Aarhus Gallery

Aarhus Gallery focuses on the art of alternative and historical process photography with a show entitled ‘Obscura' featuring 22 artists from masters to experimentalists working with pinhole, cyanotype, mordoncage, platinum, plastic camera and gum arabic. On view October 20- November 15th. The public is invited to the O...pening Reception Friday October 23rd from 5-8pm.

Is it stating the obvious to say that photography has evolved quite a bit since its discovery was announced in France and England in 1839? There have certainly been some amazing advancements, but the origins of photography are still with us and may prove to be as inextricable as our family tree roots.
The digital age is upon us and the days of film, darkrooms and chemistry seem to be as fleeting as the images first reflected into the ‘Camera Obscura’ so long ago. However, there are still some resourceful individuals that mix chemicals, coat paper with light sensitive emulsions and use the sun (or light box) to work light into image. Join us at Aarhus to see a diverse group of artists work their magic in various forms of alternative and historical process photography, and trip the light fantastic.

Featured artists include Ilya Askinazi, Jonathan Bailey, Elizabeth Cecil, Anne-Claude Cotty, Tillman Crane, Luis Feliciano, Jesseca Ferguson, Annadeene K. Fowler, Jay Gibson, Brenton Hamilton, Kevin Johnson, Mark Kelly, Peter Madden, Richard Mann, Eliza Massey, Georges Nashan, Eben Ostby, Chris Pinchbeck, Wesley Reddick, Willy Reddick, Dianna Rust, Antonia Small, and Scott Stoughton.

Aarhus Gallery is located at 50 Main St. Belfast, and open daily 10am-6pm. For more information and a slideshow of the current exhibit visit www.aarhusgallery.com or call 338-0001.
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Consider an amalgam of the 1972 introverted-oddity of Ziggy Stardust and 1901 extroverted-reality of Gustav Mahler; a winsome Gene Wilder ballad ballasted by the lounge throb of Boston's Morphine; the bass beat of a Mingus tune answered by the vibrancy of a Belfast-driven new jazz quartet.
Agharta Jazz offers a night of... music as experienced through the prism of jazz.
“The idea is to focus on what is essential in music, that which transcends genre and idiom, the emotional component which moves us at our hearts” says composer and pianist Tom Luther. Agharta Jazz will be presenting a unique concert event with special guest vocalist Kristen Burkholder. Agharta Jazz will feature its core lineup, with Mike Whitehead on trumpet and flugelhorn, Tom Luther on piano, Doug Kennedy on bass, and Jeff Densmore on drums. They will be joined by vocalist Kristen Burkholder, who has delighted audiences with her group Tango.
Concert will be held Saturday October 24 at 7pm, at Aarhus Gallery 50 Main Street Belfast. A $7 suggested donation will be taken at the door. Refreshments will be served.
For more information visit www.aarhusgallery.com or call 207-338-0001Read More

Aarhus Gallery is very pleased to exhibit the delightful and sublime work of Sedgwick artist, printmaker and book illustrator, Holly Meade.

“Art…its true effort is to open to us dimensions of the spirit that normally lie smothered under the weight of living.”
–J. Winterson

There’s a very good chance that paper, invented i...n A.D.105, was developed expressly to make...prints, woodblock prints, in fact. And since then, few if any mediums have played such a pivotal role in the sharing of ideas, or have increased so exponentially, the widespread communication of creative expression or the very evolution of thought itself. Woodblock prints have indeed been around for a really long time, and although Holly Meade has not been (comparatively speaking), her woodblock prints carry the sophistication, the artistry, the serious feathery lightness of the mysteries of the human soul, the magical essence of animal life and the beauty that legends speak of.

Holly Meade’s woodblock prints are treasures, gifts in fact, that will brighten your day. And, they will be on display for your enjoyment and...purchaseability, at Åarhus Gallery, from September 22nd to October 18th 2009, along with the work of Aarhusians Kevin Johnson, Mark Kelly, Annadeene Fowler, Richard Mann, Wesley Reddick and Willy Reddick. An Opening reception will be held Friday October 2nd, from 5-8pm. Also, the art and poetry for 5th Annual Belfast Poetry Festival, Oct 16th and 17th, will go on view starting Sept 22.

