Stonington Galleries

Lorraine Lans, Monhegan Headland, oil

For the August 7th Gallery Walk, plein aire painter Lorraine Lans presents over a dozen landscape paintings of Monhegan Island seen in sun, fog, cloudy and hazy days. She has painted on Monhegan every year for the last 15 years studying the light effects of the headlands.

The gWatson Gallery is presenting the Greg Abate Quartet in concert on Wednesday, August 19, 2009 in the Gallery at 68 Main Street, Stonington, Maine.

Greg Abate will be playing in Stonington following a summer tour of European jazz festivals. Abate is a saxophonist, flutist, composer and educator who performs 150 days a year in concerts and clubs around the globe. A graduate of Berklee College of Music, Abate played lead alto in the Ray Charles Orchestra after Berklee. Leaving the Charles band, he formed his own group, Channel One. He later played tenor sax in the revived Artie Shaw Orchestra under the leadership of Dick Johnson.

Abate recorded his first CD live at Birdland in New York City in 1991. Since then he has been a leader on fourteen recordings including EVOLUTION, which was nominated for a Grammy in 2004. Abate is most frequently described as a post hard bop musician but his music transverses a wide spectrum of modern jazz. His musical style is a distillation of swing’s easygoing vibe and bop’s more animated groove; his voice is unique.

Greg Abate is a professor of Jazz Studies at Rhode Island College and conducts workshops and master classes in the U.S. and abroad.

Local musicians will form the rhythm section of Abate’s quartet at the Gallery with Peter Dembski on piano, John Gallagher on bass and Seth Kearns on drums.

Music will begin at 7:30 PM. Seating will be open with a limited number of tables available. Coffee, ice cream and deserts will be served. Tickets can be purchased at the gWatson Gallery and the Stonington Ice Cream Company. Telephone reservations are accepted, 367-2900.

Kansas Song, wood engraving

Siri Beckman has won a prize in the juried print exhibit at the National Small Print Exhibition sponsored by the Creede Arts Council in Creede, CO. The print will be part of a traveling exhibit and will go next to Ventero Open Press gallery in San Luis, CO.

Emily Brown, Thicket, ink on paper, 22" x 30"

Paper Holds Water, an exhibition of recent work by Emily Brown, will hang at Isalos Fine Art, Stonington from July 3rd through July 16th, with an artist’s reception on July 3rd from 4 to 7 p.m., coinciding with Stonington Galleries First Friday Open Gallery Night.

Emily Brown creates large-scale black and white images on paper, often derived from a closely-observed piece of landscape, whether a water surface or tangle of branches. She uses traditional Asian techniques in a loose, contemporary style to explore the rythms and patterns of nature. The result is work that feels quiet & contemplative, sometimes minimal, sometimes overwhelmingly detailed.

Brown, a former Pew Fellow, has lectured and taught at both the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Fine Arts and the Graduate Program of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art. The exhibition coincides with her term on the faculty at the Haystack Mountain School of Craft. Isalos featured her work in the gallery’s first one-artist show, in 2003.

Isalos Fine Art is located at 26 Main Street, Stonington, and is open Tuesday through Sunday, 10 to 5.

This summer Geoffrey Warner  is introducing the Owl stool, the first of his new line of affordable furniture. In response to today’s challenging economy, Warner is offering the stools as finished pieces as well as unfinished kits at a reduced price. Customers can choose from three different heights and an assortment of woods. The Owl stool has been designed to meet several requirements according to Warner, while it maintains his trademark quality and graceful line, it also provides specific postural support as a result of consultation with a chiropractor during the design process.