First Friday Art Walk features UMPI grads
PRESQUE ISLE — The First Friday Downtown Art Walk on Nov. 5 will provide viewers with multiple opportunities to see artwork created by artists who are graduates of the University of Maine at Presque Isle art program. That evening, four of the seven First Friday display venues will feature UMPI graduates Keary Nichols, William Duncan, Joseph Donald Cyr and Jme Smith. All four of these featured artists have strong ties to Aroostook County.
Contributed photo
THE INITIAL FIRST FRIDAY DOWNTOWN ART WALK was held in June, and the event continues to grow in popularity. The monthly exhibits at local businesses in downtown Presque Isle have featured a variety of artists. The art walk is an event where people can meet, unwind, and enjoy the arts on the first Friday of each month between 5-9 p.m. Participating organizations include the Turner Memorial Library Gallery, Wintergreen Arts Center, Merchants on the Corner, Café Sorpreso, Morning Star Art & Framing, the Downtown Revitalization Committee, Freddy P’s, the Presque Isle Area Chamber of Commerce and the University of Maine at Presque Isle. Here, a patron of the arts views some of the artwork that was on display at a previous show.
Keary Nichols received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Maine at Presque Isle where he majored in art with an emphasis in photography. His interest in black and white photography began in 1969 when his brother Richard first introduced him to the medium by encouraging Keary to use Richard’s new camera.
“From that moment on,” Nichols reflects, “the process of capturing images then turning them into exhibit prints has become how I best communicate my thoughts and feelings.”
Nichols has had numerous exhibitions of his work at the University of Maine at Presque Isle, Bangor Theological Seminary, the Tarentine Club in Bangor, plus many juried exhibits. He was awarded first place in Black and White Prints at the 15th Annual Maine Maritime Flatworks Exhibition in 1998. Nichols’ First Friday display will be at Café Sorpreso.
Nichols is traveling from his home in Connecticut especially for the First Friday event. It will be a reunion with his fellow students and long-time friends, Duncan and Cyr.
William Duncan earned his bachelor’s degree in art from the University of Maine at Presque Isle, and a master’s degree in fine arts from Vermont College of Norwich University. His involvement with UMPI spans three decades from coordinator of publications to director of design and photography, and most recently as an adjunct instructor of art from 1999 to 2008.
Primarily known for his photography and painting with a focus on landscape and culture, Duncan works in a variety of media from traditional graphic arts techniques through digital imaging.
“My current images are exploring local landscape as part of personal and community identity,” said Duncan. “I love the conversations that start from common recognition of a specific place shown in the image.”
Duncan has participated in a number of exhibitions and his work was recognized with the 1999 Jury Award for digital composite photographic panorama at the Maine Maritimes Flatworks Exhibit. His artwork will be on display at Morning Star Art & Framing from 6-9 p.m.
Joseph Donald Cyr earned bachelor degrees in history and art from the University of Maine at Presque Isle, followed by a bachelor degree in English and EdM degree in history from the University of Maine at Orono. Currently, he serves as the director of the Maine Acadian Culture Project, as well as being adjunct faculty at both the University of Maine at Presque Isle and the Maine School of Science and Mathematics.
Cyr has served on the Board of the Maine Humanities Council and the Maine Arts Commission. He currently serves on the Expansion Arts Panel of the Maine Community Foundation. Cyr is the founder of the Association culturelle et historique du Mont-Carmel restoring the former Notre-Dame-du-Mont-Carmel church in Lille. The facility currently serves as a museum of Acadian Material Culture as well as a performance venue.
Cyr’s artwork will be on display at The Wintergreen Arts Center from 7-9 p.m., as will the work of Kimberly Kennedy, a jewelry artist.
Jme Smith’s work will be on display at the Pullen Art Gallery on the UMPI campus from 5-7 pm.
As the most recent UMPI graduate, Smith said “As an artist who has found myself living in Aroostook County, and who has taken advantage of the art program at UMPI to finish a degree, I am grateful and encouraged that there is indeed such a place of learning — especially in regards to the arts — in northern Maine.”
UMPI will actually have two venues for November’s First Friday Art Walk as the Reed Gallery will feature, “Art and Transformation” by Arla Patch. Her trademarked Nature Fusion photographs, sculptural masks and coil works are a reflection of her creative work with trauma survivors.
Another stop on the art walk will include Merchants on the Corner, which will feature the work of 7-year-old Oliver Graves. Oliver painted with his grandmother, Angie Graves. He will have his paintings on hand and will be selling his greeting cards from 6-8 p.m. Studio 923 club members will also be present on Main Street.
The initial First Friday Downtown Art Walk was in June 2010. The monthly exhibits at local businesses in downtown Presque Isle have featured a variety of artists. Artwork for the Nov. 5 event, including the exhibits of UMPI graduates Nichols, Duncan, Cyr and Smith, will be on display at Café Sorpreso, Freddy P’s, Merchants on the Corner, Morning Star Art & Framing, the Wintergreen Arts Center, and UMPI’s Reed Fine Art and Pullen galleries. Everyone should also keep an eye out for members of the University’s Studio 923 art club, as they are usually up to something during the event.
Renee Felini, UMPI assistant professor of fine art, is the coordinator for the Presque Isle First Friday event.
“We would like to see the continued growth of this event. There are now more venues for artists to exhibit or showcase their work in downtown Presque Isle,” she said. “We would even like to see the number of venues grow.
“The Presque Isle First Friday has highlighted the community that exists within the creative world and the dialogue that occurs when sharing images and ideas. A community can play a supportive role in the usually isolated world of the artist,” said Felini. “Most artists need to feel that kind of comfort in order to be able to share a little part of themselves with the rest of the world.”
More information about the Nov. 5 Downtown Art Walk can be found on Facebook, www.Facebook.com/PresqueIsleFirstFriday. If you have any questions, feel free to contact Renee Felini at renee.felini@umpi.edu.
