CAMDEN — What everyday objects would you choose for a painting? Would it include a favorite food, toy, flower, or book? Would your objects be carefully arranged or a random assortment strewn across a table? Would they hold meaning, make a statement or simply, be interesting shapes or beautiful colors? What stories might your objects tell? These are the questions Page Gallery is inviting children to consider in their call for still life art to adorn the gallery's walls this winter. The exhibition will open on February 1 and will be on display through February 29.
 
The gallery is offering free postcards at 23 Bay View Street in Camden and is distributing them through art programs in local schools with a prompt for children of all ages to draw, paint, or collage a still life. Finished postcards can be dropped off or mailed to the gallery for installation in this special exhibition.
 
Twenty local youths, ages 6-16, will be recreating a collaborative mural after Janet Fish's painting, Cartwheel. Fish is known for dynamic vibrant paintings of commonplace items, rendering reflective objects with light and color, according to the Gallery, in a news release. Janet Fish's work can be found in the permanent collections of major museums nationwide, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Boston Museum of Fine Arts and Farnsworth Art Museum. The exhibit encourages visitors to explore the Farnsworth Art Museum in neighboring Rockland to see Fish's Fruit Juice Glasses painting in person. 

"Growing up in Bermuda, Janet Fish acknowledged the island’s intense light, vibrant colors, and dense vegetation as a later influence on her art. In 1961, Fish was a resident at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Maine, and since 1962, has created the complex still life paintings for which she is known," said Farnsworth Chief Curator Jaime DeSimone, in the Page Gallery news release. "Her lifelong exploration of transparent commonplace objects will come alive through the Page Gallery's youth art project."
 
In collaboration with the Camden Public Library, the gallery will host two special events in February. Children's librarian, Miss Amy, will convene a special storytime Saturday, February 10, from 11 a.m. - 12 p.m., and a Creative Art Afternoon on Thursday, February 22, from 4 - 5 p.m. Both events will be held at Page Gallery. They are free and all are welcome to attend. 

Exhibited in the main gallery is Object Narrative: A Still Life Invitational featuring new paintings from Colin Page, Aimee Erickson, David Graeme Baker, Gideon Bok, and Sarah G. Lee. Representing a variety of painting styles, each artist was given the same tea cup in varying colors to place in their paintings. The cup serves as a connecting motif and the show's through line.

“We invite you to visit and see if you can find them all,” said the Gallery.

Throughout the month, there will be activities on site for visitors of all ages. Younger visitors are invited to participate in still life drawing and painting, and creative stations including shadow tracing, weaving on a loom, creating a community collage and paper cutting. Youth art will be exhibited through the end of the month. Adults are also welcome to draw from an evolving still life set up in the main gallery, where finished still life works may be pinned to the wall and will be on display through February 29.