After Party posits a unique timestamp on the influence of the Ogunquit art colony and the significance of time, place, and community in the history of American art. Rosen’s experiential installation casts present-day Ogunquit in relation to the 20th century artists who comprised the creative collaborative that transformed a vision for American modernism. Portrayed as…
Kathleen Speranza’s florals celebrate life – vita – as much as they evoke 17th century Dutch still life painting known as vanitas. Originally, vanitas still lifes were designed to remind the viewer of the brevity and fragility of life. The term “vanitas” comes from the opening lines of the Book of Ecclesiastes – ‘Vanity of…
Throughout her career, Emily Nelligan’s primary muses consisted of the shoreline, sea, and sky of Maine’s Great Cranberry Island off Mount Desert. While many artists routinely draw as a preliminary process, Nelligan’s extensive oeuvre explores drawing as a fully realized medium with wide-ranging potential. Part representational, part abstract, Nelligan’s process of manipulating materials and methods accentuates the…
In celebration of Maine’s bicentennial year and the museum’s 67th season, OMAA recognizes the distinguished role of Ogunquit’s artists as educators and founders of Maine’s visual and cultural heritage. A reinstallation of the permanent collection highlights the Ogunquit Art Colony’s founding father, Charles Woodbury. Woodbury’s legendary Ogunquit Summer School of Drawing and Painting is distinguished for having provided classes, tutorials,…
Light Southerly examines the artist and Ogunquit Museum of Art’s founder Henry Strater’s Southwestern landscapes completed during his winter residency in Verde Valley, Arizona from 1931 to 1938. Sequestering himself from the popular Southwestern art colonies of Taos, Sante Fe, and Monterey, Strater’s subjects nonetheless position him squarely in the context of the American moderns who preceded and overlapped his…
Today’s practice of open artist studios takes its cues from the past. In addition to selling their work through commercial galleries and group exhibition venues, many nineteenth and early twentieth century artists marketed their work by hosting open studios. Several Ogunquit artists, including Charles Woodbury, also offered private tutorials and group instruction in their studios. This installation reimagines Woodbury’s workspace as it appeared between the 1890s…
