FARMINGTON – The Emery Community Arts Center on the University of Maine at Farmington campus opens the semester with two exhibits of stellar proportions. “Celestial Territories Expanded” with paintings by Lori Tremblay will be on display in the Flex-Space Gallery and “Cynthia Davis Collages” on exhibit in the surrounding walkways. The work will be on exhibit to Oct. 11.
An opening reception for the artists will be held 5-7 p.m., Friday, Sept. 11. The exhibit is free and open to the public.
Tremblay’s paintings are inspired by readings and research into the relationships and primeval meanings of the 48 constellations that can be seen without the use of a telescope. This body of paintings proposes a reawakening to this ancient knowledge held sacred by cultures across the globe since the dawn of time.
“Having been fascinated by the stars since I first recall seeing them, I’ve desired to know more about them including the story they tell as documented through history, their relationships with each other and our relationship to them. My desire to understand a fuller exposition of their meanings has only just begun,” said Tremblay.
A reinstallation of the Celestial Territories exhibit first seen at the Littlefield Gallery in Winter Harbor, Tremblay’s work includes those in the original show and additional works that add to that exploration.
Davis’ work combines re-purposed maps, weaving, sewing, drawing, collage and more to take on the idea of map versus landscape. She navigates the fissure between inner and outer worlds making the processes of map making, mark making, artist books, textiles and installation important veins threading through her work.
She has exhibited her work throughout Maine, with recent shows at the Three Fish Gallery in Portland, Center for Maine Contemporary Art in Rockport and Thos. Moser Gallery in Freeport.
Davis received the 2014 Stephen Pace House Residency in Stonington. She holds an MFA in fibers from the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, and a BFA in printmaking from the Portland School of Art now known as the Maine College of Art.
Lori’s work is so different and so beautiful; her colors are stunning and the perfection of the painting of her subjects is wonderful to look at. She obviously knows her subjects; we all look at the sky and the stars but do we see what she sees? This sheds a new light on “the constellations” and opens a new world to us all. CELESTIAL TERRITORIES is unique, different, and beautiful.