Zillman Art Museum Announces New Exhibitions


  • July 30, 2020

PRESS RELEASE
Zillman Art Museum - University of Maine


July 30, 2020

Contact:  Kathryn Jovanelli
               207.581.3370
               kathrynj@maine.edu
               zam.umaine.edu
               High resolution digital images available upon request

Zillman Art Museum announces Summer/Fall Exhibitions


BANGOR – The Zillman Art Museum, located at 40 Harlow Street in downtown Bangor, opens three new exhibitions in August 2020. ZAM is open Tuesday-Saturday from 10 am - 5 pm and brings modern and contemporary art to the region, presenting approximately 12 original exhibitions each year. ZAM’s summer/fall shows open to the public on August 4 and run through December 23, 2020. Admission to the Zillman Art Museum is free in 2020 thanks to the generosity of Deighan Wealth Advisors.

MAINE INSPIRED: ART LUMINARIES AT THE BICENTENNIAL
August 4 - December 23, 2020

Throughout history, artists have been attracted to Maine for its striking landscape, quiet remoteness, and resilient people. As we celebrate Maine’s Bicentennial in 2020 and the state’s rich artistic history, the Zillman Art Museum (ZAM) showcases artists who have not only contributed to the cultural fabric of Maine, but whose works of art are lauded internationally.  

Featured in the exhibition are an assortment of works from the ZAM collection including two of Winslow Homer’s finest prints, Eight Bells, 1887 and Perils of the Sea, 1888. John Marin, whose studio in Maine was on a picturesque point in Addison, is represented by two dynamic watercolors, A Bit of Cape Split, Maine, 1940 and A Bit of Stonington, Maine, 1926—as well as a suite of etchings that attests to his skill in both representation and abstraction.

One of Maine’s most prominent artists, Andrew Wyeth, is featured in two lovely watercolors gifted in 1948 by Bangor’s Wing Sisters, Adeline and Caroline. The exhibition also highlights three images by Berenice Abbott, one of photography’s greatest practitioners, who relocated permanently from New York City to Blanchard, Maine in the 1960s. Also included are contemporary works by Alex Katz including Ann Lauterbach, 1977 and Swimmer, 1974—two pieces that illustrate his distinctive, pared-down approach to portraiture.

Admission to the Zillman Art Museum is FREE in 2020 thanks to the generosity of Deighan Wealth Advisors.
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BEING HERE: MARCIE JAN BRONSTEIN
August 4 - December 23, 2020

Being Here features a stunning selection of recent watercolor compositions by Maine-based artist Marcie Jan Bronstein. In this exhibition, Bronstein beautifully harnesses the unique qualities of watercolor, often thought of as a unforgiving medium that doesn’t lend itself to revisionist impulses, in images that are both subtle in one instance, and bold in another.  

A focal point of the exhibition is a dramatic grid of nine works titled Oasis. Marks that suggest ropes or swaged transparent drapery inhabit these works. In these works, one may also see subtle references to architecture, such as seemingly stylized stairways and open portals of expansive light. Seen as a unit or as individual panels, the calming monochromatic colors employed in Oasis—ranging from pale blues, lavender, and buttery yellow—invite multiple interpretations for viewers.

In other compositions, Bronstein depicts crystalline forms as if the objects are mutating under a microscopic lens. One also sees the artist’s web-like strands that reference occurrences at the cellular level or stretched ovoid forms that are reminiscent of polished beach rocks, potatoes, or pill-like capsules. Through Bronstein’s varied marks, blooms of transparent watercolor, and enigmatic forms, she creates rich opportunities for reflection and interpretation.

Admission to the Zillman Art Museum is FREE in 2020 thanks to the generosity of Deighan Wealth Advisors.
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WOOD NYMPHS: JOANNE CARSON
August 4 - December 23, 2020

Wood Nymphs, features a selection of drawings and large-scale sculptures by JoAnne Carson. Splitting her time between Brooklyn and rural Vermont, Carson is known for her quirky, serio-comic works in painting, sculpture and assemblage.

Carson’s sculpture Chlorophylia (For a World Without Color), that rises eight feet tall, is a focal point of the exhibition. The work is light-bleached and ghostly with its oversized, pale colored flowers and branches that stretch to the ceiling. Varied plant species—some resemble stylized hydrangea while others are textural enlarged roses—are assembled in a whimsical manner on a trunk-like base that is perched atop a circular disk.

Wood Nymph, 1999, represents a major work in Carson’s career; a multi-armed, female figure spins pies on the tip of her fingers as she emerges from a nine foot high trompe l’oeil log. The work is a tragic/comic comment on the gendered role of women as homemaker, muse, and force of nature.

The work Blue, 2006, is a quirky three-dimensional piece that is reminiscent of the amped up colors and forms found in a Dr. Seuss book. The flattened, stylized leaves and pom-pom flowers emanate from a coiled electric-blue stalk whose origin is four curved legs that rest precariously on the plinth. Exhibited together these works orchestrate a chorus of invented forest creatures that aspire to transport viewers to a magical, imaginative woodland.

Admission to the Zillman Art Museum is FREE in 2020 thanks to the generosity of Deighan Wealth Advisors.
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Kathryn Jovanelli

40 Harlow Street
Bangor  ME  04401-5102 

207-581-3370
ude.eniam@jnyrhtak
zam.umaine.edu