Last summer we had the great pleasure of attending the opening of the exhibit “Go Fish” at Gallery One in Rockland. It featured four local artists— each with a distinctive style—and their interpretations of life underwater. The exhibit was so alive, so colorful and so down right fun that we wanted to share it with our readers.
It is somehow important that this lighthearted and whimsical show would be one block up from a harbor experiencing massive change. Art is recuperative and a method of dealing with realities that are beyond one’s control. Sometimes a broad smile—which this show at Gallery One provided—is just what’s needed. Enjoy!
David Ridgway
Born in Seattle, Washington, David Ridgway grew up in Boothbay Harbor and now resides in South Thomaston, where he also has his studio. A one-time resident of Hawaii, his watercolors often reflect that influence. Recently, he has been working on sculptural pieces in basswood, copper and stainless steel. David was featured on these pages in our Summer 1988 issue. His work can be viewed at Harbor Square Gallery in Camden or, if you’re passing through, the Village Gallery on Maui.
Kathleen Florance
South Thomaston artist Kathleen Florance’s boldly colored, expressionistic paintings can barely be contained within a framed space, and in many cases explode from that stricture. A California native, Kathleen has exhibited in Colorado, Kansas, and Maine, including the Caldbeck Gallery in Rockland, Anderson Gallery and Bayview Street Gallery in Camden, Maine Coast Juried Exhibition in Rockport in addition to Gallery One.
Nils Obel
Born in Denmark, Nils Obel trained in Europe before coming to the United States in 1980. He now lives in Camden where he teaches and maintains a small studio. Nils uses just an art pencil and stylus to create true-to-life images that are wonderfully captivating. He has exhibited throughout the United States and Europe, and his work hangs in the Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Denmark, the Danish Foreign Ministry, the Chicago Institute of Art among many others.
Eric Hopkins
Long acclaimed for his realistic blown glass shells and bold aerial landscapes of the Maine coast, North Haven artist Eric Hopkins turns his eye to what’s in that blue water he paints so vividly. A graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design, he has exhibited from Maine to Washington and his work is in the permanent collection of the Farnsworth Museum, Rockland, the Corning Museum of Glass, the Portland Museum of Art, and the Wheaton Museum, as well as many private collections.
