Art Walk packs Congress Street

This weekend started off with an extremely well-attended First Friday Art Walk. The Arts District and Congress Street in particular, shown here, were so crowded with art lovers it was tough to walk down the sidewalk. This festive atmosphere was heightened by a variety of street performers (yes I did see a cat dancer, no I didn't get a picture) and the music coming from the Tower of Song. Students from the Maine College of Art offered up their wares flea-market style outside of the Porteous Building, and many of the galleries were so packed it was almost impossible to get inside.

I did get the chance to check out a pair of new galleries on Congress Street, Two Point Gallery and Bridge Gallery. Both had some really fascinating work on view. We also ran into a bunch of people headed for the Blue Hammer dinner theater at Whitney Art Works.

After we finished art walking, ate dinner and had some drinks, Adam and I just happened to walk by the new GRO Cafe, which had transformed itself into a pulsating nightclub for the monthly event. Here we checked out some street dance moves and sampled a gingery-tasting drink made from the medicinal plant kava. It proved a perfect nightcap for an evening overflowing with our city's unbounded creative energy.

Find the First Friday after party at Corduroy

After being closed for a month to refine the product selection and revamp the art space, Corduroy Surf Boutique & Gallery plans a re-opening celebration during tomorrow night's First Friday Art Walk. Actually, Tyler Briggs (the shop's art & event director) tells me the party tends to start late and go much beyond the official 8 pm end to Art Walk. She says the drinks will start flowing around 7 pm and the party probably won't wind down until 11 pm, which makes Corduroy the perfect spot to hit after the other galleries close their doors for the night.

I stopped by this morning to check out the new space and the new art, and found Tyler (left) and owner Jim McGinley unpacking a few boxes of art.

The work in the boxes came from Northern California artist Jamie E. Watson. I'm pretty sure this particular piece spells out the recipe for world peace (or at least life long happiness).

The four artists/surfers of The Pine Haven Collective helped spruce up the space with art galore. They created the shop's new window installations (see photo at the top) that feature ships in a bottle. Here's a gorgeous mural installation by member Katrine Hildebrandt that enlivens the wall space between the shop below and the gallery above.

Member Peter Jackson Hussey created these sweet surf-inspired letter press notecards.

And member Joe Conway silk screened these T-shirts with an image reminiscent of a Picasso drawing.

Upstairs in the gallery, Collective member Jenny McGee Doughtery shows a body of new work called "From Rags to Rust."

Doughtery's work is rendered in a range of media, including watercolor, acrylic, graphite and even coffee. Ttitled "Lot," this is the work that incorporates the java. It's priced at $400 framed, which is on the high side price-wise for this show. Many of the smaller works are going for only $20 or $30.

Reasonably priced art aside, one of the absolutely coolest things about the whole Pine Haven Collective exhibition has to be this "Driftwood Shack." Not only is it an amazing construction (which is reportedly held together by just a couple screws), but anyone is invited to crawl inside, lounge on the pillows and crank up the turntable. I wonder how many surfers can fit in that shack?

You can find the laid-back art, surfer vibe and live music from The Mosquitos at 59 Market St. in the Old Port, next to Sebago Brewing Company. Let me know if you find out how many people the shack can hold.

Art House in Bakery & a Spacecraft on Congress

Movement is afoot in Portland's gallery scene. The Jameson Gallery has spun off its framing business and Drew Wilen and Graham Wood from the Jameson frame shop have turned it into Art House Picture Frames. Jameson owner Michael Rancourt has moved his gallery to the Bayside space most recently occupied by 3 Fish, and Art House has set up shop in the very cool Bakery Building on Pleasant Street.

I stopped by yesterday and chatted with Drew, who's shown here in front of just some of the frame samples they've moved over from Jameson's Commercial Street space.

All the Jameson frame choices are still available, and Drew and Graham have added locally-made, eco-friendly frames. Frames like these shown here are being crafted from salvaged material and non-toxic finishes in the back room.

The gallery hosts an opening during the upcoming First Friday Art Walk (Feb. 6, 5-8 pm), with a show of small works by Brita Holmquist, Lisa Dombek, Larinda Meade, Tanya Fletcher, Caren-Marie Michel, Suzanne DeLesseps and Andrew Abbott. Here are some of the works waiting to be hung.

You can find the shop at 61 Pleasant St.

Another neat gallery to check out this upcoming First Friday is Constellation Gallery. The new space shows the work of David A. Marshall, Nathan Broaddus and Matthew Isgro. With limited hours right now, the gallery is doing its part to support public art with a window installation that is part of the Windowkammers project sponsored by SPACE Gallery.

I checked out the installation before 10 am this morning when the light made it virtually impossible to take a picture of this fabulous piece called "Now Your Spacecraft Will Be Your Peace" by Randy Regier. Should you be passing by 511 Congress St., take a detour up into the plaza (right next to Thai Chef Buffet) and have a look for yourself.

