Nocturne exhibit at MAG dazzles

The last exhibition of the season at the Maine Art Gallery, “Nocturne,” drew a large crowd to the opening Sept. 14. As one observer said, “It’s fascinating to see how artists handle light in the relative absence of it.” Indeed, creating a visual work with the theme of nighttime presents unique challenges to an artist.

Works in the show include just about every medium, from photography to acrylic and oil painting, mixed media collages to sculpture.

In the photography realm, three artists stand out. Don Peterson, a retired architect who, in addition to being an accomplished photographer is also a fine abstract painter, has two black and white prints titled “After Midnight, Paris.” He captures a couple of figures walking, but shows only their legs, which creates an interesting perspective and piques the imagination. Jonathan Lavan, an internationally known photographer, has a stunning photo in black and oranges, “Card Cove Dusk.” Jim Nickelson is a wizard not only with his camera but in how he processes his archival prints to create surreal images that appear as if they’re from another dimension of reality, like in “Pyrotechnic #53” and “Pyrocene.”

Winslow Myers paints large acrylic works on canvas. His painting “Garret Room” is the first image guests see as they enter the second floor gallery. It’s a work that epitomizes the challenge of creating a nocturne scene. It’s a scene of a room, a lamp on one side and a canvas on an easel on the other, with a view through a window to a dusky sky beyond and a snow-covered rooftop. It is with great skill that the artist creates such subtle gradations of color to delineate the objects in the composition.

Stephanie Pruzansky shows often at MAG and has a wonderful abstract work,  “Third Shift,” in the show. She uses oils, cold wax and mixed media on canvas to create a vibrant, graphically and texturally complex work in oranges and black that brings to mind perhaps a third shift working at Bath Iron Works, though that is just a guess. Ericka O’Rourke has a gorgeous oil, “Liminal Nature,” on display, and Deena Ball, well-known as an artist and painting instructor in the area, has a lovely watercolor, “Dusk.” One of the most striking pieces in the exhibit is an acrylic by Bernadette deCesare called “Night Magic.”

At 3 p.m. Oct. 6, Kevin Johnson, photo archivist for the Penobscot Marine Museum in Searsport, will give an artist talk about one of the photographers in the exhibition, Kosti Ruohomaa, who was from Rockland and whose work is in the museum’s collection. The exhibit will be up until Oct. 20. Hours are Thursday through Sunday 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The Maine Art Gallery is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the advancement and preservation of painting, sculpture and graphic arts through exhibitions, lectures, demonstrations and educational programs for children and adults. The gallery is located at 15 Warren St., Wiscasset. Visit www.maineartgallerywiscasset.org for details.