Maury Colton : Variations, Jessica Straus : Homesick, and Midsummer, a show of select gallery artists opens August 1, from 5 - 7 p.m., at Triangle Gallery in Rockland, during the First Friday ArtWalk.

Maury Colton began his artistic career many moons ago as a child on the beaches of South Portland. He nurtured his fascination at the Portland School of Art, the Concept School of Visual Studies, Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, and the Royal College of Art. The 14 paintings on view at the Triangle Gallery represent Colton’s present moment along his journey of exploring expression of fracture, of broken things.

“I am kind of looking for a universal force underneath everything. And so I see that in fracture…But fractures and rocks or even tumbledown buildings, whatever they are, there’s a universality about that. It’s something that can be understood through any language. People know if something’s broken, people can understand the idea of fracture…” From IN CONVERSATION: MAURY COLTON + KATHERINE BRADFORD in the catalog MAURY COLTON, Variations 2025. This exhibition will be on view until August 31.

Midsummer will continue an ever-changing exhibition of work by gallery artists. August’s show includes work by Oliver Solmitz, Caroline Sulzer, Ed Nadeau, Don Peterson, Jennie Campbell, Gene Gnida, Conrad Guertin, Deanna Jacome, Mark Little, Susan Metzger, Carter Wentworth, Marc Leavitt, George Pearlman, Karen Jelenfy, Kingsley Parker, Talya Baharal, and Alan Clark, This collection will be up through August 24.

Black humor, longing and regret are at play in Jessica Straus’s exhibition “Homesick”. With a sense of irony, Straus depicts Earth as a resource-hungry planet wandering the universe, unable to recognize and protect its most fragile and precious natural resources. Straus takes the journey even further, to a future when humans must flee a devastated Earth to settle on far-flung, arid worlds.

"Her masterfully carved figures are stand-ins for everyman and everywoman who gaze longingly earthward from the moon, Mars and the starfields," said a news release. "Straus makes us wonder if we must arrive at the 'End Times' to get ourselves to focus on the most critical of human issues, the survival of our habitable planet."

Straus’s show will continue through August 17.

Triangle Gallery is located at 8 Elm Street in Rockland. Summer hours are Tuesday - Saturday, noon to 5, with Sundays by chance or appointment. Please contact us through our website at www.trianglegallery8elm.com or 207-593-8300.