TREVETT — Brooks-based artists Lesia Sochor and Kimberly Callas are are among artists who submitted works for Art to Celebrate the Essence of TREES.

Sochor is represented with a painting from her Winter series and a silkscreen titled “Moons and Moods.” Callas’s “Birch Bark Breathing” is a plaster cast surfaced with the inside of birch bark. Both artists express a strong interest in environmental themes in their art and in their way of like.

TREES are the focal subjects of an unusual and vital new exhibition at Mathias Fine Art in Trevett/Boothbay. Ten experienced professional artists each have contributed works that feature trees, successfully translating this subject matter into moving and aesthetically satisfying imagery.

The works of Max Bartsch, Patt Franklin, Lesia Sochor, Brigitte Keller and John Lorence, all painters, lead the viewer through a “forest” of individual tree images.

Photographer Paul Feyling presents a large color print of the Sheepscot River from the shore of Barter’s Island that epitomizes the beauty and majesty of the local landscape.

Michael Culver’s gentle color print of river and fields contrasts strongly with his large black and white photograph of milled lumber laid strip upon strip to form the towering wall of an ecclesiastical structure.

Brenda Bettinson in included with several impressive paintings and works on paper. Her line is sublime and her layered paintings put her in a league entirely of her own.

Two sculptors, John Lorence and Martha Bartsch have bronzes on display. Bartsch’s bronze sculpture of Apollo and Daphne is raised up to the viewer’s gaze by being set on the gallery floor mounted upon a massive section cut from the trunk of a red oak.

In contrast, Lorence’s bronze is compact and small enough in scale, allowing it to easily serve as a very special desk-top treasure.

Kimberly Callas, an artist who has serious credentials as an environmentalist, presents a strong work in Birch Bark Breathing. The cast plaster head is entirely covered with small snippets birch bark.

Chris Alexander’s subtle graphite drawing adds a serene approach to the sylvan landscape that he so often favors.

“As our staff were ‘spotting’ and hanging this exhibition they remarked that as they looked out at the wooded landscape they found their vision sharpened both when focusing on individual trees and shrubs, but also when considering the landscape in general,” said Mathias Fine Art, in a news release.

The exhibit runs through September 8, 2019
Gallery hours: Wed – Sun, noon to 5 p.m., and by appointment

This exhibition is accompanied and augmented by several events, among them two nature walks in collaboration with the BRLT:

Related events:

Trees in the Gallery and in the Forest Tree identification Walk in conjunction with Boothbay Region Land Trust at School House Preserve, Friday, July 12, from 9 to 11:30 a.m. Walk is followed by private viewing of tree-
related art at Mathias Fine Art. Refreshments will be served. This event is free and open to everyone with registration required. To register or for more information contact BRLT Environmental Educator Tracey Hall
at thall@bbrlt.org or 633-4818.

Poetry Reading: ‘Forever honored be the Tree’: Emily Dickinson’s Tree Poems presented by renowned Dickinson scholar Dr. Ellen Louise Hart. You are also invited to share your favorite tree poem! Mathias Fine
Art on July 17, from 2 - 3 p.m.

Join other tree enthusiasts in a Reception to celebrate the essence of trees at Mathias Fine Art on August 3, from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m.

Additional information will be posted on the gallery website www.mathiasfineart.com/events/ or call (207)633-7404.