Explore Creative Portland

Events

Tours

Arts & Culture List

Resources

Programs

About Us

headerPrimaryMenu

Venues

Organizations

Creative Portland App

Donate

headerSecondary

[Diane Dahlke](https://dianedahlke.com/) lives in Cumberland, ME. From 2000-2020 she enjoyed teaching painting through the Continuing Studies program at The Maine College of Art. 

"In myths and visions, fish are magical creatures who bring up objects and messages from their deep, watery world below, up into our world of air and light. I see their world as one of eternal innocence, where they exist in an environment not well suited to humanity. When they emerge from it, experience is gained. Now there is wisdom with the knowledge of death. For me as an artist, the seas are like the intuitive, mysterious murk of ideas, the fish a symbol of the transformation of those ideas into things of beauty, attractive but mortal." 

large_Dahlke, Diane Innocence and Experience, acrylic on canvas, 44 x 33, $3,000.jpg

medium_Dahlke, Diane Innocence and Experience, acrylic on canvas, 44 x 33, $3,000.jpg

small_Dahlke, Diane Innocence and Experience, acrylic on canvas, 44 x 33, $3,000.jpg

thumbnail_Dahlke, Diane Innocence and Experience, acrylic on canvas, 44 x 33, $3,000.jpg

Dahlke, Diane Innocence and Experience, acrylic on canvas, 44 x 33, $3,000.jpg

Diane Dahlke,  “Innocence and Experience” - acrylic on canvas, 44" x 33" - $3000

"A plein air painter since 1973, I began seven years ago, assembling representational sculpture from interesting pieces of shaped wood that I had collected for years from various sources. This haiku is telling of the genesis of my work:
 

One piece speaks loudest

In my representations

All will play a part


At a time when there is so much global and regional uncertainty that threatens our national unity and previous way of life, the status of fishing as a resource and occupation is but another unknown. Depicting men in a dory lost in the fog hoping to be able to return a signal from their schooner on their horn while resting on their oars, seemed tenable as a allegory fitting so many of our current circumstances where there is a feeling of being without clear direction into the future but with hopeful waiting. This representation therefore seemed pertinent to the theme of this exhibition."

[andrebenoit-art.com](https://www.andrebenoit-art.com/)

large_Benoit, Andrew "Lost In The Fog," Wooden Assemblage Detail 42 x 27 $1000 copy.jpg

medium_Benoit, Andrew "Lost In The Fog," Wooden Assemblage Detail 42 x 27 $1000 copy.jpg

small_Benoit, Andrew "Lost In The Fog," Wooden Assemblage Detail 42 x 27 $1000 copy.jpg

thumbnail_Benoit, Andrew "Lost In The Fog," Wooden Assemblage Detail 42 x 27 $1000 copy.jpg

Benoit, Andrew "Lost In The Fog," Wooden Assemblage Detail 42 x 27 $1000 copy.jpg

André Benoit, "Lost in the Fog" - wooden assemblage, 47" x 42" - $1000

[Rachel E. Church](https://rachelchurch.com/) is an intermedial artist, book artist, and printmaker. She earned a B.A. in Art with a concentration in Printmaking and Entrepreneurial Studies in 2009, and a B.F.A. in Studio Art with a minor in Book Arts in 2017, both from the University of Southern Maine. She will receive her M.F.A. in Intermedia from University of Maine in August 2020. In 2008, she was an intern at the Engine House Press, on the island of Vinalhaven, Maine, and in 2009 she spent a year printing with the Peregrine Press in Portland, thanks to the Kate Mahoney Memorial Scholarship. More recently, she was honored to be selected as the Baxter State Park 2018 Artist in Residence. She is a current member of Running with Scissors Studios in Portland, Maine, and teaches printmaking and bookmaking workshops.

Inspired by Anna Atkins' 1843 Photographs of British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions, the very first book that had photographic illustrations, this work is a modern take using sea vegetation and plastic trash found on the Maine shoreline today. She used the same process as Atkins to produce these cyanotype photograms, which highlight the similarities and differences between seaweed and plastic trash in the ocean. 

large_Church, Rachel Cyanotype Impressions cyanotype diptych, 40 x 27 framed, combined $600(1).jpg

medium_Church, Rachel Cyanotype Impressions cyanotype diptych, 40 x 27 framed, combined $600(1).jpg

small_Church, Rachel Cyanotype Impressions cyanotype diptych, 40 x 27 framed, combined $600(1).jpg

thumbnail_Church, Rachel Cyanotype Impressions cyanotype diptych, 40 x 27 framed, combined $600(1).jpg

Church, Rachel Cyanotype Impressions cyanotype diptych, 40 x 27 framed, combined $600(1).jpg

Rachel Church, "Cyanotype Impressions" - cyanotype diptych, 40" x 27" - $600

[Julien Coyne](https://www.ejuliencoyne.com/) grew up in Orono, Maine and now lives in Westbrook, after spending time in Limestone, England, Boston, Australia, and Slovenia. Julien works across a range of media, including painting, textiles, and ceramics, and writes about the creative process in a monthly newsletter.

