FIRST FRIDAY ART WALK

An air of celebration drifted up and down Congress Street. Doors were open with tent signs positioned in front on the sidewalk. Not a drop was falling. Not an umbrella was popped. This First Friday Art Walk was the first in five months that we hadn't been hampered with snow or rain. Art patrons of all ages were embarking on the monthly walk, from gallery to gallery, to view new exhibits and converse with friends. The First Friday Art Walk in Portland, Maine has solidified and energized the gallery world in this seaside city.

On this May 2 art walk we began our stroll at SPACE. The event was billed as an "Art Flea Market." I was expecting tables of recycled art works that owners had out grown for their residence or subject. Instead I was greeted with a people packed space, featuring everything from homemade candied apples, 50's retro stuff, tee shirts, cupcakes, antiques and undefined objects of art. It was all beginning to blurr until I happened upon a young girl, dressed head to toe in purple and royal blue velvet and feathers. A pair of foot high matching peacocks were positioned on and below the square card table. In the midst of the crowded, cacophonous space, a stillness enveloped her. "Miss Peacock" was telling fortunes. For fifty cents you could have your fortune told by this beguiling ten year old. With her mother keeping a watchful eye from the background, Miss Peacock serenely moved the "telling stones" about in a glass bowl. The motion was eyecatching and soon I was taking in this most unusual moment. Miss Peacock engaged a participant with her quietness. When asked what she was selling she so softly stated, "fortunes for fifty cents." The sale was made and the reading began. I was enthralled by this live performance unfolding before my eyes. It was live art at its best. Creative, well executed, memorable.

My friends were eager to move on...so we did. I regret not having my fortune read by the enterprising Miss Peacock. She certainly was the "treasure" of the Art Flea Market.

Onward to 492 Congress Street where Whitney Art Works presented a powerhouse photographic venue. Featuring the selected works of Portland photographers, Shoshannah White, Robert Diamante and Geoffrey Leven, IN BLOOM is an explosive study of floral subject and color.

From the translucent aura of Ms. White's detailed subjects to the vibrant color and size found in Geofrey Leven's, this exhibit took my breath away. Both photographers works brought to mind Robert Mapplethorpe and the rapture he produced with the lens. Shoshannah White's images, photographic, archival ink prints on acid free water color paper, are mounted on board and painted with beeswax, oil pigment and debris. The technique is known as encaustic painting, an ancient Etruscan technique dating back over 2000 years. My favorites are the selections where the driped beeswax was not evenly distributed over the image surface.. In addition to providing texture, it creates the allure of an aged, rustic piece.

Geffrey Leven's florals can only be described as "grandee." The work, PART HARMONY, comprised of two digital metallic photographs, demands your attention upon entering the gallery....and continues its hold. The subject, poppy petals; the colors, shades of orange to red; the focus, intimate; the size, demanding...all work to create a presentation that requires and deserves it own arena. This is a piece that owns any room it beholds. This is a piece that a room should be designed around. Although it is the boldness of reds, oranges and greens that first captivate, his soft, seductive treatment of LYSIANTHUS with its creams, purples and greens provides the perfect transition to Shoshannah White's collection. Boldness in color and study can co-exist with the serene.

Robert Diamante is well known as a photographer to the jewelry trade and divides his time between Bail, where he works for John Hardy Jewelers and Maine where he maintains a studio. His presentation, OFFERINGS, is a fold-out book of images (offerings) captured in Bali. I am a fan of Robert's photography and individually the "offerings" are exquisite, but I found the presentation diminished the individual impact of each study and was experiencing visual overload. Yet I was intrigued by the fold-out book and think it an elegant mode of presenting another story. The installation of the book expanded and sitting on a suspended shelf gave the appearance of a floating alter. Brilliant!

Our visit to Whitney was brief as it too was crowded and a-buzz with downtown folk mingling after a work week. I've returned to the exhibit twice to more closely view the works and appreciate the installation and solitude it deserves. IM BLOOM will join my list of most memorable exhibits. The exhibit is on view until May 31. Details are available at http://www.whitneyartworks.com/.

It is now two weeks since the 1st Friday Art Walk of May. I could re-visit IN BLOOM again and again. As for Miss Peacock, I will wait and hope that she and her peacock companions present themselves at another art expo. As time passes, Miss Peacock also holds a place in my memory. Her ability to present fortune telling as an art form, present it in a venue filled with "art" distractions and emerge with visual impact certainly makes a statement. It is my loss that I did not have my fortune read. That, I'm sure, would have been art of another expression.

I am not an art critic, merely a patron of the arts, so any comments here are my personal opinions. They are what I saw and experienced on any given moment of my Maine journey. They are meant to provide those near and far with one person's view on "happenings" in a state dear to many hearts.

Until the next "report,"

Madeline