Contemporaries heed Call of the Coast

Last night the Portland Museum of Art's young professional membership group, The Contemporaries, hosted its annual summer garden party. As usual, it was a stellar event, featuring excellent art, cool drinks and tasty eats. The party offered members a private opportunity to check out the impressionist & modernist works in the Call of the Coast show, on view in the main gallery. This was followed by a cocktail party in the garden between the McLellan and Clapp houses on Spring Street.

Because there was such a fun group of people at the party, I spent most of my time gabbing and forget to snap many pics. However, if you're Facebook friends with Aucocisco gallery owner Andy Versoza, you can see a whole bunch of really great shots.

The theme of the party was Taste of the Midcoast, and it featured food and drink from the Camden-Rockland area. Among those serving up free drinks were these lovely ladies from Cellardoor Vineyards. The winery is located in Lincolnville with a separate tasting room in Rockport. I really enjoyed their Vino DiVine wine.

For the lobster lovers at the party, the rolls from Boothbay Loster Wharf were a treat. The state's first seafood CSF, Port Clyde Fresh Catch, also was there with info about how to get connected to their sustainably harvested fish and shrimp.

Lorie Dana, who's at the microphone, was one of the co-hosts of the party and thanked everyone for coming. Others sharing the stage with her included (left to right) Chris Robinson, co-chair of The Contemporaries Steering Committee, Hilary Robbins, the other co-chair of the Steering Committee, Sharon Kitchens, who owns SK Public Relations and helped coordinate most of the food and drink, and Maggie Robinson, the party's other fabulous co-host. The crowd was excited to hear that the ranks of this popular membership group have swelled to 230.

The party officially ended at 8 pm, but with perfect weather and excellent company the crowd was slow to leave. But we won't have to wait long to get together again. The next party is July 31 at the June Fitzpatrick Gallery at MECA, where we'll get a preview of paintings by Carl Gordon Cutler & William E. Thon.

Hope you can join us!

Contemporaries explore Artist Studio Building

Last night The Contemporaries membership group of the Portland Museum of Art enjoyed a private tour of the Artist Studio Building on Congress Street. This amazing space is overflowing with creativity from the stellar group of more than two dozen emerging and mid-career artists who work in the building. This is a shot of just some of the people at the party, which I was able to snap when everyone paused to learn more about the building from owner, architect and all-around cool guy Christopher Campbell (you can't see him because he's speaking on the floor below). He also owns One Longfellow Square and was recently profiled in Dwell magazine.

Remarks followed from the museum's new Director Mark Bessire and Curatorial Coordinator (who also works out of the Artist Studio Building) Sage Lewis. Both emphasized the value to be gained by collectors when they buy art from artists early in their careers. Mark also drove home the point that the museum relies on the generous donations of works collected by members. Without such acts of philanthropy, the museum would never have been able to amass the excellent collection it boasts today.

Educating members about art and how to collect it is a goal of The Contemporaries. The popular membership group is co-chair by Chris Robinson, left, pictured here with the museum's Chief Curator (and new dad!) Tom Denenberg.

And these lovely ladies are standing in front of work that is popular with collectors. Artist Shoshannah White (left) is known for her photographs of flowers and desserts, printed on watercolor paper and then layered with encaustic. I was thrilled to discover on display in her studio some of her more recent work, which involves portraits of friends and strangers covered in dark encaustic giving the pieces a vintage feel. Shoshannah's pictured with Heidi Fisher, Kerry Conway and Elizabeth Fraser, known for the daily paintings she creates from her Munjoy Hill studio.

Here's Sage Lewis in her studio space. You can see a few of her intricate works on the wall, which she creates using techniques including ink on paper and embroidery. Her work was included in last year's Biennial at the Center for Maine Contemporary Art in Rockport.

If you've ever seen the quirky messages displayed on the sign in a Artist Studio Building window, the artist responsible for them is Patrick O'Rorke. I snapped this shot of him and Ivan Cardona standing in front of a work that was recently shown at Whitney Art Works. This piece is a favorite of Ivan's wife, Erica Schair-Cardona. We can only hope this work will make it into their collection. Come to think of it, Memorial Day is coming up. Isn't that a big art buying holiday?

The sound track for the evening came from local favorites The Toughcats, who rocked the art-filled hallway.

There was another performance artist who created quite a bit of buzz at the party. Here I am checking it out. Behind the cardboard door, Greta Banks is working on a life-sized portrait. What had people talking is that she was doing it in the nude.

After witnessing her work (and consuming three glasses of wine), I was caught in the act of my own piece of performance art. Sure, pretending to sit on one of Greta's chairs fully clothed isn't that exciting. If only I'd had another drink, maybe then I would have taken off my top. Oh well, there's always next time.

