Arts In The Barn/Cushing Historical Society presents “Landscape: degrees of Abstraction”, the paintings of Seth Aylmer, Lisa Kyle, Lee Talboys and Jim Lynch; August 21 to 23, opening Friday, Aug. 21, from 5 - 7 p.m., refreshments served. Hours on Saturday and Sunday: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

This exhibit will display the broad spectrum of fine art landscape painting through the vision of four very different approaches; some start by the use of plein air to capture the spirit of a place, some will focus on the architecture of Maine and man’s journey in the wilds of ocean and islands, some will be an abstract interpretation of what “landscape” is. All these artists will express Maine in their unique ways.

Arts in the Barn provides the following artist descriptions:

Seth Aylmer writes: I was born and raised in Midcoast Maine and grew up taking art classes at the Farnsworth Museum in Rockland. After attending Colby College for philosophy, I moved to New York City where I got into filmmaking, and artmaking of various kinds. I made and exhibited public sculpture and helped friends realize their ambitious art projects, many of which had a social or collective dimension. Eventually I went back to school and got an MFA from Queens College with a focus on painting and social practice.

Lisa Kyle: The more that I paint, the more convinced I am that ART IS IMPORTANT - quite simply, it feeds our souls. My calling is to lift up nature by creating beautiful objects so that others can live with the beauty and serenity of nature. I love trying to capture the energy an emotion of a landscape in paint. I love knowing that I am finally where I am supposed to be. I begin most paintings by sketching, and often paint plein-air, on site.

Lee Talboys: I am a retired landscape architect who relocated to mid-coast Maine in 2017. While mid-coast Maine is a beautiful area in which to live, the winters are rather long and slightly chilly. This leaves me with lots of extra time indoors during these long winter months. I turned my attention to painting in 2021, at the suggestion of my wife, Lisa Kyle, who is a full-time landscape painter

Jim Lynch: I received my first Kodak camera at age seven and became interested in photographing landscapes. In a fortunate turn of events, I began spending summers in Cushing in 1986. The Maine skies, islands and waters became an immediate and endless source of visual fascination- especially when experienced from the deck of a small sailboat. I did not start painting until 2002 when, by sheer serendipity, I was invited to attend Art Week on Great Spruce Head Island in Penobscot Bay. Although I started the week by making landscape photographs, I was inspired by the group of talented painters feverishly capturing the beauty and character of the island from dawn till dusk. Painting is magic and painters are magicians!

Arts In The Barn is at 17 Hathorne Point Road in Cushing, just a mile before the Olson House. For more information, please contact cushingaitb@gmail.com or go to the website: https://artsinthebarncushing.org/.

The Arts In The Barn program is under the 501c3 statute for the Cushing Historical Society, and these programs benefit the Historical Society’s aims. We are a community supportive organization and have talks and presentations about the history, cultural heritage and persons of interest in our midcoast area.