Jen Hickey
Dandelion Art
From Jen: I believe in being natural, both in the way I live my life and in the subjects I capture with my camera. I see great beauty and comforting authenticity in walking through a field of wildflowers, hiking the Maine woods, or exploring the rocky coast. In my photos, I strive to do justice to these qualities so that I can share the wonders of my discoveries to others.
My photography, my art, is my fuel, my inspiration, my salvation, a passion that keeps me going despite a host of medical issues. I am honored to be a part of the Gardiner Art Walk and hope that those who attend will connect with my photography.
Hickey’s award-winning art can be seen at her photography studio, Dandelion Art, located at 58 Main Street, number 3, in Oakland as well as in art studios scattered throughout New England, including a current exhibit at Grand Central Cafe in Waterville.
Tanya Russell
Photography
From her website: Tanya Russell is a visual storyteller working in Central Maine. Her compassion and curiosity guide her work as a portrait and documentary photographer. Tanya holds a Bachelor’s in Art from the University of Maine at Augusta and is passionate about visual storytelling, content marketing, and fitness. She recently completed the Professional Certificate Program in Visual Storytelling at Maine Media Workshops + College where she also worked as a teaching assistant. She now owns a photography business focused on promoting small businesses within her community.
Mike Gent
Oil Paintings
Cattywampus Studio
From his website: Like most artists, Mike doesn’t remember a time when he wasn’t drawing or painting. Also, like most artists, he has experimented with many forms of media, currently focusing on charcoal drawing and oil painting. At this stage of his artistic career, he is fascinated by and immersed in the various theoretical aspects of color as well as the limitations imposed by the oil-based pigments available. Mike is experimenting with glazing and color contrasts. Mastering techniques and color theory are keys to fully expressing himself through his work.
Matt Demers
From his Website: Matt Demers is a visual artist living and working in Gardiner, Maine. A quiet person, Demers closely observes the fevered and cross-talking world, absorbing and collecting its art and ephemera, and learning or imagining the meanings that odd objects, forgotten texts, and torn treasures carry with them. Demers is or has been an art and antiques collector, sign maker, gravedigger, embroiderer, antiques dealer, and graphic artist; those experiences shape the various techniques and media that make their way into his paintings. He is drawn to the misfiled and overlooked fragments of the past and the ways they might shine if rightly considered.
Demers’ paintings are abstract, and include media like acrylic, spray paint, house paint, and collaged ephemera. Drawing is critical to his artistic practice. His drawings on post-its, the backs of work orders, or on vintage writing pads fill his studio and notebooks, forming a loose index of observations and ideas about them. Demers’ abstract, mixed-media paintings accordingly emphasize line, yet rather than delineate, Demers’ line tangles forms and associations within each other, suggesting the all-at-onceness of careworn antiques, Charlie Brown, graffiti, medieval armor, Instagram, floral wallpaper, and music.
Kelly Maines
From Artdogs Studio: Kelly Maines recently moved back to Maine from Texas. She is the newest studio artist in the Artdogs Studio community.
"My working style begins with an inspiration, which can be anything; A blade of grass, a plastic bag blowing across the street, or the smell of a garbage truck passing by. I may photo reference the inspiration and begin to sketch out my ideas. I experiment with materials, color, and design during this beginning process. Painting is a physical activity as I move and manipulate materials and paint, forming the shapes, values, and works placed in space. I weave these things in and out of the surface until I reach my destination with the piece."
Kelley Maines’ Website
Karen Adrienne
From Art Dogs: Karen Adrienne is the owner and founder of ARTDOGS Studios. She is also an artist and former professor of art at the University of Maine at Augusta.
“Something special happens when Karen Adrienne takes a walk. Nature flattens out into shimmering planes of color, mark, and movement, and these reflect an emotional conversation with a piece of sky, water, night, or moment of transformation. Each individual print is made utilizing the unique qualities of a printing press to capture ink, folds and embossing all at the same time.Through both intention and chance, the original vision and emotional connection to nature is re-awakened for the artist and the viewer.” - David Morgan, Green Lion Gallery
Karen Adrienne Website
John Carnes
From Art Dogs Studio: John Carnes has been painting for over twenty-five years. He works in watercolor, gouache, pastel, and graphite.
Although his primary subject matter is the New England landscape and the human figure, his finished works are as likely to be abstract as they are representational.
John Carnes Fine Art
Ellen Roberts
From Circling the Square: Ellen Roberts, of Farmington Maine, has been a member of Circling the Square Fine Art Press since 2007. She has enjoyed working both independently at the press and also in collaboration with other artists. Roberts creates fine art as wall pieces and installation work. She also prints her art on functional objects.
Ellen’s work often begins by studying the color and structural patterns in nature. It is a compilation of her extensive experience in fiber art. A weaver and sculptor, Roberts has taken photos of everyday life such as the vacuum cleaner cord piled on the floor. Using stencils and string she has created patterns of color that resemble the work of a weaver.
Website: EllenRoberts.me
Donald Patten
From an Interview with Donald Patten: I was born and raised in the Mid-Coast region of Maine, and since I can remember, lighthouses, blueberries, and bright red lobsters have been the subjects of many stereotypical “Maine artworks''. There is a problematic belief that Maine artists must only use stereotypical Maine subjects to have any semblance of commercial success. Every artwork I produce is in defiance of that belief. I make oil paintings and ceramic artworks, whose subjects are not associated with Maine stereotypes. I strive to make either joyful or horrific art as I feel is necessary, and I continue making such artworks to hopefully inspire others to openly make the art they want to make.
Donald on FaceBook
Donald Patten at NewGrounds
Taylor Newbeck
As an artist, I make art inspired by the world around me. I draw and paint a variety of subjects; from landscapes and various botanicals to portraits, both human and animal. My media focus is primarily acrylic and watercolor paintings. My artwork is stylized, as I find when you focus too much on making your work too realistic, you tend to lose the soul that gives art life. I consider my style colorful and my technique inspired by surreal and impressionist painters.
I was born in Lewiston on April 29th 1997. I was raised in Auburn where I started taking after school art lessons at the age of 11 years old and have been painting since. I graduated high school at Edward Little in 2015, then graduated college at the University of Maine at Farmington with a bachelors in elementary education in 2019. After working in special education, art education, and working with those experiencing mental illness, I began working at the studio for gallant therapy services in 2023. I have been married to my husband, Matthew Newbeck, for 4 years and have been with him for over 10 years. Whenever I can I apply for art festivals and exhibitions in order to try and get my artwork noticed.