SEARSPORT — The Parsonage Gallery presents two new solo exhibitions: "On Nature" by Shaun McDowell and "Through a Glass Darkly" by Edward Batcheller. All are welcome to an opening reception, Saturday, May 9, from 2 - 4 p.m. Both exhibitions run through June 21.

"In the downstairs gallery, On Nature presents lush, captivating paintings by the British artist McDowell, produced in his studio and en plein air in Italy’s Sabine Hills," said the Gallery, in a news release. "McDowell's work is in direct dialogue with a deep and diverse lineage of precursors including Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro, Vincent Van Gogh, and Winslow Homer — an artist with a special resonance at the Parsonage.

Homer was a frequent guest at the historic Searsport estate, staying with his aunt Clara Thurston, according to the Gallery. The gallery’s collection includes Harper's Weekly engravings by Homer alongside watercolors by his mother, the artist Henrietta Benson Homer.

"Well-known in Europe as an abstract painter and curator, McDowell’s new paintings hover on the verge of figuration, with recognizable elements resolving and dissolving as one regards them," said the Gallery. "Employing a variety of mark-making techniques, utilizing both ends of the paintbrush and alternating between impasto passages and thin glazes evoking Homer’s watercolors, McDowell revels in the abundant delights of both the natural world and the practice of painting."

In the upstairs gallery, Batcheller—a longtime New Yorker drawn to coastal Maine through his love of sailing—has created an immersive, mysterious installation, according to the news release. Enigmatic photographs evoking bygone eras float on glass plates suspended in space with metal cables and contraptions.

“These fragments,” Batcheller comments, “are arranged in a confusing landscape, like troubled memories that do not fade or resolve.”

Batcheller has studied filmmaking and sculpture in addition to photography and has exhibited widely in New York and California. He and his wife both maintain studios at Waterfall Arts.

The Parsonage Gallery exhibits dynamic work by a diverse slate of contemporary artists, with a special emphasis on issues of ecology and spirituality. It is directed by Dr. Aaron Rosen and is a program of Our Common Foundation, a registered 501(c)(3). The gallery is open 11am-sunset daily.