JUNE 2013 – “Creatures and Critters III: Equine and Avian Art”

“Falcon on a Post” by Kenneth Burns

(Peaks Island, ME) While you will not hear the sound of stampeding horses or birds singing in the third annual “Creatures and Critters” exhibit at Richard Boyd Art Gallery opening June 1st at 10:00 am, you will see a broad range of equine and avian art including sculptures, avian portraits, works depicting birds in flight, horse and rider, hunt scenes and carousel horses. Works by Kenneth Burns, Kimberleigh Martul-March, Petrea Noyes, Pam Cabanas, Katrina Majkut, Thomas Dowling, Gwen Sylvester, William Steele, Rick Boyd and Claudia Whitman are on view from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. daily through June 30, 2013. Opening reception Saturday June 1st from 12:00 noon to 2:00 pm.

After a forty plus year career as a building engineer Kenneth Burns has been getting a kick out of life while searching for who he is as an artist. Although Kenneth studied at the Art Student’s League of New York he considers himself mostly self taught creating his own signature style. Kenneth’s avian portraits capture the fine details of his study in brilliant color. Burns is inspired by the unending beauty and array of colors he finds in nature. A gifted artist working in a variety of media Kenneth’s work is exhibited nationally.

A native of Maine Kimberleigh Martul-March has a BFA in Studio Art and English. Before graduating from the University of Maine Kimberleigh traveled across Europe to introduce herself to Old World Art including works by Jan Vermeer, Jan Steen and Frans Hals masters of storytelling through portraits. After college Kimberleigh made her way across the United States supporting herself through commission work and building houses until she found her way back to the state of Maine where she currently lives. Martul-March is a trained fine and commercial artist who has a weakness for portraiture and sees the world in faces, how they differ, change and reveal to us everything. Animals pose eternal amusement through color and line and every now and then a story emerges. Kimberleigh’s avian portraits are stories waiting to be read. Each drawing is “comprised of a frenzy, a need to be born. Light, color and line struggle to convey a story, a moment and an expression. Whether they succeed is up to you.”

For more than fifty years Petrea Noyes has created art with a focus on the figurative, usually in a landscape or enclosed space. Through the years Petrea’s creative process has changed but her focus on the figurative remains constant. Her current body of work includes the use of newsprint, gesso, large-format inkjet printer and an assortment of acrylic gels and glazes to create figurative works in a thoroughly modern and captivating way. A trained fine artist Petrea’s work is exhibited locally and nationally and is held in numerous corporate and public collections including the Federal Reserve Bank in Boston, Marriot Hotels in Hartford Connecticut and Colorado State University.

A native of Long Island, New York Pam Cabanas attended Alfred University where she studied ceramic art at the famed New York State College of Ceramics in the 1970’s. While at Alfred Pam “broadened her ideas about art and her place as an artist” and graduated with a BFA in Painting and Printmaking. Shortly after graduating she moved to New Mexico where she received an MA from the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. After owning and operating several businesses in New York Cabanas purchased a home in Maine. An educator, entrepreneur and established fine artist for more than forty years Pam is well known for her pastel portraits of sea birds. Her inspiration comes from the islands, coves and ledges of her hometown in Friendship, ME which has given the artist an environment full of inspiration.

Katrina Majkut is in her second year towards earning her Master of Fine Art degree at The School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA. Katrina’s current body of work titled “Ride” is a series of paintings executed in oil on canvas depicting horses from one of America’s beloved amusement park rides the carousel. Majkut’s paintings seek to explain the psychological connection we have with this beloved amusement park ride from our childhood memories of the ride to the rides physical reality. Katrina holds a BS degree from Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts and a Post-Baccalaureate from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Katrina is a recipient of the Andrea Cilley memorial grant from the Brookline Commission for the Arts.

Thomas Dowling is an alumnus of the Maine College of Art, Portland, Maine with a BFA in illustration and a minor in drawing. Dowling’s equine and avian sculptures are exquisitely executed and capture the essence of the subject in fine detail. Although Thomas focused on drawing and illustration for most of his college career, he discovered a love of sculpture prior to graduating in 2011 and has been sculpting ever since.

Gwen Sylvester is a trained fine artist with a BA degree in Studio Art from University of California, Davis. Although Gwen received a solid foundation in art beginning in her teen years while attending the Magnet School and the Museum School Art programs in Fort Worth, Texas her style is intuitive and expressive. Sylvester’s work is influenced by abstract perspectives and vigorous surfaces found in works by Diebenkorn and Thiebaud and by the whimsiacal folk art renditions of wildlife and people by Texas artist David Bates. Gwen’s method of painting and drawing constantly evolves as she seeks to express mode and story in her picture plane in fresh new ways.

William Steele’s life is filled with art. An avid collector of art and a multi talented actor, director and professor of theater at he University of Southern maine William didn’t begin painting until about seven years ago. “In a life filled with art, whether acting, directing plays or painting my canvas has from the very beginning been heavily influenced by my early years hauling lobster gear in Casco Bay. Gulls, shore, rocks, trees, boats and of course water dominate my impressions of those wonderful younger years.” These memories are the inspiration for Steele’s impressionistic style paintings in oil on canvas depicting scenes of the Maine coast. When he is not directing a play or acting William can be found in his office at the University of Southern Maine, Gorham campus where he has been employed as a Professor of Theater for over thirty-five years. Steele has held governmental appointments to the Maine Arts Commission, the New England Foundation for the Arts and the Governor’s Advisory Committee on Public Broadcasting.

Rick Boyd a retired Nurse Anesthetist and potter for more than forty years continues to create art and pottery in his studio on Peaks island, ME where he has lived since the mid 1970’s. Rick works in a variety of clay bodies from high fire porcelain to low fire earthenwear creating original hand made works of ceramic art and pottery. Boyd is still “amazed with the process of transforming balls of clay into works of art. It’s about centering the human body and making a connection with the clay. My energy and the feel of the clay define the shape of the piece.” All of Rick’s work is wheel thrown or hand built. To ensure each piece is one of a kind no cast molds of originals are used and no commercial glazes are used in the creation of his work. Rick’s ceramic art and pottery is exhibited nationally and is part of numerous private collections.

A trained fine artist Claudia Whitman received her Bachelors in Fine Arts from Goucher College in Towson, Maryland, her Bachelors in Fine Arts in Painting from Portland School of Art in Portland, Maine and her Masters Degree in art Education from New York University. Whitman studied with Vaclav Vytlacil, one of the forerunners of American modernism at the Art Students League while working on her Masters at NYU. Claudia also studied with Esteban Vicente at NYU who had a major influence on her work. Whitman is well known for her paintings and mixed media collage art which is exhibited nationally. When not painting and creating collage art Whitman works full time against the death penalty while splitting her time between her homes in Colorado and on Peaks Island, Maine.

Richard Boyd Art Gallery is located on Peaks Island, ME at the corner of Island Avenue and Epps Street, first building on the right. The gallery exhibits original 20th and 21st century works of art created by established and emerging artists with ties to the state of Maine, working primarily in the media of painting, sculpture, clay and glass. The gallery is open April though October form 10:00 am to 5:00 pm daily. In November and Decemeber the gallery is open Friday through Sunday from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm. From January through March the gallery is open the first Friday of each month and by appointment. Additional hours are by appoinment or by chance. For additional information please contact curator Pamela Williamson by phone at 207-712-1097.

Tags: Art Galleries Maine, Art Galleries Peaks Island, art galleries Portland Maine, Art Walk, Richard Boyd Art Gallery