Speaking of next time, The Contemporaries will get together again on May 12 when Curator Susan Danly leads us on a private tour of the Biennial. Want to join us? Here's how you can become a member.

Cutting-edge contemporary at PMA's Biennial

Every two years, the Portland Museum of Art treats us to a snapshot of the Maine contemporary art scene in the form of the much-anticipated Biennial exhibition. This is one of those delightful years. The show opens to the public tomorrow and is sure to generate a lot of excitement.

Today I was one of the lucky few who had the chance to tour the exhibition during the press preview with Director Mark Bessire and curators Susan Danly and Sage Lewis. Here you can see some of the fine folks who work their magic at local media outlets, including the Portland Press Herald, the Lewiston Sun Journal, Portland Magazine, The Bollard and WCSH-6.

Susan called this show a "radical change" from past year's Biennials. Why? Because of the number of artists and works in the show. The 2009 exhibition includes 29 works by 17 artists. In contrast, the 2007 Biennial included 98 works by 61 artists.

Jurors for this year's show were Elizabeth Burke, an art consultant and former co-director of the Clementine Gallery in New York, Denise Markonish, curator at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, and Dan Graham, a video, installation and performance artist who lives in New York.

Susan credited Dan Graham with steering the jurors to a number of excellent installation works. After the jurors selected the installations, they then looked for a number of smaller works that would relate to the installations. These works generally provide a new way of looking at landscapes, such as Mary Aro's Ashcan-style paintings of a Maine dump and Melissa A. Calderon's chromogenic prints of a gold-plated chicken traveling through an urban environment.

Here are just a few of the installations sure to wow museum visitors:

This is "Thumper," by Sam van Aken. The work is composed of 50 subwoofers and when turned on emits a loud thumping bass, reminiscent of the noise that comes from the cars of teenage boys. Sam won the Jurors' Prize at the 2007 Biennial.

This is just part of Sean Foley's installation "Menace." His work was featured in a recent show at Whitney Art Works, and he won a Jurors' Prize at the 2003 Biennial.

This massive installation, "Falsework" by Wade Kavanaugh, fills the entrance to the main gallery and forms a wall that guides visitors into the space before it spills out in undulating waves. You can see a satellite installation of this work in the window of the Port City Music Hall.

And here's the result of Ethan Hayes-Chute's construction project, which I blogged about a couple weeks ago. It's called "Hermitage" and reminds me of a shack my uncle built in the woods behind my grandfather's dairy farm when he was a teenager.

The really cool think about Ethan's piece is you can actually walk around inside it. As you explore, you'll find the belongings of an imaginary hermit, including his liquor cabinet. The work feels so real, down to the ashes on the stove and the pinecones on the roof. This realism extends to the nearby outhouse, where you'll want to be sure to check out what lies beneath the seat.

The Portland Museum of Art's 2009 Biennial opens April 8 and remains on view through June 7. Tickets cost $10 and admission is free on Friday nights.

Artist builds house inside PMA for Biennial

Right now the Portland Museum of Art is filled with the sound of pounding nails. The uncharacteristic noise is coming from the construction of of Ethan Hayes-Chute's spectacular piece called "Hermitage," which is part of the soon-to-open 2009 Biennial. An actual two-story building, he and his friends are building it right in the center of the Great Hall.

Here's Ethan, who grew up in Freeport and now lives in Berlin, peering out of one of the unfinished windows. His aim is to re-create a backwoods camp or a seaside shack. The type of structure a hermit would call home.

In the 2007 Biennial, four of his small acrylic paintings were selected for inclusion and all depicted small cabins.

"I'm often trying to create feelings of isolation and solitude with my paintings," he told me, later adding "this is based on numerous other cabins I've seen in movies or real life."

When it's complete, the hut will be open for museum visitors to enter and explore. This photo (snapped from the show's catalog proof) gives a glimpse of what the inside of the cabin will look like. Ethan plans to fill it with found and salvaged objects to give it a real lived-in feel.

"I'm a total pack rat, so I've been collecting stuff since I could drive," Ethan said, and added that he plans to clean out all the stuff he's stored in his parents' basement over the years. (I can just hear them breathing a sigh of relief.)

All the wood being used in the project was salvaged from local recycling centers or donated by friends and family. This past winter, Ethan created a similar piece for the Berlin gallery Program.

"I'm trying to make it as authentic as a real house would be," Ethan said.

He expects to finish construction this week and then work on outfitting the interior next week.

