A Packed House

The scene was much like this for most of the evening. Exciting!

What a night!

Many thanks to all those who attended TEN last night. Attendance was estimated to be around 400 for the 3 hour event! Beyond our wildest dreams. About 2/3 of the art was sold. Here are some photos of the show just as the doors were opened...while there was still art on the walls.

Lovers on the Beach - June Grey

Acrylic

Pemaduncook Lake - June Grey

Acrylic

June Grey finds the beauty of Maine so inspiring that it has been the focus of her paintings since her professional career began. Her works have been exhibited in galleries across the U.S., Canada and Tasmania. A member of the Miniature Painter, Sculptors and Gravers Society of Washington D.C., June likes to work small but not exclusively in miniature.

Putting it all together....

73 Central Street, Downtown Bangor

The space at 73 Central in downtown Bangor is being shaped into its momentary gallery self. There are people who think we’re a little nuts, this obsession with the details, the details over which, in reality, we could acknowledge we have little control. You know, it is an empty storefront! And come on, you also know we will only inhabit it for three hours. The space, filled up with 100 paintings on the walls hung in grids of three paintings across and three deep, will—if we have our way—be overflowing with people and no one will even notice the setup.

But we’re furiously putting together the CD playlist—some Etta James, for sure—ironing the tablecloth, gathering the twigs and branches for the flower arrangement, and marking off the righteously challenging grid on the wall that will enable us to hang these works the way they deserve.

It takes a village—and we’re grateful to live in one. We hope to see all the rest of you villagers at TEN’s opening and celebration and sale and closing on Thursday October 27 from 5 to 8 p.m.

Sweetness of Loosened Burdens by Annaliese Jakimides

Mixed Media, 10 x 10"

Showing Off - Linda Packard

Showing Off, Oil on panel, 10 x 10"

by John LeBlanc

Acrylic and Collage, 10 x 10"

John LeBlanc studied at the Art Students League of New York City. Represented by galleries in Maine and Massachusetts, he has been included in juried and invitational exhibitions at the Center for Maine Contemporary Art and the Pastel Society of America, among others. His work has been selected for the Maine Arts Commission Percent for Art program and is included in the book The Art of Monhegan Island by Carl Little.

Untitled - David Haskins

Watercolor,  10 x 10"

Untitled 1 - Kristborg Whitney

Acrylic on panel,  10 x 10"

The size in which some of us work is often quite large—48 inches by 72 inches, 36 inches by 60, 40 by 40. Some rarely, if ever, even work in the square format. If the lens through which you see your subject matter is rectangular, square is a big challenge. If your movements crave to be large, the compressed vision of the 10 inch by 10 inch painting restricts every movement you make. It is like folding up on yourself when you are accustomed to dancing across an entire stage.

When Kristborg Whitney considered undertaking a 10-by-10 for her geometric paintings, which are filled with detail and intricate patterns of energy flowing and reversing, interconnecting, she was pretty sure it wouldn’t translate. But translate it did.

“I’m certain that without this imposed restriction,” she says, “I never would have tried to create my work in this small a size—and I’m happy I did.”

Size is the only restriction in the works that are being created for TEN; otherwise, the artists could do anything they wanted, work in whatever medium, make work they were known for or  move entirely outside their comfort zone.

Camden Hills from Caterpillar Hill - Jean Deighan

Acrylic on Canvas, 10 x 10"

Jean is an attorney and owner of a wealth management firm. She did not go to art school, but grew up surrounded by paintings and painters. For most of her life she spent her visual energy appreciating the art of others, a practice which she enthusiastically continues to this day. In fact, she describes herself as the woman who will never have a new kitchen because she will always buy another painting instead. That said, she picked up a paint brush ten years ago and surprised herself. She began to see her favorite places more intensely, and found herself transported to a different plane of existence as she painted those places. She paints "the way her subjects make her feel," and hopes she can thereby share some of that experience with her viewers.

Untitled - Diana Young

Acrylic on Canvas, 10 x 10"

Central Maine is not known for a fall of cascading reds and yellows with 75- or 80-degree winds brushing our cheeks, but that’s what we’ve been experiencing these recent days, bookended by frosts and blackened corners of gardens. For all of us TEN artists who are hunkering down to create these 10 new pieces in a small window of time, it’s an odd scenario. Many of us so want to be out and about sucking in every scent, lick of sun, the vestiges of coatless-weather days because real fall can’t be far behind.

It’s all good for Diana Young, who already finished all 10 of her paintings days ago. When she was asked whether she’d make new work for this show, she said, “I don’t know whether I’ll have the time to make a new painting.” But when she was told, “No, not A painting, Diana—10 paintings,” she said, “Oh, that’s a worthwhile challenge.”

Caterpillar Hill Looking East - Jean Deighan

Caterpillar Hill Looking East, Acrylic on canvas, 10 x 10"

by Dave Haskins

Watercolor, 10 x 10"

Untitled - Diana Young

Acrylic on canvas,  10" x 10"

Untitled 2 - Kristborg Whitney

Untitled, Acrylic on panel, 10" x 10"

Wonderland at Sewall - Joanne Houlsen

Wonderland at Sewall, Oil on canvas, 10" x 10"

Giacomo's - JoAnne Houlsen

Giacomo's,  Oil on canvas,  10" X 10"

Three Together. - Linda Packard

Three Together, Oil on panel, 10" x 10"

Paige - Jeff Loxterkamp

Paige,  10" x 10"  oil on canvas

Rebekkah - Jeff Loxterkamp

About Jeff:

Rebekkah,  10" x 10"  oil on canvas

Jeff Loxterkamp earned an MFA at the University of Iowa in 1989. He was named "Ones to Watch" in the April 2009 edition of Maine Home & Design.

Loxterkamp’s cityscapes feature old-fashioned villages and downtowns that speck the Maine Coast line from Kittery to Mt. Desert and along the Blue Hill Peninsula. “His colors pop off the canvas, with deep, brooding skies and wildly fluid brushstrokes. There’s a sense of motion....a feeling of change.”

“I like playing with paint,” Loxterkamp says. “I try to make a painting seem as sensuous as possible, so you almost want to touch it but shouldn’t.”