"When thinking about the past and future of Maine, I thought about how as a young person growing up here, I never really knew any other LGBTQ people around me. Things have changed a lot since then, and today I know a lot of spaces in Maine where queer identities are visible and celebrated. I wanted to make a hopeful piece symbolizing that change and my hope that people will continue to become even more open and accepting in the future."

large_Coyne, E_ Julien, Equality in the Future of Maine, hand-tufted rug, acrylic yarn, 24 x 48 $750.jpg

medium_Coyne, E_ Julien, Equality in the Future of Maine, hand-tufted rug, acrylic yarn, 24 x 48 $750.jpg

small_Coyne, E_ Julien, Equality in the Future of Maine, hand-tufted rug, acrylic yarn, 24 x 48 $750.jpg

thumbnail_Coyne, E_ Julien, Equality in the Future of Maine, hand-tufted rug, acrylic yarn, 24 x 48 $750.jpg

Coyne, E_ Julien, Equality in the Future of Maine, hand-tufted rug, acrylic yarn, 24 x 48 $750.jpg

Julien Coyne, "Equality in the Future of Maine" - hand-tufted rug with acrylic yarn, 24" x 48" - $750

Maine artist and educator, Christian Farnsworth is in his 11th year as faculty in the Maine Community College system, teaching both photography and environmental science (SMCC/YCCC). He has earned degrees in geosciences (BS, Arizona), interdisciplinary natural resources (MS, Humboldt State) and interdisciplinary studio arts (MFA , Maine College of Art).
 
"Where is our place in the environment?  Through the lens and frame, we are but observers.  Yet, to see our role as participants on our island Earth is of timely concern. Each of us arrives into our generation accepting the status quo as a baseline understanding of the world; we can be insensitive to the changes that have brought these landscapes and often, ill-equipped to oppose the gravity behind them. Through repeated familiarity, we can lose sight of how to see, falling victim to the trope of the everyday. As we approach tomorrow, can we pull outside of our self to see ourselves?
 
My photography explores various ways to perceive the landscape. I hope to render the photograph in ways more aligned with our own visual perceptions. Employing the camera as a gathering tool, varying position and movement complements our human response to visual stimuli. In re-composing spatial affiliations, I incorporate variable vanishing points to challenge conventional Renaissance perspective and paradigm.
 
It’s time to look again."

large_Farnsworth, Christian, Scarborough Winter Marsh, Archival Print, 26 x 39 _ $1200-.jpg

medium_Farnsworth, Christian, Scarborough Winter Marsh, Archival Print, 26 x 39 _ $1200-.jpg

small_Farnsworth, Christian, Scarborough Winter Marsh, Archival Print, 26 x 39 _ $1200-.jpg

thumbnail_Farnsworth, Christian, Scarborough Winter Marsh, Archival Print, 26 x 39 _ $1200-.jpg

Farnsworth, Christian, Scarborough Winter Marsh, Archival Print, 26 x 39 _ $1200-.jpg

Christian Farnsworth, "Scarborough Winter Marsh Rachel Carson Signed Edition #4" - multiperspective archival print, 16" x 32" - $700

[Norajean Ferris](https://www.norajeanferris.com/) is a visual artist that works through a vast array of subject and medium. Her work varies from bold realism to complex abstraction, and the materials for her creations are pencil, pastel, ink, charcoal and paint. Her subject matter is based in landscape, cityscape, animals, abstracts, and social and political activism.

The painting In a Little Place tells the narratives of the recent influx of immigrants in Portland Maine. Many individuals within this ever escalating populations are from countries in Africa and the Middle East, regions of the world that have been over ruled by political unrest and mass bloodshed. This large scale painting highlights my urge to ask the question of “who is an immigrant?” In the complex melting pot of modern American societies, telling viewers to get to know these diverse populations within their communities, for this action will make the world a better place.

large_#3 Last Name_ Title of Work_ In a Little Place - Size 60 by 72 Oil on Cavas  Year of Work 2019 .jpg

medium_#3 Last Name_ Title of Work_ In a Little Place - Size 60 by 72 Oil on Cavas  Year of Work 2019 .jpg

small_#3 Last Name_ Title of Work_ In a Little Place - Size 60 by 72 Oil on Cavas  Year of Work 2019 .jpg

thumbnail_#3 Last Name_ Title of Work_ In a Little Place - Size 60 by 72 Oil on Cavas  Year of Work 2019 .jpg

#3 Last Name_ Title of Work_ In a Little Place - Size 60 by 72 Oil on Cavas  Year of Work 2019 .jpg

Norajean Ferris, "In a Little Place" - oil on canvas, 60" x 72" - SOLD

[Janice L. Moore](https://www.janicelmoore.com/) grew up in northern Maine in the last days of the school calendar revolving around the potato harvest. After graduating from Sarah Lawrence College she worked in both the art and fashion industries in New York for almost a decade, moving back to Maine for her family, to finally see a straight horizon line on Casco Bay, and to paint full time.
 
