Stonington Galleries

Stonington--Follow the orange banners August 7 from 4 to 7 p.m. for an exceptional First Friday open gallery night in Stonington. The evening will feature gallery talks and demos, stools and sailboats, still lifes and plein air paintings and a birthday party for the Stonington Opera House.

Siri Beckman, Bobolinks, wood engraving

At 4 p.m., printmaker Siri Beckman (banner #8) will demonstrate the art of wood engraving in her studio at 115 Airport Road. She is long known for her prints depicting Maine life. But her work also reflects the western splendor of national parks where she worked as artist-in-residence. She has been on the faculty at Haystack and the University of Maine.

Isalos Fine Art (banner #7), which faces the harbor on Main Street, will host the Opera House Arts' 10th Anniversary Exhibition featuring tributes to the life of Stonington's venerable cultural institution by 21 artists.

A few doors down the street at the gWatson Gallery (banner #6), a reception will also be held for Stanley Bielen, a still life painter from Philadelphia.

At 5 p.m., Jill Hoy (banner #5) will focus her talk on porches and pathways and how she uses them in her paintings.

Around the corner and up the N Seabreeze Avenue hill, Lorraine Lans (banner #4) will feature a group of plein air paintings of Monhegan Island this past spring "during and after the fog rolled in", as she puts it.

At The Seasons of Stonington (banner #3), the public will taste fine wines while enjoying the newly renovated gallery of fine art and crafts by Maine artists.

Half a mile north on Rt. 15, Geoffrey Warner Studio (banner #2) invites visitors to view innovative designs in handmade furniture (the owl stool, for example) and the restoration ofWillow, a classic wooden sailboat soon to be launched and chartered.

Next door (almost), at banner #1 you will find Anne-Claude Cotty's shadow boxes where pinhole photographs serve as backdrops for tiny figures in scenes of daily life along the Maine coast...clamdigging, plein air painting, flying kites.

Stonington Galleries First Fridays are held through October. A map and full-color brochure is available at area businesses and by visiting stoningtongalleries.com where you will find news of events and links to the individual galleries. For more information, call 367-2699 or 367-2700.