SEARSPORT — The Parsonage Gallery launches its winter season with two new exhibitions: the 3rd Annual Winter Exhibition and Portal by Heather Lyon. All are welcome to an opening reception, Saturday, Dec. 14, from 2 - 4 p.m., and a New Year’s Eve and Hanukkah Celebration on Tuesday, Dec. 31, from 6 - 8 p.m. 

In the downstairs gallery, the Winter Exhibition features artists from across New England, working in media from painting to sculpture, photography, and ceramics. Artists include: Jennifer Amadeo-Holl; Avy Claire; Nina Jerome; Keri Kimura; Frederick Kuhn; Nathaniel Meyer; Jean Michel; Garry Mitchell; Matthew Russ; Lesia Sochor; Kevin Sudeith; and Sarah Szwajkos.

From snowy maritime scenes to skyscapes and sculptures of animals, artists invite visitors to think of seasonal change — including winter — as a generative time. 

In the upstairs gallery, the Blue Hill-based artist Heather Lyon has created a site-specific portal out of found materials from the Penobscot Bay area, accompanied by a digital projection. During the course of the exhibition, the artist encourages visitors to step through the work to experience it fully. In a special performance at the gallery on New Year’s Eve, she will guide visitors through a ritual engagement with the work. Drawing upon cross-cultural symbols of continuity and change, the portal’s circular gate provides a focus and offers a centering device in a period of change on many registers: seasonal, spiritual, and political. 

TheParsonage 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 Rev. Dr. Carolyn Rosen and is a program of Our Common Foundation, a registered 501(c)(3). It is open 11am-sunset daily.