The University of Maine at Farmington Emery Community Arts Center plans to wrap up the summer season with two new exhibits. Shown is “Aquarium” by Fred Dearnley. Submitted photo
The University of Maine at Farmington Emery Community Arts Center plans to wrap up the summer season with two new exhibits.
They include “Collaboration: The Power of Two,” featuring the art of Meredith Mustard and Judy (Foss) Tollefson, and “New Works” by photographer Fred Dearnley, according to a news release from the center.
“Collaboration: The Power of Two” will be on display from Friday, Aug. 12 to Friday, Sept. 16 in Emery’s Flex Gallery. “New Works” will be on display from Monday, Aug. 29 to Friday, Oct. 14 in Emery’s lobby spaces.
A joint public reception is set for 5-7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 8. The exhibits are free and open to the public.
“Botanicals,” a mono print on fabric by Meredith Mustard. Submitted photo
“Collaboration: The Power of Two” is an exhibit of analog and digital collage created with alternative printmaking processes, stencils, transfers and botanicals. The exhibition also includes wearable art designed with hand-printed fabric.
Tollefson and Mustard have been working collaboratively for more than 40 years. They discovered this connection in Berkeley, California, when they joined forces in the Calligraphy Studio of Moss Foss & Mustard. What these two imaged together eventually became a partnership called Two Imagine Studios.
“Calendar Page,” a digital collage and design by Judy (Foss) Tollefson; analogue collage by Meredith Mustard. Submitted photo
Circumstances have brought them to be neighbors in Farmington, sharing a studio through the pandemic.
This exhibition traces some of the threads of their story, and includes calendars and cards, prints on paper and fabric, the wearable art and other elements that contributed to their shared vision. Represented in the exhibition are some early works and a body of current work.
Dearnley’s photography is a combination of art and science. He originally worked as a marine biologist, with his early photographic work documenting the amazing designs of the microscopic organisms he studied. Later he worked as a photographer in the Center for Visual Studies at Unity College, where he found teaching photography helped him visualize photography as an art form.
Over the past few years, he has been experimenting with the interaction of human activity/design with the environment and the realization that a photograph is an idea of what was seen and felt at the time, an image of an ephemeral event.
The Emery Arts Center gallery is located on Academy Street in downtown Farmington. The gallery is open from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday. Check wpsites.maine.edu/emerycommunityartscenter for holiday closures.
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