This year's much anticipated Biennial will feature a number of unusual art installations, including a piece by Sam van Aken that will reportedly play music and roll around. The show opens to the public April 8, but anyone can stop by this week or next to see Ethan at work.

Winter Bash rocks the house at the PMA

A huge crowd packed the Portland Museum of Art for last night's Winter Bash hosted by The Contemporaries in celebration of the opening of the "Backstage Pass: Rock & Roll Photography" show. It was another amazing party attended by many of Portland's beautiful people. The show itself is a definite must-see, and it was a blast to check out how everything came together after getting a sneak peek as it was being installed last week.

I knew it was going to be a stellar gathering when I walked out of the coat room and the first things I encountered were trays of mojitos and lemon drops. And even though I have a known weakness for lemon drops, I opted for the mojito because I knew those test tube-style glasses could spell trouble.

The evening's delicious eats came courtesy of Kitchen Chicks Catering, and Gritty's, Portland Beverage, Southern Wine & Spirits, Stirrings and Diageo all donated funds in support of the bar. And while none of my photos do justice to how absolutely stunning the Great Hall looked, it was the result of the creative talents of Moonlighting Productions, Pandora LaCasse Design and Transformit. To give the event a real rock show vibe, Reverb greened up the party and made sure it was a carbon neutral event, which is what this Portland-based nonprofit does for tons of touring shows.

The museum's chief curator Tom Denenberg (left) and co-chairs of The Contemporaries' Steering Committee Hilary Robbins and Chris Robinson gave us some insight into the show, and shared the wonderful news that the group surpassed its fund-raising goal and raised more than $26,000 in support of the "Backstage Pass" show. Way to go Contemporaries!

I got a chance to talk with lots of friends, and even managed to snap a few photos.

Here's Elena Murdock and Kristen Levesque.

Here's Carla Kingston, Jonathan Dunitz and Shannon Bryan.

And here's a photo of the photographers. Both Jacqueline Richardson and Samuel Cousins were among the paparazzi there to capture all the action. You can see some of Jacqueline's photos in MaineToday Seen.

Even Adam and I rolled out our best rock 'n roll looks.

Should you want to be a part of The Contemporaries next throw down, be sure to join up before April 28, when we'll be getting a private tour of The Artist Studio Building.

UPDATE: Check out more photos from the party on Samuel Cousins' Flickr site.

Behind-the-scenes peek at 'Backstage Pass'

Yesterday I was treated to a preview of the amazing "Backstage Pass: Rock & Roll Photography" show currently being installed at the Portland Museum of Art. The museum's chief curator Tom Denenberg gave me a tour of the exhibition, which features almost 300 images drawn from the country's largest private collection of rock photographs. The collector, who summers in Maine, generously made his collection available to Denenberg and the museum and only asked in return that he remain anonymous.

Here preparator Kris Kenow is hanging the first grouping of works. This section features images of jazz musicians, such as Miles Davis, Billie Holiday, Aretha Franklin and Charlie Bird Parker.

Nearby, these images of Elvis Presley wait to be mounted on the wall.

The Beatles command a whole wall to themselves.

So do the Rolling Stones. In the beautifully produced catalogue accompanying the show, music journalist Greil Marcus writes about Philip Townsend's 1963 image depicting 19-year-old Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham and says "He is going to put them on one side, force the Beatles onto the field on the other, and fight and win a war. He is going to take over the world."

The anonymous collector goes for images of artists taken at the height of their careers and away from the stage. He also prefers works where the musicians look directly into the camera. As a result, an electric energy of youth and the power of stardom practically pulses from the gallery. The show features all the major rock legends from the '60s, '70s and '80s - everyone from Jim Morrison and Led Zeppelin to the B-52s and the Beastie Boys. When the show opens to the public on Jan. 22, it's sure to attract blockbuster crowds.

Because doesn't everyone want to gaze into the eyes of a superstar and try to tease out what kind of mojo makes a rock god stand out from the crowd?

The PMA's awesome 25th

Last night at the Portland Museum of Art's Totally 25 b-day party celebrating the anniversary of the Charles Shipman Payson Building everything was a flashback to the '80s. Down in the glass gallery there were tons of desserts and '80s music by DJ Kyle Downs. I heard there was break dancing going on down there too, but we didn't catch it.

Outside people were making these giant building blocks.

The PMA staff members all had really amazing costumes on. Even acting Director Tom Denenberg was decked out in a totally '80s preppy look that included Bean boots. Here are the party-goers who participated in the costume contest. The girl standing second from left was the winner.

Outside in the sculpture garden, '80s tribute band The Awesome got the crowd moving, even though the temperature was nowhere near the 80s.