Linden Frederick: Night Stories Exhibit and Summer Gala at CMCA

The Center for Maine Contemporary Art (CMCA) is celebrating its first anniversary in its Toshiko Mori Architect building with its Summer Gala on Friday, August 18, 2017. The evening also celebrates the preview opening of the much-anticipated exhibition Linden Frederick: Night Stories, a collaboration between the artist and 15 award-winning authors, including Anthony Doerr, Andre Dubus III, Louise Erdrich, Joshua Ferris, Tess Gerritsen, Lawrence Kasdan, Lily King, Louis Lowry, Ann Patchett, Luanne Rice, Richard Russo, Elizabeth Strout, Ted Tally, and Daniel Woodrell.

The CMCA Summer Gala is the art center’s most important fundraising event, offering an exceptional evening of food, drinks, fun, and art. All proceeds provide essential support for CMCA’s exhibitions and programs, including ArtLab, CMCA’s signature hands-on education program for all ages. This year’s Summer Gala includes a moveable feast and cocktails by Trillium Caterers, oyster bar by Otter Cove Farm, silent auction, live music and entertainment. Festivities will end with Stone Fox Farm Creamery ice cream truck and dancing with music by DJ Owen Cartwright. Event tickets are $225 for CMCA members and $250 for non-members. Major media sponsor is Maine Home + Design magazine.

Gala attendees are also able to reserve an advance copy of the hardcover book, Night Stories: Fifteen Paintings and the Stories they Inspired ($45 + tax), signed by artist, with the purchase of Gala tickets. A number of the featured authors will be in attendance at the event to sign books throughout the evening.

In addition, to benefit CMCA, artist Linden Frederick and Forum Gallery have donated his painting, Midnight, 2009 (oil on panel, framed 15.5 x 15 inches, image 8 x 8 inches), valued at $5,500, to be raffled at the Gala. Raffle tickets are $100 each and only 100 will be sold. Tickets are available for purchase online at cmcanow.org or by calling 207-701-5005. Raffle ticket holders do not need to attend the event or be present to win.

Event Tickets are available online at cmcanow.org/summer-gala or by calling 207-701-5005. For sponsorship opportunities, please contact Jean Thompson at jthompson@cmcanow.org

The groundbreaking exhibition, Linden Frederick: Night Stories, from August 19 through November 5, 2017 with an Artist Talk August 29, at 5:30pm. The much-anticipated exhibition pairs fifteen newly created paintings by the noted realist painter with fifteen new works of fiction by some of America’s most acclaimed writers.

The exhibition, and the accompanying book, Night Stories: Fifteen Paintings and the Stories They Inspired, have been eight years in the making. When artist Linden Frederick (b. 1953) realized a growing number of his collectors were novelists and screenwriters, he wondered what would happen if the writer-illustrator relationship were reversed: the painting first, then the writing. The result is Night Stories. Fifteen celebrated American fiction writers each agreed to select one painting especially created by Frederick as inspiration and then, over the following months, write a unique story inspired by it.

A native of Amsterdam, New York, Linden Frederick’s paintings are celebrated for their evocative light and atmosphere. Compared favorably to Edward Hopper’s American scene paintings, Frederick’s contemporary works suggest the human presence without depicting it, allowing the viewer to complete the narrative. Frederick has lived and worked in Belfast, Maine since 1989. He has had more than twenty solo exhibitions of his work throughout the United States, including the exhibition You Are Here, held at CMCA in Rockport, in 2010.

CMCA, founded in 1952, is a contemporary arts institution presenting year-round exhibitions, engaging events, and educational programs for all ages. Location: 21 Winter Street, Rockland, Maine. Hours: June through October, Monday – Saturday, 10am to 5pm, Sunday, 12 to 5pm; November through May, Wednesday – Saturday, 10am to 5pm; Sunday, 12 to 5 pm; closed Federal holidays. Admission $8; Seniors (65+) and students with ID $6; children under 18 free; CMCA members free. For more information, call 207-701-5005 or visit cmcanow.org.