative, light and the quiet poetry of everyday objects.

Jones brings her signature combination of oil and cold wax to layered, dreamlike compositions in which whimsy meets introspection. Recurring motifs — including fish on leashes, watchful owls, glowing bulbs and root worlds beneath the soil — invite viewers into narratives that unfold slowly, like memories rising to the surface.

Her work balances humor and tenderness, creating scenes that feel grounded in Maine’s natural world yet gently surreal.

Ratté Delphin’s mixed-media work incorporates mica, metallic threads, mineral pigments and photographic fragments, creating surfaces that shift as viewers move around them. Her compositions evoke tidal textures, botanical silhouettes and ephemeral marks suspended in time. Her practice combines craft and experimentation, weaving light directly into the work.

Sullivan continues her work in buon fresco relief, transforming wet plaster and pigment into sculptural forms that extend from the wall. Her subjects include irons, stoves, chairs, farm animals and household tools, celebrating the humor, nostalgia and tactile presence of daily life in Maine.

Sullivan’s fresco reliefs blur the boundaries between painting and sculpture, elevating familiar objects into icons of rural culture. Her work brings warmth, wit and a deep respect for craft tradition to the exhibition, grounding the artists’ material explorations in the rhythms of home.

Turtle Gallery is at 61 N. Deer Isle Road, Deer Isle. Hours are 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday. Call 608-575-1300 or visit www.turtlegallery.com for more information.