Current
‘Turning Towards the Sun’ features paintings, papercut pieces, glass mosaics,
glass bowls and dishware, cyanotype collage, wood folk carvings, and more.

(L-R: Some of the pieces featured in Archipelago’s summer show, “Turning Towards the Sun,” will include paintings by Holly Brooks, wood carvings by Wayne Robbins, and glass dishware by Karen Gola.)

ROCKLAND— Join Archipelago to celebrate the opening of its new gallery show, “Turning Towards the
Sun,” and the start of the summer during Rockland’s next Art Walk, Friday, June 1st, from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00
p.m. The Island Institute’s store and gallery will host two artist receptions for this show with another
scheduled for the July 6th Art Walk.

“Turning Towards the Sun” will show through July 27th and features the work of Jeff Barrett from Monroe
(carved wood sculptures), Holly Brooks from Portland (watercolor and acrylic painting), Karen Gola from
Sanford (glass bowls and dishware), Debe Loughlin from Waldoboro (cyanotype collages), Dylan Metrano
from Monhegan (papercuts), Wayne Robbins from Bath (carved wood sculptures), and Agnes Robinson
from Holden (stained glass mosaics). The show features a wide variety of medium including paintings,
papercut pieces, glass mosaics, glass bowls and dishware, cyanotype collage, wood folk carvings and more.

The public is invited to stop into the gallery’s 386 Main Street location to enjoy some light refreshments,
see the new pieces, and meet some of the artists. In addition to the June 1st and July 6th receptions,
Archipelago will be open extended hours, from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., for the Arts in Rockland First Friday
Art Walk events on August 3rd, September 7th, October 5th, November 2nd, and November 23rd.
The Archipelago Fine Arts Gallery features artists who work with natural, coastal, and working waterfront
themes inspired by living and creating art in Maine. Located at 386 Main Street in Rockland, both the store and gallery and are open seven days a week; Monday through Friday, 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.; Saturday, 9:30a.m. to 5:00 p.m.; and Sunday, 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

For questions regarding Archipelago or the summer gallery show, please contact Archipelago Director Lisa
Mossel Vietze at (207) 596-0701.

About the artists:
Jeff Barrett – Whistling Bird Designs, Monroe
Through his business, Whistling Bird Designs, Jeff Barrett creates an eco- friendly line of wood carvings and sculpture, drawing inspiration from the Maine coast and his home outside of Belfast. Using recycled wood from barns and sheds, along with found objects and hand-forged metal, he crafts each piece one at a time, creating his own versions of antique paintings, vintage weathervanes, and theater sets featuring fish, birds, dogs and cats, whales, and ships as the actors in his folk art and wood sculptures.

Holly Brooks – Painter, Portland
Holly Brooks always loved art and enjoyed art classes above anything else in school. Although she began as an art major in college, she didn't believe painting would lead to a career and ended up getting her master's degree in Landscape Architecture. Designing landscapes kept her creative juices flowing, and ultimately, after an inspiring painting trip to Mexico in 1999, she decided return to her primary love and pursue painting full time. Holly works in watercolor and acrylic and values simplicity above almost anything else. She likes to capture the landscape in an abbreviated way and play with color and shapes on the canvas in such a way that it appears fresh and effortless.

Karen Gola – Gola Glass, Sanford
Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the historic center of glassmaking in America, Karen Gola has been deeply interested in glass since childhood and has been creating works of glass for over 36 years. With degrees in Psychology and Civil Engineering, her work life has ranged from teaching autistic children to managing the construction of interstate bridges, and she is now pursuing her love of working with glass full time. A member of the Maine Craft Association, the Maine Craft Guild, and the League of New Hampshire Craftsmen, her work can be found in Great Britain, France, and Canada, as well as across the United States.

Debe Loughlin – Artist, Waldoboro
Debe Loughlin first began making photographic cyanotypes years ago – photographing seaweed, plant life, photographs, and any object that could be cooked in light. The “imaginary maps” she makes are inspired by her childhood on a small island in Casco Bay, where the kids used to make tiny maps to indicate where to meet up on any given day. Debe uses devils apron sea kelp, dries it, tears it into a freeform shape, then she prints it, develops it in cyanotype, and creates a map around the print. Her cyanotype collages stem from a love of collecting nautical charts, old wallpaper and newspapers, and ephemera. Debe says the best compliment she can receive is when someone says, "Oh yes, I have been there" while viewing one of her maps.

Dylan Metrano – Dylan Metrano Papercutting, Monhegan
Dylan Metrano cuts and layers portraits, animals, and architecture from colorful paper. He grew up in
Newburyport, MA, where he was an active member of the theater and music communities and currently
lives on Monhegan Island, ten miles off the coast of Maine, where he’s been inspired by a landscape
trapped in time. Its centuries‐old buildings and migratory birds have been carefully rendered in his meticulously cut paper. Drawn to the simplicity of form, the boldness and relationships of colors, and
cleanness of composition, Dylan’s artwork is entirely comprised of cut and carefully layered paper.
A self‐taught artist, his artwork has been featured on numerous album covers, book covers, posters, and in
exhibitions throughout New England, and in February 2016, Scholastic published “Every Day Birds”, a
hildren’s book that Dylan illustrated with his papercuttings.

Wayne Robbins – Wayne Robbins Woodcarving, Bath
Raised on the coast of Maine, Wayne Robbins was inspired as a youth to capture the essence of nature in
wood. A biology teacher as well as a woodcarving teacher, his understanding of the flora, fauna, and
creatures of the sea and his appreciation of the innate beauty of wood helps him design pieces that
maximize the beauty and grace of both the medium and the subject. His mission, through his teaching and art, is to share his passion for the sea and to inspire responsible stewardship of the Earth’s fragile
ecosystem. Robbins’s sculpture sizes range from two inches to four feet, in both wall mounts and
freestanding compositions. Each sculpture is unique and identified for its species, numbered, dated and
signed by the artist. His work currently graces homes, boats, galleries and collections around the world.

Agnes Robinson – AR Mosaics, Holden
The majority of Agnes Robinson’s formative years were spent on an isolated island off the rocky Maine
coast, where she wandered the shorelines and studied the horizons – inspiring a love of the natural world
that influences her work today. She sees mosaic art as a way to bring the outside in and bring a touch of
those childhood seascapes to her current inland home. By personally hand-cutting the stained glass she
uses, Agnes is able to create line and flow exactly where she desires, utilizing a variety of color, texture, and shape. She says that she is most fulfilled when she can recreate the images of her youth and imagination with her own hands.

Upcoming
“Turning Away from the Sun” features Abe Goodale
and will run from August 3 through October 28th