With abating tactile sensation, her art making is a clumsy and inelegant process. Brushes drop. Things fall down and tip over. It’s a slow ritual of making marks and erasing marks, layer by layer. The point is always simply to do the work and for that work to be as specific and honest as possible. Moore says of her practice, “It’s never been a choice or a decision really; just something I’ve always done and needed to do.” Her industrial pieces are about the effect on our landscapes. Factories get erected for work. The construction rarely has an aesthetic driver. Buildings adapt and evolve.  The changes are always practical to solve a problem. There’s an abstraction that occurs as the structures get modified by use and purpose. I’m interested in that story of the abstracted and evolving landscape over time, knowing there are real people and a real history that goes with each piece and finding out what that is through the work."


large_Moore, Janice L, Paper Mill, Rumford, Oil on Canvas_24_ x 36__$3,000.jpeg

medium_Moore, Janice L, Paper Mill, Rumford, Oil on Canvas_24_ x 36__$3,000.jpeg

small_Moore, Janice L, Paper Mill, Rumford, Oil on Canvas_24_ x 36__$3,000.jpeg

thumbnail_Moore, Janice L, Paper Mill, Rumford, Oil on Canvas_24_ x 36__$3,000.jpeg

Moore, Janice L, Paper Mill, Rumford, Oil on Canvas_24_ x 36__$3,000.jpeg

Janice L. Moore, "Paper Mill, Rumford" - oil on canvas, 36" x 24" - $3000

[Sarah Perea-Kane](http://sarahpereakane.com/) is a painter and fiber artist living and working in Cape Elizabeth, Maine. She was born in Maine, but grew up in seacoast New Hampshire, and returned to Maine after receiving a BFA in Painting at the Rhode Island School of Design. She makes work from her own everyday spaces and scenes -- accumulations of observation, memory, and fiction. 
 
Maine’s agricultural heritage is inseparable from our identity. Whether out of necessity or quiet rebellion, Mainers have often chosen to subvert America’s larger food systems -- by growing our own or supporting local farms. Last summer she worked at Snell Farm in Buxton, a multi-generational farm and a mainstay of the community. This piece combines various views of the farm with a floral arrangement twisting and sprawling into the space, to show how the creative process is constantly applied in farming. In the current pandemic, the floral industry has taken a hit, while food producers have been strained to create new systems to meet demand safely. She hopes to present an optimistic look at the future of making local, sustainable, and creative choices for our lives and our shifting relationship to the natural world.

large_Sarah_Perea-Kane_Growing_Localcutout.jpg

medium_Sarah_Perea-Kane_Growing_Localcutout.jpg

small_Sarah_Perea-Kane_Growing_Localcutout.jpg

thumbnail_Sarah_Perea-Kane_Growing_Localcutout.jpg

Sarah_Perea-Kane_Growing_Localcutout.jpg

Sarah Perea-Kane, "Growing Local" - mixed media (acrylic, gouache, pencil, paper, washi tape, and crayon on paper), 39" x 31" - $600

A Portland resident for four years, [C.T. Rasmuss](https://pjasmfineart.com/) was born in Los Angeles, California, and spent most of his childhood between Flint, Michigan and Cincinnati, Ohio. He went on to serve his country in the U.S. Army and in 2004 he graduated from the University of Michigan with a double major in Business. This is where and when he discovered a love for music, writing and the theater, which introduced him to scenery painting. He hasn't put down the brush since.
 
“I wish to inspire the imagination of anyone who views my paintings. This determination stems from desire to seek meaning and real purpose in the 21st Century. I’ve come to realize that paint and sculpture are my best forms to communicate through; my biggest artistic influences are Vincent Van Gogh, Georges Seurat, Jackson Pollock, Ad Reinhardt… the more I search, the longer the list. I’m constantly studying new and old techniques, while inventing new ways to create my work in an endless search for knowledge, history, beauty and morality-- the concepts I hold most dear within these paintings."

large_Rasmuss, C_T_, Longboat acrylic, 40 x 60, $1850.JPG

medium_Rasmuss, C_T_, Longboat acrylic, 40 x 60, $1850.JPG

small_Rasmuss, C_T_, Longboat acrylic, 40 x 60, $1850.JPG

thumbnail_Rasmuss, C_T_, Longboat acrylic, 40 x 60, $1850.JPG

Rasmuss, C_T_, Longboat acrylic, 40 x 60, $1850.JPG

C.T. Rasmuss, "Longboat" - acrylic, 40" x 60" - $1850

[Abbeth Russell](https://www.abbeth.com/) is a painter, performer, and teacher based out of Portland, Maine. Abbeth shows her art locally and nationally and curates interactive events with her art collective. She also juggles, and plays a variety of instruments with her band. 

