A large crowd of students and their supporters take in the Lincoln Academy student art show at Coastal Rivers Land Trust in Damariscotta on April 11. The annual event features ceramics, jewelry, and 2D art from over 50 high school students. (Sarah Masters photo)
Two student art shows are in their final days. Coastal Rivers Land Trust in Damariscotta is hosting works by Lincoln Academy students through Friday, April 25 while the Maine Art Gallery in Wiscasset has works from all grade levels of the Wiscasset School Department through Sunday, April 27.
Lincoln Academy’s show provides a collection of artist statements so patrons may get a little behind-the-scenes information about what inspired the young artists as they learned and practiced their crafts.
Jillian McLaughlin plans to study agriculture, a passion that inspired her visual art collection related to the American dream. Tempura painting “The Price of Progress” depicts a tree-lined driveway leading off into the distance beside a bright green grass field. The peaceful scene is broken by the tiny “For Sale” signed tucked between the thick trunks. “The Dream Machine” is working 3D slot machine with life’s prizes: family, home, car, a good-paying job. Everyone must spin, only some win.
Taylin Lowe’s stunning collection of toothy tableware came from her impulse to do something “weird and fun,” she said. Lowe created a full tea table set: a dozen pieces complete with vase, napkin holder, tea pot, and three-tier platter each entirely trimmed with teeth.
The set is bizarre, discomforting, and memorable, each tooth-lined component a conversation piece.
“I don’t want people to like it, I want them to say ‘Wow, this is something different,’” Lowe said.
Each student is as thoughtful and intentional with their work, down to the delicate jewelry.
Arsen Mikealyan’s “Complex Idea” is three connected rings with gold wire loops swirling around and between the individual bands.
Joel Lamb is mostly inspired by music, he said while wearing headphones covered in designs he painted. Lamb listens while he creates his collages, often a single song on repeat like “Gyroscope,” by Boards of Canada.
“It’s a weird song, I enjoy it quite a lot,” he said.
Lincoln Academy’s show is heavy on ceramic works, all artful, mostly functional, and many unusual.
Teapots shaped like food include Emma Castonia’s birthday cake, Ally Grondin’s pear, Amara Johnderson’s decorative squash, and Layla Musial’s strawberry.
There are also teapots in funky shapes, such as Matthew Ashton’s “Kool-Aid Man” and Isabella Apollonio’s goldfish teapot with big koi eyes; as well as some with ceramic appliqués, including Olive Siegel’s, which is covered in starfish, and Lucy Fowler’s entire underwater invertebrate community of mollusks and echinoderms, anemones and an octopus!
Students, siblings, parents and friends packed the April 11 artist reception, flowing upstairs and spilling out the doors of the David Moses Bridges Education Hall. Art teacher Jonathan Mess provided a brief welcome address.
“All of these young people I’m really proud of, this is all them. We just give them the tools, some time and energy and let them run wild. We believe in that creative soul,” Mess said.
Wiscasset art teachers expressed similar encouragement for their students during the April 17 artist reception at the Maine Art Gallery.
Wiscasset Elementary School art teacher Liz Proffetty saves student work through the year. Before the show, Proffetty goes through the piles and pulls out things she likes without even looking at the artist’s names.
“The kids keep asking me what piece will be in the show and I won’t tell them!” Proffetty said.
Wiscasset Middle High School art teacher Shalimar Chasse has been with the district for 14 years. Normally about 40 pieces are submitted for the annual art show, but this year students submitted 80 pieces, a pretty good indication of the high quality of work the students have completed, she said.
The show is a good representation of what the kids do in the program, Chasse said.
“It’s diverse in approaches to the work, a nice mix of black and white and color, 2D and 3D, different media types, and the space is awesome to show work in.”
Chasse said the art program is very pleased with the Maine Art Gallery.
“They are amazing, the fact they hang the show for us is wonderful. It’s nice to see a full show, pre-K to 12 all in one place,” she said. “We’re very pleased, it’s great to have a gallery in town that’s willing to celebrate the kids’ work. Both (Proffetty) and I appreciate the partnership we have with the gallery.”
Chasse said encouraging students to submit their work for the show can take some convincing, as they must put their name next to their art. At the school, Chasse allows them to post their work anonymously.
As an inclusive and educational opportunity, Chasse said sometimes student works come into the show because of the student themselves, that they need the experience and encouragement involved in showing their work. Being in the show encourages the students to create more work, Chasse said.
Grayson Mullins, a third grader, received some of that encouragement at the artist reception. Proffetty snagged Mullins as he entered the show and introduced him to Maine Art Gallery board member Jonathan Lavan.
“You’re the horse?! Oh! That’s my favorite piece, that’s fantastic. I thought a cave man actually painted it,” Lavan said to Mullins about his chalk pastel “prehistoric” drawing.
Seventh grader Oliver Ordung said his black-and-white sketch was designed to tell a story without words, but one can tell what it means. Clearly, he said, his drawing of Valentine’s Day depicted several couples and one lonely man.
Kagome Ordung always wanted to be an artist and her favorite letter is X, she said as she pointed out her illuminated interpretation of the 24th letter.
“I don’t really do realistic styles, but I can,” said Ordung, a fourth grader, of her future plans.
Primary mediums in the Maine Art Gallery show include colored pencil, watercolor, oil pastels, tempura, cut paper collages applied to mini zines, neurographica, self portraits, animal images, and landscapes. A few small ceramic pieces mix up the show with tiny colorful coil vessels, Greek pottery lookalikes, clay tiles, and more.
Cheyenne Poole used markers and tissue paper for her 3-foot-tall “Cherry Blossoms in a Vase” work with delicate blue drawings and bright pink buds.
Senior Sero Sproul drew from cute kawaii elements in her work: a painting of ghosts wandering through a forest, a 4-inch tile square depicting a mushroom village including a koi pond.
Patrons have only a few days left to view these unique, wonderful, occasionally bizarre in the best way pieces from Lincoln County’s up-and-coming young artists. For more information about the shows, including viewing hours, go to maineartgallerywiscasset.org or coastalrivers.org.
