Wiscasset Art Walk

Imaginative landscapes and quirky cats

Jazz Great Brad Terry and Friends return to rinal 2016 Art Walk
Tue, 09/20/2016 - 11:00am

Two local artists who paint exuberantly with joy, color, and unique vision are highlights of the final Wiscasset Art Walk of the 2016 season on Sept. 29, from 5-8 p.m.  Alna resident Kate Nordstrom will greet visitors to her exhibit of abstracted landscapes at Midcoast Conservancy, 36 Water Street, Wiscasset Village.  Barbara Welborn, a self-described autistic artist, greets visitors and displays selections from her fanciful cat series at Beelicious Market, 64 Main Street. Both artists approach their subjects playfully resulting in landscapes that you’ve never seen before and cats that are not your home-grown variety.

To artist Kate Nordstrom, “color is everything.” She likes to layer and build up the color on her canvas to give depth to her oil paintings. Nordstrom describes her method as improvisational. While a landscape may begin as a real place, she explains, the image becomes more and more abstracted as she responds to the texture and color on the canvas. To help her brain detach from the reality of an image, she uses her left, non-dominant, hand as much as she does her right hand; each hand paints differently. Nordstrom calls on her history and her emotional response to what’s before her on the canvas until, finally, the landscape becomes something imagined and symbolic.

Barbara Welborn is a Wiscasset autistic artist who enjoys painting whimsical cats. Welborn has used art as an outlet for her creativity since she was very young. For the cat lover, she accepts commissions and, based on a photo, will paint someone’s beloved feline in a costume suggested by the kitty’s personality and quirks.  Purrfect for a gift.  In addition to painting, Welborn sculpts, draws, and embroiders. She also enjoys musicals and movies.

Bath resident and world renown jazz clarinetist Brad Terry returns to Wiscasset Art Walk where he and colleague Vaughn DeForest on acoustic bass and young Asa Waldo on jazz guitar will serenade visitors in WBG Modern & Contemporary, 8 Federal Street.  According to Terry, their time spent playing in this gallery during the August Art Walk was “a near perfect 'gig'. Good acoustics, people listening, friendly people . . . so let's please do it again!”

There’s so much to see and do during the last Wiscasset Art Walk of the season. Park your car and spend an early fall evening meandering through the open doors of Wiscasset Village, enjoying the work of exceptional artists, specialty shops, wine tasting, antique selections, and floral bouquets for sale, hand-picked by members of the Garden Club of Wiscasset.     

Participant sites are marked with colorful streamers and touring maps are available at all participants throughout the Village.

Major Sponsors for Wiscasset Art Walk 2016 are Ames True Value, Big Barn Coffee, Carleton Real Estate, Carriage House Gardens, First National Bank, and Fogg Art Restoration.  Additional sponsors are the Carl M.P. Larrabee Agency, Cod Cove Inn, French & Co. Antiques, and Red’s Eats. 

For more information about the Wiscasset Art Walk, visit www.wiscassetartwalk.org or contact event coordinators Lucia Droby at ludroby@verizon.net or Violet Brandwein at 917-327-1449.

 

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