The Ogunquit Museum of American Art (OMAA) opened three new exhibitions on July 28: “Meg Webster: New Work,” “Spontaneous Generation: The Work of Liam Lee” and “Ever Baldwin: Down the Line.” Three additional exhibitions will continue to be on view throughout the season: “Joe Wardwell: Mural Commission,” “Networks of Modernism, 1898–1968” and “The Architect of a Museum.” The OMAA season and exhibitions close on Nov. 12.
“We are pleased to have these inventive artists share their creations in solo exhibitions at the museum this season,” said OMAA executive director Amanda Lahikainen. “They each tell stories through their art using different materials and mediums, and invite viewers to interpret art in new ways.”
SPONTANEOUS GENERATION: THE WORK OF LIAM LEE
Blurring the boundaries between the organic and inorganic, Spontaneous Generation refers to an alchemical belief that living organisms could suddenly emerge from nonliving materials. Liam Lee’s (b. 1993) work draws inspiration from differences between interior and exterior, the man-made and the natural world. Created painstakingly from hand-dyed and needle-felted wool, his furniture and tapestries slide between form and function. His work frequently references microbes, fungi, flowers, and seeds, as well as the biomorphic abstraction of Surrealism and mid-century modern design. Spontaneous Generation will be Lee’s first solo museum exhibition encompassing all aspects of his multidisciplinary approach to art and design, including furniture, tapestries, ceramics, and works on paper.
EVER BALDWIN: DOWN THE LINE
Working intuitively and with a material immediacy, Ever Baldwin
(b. 1978) sets thick, matte abstract paintings — made by mixing marble dust and pigments with wax — within charred, hand-carved wooden frames. The shape of these unevenly blackened frames accentuates or continues the composition of the paintings within. Together, the elements of each work—canvas shape, composition, frame, and title—form a constellation of meanings in constant motion. In their work, Baldwin sets a different path for conceptualizing lived experience, one in which language, and its power to structure our understanding of the world through naming, is let go. Down the Line asks us to follow this path and open ourselves up to experience this work, and our world, more directly.
MEG WEBSTER: SITE-SPECIFIC WORK
Meg Webster (b. 1944) has long been guided by an environmentalist impulse to celebrate and preserve the natural world. For her exhibition, the artist will engage with Ogunquit Museum of American Art’s site overlooking the Atlantic Coast and the dynamic habitats encompassing the museum’s immediate surroundings, including wetlands and intertidal zones. Inside the museum, Webster will install works inspired by and sourced from the region’s rich natural resources such as ocean water, sumac, and moss.
The artists behind the exhibitions will be giving in person talks at OMAA. The Tuesday Talks are included with admission and free for members. See www. ogunquitmuseum.org/totally-tuesday-talks for details.
Meg Webster
July 25, 5 to 7 p.m.
Meg Webster is a land artist whose work has long reflected on the environment and humanity’s relation to it. In conversation with Theresa Choi, Assistant Curator, Webster will speak about her career and the work she is including in the exhibition Meg Webster: Site-Specific Work that responds directly to OMAA’s unique sense of place.
Liam Lee and Christina De Léon
Aug. 1, 5 to 7 p.m.
Liam Lee is an artist and designer whose tapestries and furniture pieces, made from hand-dyed and needle-felted wool, blurs the boundaries between the organic and inorganic. In conjunction with the artist’s exhibition Spontaneous Generation, Lee will be in conversation about his work with Christina de Leon, Associate Curator of Latino Design, at Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum. The discussion will be moderated by Devon Zimmerman.
Ever Baldwin
Sept. 12, 5-7 p.m.
Ever Baldwin is a painter whose practice fuses biomorphic forms, unexpected color harmonies, and rich ashen black frames to create mesmerizing works. In conjunction with the artist’s exhibition “Down the Line,” Baldwin will be in conversation with Devon Zimmerman about their practice and career.
Joe Wardwell and Marjorie Agosín
Sept. 19, 5 to 7 p.m.
Joe Wardwell is a Boston-based painter and muralist whose work reflects the traditions of landscape painting, literature, and popular music in the United States. The artist will be in conversation with poet, author and activist Marjorie Agosín, whose writings Wardwell drew upon for his OMAA mural, “The Sea, Just Like Your Eyes, Became a Refuge” (2023).