Old Port art walking on a cold January night

The Daniel Kany Gallery in the Old Port was packed last night, during the opening reception for Benjamin Lambert's "Fish-Birds & A Snail" show during the January First Friday Art Walk. Lambert unveiled a quirky collection of disfigured ceramic monsters I just wanted to hug. The pieces reference evolution, pollution and the growing gray area between the concepts of natural and synthetic, all the while making you want to smile.

Oh, and the wine was mighty tasty too.

Over at the new Se Vende Underground gallery, I was just as taken with Beecher Cotton's line-up of hybrid heroes. These delightful mixed media sculptures included "Bush Bug" and "Mole Cat." A work called "The Twins," where two black elephant bodies are topped with two baby doll heads, showed us just how quickly cute can turn to creepy.

To warm up from the icy art walking temps and contemplate these creatures further, Adam and I ducked into Novare Res Bier Cafe. We poured over the ever-growing menu before deciding to share a Koningshoeven Quadruppel (which costs $21 but serves up 3 glasses) and a number of the absolutely exquisite small plates.

It was the perfect way to cap off a cold winter's art walk.

Crowds & scones at First Friday

Congress Street, its galleries and restaurants were jam packed with art walkers on Friday. Adam and I made our way up to the Arts District around 7 pm, and had to elbow our way through the crowds to catch a glimpse of the art. We stopped in at Whitney Art Works, the ICA at MECA, Aucocisco and the PACA gallery at the PDD.

The biggest crowds were at SPACE, where Tod Seelie's eclectic documentary photographs filled the gallery. There were so many people there it was nearly impossible to get in or out of the door.

Just up the street a ways, we encountered a strange bit of performance art.

A group of artists had commandeered the Gorham Savings Bank ATM to the great amusement of passers-by.

Here's our friend Karl, who played guitar inside this sidewalk-side bubble. The posters you can see taped to the window said the artists were performing "The Ancient Art of Sonku." Which, according to the same posters, uses "a combination of triadic words accompanied by music" in order "to evoke a hypnotic trance, a hallucinatory artistic state in which the viewer becomes melded with recurrent descriptions of a vision or theme, in this case, walking through the streets of Portland." Considering the mention of hallucinatory states, you'd think more people would have been all over the free baked goods being offered inside.

Finally, my husband (at right) couldn't resist the sugary temptation and ventured inside. He got a scone. Turns out the goodies weren't filled with magic mushrooms, but instead baked the traditional way by the folks at Standard Baking Company. It's a good thing too, since the First Friday Art Walk sights are plenty trippy even without the the addition of mind-altering desserts.

Lovely Lauren & her lily pads

Portland-based artist Lauren Fensterstock looked absolutely stunning at the opening of her meticulously executed installation "Parterre" at the Bowdoin College Museum of Art last night. I managed to snap this photo (using - gasp! - a flash) of the artist and her centerpiece work right at the end of opening reception, when the huge crowd had thinned considerably. You can't see it in this photo, but part of her installation involves diamonds embedded into the gallery walls. Her work grabs attention with its compelling surface beauty and then pulls you in with its quiet, contemplative depth. The show remains on view until Jan. 11, and it's definitely worth a trip to Brunswick. I'll offer more details about the show in the Oct. 16 edition of Switch magazine.

On another art-related note, the question of the day is ...

It's Friday, do you know where your art is?

The answer is easy. It's in Portland, of course. Tonight is the First Friday Art Walk and, as usual, there's an overwhelming amount of stellar work to see. If you're having trouble determining what galleries to hit, you can check out my selected mini-tours, download the official map and see the full list of shows on the MaineToday First Friday Art Walk page. Hope to see you tonight!

Walk the Portland way

"Portland, Maine vs. Skelaxin," by Zachary Howard is on view at the Corduroy Surf Boutique. While you're there you can listen to DJ Mr. Dereloid spin his signature beat.

Portland is blessed with a ton of really cool goings-on. And despite the stiff competition, I'd put the First Friday Art Walk at the top of the list. Not only is it a great opportunity to get some exercise and see some amazing art, it's a civilized way to score free booze. (And who can argue with that?)

The other thing I love about Art Walk is it's so approachable. Admittedly I spend a fair amount of time hanging out in galleries. But I realize they can be a little bit intimidating for many casual browsers. The huge crowds eliminate the barrier of walking into an empty room and then having to make intelligent conversation with the person minding the gallery.

So if you're wondering what to do tomorrow night, head out for the Art Walk from 5-8. There is just an utterly unbelievable amount of shows to check out. If you want some guidance, you can read my selected tour and print the official map.

"Blosson," by Shaio Ping is on view at Susan Maasch Fine Art in the "Landlocked: The Contemporary Landscape" show.