{"id":15230,"date":"2018-08-21T16:22:22","date_gmt":"2018-08-21T20:22:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/?p=15230"},"modified":"2018-08-21T16:22:22","modified_gmt":"2018-08-21T20:22:22","slug":"devouring-art","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/devouring-art\/","title":{"rendered":"Devouring Art"},"content":{"rendered":"

September 2018 | view this story as a .pdf<\/a><\/p>\n

From your favorite coffee shop to your go-to dinner spot, prepare to feast your eyes.<\/span><\/h3>\n

By Diane Hudson<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Sept18-Art\"What do you think when you enter a restaurant and see art\u2014paintings on the walls, sculpture in the gardens, smaller pieces of artwork propped up here and there? Do you wonder if the art is for sale, or does it seamlessly become part of the decor in your mind\u2019s eye?<\/span><\/p>\n

Many of us experience it as part of the ambiance. Often, however, the art we are dining with is for sale, and the venue actually doubles as a gallery.<\/span><\/p>\n

Art Habitat <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a new venture for us,\u201d Jennifer Lewis says of her family-owned Clay Hill Farm in Cape Neddick. The restaurant, the first ever to be recognized by the National Wildlife Federation as a bird sanctuary and wildlife refuge, sits on 11 acres of rolling lawns, colorful gardens, and protected woodlands. \u201cWe have the space to bring the outside in. With our herbs and gardens, we bring ingredients in with our food, but being here is so experiential. I wanted to expand the boundaries and long dreamed of creating a sculpture garden on these beautiful grounds.\u201d In April of this year, she serendipitously discovered sculptor Patrick Pierce (pictured on previous page) while meeting with his wife Kathleen Deely Pierce of the Maine Restaurant Association. Pierce launched into the sculpture project with vigor, creating Dreams Feed Me<\/em> (on view through November 2018). \u201cI love the longevity of the site, a farm since 1794 that is nature-forward,\u201d Pierce says. \u201cI like adding energy; it\u2019s a collaboration with nature that opens the way toward participation.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Inside Clay Hill is the newly opened VerandArt, a gallery situated in one of the smaller dining rooms. It\u2019s \u201cperfect to showcase one artist\u2019s collection with festive openings every six to eight weeks,\u201d Lewis says. \u201cCelebrating artists is a way to support the community and share ideas. A certain kind of person will be drawn to a gallery, but here at Clay Hill people are coming in for food. Then they see the art. We are able to bring this gift to people who might not even know they need it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

On the Table, On the Wall<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The Good Table\u2019s proprietor, Lisa Kostopoulos, started exhibiting art for personal reasons. \u201cFor years, dominated by old photos and antique bric-a-brac, the decor was dubbed by one reviewer as antiquated,\u201d Kostopoulos says. \u201cThat got me going. Plus, I love living with my art at home.\u201d Working with Portland artist Marilyn Blinkhorn, Kostopoulos redesigned the restaurant, gracing the walls with Blinkhorn\u2019s striking paintings brimming with rocks, waves, and meadows. It presents a sense of place similar to the restaurant\u2019s setting in Cape Elizabeth. \u201cI was going to have rotating shows, but I couldn\u2019t part with the work.\u201d She bought the entire show for $3,000. In 2013, she designed a bar with \u201cfabulous blue walls\u201d ideally suited for hanging the work of other artists, too. \u201cThe shows rotate every six to eight weeks. The work sells. My staff and I buy, as well as the diners.\u201d But Kostopoulos does not take commissions, saying, \u201cI feel like I am getting the gift.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

For Stacy Cooper of Biscuits & Company in Biddeford, the decision to exhibit art was made \u201cthe minute we opened.\u201d Rotating once a month, openings are timed for Biddeford\u2019s First Friday Artwalk. \u201cI wanted this restaurant to be part of a community where people could see art and hang out,\u201d Cooper says. \u201cIt\u2019s like you\u2019re coming to your eccentric aunt\u2019s kitchen.\u201d A recent show demonstrates this. \u201cPortland artist Dave Cray did a daddy\/daughter collaborative. He started the canvas, then asked his two-year-old to paint next or tell him what to paint in. Two little girls and their parents loved the painting. It had elephants, balloons, and was very colorful and whimsical. Admiring it each visit, when the show came down, they bought it ($400) for their beach house.\u201d Brokering the sales, Cooper\u2019s commission is a small 10 percent. \u201cThis is not about the money for us,\u201d she says.<\/span><\/p>\n

