Local Color Gallery celebrates fifth anniversary and welcomes new guest artist

Local Color Gallery will celebrate its fifth anniversary from 3 to 6 p.m. April 28 with refreshments and a new show.

Five years ago, the Women Artists of Midcoast Maine (WAMM) banded together to find venues for their work. When they saw a For Rent sign on a space in the Masonic Block in Belfast, they knew they had found the perfect place. Newly renovated, 135 High St. had good light, high ceilings, wood floors, white walls and a great location.

The artists drafted a business plan, negotiated a lease, made modifications and recruited more artists to join them. They cut the ribbon on May 1, 2018, and Local Color Gallery was born.

With the support of the community and art lovers from near and far, Local Color has survived the COVID-19 pandemic and has continued to grow and thrive.

Catherine Worthington, a mixed-media textile artist, will be the guest artist from April 25 to May 21. Inspired by walking in the woods and sailing the coast, Worthington captures nature’s color, texture and charm in her art quilts for the wall. Working with textile paints on cloth, she creates colorful and highly textured one-of-a-kind pieces. She then cuts, stitches, and collages the painted fabrics to create her compositions, constructing a sense of depth, dimension and line.

“My textile quilts are interpretations of real places,” she says. “I hope to capture the attention of the viewer by creating a feeling or a familiar place to connect with.”

Worthington grew up on the south shore of Massachusetts and received a BFA in textile design from University of Massachusetts North Dartmouth. In 1988, she and her husband moved to Brunswick, where they raised three boys. She worked as an artist mentor for adults with disabilities for over 20 years at Spindleworks in Brunswick. Her textile art has been shown in galleries and at arts-and-craft fairs and can be found in many private collections, as well as in three Maine hospitals and a church. She is a member of the Maine Crafts Association, Maine Fiber Arts, Designing Women and the Lemont Block Collective.

Local Color Gallery is at 135 High St., Belfast. Hours are 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday. Learn more at localcolorgallerymaine.com.