KINGFIELD – The STADLER GALLERY at 225 Main Street in Kingfield is pleased to announce two new exhibitions with works by Carolyn Caldwell from Deer Isle, Maine, and Abbott and Nancy Meader from Oakland, Maine. They will be on view from August 6 to August 26 daily from 12 noon until 4 pm and by appointment.
“The Color of Air” is the title of Caldwell’s show, and if one tried to give air a color, she certainly succeeded. Even objects like trees take on an air-like image by giving them the appearance of incredible lightness, almost like fluffy cotton balls. Observing landscapes in the twilight as colors become subdued, details are removed and shapes simplified, she was increasingly drawn to depict them as their serene and tender core became more and more apparent.
Having studied photography and art, Caldwell received a degree in architecture from the Boston Architectural Center. She moved to the Virgin Islands where she proceeded to design houses, only to return to painting after being influenced by Winslow Homer’s watercolors of the Bahamas. Her Caribbean work was as lively and colorful as their people. Since moving to Maine she has been increasingly drawn toward quieter and more contemplative images.
Abbott and Nancy Meader joined forces to create a “Meader and Meader” show with Abbott’s paintings and Nancy’s raku pots. Now and again since 1990, Abbott has been working on a series called “Invention On A Child’s Drawing” a selection of which is on view in this show. The series is created by taking actual children’s drawings in order to make new structures and combinations based on his insight and reaction to them, using a variety of media from oil and acrylic to mixed media on cardboard, canvas or panel, to name a few. Putting the drawings into new contexts and combinations he suggests his own narrative with the intent to rediscover and emphasize the serious imagination children bring to their drawings.
Abbott is a Professor Emeritus of Art at Colby College. He graduated at Darmouth and received his MFA at the University of Colorado where he studied with Richard Diebenkorn among others.
Under the title “Some Conclusions,” Nancy is showing a group of tall hand built raku pots, as well as a series of small vessels, also hand built and fired in the raku process. She is using a small outdoor kiln which gives somewhat unpredictable results thus adding to the charm her clay families are radiating.
Nancy studied pottery in Boulder, Colorado, later in Maine, at the Haystack School of Crafts on Deer Isle, where she received her M.A. She has taught pottery programs at Colby college for over 30 years and is director of the pottery club at the college.
There will be a reception for the artists on Saturday, August 6 from 2-4 pm. Please view www.stadlergallery.com for more information.