"My work evaporates the watery layer between reality and the spirit realm. This lifting of the veil is activated during my painting process and illustrated in the resulting narratives. Ghostly faces and figures emerge in the layered washes of the sky. Life force leaves the body as iridescent mist. Characters are reborn with wings of paint drips. Tree stumps bleed revealing dark secrets of history. My surreal narratives exist in the fourth dimension. The mythology of landscapes and the ancestors of characters rise to the surface. When I paint, space and time becomes fluid. The worlds I create are born in sketchbooks and raised on wood panels, imbued with the magical life force of acrylic paint. I build up, sand down, and glaze over layer after layer. At some point in the process each painting transforms from an image into something that holds life. My finished paintings have souls."



large_Russell, Abbeth, You Will Find Me at The Jaws of Endlessness, acrylic on wood panel, 36 x 4, $2800.jpg

medium_Russell, Abbeth, You Will Find Me at The Jaws of Endlessness, acrylic on wood panel, 36 x 4, $2800.jpg

small_Russell, Abbeth, You Will Find Me at The Jaws of Endlessness, acrylic on wood panel, 36 x 4, $2800.jpg

thumbnail_Russell, Abbeth, You Will Find Me at The Jaws of Endlessness, acrylic on wood panel, 36 x 4, $2800.jpg

Russell, Abbeth, You Will Find Me at The Jaws of Endlessness, acrylic on wood panel, 36 x 4, $2800.jpg

Abbeth Russell, "You Will Find Me at the Jaws of Endlessness" - acrylic on wood panel, 36" x 48" - $2800

[Gail](http://gailskudera.net/) was born in Hackensack, NJ and studied art at Montclair State University, then Northern Illinois University, where she earned a BFA degree in Weaving and Textile Printing and an MFA degree in Fiber. In 1990, she received a Visual Artist Fellowship Grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, Washington, DC and is a member of The National Association of Women Artists in New York. 
 
Statehood recognizes a status of transition, marking a passage from one stage to another to become a unique identity, as in personhood. Tell it to the Trees combines drawing, photography, and weaving with paper, film, and fiber to reveal women in a natural setting away from the essential and ubiquitous roles of everyday life. Her work explores the relationship of people and the environment with the passage of time. As an artist, she is inspired by the beauty of the natural world, and especially being surrounded by the light, colors and textures of the Maine landscape. Trees are synonymous with Maine history, culture and commerce and we live in grateful reciprocity with them. 

large_Skudera, Gail, Tell It To The Trees,woven mixed media, 30 x 24 $1200.jpeg

medium_Skudera, Gail, Tell It To The Trees,woven mixed media, 30 x 24 $1200.jpeg

small_Skudera, Gail, Tell It To The Trees,woven mixed media, 30 x 24 $1200.jpeg

thumbnail_Skudera, Gail, Tell It To The Trees,woven mixed media, 30 x 24 $1200.jpeg

Skudera, Gail, Tell It To The Trees,woven mixed media, 30 x 24 $1200.jpeg

Gail Skudera, "Tell it to the Trees" - woven mixed media, 30" x 24" - $1200

[Jaime Wing](https://wingedprints.com/) is an artist printmaker based in Portland, Maine. He specializes in small edition woodblock prints, letterpress, and monotype printing. Jaime is interested in the use of reclaimed and recycled materials, abstractions of and around the human figure, and queer identity.
 
"I carved "Depression" as part of an ongoing series entitled "soft boy", which unblinkingly depicts various insecurities. Represented here is a portrait of what depression feels like. Despite the stigma, mental illness is something that many of us struggle with on a daily basis.  n times of crisis and unrest, compassion and awareness are more important than ever."


large_Depression-JaimeWing (2)(1).jpg

medium_Depression-JaimeWing (2)(1).jpg

small_Depression-JaimeWing (2)(1).jpg

thumbnail_Depression-JaimeWing (2)(1).jpg

Depression-JaimeWing (2)(1).jpg

Jaime Wing, "Depression" - relief carving on wood & ink, 33" x 24" - $850

### Back to [Creative Portland Art Gallery](/art-gallery)

2020 VISION: PAST, PRESENT, & FUTURE