Aarhus Gallery is located at 50 Main St. Belfast, and open daily 10am-6pm. For more information and a slideshow of the current exhibit visit www.aarhusgallery.com or call 338-0001.Read More

Åarhus Gallery is pleased to announce our upcoming concert, Saturday October 3rd at 7:30 pm, the exceptional Bob Webb, banjoist and historian, with Helen Richmond Webb, guitar accompaniment.

For more than 30 years Bob Webb has not only explored, loved, studied and played the banjo, he’s also contributed to preserving th...e unique history of this most culturally embedded instrument. His museum exhibition, Ring the Banjar!: The Banjo in America from Folklore to Factory, and the exhibition monograph, catalyzed the modern golden age of the banjo.

Playing in the old-time “clawhammer” style, Bob treats the audience to music originating in Appalachia and the West, with a tip of the hat to minstrel-theatre style and conveys to our ears the sounds of African-inspired Black instruments that predate the modern banjo.

Bob will bring along the familiar banjo of today, as well as a gourd-bodied instrument, a minstrel-era replica banjo, an Appalachian fretless banjo, and perhaps more. Come hear the sounds of the happiest instrument -- and the saddest -- on Earth, and share in our national preoccupation with its distinctly American sound.

Suggested donation $7, refreshments will be served.
Bring your own cushion, if you like, to soften your seat.

Åarhus Gallery is located at 50 Main St. Belfast, Maine and is open 10-6, 7 days a week. For more information call 338-0001 or visit the website www.aarhusgallery.comRead More

Åarhus Gallery is proud to exhibit the work of acclaimed abstract expressionist, Harold Garde, from September 1st through the 20th and invites the public to join Harold on September 4th at 4pm at the Colonial Theatre in Belfast for a debut showing of the recut and updated version of the Dale Schierholt documentary film...: Harold Garde: Working Artist-The Director’s Cut, followed by an opening reception from 5-8pm at Åarhus.

Born in New York City in 1923, amid a growing interest around the country toward science within the following decades, what with the discovery of the planet Pluto and Amelia Earhart’s solo attempt to circumnavigate the earth, and some other pretty crazy stuff in the ways of science, Harold did what many other intelligent, forward thinking Americans did and enrolled as a science major in college. But then three years in the Army Air Force changed something in Harold Garde and he went on to receive a masters degree in Art at Columbia University, moving on to work in commercial interior design and later into a career as art professor and teacher, retiring in 1984 to beautiful, you guessed it, Belfast Maine. Where, as is obvious if you were to visit his studio, he continued to paint and is still painting, dividing his time between his studios in Florida and Maine, Harold paints and paints.....and paints. Much to the delight we may add, to countless individuals and the notable collections of: The Print Library of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Portland Museum of Art, Portland, Maine, the Farnsworth Museum, the Fine Arts Museum of New Mexico, the DeLand Museum in Florida, the Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris, France, and we could go on, but you get the picture. In fact, you get to see many of them ...at Åarhus September 1st through the 20th, 2009.

“I have an abstract expressionist background.” Harold says, “It was the most exciting new development in art when I was a young painter.” Much of that training remains. What’s left behind are sophisticated techniques and equipment, choosing instead the simplest and most direct, rarely choosing to allow the non-figurative (the ‘abstract’ of ‘abstract expressionism’) to remain as the final work. Harold is interested in what the paint can do, no doubt, making marks and using colors that both express his thoughts and respond to his actions, though his subjects are ones that are readily recognized and “capable of being rendered with many variations.” Whether manifested subtly or boldly, fragile or monumental: “I want my works to be visually exciting, capable of engaging the eye, the emotions and stimulating the mind of the viewer.”

Åarhus partners had the favor and pleasure of visiting Harold Garde’s studio and chose from a multifarious portfolio of work, pieces that range from the 1950’s to 2009. We found we were drawn toward the striking colors and provocative shapes of his figures and faces, with a couple of chair and puppet images confidently placed into the mix. This is not a retrospective as much as it is a rollicking romp through a collection of outstanding paintings from what we consider one of Maine’s finest abstract expressionist painters, at the top of his game.Read More