CAMDEN—Every spring, Camden brightens up with color, but the town just got a turbo boost with painter Colin Page’s new gallery set to open on 23 Bay View Street tonight, May 9, at 5 p.m.
Painting professionally for the last 20 years, Page was always content to just focus on his own body of work until he’d reached a certain level. “For a long time, owning a gallery wasn’t something I wanted to get involved in, but I was at a place in my career where I had enough of a following and wanted to share the work of other artists I know in a way that would fit with my vibe.”
Page Gallery is a contemporary art gallery exhibiting American paintings, drawings and sculpture. Beyond a few of Page’s works, the gallery also represents painters Gideon Bok (Camden), Jessica Ives (Camden), Tim Lawson (Rockport), and Peggi Kroll Roberts (daughter in Appleton), and three dimensional work by Simon van der Ven (Lincolnville).
“One of things I wanted to do is have as diverse a gallery as possible—paintings, contemporary works, sculpture— art that is exceptionally well done. In terms of presenting the work in the gallery, I wanted a clean, high-end contemporary gallery, but one that’s very approachable. A place that’s comfortable to come to and walk around.”
As for his own work, in which he focuses on painting the landscape, and scenes that show his life as a father of two young girls, there’s one painting of a young girl, frolicking in the lily pads of a pond. That happens to be of his daughter, Audrey, 7. “In this painting she’s swimming in my grandmother’s pond,” he said. “It was just this pond that we kept clean, but she’s made it her swimming hole. And it’s a nod to Monet the way you can see her reflection through the water.”
Next to Audrey’s painting, another young girl hovers in the water on her back. This is the work of Jessica Ives, although the subject is unknown. “Jessica and her husband Jonathan have this very active lifestyle and you’ll see a lot of their paintings about that swimming or fly fishing, hiking or mountain climbing,” he said.
The gallery launches with a series of invitational group shows:
The first show is a celebration of spring as a season of new beginnings and a return to vibrant color.
Photos by Kay Stephens
Kay Stephens ca be reached at news@penbaypilot.com
