Waterfall Arts’ two-part summer exhibit, Living in these Bodies, Part I and II, opens Friday June 13 with a reception from 5 to 8 pm. The exhibition highlights work by women artists from Maine and the northeast that captures complex aspects of women's physical and social experiences. The theme is the physical and cultural space women occupy, and the way these artists portray that. Their work includes innovative uses of their media – print, sculpture, photography, installation, and drawing – to depict the interior and exterior, the current and historical experience, the bare and the adorned, of life in these female bodies. 

Three artists are featured in Part I of Living in these Bodies, which runs through July 25^th. The nine-piece mosaic wall installation, Victorious Secret, by Angela Lorenz, who divides her time between Searsmont and Bologna, Italy, is a set of triptychs depicting elite Roman female athletes from ancient times.  Based on a Sicilian mosaic from 300 AD, Lorenz takes an entertaining approach to misinterpretations of the original images.  

Working primarily in wood and mixed media, Boston-based Jessica Straus' Red Dress Series explores the poetry of unexpected juxtapositions between recognizable and invented forms; in this case, a tiny well-dressed female figure finds herself in a number of perplexing locations.

Twenty years ago, two Waldo County women, social worker Lisa Kushner and documentary photographer Peggy McKenna, paired up to shed light on the wide variations and depth of women's reproductive experiences.  The result is the powerful Belly Project, a collection of black and white images, portraits really, of women's torsos, with each woman's reproductive history stated below. 

Sadly, McKenna recently passed away; she was pleased to know that this body of work would be shown.  A short video of Kushner and McKenna talking together about the project and an interactive component that will allow viewers to respond with their stories of living in their own bodies will be part of the exhibit.

Dancers Shana Bloomstein, Helena Malone, and her students will perform during the June 13^th opening. A series of artist talks and panel discussions related to the exhibit will be held throughout the summer. The first, on Thursday June 26, is Forum: Women Tell the Truth: Living in Our Bodies, a  facilitated panel of women from ages 20 to 80 sharing stories of their current relationships to their bodies. Community and audience dialogue is encouraged. More information on related events can be found at www.waterfallarts.org

A new show in the Corridor Gallery, Summer Color, also opens on June 13^th.  Featured artists are Tara Law, Marc Leavitt, Cathy Melio, Ingrid Ellison, Annadeene Fowler, Ieva Tatarsky, Daniel Anselmi, Dina Petrillo, MJ Viano-Crowe, Karen MacDonald, Abbie Read, and Martha Miller.

Living in these Bodies Part II, featuring work by Elizabeth Jabar, Colleen Kinsella, Lesia Sochor, Deborah Olin and Lorena Salcedo-Watson opens on Friday, August 1. The Future Mothers Tent, Jabar and Kinsella’s collaborative piece, is an actual tent, printed all over with images of women, many from the Middle East, meant to invite visitors in for conversation and gathering. 

The Summer exhibits are generously sponsored by Revision Energy, Coyote Moon, City Drawers and Seahorse Stables. Waterfall Arts is located at 256 High Street in Belfast and offers art classes and workshops for all ages, exhibitions, studio rentals and art related events.  Gallery hours are Tuesday through Friday from 10 to 5 with special hours on Saturdays. Check www.waterfallarts.org for details and complete schedule.