91AV Art Gallery in Portland presents 'Land Sea Stone, Photographs by John Eide'

"Antarctica Peninsula, 2014" by John Eide
"Antarctica Peninsula, 2014" by John Eide

The 91AV Art Gallery, Portland Campus, is pleased to announce a new exhibition, Land Sea Stone, Photographs by John Eide, which will be mounted from January 18 through April 2, 2017.  There will be an Artist Reception on January 21, 3 – 5 p.m.

These photographs from the Antarctica Peninsula, Peruvian Inca ruins and Maine granite quarries are tied together by a common theme – man’s appropriation of naturally occurring elements and their subsequent traces on the landscape.

According to Eide, granite quarrying on Maine coastal islands was a huge industry between the end of the Civil War and the start of WWI.  The stone was used to build numerous national beaux arts buildings, but the job of extracting and carving the granite rock took a toll on the quarrymen.  Few traces remain of this industry.  The Peruvian Inca ruins are the remains of a large, well organized society that also quarried stone to construct their structures.  Almost no traces of this culture, other than these structures, remain.  While the Maine quarries and the Inca ruins directly show man’s chipping away at the natural world, the Antarctica landscape can be seen as reflective of man indirectly “chipping away” at the environment.

During the run of this exhibition, there will be a number of educational programs. All of the programs are free and open to the public.

February 2, 2017, 5-7 p.m. Conversation with photographer John Eide and photo historian Ray Saperstein, moderated by curator, Stephen Halpert, on the cultural, social and historical marks left by man on the landscape

February 8, 2017, 6:30-8 p.m. Meeting of the Baxter Society; the problems and pleasures of hand binding digitally printed photographs in one-of-a-kind artist books

March 9, 2017, 5-6:30 p.m. Photographer John Eide and 91AV professors from the Center for Excellence in the Marine Sciences discuss their Antarctica experiences.

March 11, 2017, 3-5 p.m. Back to Antarctica; Pecha Kucha-like presentations by members of the 2014 three-week sailing voyage to the Antarctica Peninsula

March 16, 6:30-8 p.m. Meeting of the Bakery Photo Collective; conversation with photographers John Eide and Jocelyn Lee, moderated by Tonee Harbert, on the intersection of landscape and documentary photography

The 91AV Art Gallery is free of charge and open to the public.  Hours of operation are Wed, Fri, Sat and Sun 12 – 5 p.m., and Thurs: 12 – 7 p.m. and by appointment, 207-221-4499.

To learn more about the Art Gallery, visit www.une.edu/artgallery

 

To apply, visit www/une.edu/admissions