ROCKPORT — Painter Christopher Mir will offer Miracles and Wonder, a solo art show at Pascal Hall that opens on Saturday, Sept. 2, with a reception from 4 to 6 p.m. The artist will also give a GalleryTalk on Sunday, Sept. 3, at 4 p.m.

“Covid changed everything, my job and family situation, and brought me back here,” said Mir, in a Barnswallow Books + Pascal Hall news release.

In a life chapter that pushed him to surrender to suffering, the artist explained how the power of acceptance yielded up a large body of new work.

“The deeper we go into the present moment, the more magic opens up and puts us in a state of wonder,” said Mir, noting that the show title is derived from lyrics in the Paul Simon song The Boy in the Bubble. What emerged in his art, he said, is the narrative of 30 years of his life, in which the unconscious rose up and appeared as mythical characters including Persephone, Hades, Hestia and Mercury.

Also represented in the more than 20 new paintings that will be on exhibit, are icons from The Seven Ravens fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm and The Fates painting by Goya.

“It’s a pleasure to be presenting Christopher’s work in the community he was raised in after he relocated to Camden as a young boy from his native Baltimore,” said Pascal Hall owner Linda Lesher. “It was here the seeds of his artistry were planted by local mentors including Michael Good, Alan Magee and Neil Welliver. After spending 25 years working at The Yale Art Gallery, whose vast storehouse of digital imagery inspired greater depth, Mir is having a full-circle experience following his return to Maine two years ago. His new work pays homage to his local roots and explores the mythic unconscious.” 

Barnswallow Books + Pascal Hall are sister properties creating community through curated books, art, and artist and author talks in Rockport, Maine. Pascal Hall is located at 86 Pascal Avenue and Barnswallow Books is located just up the street and around the corner at 166 Russell Avenue.

The Mir show will be up through Thursday, September 7, at noon.

For more information, visit barnswallowbooks.com or contact Communications Director Teresa Piccari at teresa.barnswallow@gmail.com.