FARMINGTON – A unique art show will kick off Friday, June 22 at the Emery Community Arts Center, as years of work by 20 community members goes on display.
The Art Among Us features members of the Gold LEAF Institute, University of Maine of Farmington’s Senior College. Standing for Lifelong Education At the University of Maine Farmington, Gold LEAF is a member-governed organization offering anyone ages 50 and older a number of educational opportunities – including access to Maine Senior College classes – and activities, ranging from social events to outdoor excursions to tours of local businesses.
Joe Terranova, a vice president at Gold LEAF, said the idea of doing a member art show came up two or three years ago.
“We were thinking that there’s a lot of hidden talent here,” Terranova said. Seeking to provide the means to showcase that talent, Gold LEAF arranged to be added to the Emery Community Arts Center’s list of shows to reserve space.
For Ann Bartges, the director of the ECAC, the show offered a chance to bring a bigger slice of the community into the arts center.
“That’s it’s a community show makes it really visible,” Bartges said.
The ECAC staff helped Terranova and co-curator Phil Poirier hang paintings, sketches and photographs on the walls. Sculptures, woodwork and other pieces, be they stitched together or assembled out of colorful glass, can be found clustered atop pedestals throughout the room.
“A lot of these pieces have been hanging on living room walls for years,” Terranova said. Others, Poirier noted, were recent enough to have not been previously displayed.
Many of the artists will be in attendance Friday, June 22 from 5 to 7 p.m. as ECAC hosts an opening reception. The event is free to attend and will feature refreshments.
Artists participating in the show include: Ann Arbor, Frank Chin, Karyl Condit, Suzanne DeBiase, Beth Ann DeLorey, Michael Field, Betty Jespersen, Eileen Kreutz, Sandra McCormick, Susan McPherran, Phil Poirier, Ray Stillman, Mark Stofan, Joe Terranova, Lyn Terranova, Myrna Vallette, Susan Wahlstrom, Jim Wahlstrom, Paula Widmer and Heidi Wilde.
The Art Among Us will run until Aug. 10 after Friday’s opening. The gallery is open Wednesday through Saturday, from noon until 5 p.m.
