HOULTON — The Southern Aroostook Cultural Arts Program/Blue Moon Gallery will feature the work of Danforth artist Karin Cohen now through Oct. 3.
Pioneer Times Photo/Joseph Cyr
SHOWING — The work of Danforth artist Karin Cohen is now on display at the Visions/Blue Moon Gallery on Main Street in Houlton. Cohen celebrated her show with an opening Friday evening.
Cohen originally began painting while living on Cape Cod. At that time she focused most of her attention on creating beautiful works depicting 19th Century sailing vessels. However, when she moved to Maine in 1997, she expanded her painting career to include many other subjects, especially those that would be of interest to all Northern New Englanders as well as portraiture. As she widened her area of interests, she began to receive requests for specifically commissioned pieces. These pieces allowed her to greatly expand her portfolio while at the same time allowing her to hone her skills as an artist in many different areas rather than focusing on just one subject that interested her. As her scope her widened, her skills greatly improved.
However, Cohen found that she needed to put her career as an artist on hold for several years when she became a mom to an 8-year-old boy whom she and her husband adopted. She put her easel, palette, and paints away so that she could devote herself and her time to being a full-time mom to Michael. The years have gone by and Michael is now an adult, so Karin has turned her focus back to her art and the painting that she also loves as she does her child.
Cohen currently resides in Danforth, where until this past April she has been working as a graphic and web designer with Nexus Software Systems. Having a dedicated space for painting has allowed her to resume her career as an artist and with the holidays fast approaching, she has turned her focus to creating portraits as gifts. Cohen is currently still accepting requests for portraits, if someone is interested in having a family member (2 or 4-legged), special home, or even a vehicle that holds special meaning…re-created as an oil painting. You may also see more examples of Karin’s work online at artistkarin.com.
The Southern Aroostook Cultural Arts Project was organized in 1999 to help the arts flourish in southern Aroostook County and is the umbrella program beneath which Visions and The Blue Moon Gallery operate. The term “Cultural Arts” describes the many forms of art that have organically grown from their local region, weaving together the fine, and folk art worlds that make up this diverse cultural arts scene.
The Visions shop furthers SACAP’s mission of helping the arts flourish in southern Aroostook County by providing a year-round venue for artists to sell work, by providing unique and beautiful items for community members to buy and share, by showing the community and the world beyond the unsurpassed talent and products we make here, and by supporting the local economy through arts and culture.
The Blue Moon Gallery, located in the middle section of Visions, is Houlton’s premier, and only venue dedicated to the local art scene, allowing a place for artists and artisans to showcase and sell their work. They do six shows a year, each opening with a public reception, where members of the community are invited to come and see the new work, as well as to meet the artist and mingle with their neighbors.
They are located right in the heart of Market Square in Houlton, at 66 Main St. and their hours are: Tuesdays-Fridays, noon to 5 p.m. and Saturdays 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
For more information, call 532-9119, email sacap@pioneercable.net or visit www.sacap.us.
