MITCH BILLIS: Postcads from Home and MICHAEL VERMETTE: Working Harbors at Gleason Fine Art

On Friday, September 2, Gleason Fine Art celebrates the opening of two new shows with First Friday receptions from 5 to 7 pm for both artists: “MITCH BILLIS: POSTCARDS FROM HOME” and “MICHAEL VERMETTE: WORKING HARBORS.” Both shows run through October 11. 

MITCH BILLIS: POSTCARDS FROM HOME  As one of the most renowned artists to ever have made Boothbay Harbor his home, Mitch Billis needs no introduction for most people. But “Postcards from Home” is unique and special in more than one way: for starters, it’s Mitch’s first solo show in some time; second, the “Postcards” referred to in the show’s title are small paintings lovingly painted en plein air of intimate scenes from around the Boothbay peninsula.

The Mitch Billis story could be a Hollywood movie, but it isn’t; it’s real life: a young Montana math professor gives up his tenured position, packs up his four kids, and heads east to pursue his life’s passion–making art. Mitch and the kids stop in Boothbay Harbor and love it so much they decide to stay. The going is rough at first, but a little bit of magic happens when a chance stop at a B&B for a cup of coffee brings Mitch and the woman of his dreams, Kathleen, together. Finding his life partner kindles another kind of magic–the kind that lights the fire that transforms a mere painter into an artist. The woman became Mitch’s wife, and together, Mitch and Kathleen Billis have turned their special kind of magic into paintings of the community they’ve come to love so much.

MICHAEL VERMETTE: Working Harbors    As an artist and educator Michael Vermette wins praise from all quarters for being the first art teacher at the Indian Island School on the Penobscot Reservation in Old Town. With a BFA in painting from the Maine College of Art, a certificate in art education from the University of Maine, and as an avid painter in his spare time, Michael came to the job well trained.

Michael’s close association with the Penobscots–he not only lives on the reservation but also is married to a Penobscot–brought him an early awareness of Mount Katahdin as a place of tremendous spiritual significance to Maine’s many native Americans. He has made dozens of paintings of Katahdin and the surrounding area.

But it was another artist–James Fitzgerald (1894 to 1971)–who introduced Michael to his other great love–Monhegan Island. Vermette’s 1999 residency on Monhegan was transforming: “The residency was a life-changing appointment. I came to Monhegan Island as an artist-teacher but left a painter and that will stay with me all of my life.” Michael’s paintings of fishermen at work on Monhegan–loading lobster traps, mending nets–are masterpieces for showing the dignity of ordinary people going about their daily work.

Both “Mitch Billis: Postcards from Home” and “Michael Vermette: Working Harbors” open with a reception for the artists on Friday, September 2, from 5 to 7 pm. Friends, collectors, fellow artists, and the general public are all invited to attend the reception. The shows run through October 11. Gallery hours are Monday through Friday, 10 to 5, and Sunday, noon to 4. For further information, call Gleason Fine Art at 207-633-6849, email: info@gleasonfineart,com, or view both shows and our entire inventory of contemporary and estate paintings at gleasonfineart.com.