Sunday, March 16, 2008

Taking Panes - A Fine Art Show


After church today Onkel Hankie Pants and I went to an art opening in Richmond, three towns away on the Kennebec River. The show is a group show called "Taking Panes." Like many towns in Maine, Richmond has an old mill or two (we're talking textile mills, paper mills, etc. rather than sawmills or flour mills, at least most of the time). One of the many reuses for these buildings is as artists' studios. Richard Lee, an artist most known for handmade books and paper, has a studio in the old Ames Mill in Richmond. When he learned that all the windows were being replaced with new vinyl windows, he got the idea of reusing the old windows (which were to be thrown out) as art catalysts. So he contacted a number of artists he knew, word got around, and eventually almost 100 artists had windows to work with. Some of the artists are quite well known to me and others not, but I was amazed at the creativity and also at how many of the windows I would love to have in my house (if I had the space!) If you are anywhere near Richmond you should see this show. It's open 10 to 4 until March 31 -- no artificial light in the 3rd floor gallery where it's placed. Here are a few of the windows:
My sister-in-law The Herbalist actually prefers saris, but she has found a pattern for a dress/jumper that she makes for all seasons to wear to work. Temple Truck Woman decided to photograph them all and make Herbalist Paper Dolls! Here are just a few. (The black "glove" on her left arm is because she broke her wrist falling on the ice last month.) The next picture is of the other side of this window. Temple Truck Woman's nephew helped her with some of the photography and decided he wanted to make his own paper dolls, so The Herbalist is shown in many adventurous outfits!



The next photo is of a window done by my nephew-by-marriage, Taxi Man. He calls it "Spray Paint."








And here's one by Brother #3, which he says are all real Mayan hieroglyphics (except for one....)



And below I'll just post a few others I photographed. I think maybe there's going to be some sort of book commemorating this show, and I plan to get one, but at this point I don't know the names of all the artists or their titles for their work. But it speaks for itself. The Ames Mill is at 302 Front St. in Richmond, Maine.

















3 comments:

Anonymous said...

ike the stained glass charms one the best, and I like the pictures of snowy windows one too. I think the paper dolls are good except for the fact that they show through from the other side. Perhaps they should have alternated jumper and costume and just had it on one side of the window.

Auntie Knickers said...

Of course you meant to say "I like". The "snowy windows" are not ALL snowy -- the title was something like "You Are My Blue Sky" and it was Beth Leonard's piece. Seen closer, you can see that some of the skies (and clouds) are from warmer climes or warmer times, I think (though I haven't asked her).

Gary Lawless and Beth Leonard said...

all of the photos on beth's window were taken the on the same day - at home in nobleboro, in the sun and snow -