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.

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.

Mingling with hot rods

Last night a group of art lovers and collectors had a chance to check out an impressive private collection of vintage cars. The Contemporaries and the Committee of 100 (both membership groups at the Portland Museum of Art) gathered at the brand new Portland Motor Club for tasty drinks, apps from Aurora Provisions and fun company. Just like all the social events that involve the Contemporaries, last night's party proved to be a fabulous time.

Bill Waldron (far left) owns Falmouth Motor Group and opened this facility to house his impressive collection of restored '60s and '70s cars and to rent storage space to people looking for a secure spot to house their vehicles.

Now I have to admit, I know next to nothing about cars. And while I can manage to stand in front of one and smile, I'm incapable of telling you anything worthwhile about these vehicles. So instead, I'll offer up a few snapshots of the gorgeous cars in Waldron's collection.

Should you want to be there for the next Contemporaries soiree, be sure to get your membership check for $250 in the mail ASAP. Because you won't want to miss the huge party we're planning for January. It will celebrate the opening of "Backstage Pass: Rock & Roll Photography," which showcases a private collection of more than 200 rarely seen photographs of every prominent rock star from Eric Clapton to Courtney Love. It's bound to be THE social event of the new year.