💡Lights on this Thursday in Portland
Opening 'Silvering Toward Invisible', new artist feature, and big grant news!
Silvering Toward Invisible
Opens this Thursday, February 29th at SPEEDWELL Contemporary with a reception from 5-8pm.
Mirrors are as magical as they are scientific. The chemical process that produces the near-flawless ones we’re accustomed to, called silvering or electroplating, not only perfected the reflective surface but magnified existing lore about the space behind the reflection. In folklore and superstition across cultures, mirrors are powerful intercessors between realms: gazed into overlong or broken they deliver misfortune; uncovered, they trap the spirits of recently deceased, and with skill, they augur futures and betray the unseen.
Indeed, we find the artist’s reflection beside our own in artwork, but to call it a mirror would be a cliche. Art mirrors, but does so imperfectly: ice and glass bow landscape and light, spider silk snares a sunbeam, water distorts the sky, and poems echo sound and word. Realms of intention, reception, artist, and audience are reflected in artwork along lines of symmetry that bridge, warp, and blur their separations. Yet, the human proclivity for recognizing ourselves and our world in the fragmented and reengineered reflection provided by art may be exactly what fuels our fascination for making and appreciating it. Artworks that offer entrances to rediscover our mysterious, miraculous existence are not wrought by magic alone but, once forged, pulse with enchantment.
Silvering Toward Invisible gathers artists Peah Pauline Guilmoth, Paloma Kop, and Emily Nelligan, under and alongside phrase excerpted from poems by Kristen Case. These four together— Guilmoth’s uncanny photography, Kop’s electronic seances, and Nelligan's gossamer studies of Cranberry Island, among the contemporary incantations of Case’s poetry— open a door to the depths around us. For the mirror, the aim is to erase itself and imitate what it faces. These artists summon images of Us too, but skillfully cultivate flaws and breaks in the reflecting surface letting substance beyond image travel between realms like a charm passing through the looking glass.
– Forward written by Thea Hart
Interview with artists Matt Demers and Allison McKeen
Allison McKeen a self taught interdisciplinary artist living and working in Gardiner, Maine - currently focused on printmaking, design, illustration, and painting. my work is an exploratory adventure of shape, color and pattern - inspired by themes of nostalgia, nature, home, adventure, comfort, and play.
Matt Demers is a visual artist living and working in Gardiner, Maine. A quiet person, Demers closely observes the fevered and cross-talking world, absorbing and collecting its art and ephemera, and learning or imagining the meanings that odd objects, forgotten texts, and torn treasures carry with them. Demers is or has been an art and antiques collector, sign maker, gravedigger, embroiderer, antiques dealer, and graphic artist; those experiences shape the various techniques and media that make their way into his paintings. He is drawn to the misfiled and overlooked fragments of the past and the ways they might shine if rightly considered.
Lights Out Gallery Receives $229,750 Grant to Promote Maine Art, Bolstered by Maine Jobs & Recovery Plan Initiative
Norway, ME – February 21, 2021 – Lights Out Gallery, a pioneering force in Maine's art scene, is proud to announce the receipt of a $229,750 grant to advance its mission of promoting Maine art. This funding, generously provided as part of Department of Economic and Community Development’s Domestic Trade Grant Program funded by Governor Mill’s Maine Jobs & Recovery Plan and the American Rescue Plan Act.
Governor Janet Mills recently unveiled the allocation of over $3 million in grants from the Maine Jobs & Recovery Plan to bolster the sales of Maine-made products across the United States. This initiative, a cornerstone of Maine's economic development strategy, aims to promote growth and fortify the state's business climate. Lights Out Gallery's grant is a testament to the vital role of the arts in Maine's economic landscape and the recognition of the gallery's efforts in elevating Maine's cultural profile.
"We are immensely grateful to Governor Janet Mills and the Maine Jobs & Recovery Plan for their support of the arts in Maine," said Daniel Sipe, Co-Director of Lights Out Gallery. "This grant will enable us to increase our capacity and showcase the exceptional work of Maine artists to audiences far and wide."
The grant will facilitate Lights Out Gallery's expansion of its pop-up exhibit program, providing platforms for emerging and established artists to display their work across the state. Allowing Lights Out Gallery to focus fundraising efforts on critical projects such as the renovation of our art and community center in Norway, including the replacement of its roof.
"Maine has always been a place for artists to make work. Our communities have formed around the arts. We are excited to continue to promote the rich history of Maine art," added Sipe.
The support provided through the Maine Jobs & Recovery Plan underscores the commitment of Maine's government to the growth and vitality of the state's cultural sector. By investing in initiatives like Lights Out Gallery, the plan will stimulate economic activity, create jobs, and strengthen Maine's identity as a hub of artistic innovation.
Lights Out Gallery extends its gratitude to Governor Mills, the Maine Jobs & Recovery Plan, and all partners involved for their dedication to advancing Maine's arts and culture.
For more information about Lights Out Gallery and its initiatives, please visit lightsoutgallery.org.
YAY DANIEL AND COMPANY!!!!!!! This is beautiful news. This is Iain the Solar guy who met you in Brunswick at the Bohemian Coffee House and went to your pop up exibit at Fort Andross. I’ve been thinking of you and I will get up that way to see you. And I will have to get down to Portland to view the Silvering show. It sounds amazing! You guys are movers and shakers and your making it happen. Thank you for your vision and your courage 🙏
you guys are the best!!! !!!! anything good comes you way is rightly deserved