On view at Bonobo in Portland through September 9 is another family collaboration\u2013by Lauren Almarode and Sandi Lemmerman, a mother-and-daughter team. A small magical painting, Mountain Landscape<\/em>, created by nine-year-old granddaughter Bela Almarode, is included. Offered $100 for it by a smitten buyer at the opening, Bela declined. \u201cI like having the painting with me,\u201d she says.<\/span><\/p>\n

Union Restaurant at the Press Hotel hosts openings of quarterly exhibits on its lower floors\u2013a designated, well-designed space. Curated by Erin Hutton, director of programming at MECA, the works are not officially for sale by Press Hotel, but Carla Tracy of the hotel says she\u2019s \u201cheard that artists have sold work as a result of their being viewed here.\u201d September\u2019s show features artist Michel Droge and opens with a public reception on First Friday, September 7.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Community Canvas<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe whole plan was to promote artists,\u201d says Jeannie Dunnigan on opening CIA Cafe in South Portland (and a second in Saco last year). An artist herself, Dunnigan sold art prior to becoming a restaurateur and \u201cdesigned the space like a gallery, with professional lighting and installations.\u201d Showing over 40 artists who sell pottery, jewelry, and original handmade items, CIA\u2019s art sales generated $140,000 at the two locations in 2017. \u201cI love sending checks to people who create art,\u201d Dunnigan says. Drawing colorful, animated crowds, CIA\u2019s celebrated openings spill onto the streets. \u201cIf they don\u2019t buy then,\u201d Dunnigan says, \u201cone day they\u2019ll come in for a sandwich and leave with something like a hand-carved whale.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Soon after opening their doors in 2010, Local Sprouts, a worker-owned cooperative, began hanging shows that rotate every four weeks. \u201cThe interest in working with Maine artists is in line with our mission to serve meals with Maine ingredients,\u201d says member Alexa Clavette. \u201cWanting to display art that we\u2019re passionate about, we often reach out to community support programs, such as Bomb Diggity Arts, to put together group or solo shows.<\/span><\/p>\n

An Original<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

An early pioneer in the restaurant art scene was Local 188. In the late 1990s, Local\u2019s owners, Alison and Jay Villani, ran Pleasant Street Collective, a gallery in Portland. Exhibiting work by artist Patrick Corrigan, they sold almost everything off the walls. Inspired by this success, the group opened Local 188 as a restaurant\/gallery in May of 1999. \u201cSince then,\u201d says current curator Jenny Gardiner, \u201cLocal has exhibited rotating shows non-stop.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cJay is a staunch supporter,\u201d Gardiner says. \u201cHe purchases a lot of work.\u201d Though they receive regular inquiries, Local does not actively seek artists. \u201cNot everything is going to work here,\u201d Gardiner says. \u201cIt\u2019s dark at night, so if the art is subtle or small it might not show well. We go with what comes our way and what makes sense.\u201d New shows open every six to eight weeks, and the pricing is displayed next to the art or in a separate folder. On view now is Nina Hope, a self-taught artist who creates \u201clittle worlds she\u2019d like to visit herself.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

An even earlier forerunner, and one of the first to commit to showing and selling art, is Coffee by Design. \u201cWe opened in 1994 at a time when the recession had hit galleries so hard,\u201d owner Mary Allen Lindemann says. \u201cIt was clear that artists needed alternative exhibition space, so we simply provided that.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

With galleries proliferating in recent years, CBD asked itself, \u201cHow do we keep our connection to the arts relevant? Do we still show artwork? Are we actually adding or defeating?\u201d The answer, Lindemann says, was loud and clear, \u201cArtists want it. We are giving people equal access to showing art and a chance to try something new. Artists tell me that showing their work in our public space provides an opportunity for it to be seen and possibly purchased by a large and varied audience.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

As for us diners, we have no problem bringing another sense to the table. Besides, sometimes our eyes are bigger than our stomachs. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

September 2018
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