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In Review: Emery’s ‘Transcendence’ exhibit extraordinary

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Dream Carriers, by
“Dream Carriers,” a multi-piece sculpture of papier måché and encaustic by Deborah Anne and Penelope Hall, is suspended above the attendees at Sunday’s opening reception for the new exhibit, Transcendence: Beyond the Ordinary at the Emery Community Arts Center.
A close up of George Mason's "To Mend # 5, created using plaster, clay, pigment, casein paint, encaustic.
A close up of George Mason’s “To Mend #5, created using plaster, clay, pigment, casein paint, encaustic at the new exhibit, Transcendence: Beyond the Ordinary at the Emery Community Arts Center.

FARMINGTON – The metamorphosis from caterpillar to the emergence of a strange creature plays out overhead.

While in the next space a large sculpture of rusted shear rings cling together to form an airy sphere.

Nearby, a patchwork quilt of reds, grays, greens and plum purple built of plaster, clay, and wax-based encaustic paint draws the viewer in ever closer to see whispers of pattern and inscription.

The artwork is part of the new Emery Community Arts Center exhibit titled, Transcendence: Beyond the Ordinary.

The well-named multimedia collection features the work of more than 50 visual and wordsmith artists. Curated by the five so-called spiral artists: Mary McFarland, Dona Seegers, Mardy Bogar, Mary Beth Morrison and Jan Royall, who were reunited for this show after successfully curating an exhibition two years ago at the Emery titled, Spiral, A Journey Without End.

Two gallery attendees can be seen through Jay Sawyer's "Unfinished Dreams," created of reclaimed shear rings.
Two gallery attendees can be seen through Jay Sawyer’s “Unfinished Dreams,” created of reclaimed shear rings for the new show, Transcendence: Beyond the Ordinary at the Emery Community Arts Center.

This time around the spiralists got together and settled on a show theme wrapped around transcendence.

They asked artists this simple question: “transcendence, what’s your interpretation of that,” Bogar said and added, “Then, we just let it roll from there.”

It turned out that it rolled in a lot of wonderful directions.

At Sunday’s well-attended opening reception, viewers walked through a long paper strand forest of curvy shapes hanging from the tall ceiling. The work, created by Seegers, was lit so interesting shadows played on the walls around it. A few steps away, Christine Higgins’ painted scenes of seasons seemed to float in a row of handmade paper panels titled, “Passages.”

Jo Josephson transcended her black and white photographs of trees in winter when she reprinted them on heavily textured paper to bring additional elements of recycled wood into the scenes.

The show’s ceramics, paintings, sculptures, fibers, assemblages are each unique in their thoughtful creation.

So, too, are the 14 poets and essayists who worked their word magic around life’s transcending moments. Graceful and thought-provoking, the collection of work is more than worth a read or two.

The show, running through to March 22, is free and open every day, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. The Emery Community Arts Center is located on the University of Maine at Farmington campus.

Dona Seegers' "
Dona Seegers’ “Chaya: Sanskrit for Shadow,” paper, cloth, light, is part of the Emery Community Arts Center’s new exhibit, Transcendence: Beyond the Ordinary.
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