June 20 - July 12, 2024
PICNIC IN THE GARDEN
HANNAH BERTA
SOPHIE CANGELOSI
COLIN PAGE
5-7pm THURSDAY, JUNE 20
Opening Reception and Camden Art Walk
5pm THURSDAY, JULY 11
Colin Page Artist Talk
$6,500
Hannah Berta
The Life Cycle of a Rose & Grandad's Rocking Horse
acrylic, oil, and mica powder on printmaking paper, 39.5x49.5"
$4,500
Hannah Berta
Sister & I with the Extended Prunus Family
acrylic and oil on printmaking paper, 30x34"
$4,000
Hannah Berta
Godiva Diet Under Aspen and Yellow Birch
acrylic, oil, pink graphite, and gold leaf on printmaking paper, 27x30"
Page Gallery is pleased to present PICNIC IN THE GARDEN, an exhibition of paintings from Hannah Berta, Sophie Cangelosi, and Colin Page. These artists turn up the volume on their experience of life in Maine, using celebratory color and abundant pattern to give a closer look at our connection to nature, family and friends. A public opening reception will be held Thursday, June 20, 5-7pm. Colin Page will present an artist talk Thursday, July 11, 5pm.
Drawing inspiration from plants she sees on walks near her Rockport home, [Hannah Berta] cuts intricate designs from paper, layers them three dimensionally, and mounts them on canvas using pins, like biological specimens. -Monique Brouillette on Hannah Berta, Downeast Magazine, April 2023
Hannah Berta’s intimately close view of leaves and seaweed conjures a child’s sense of awe and wonder at nature’s details. Her layered view through the thicket suggests an eavesdropping or a discovery of what lies in the depths of the scene. Berta carefully carves heavy stock paper into the outlines of blades of grass, branches from a flowering bush, or twisting strands of seaweed. She experiments with how different patterns interplay when the lace of one piece is placed on top of the color of another. Washes of color and bold strokes of neon and metallic paint add to the web of layered images. To move around one of her paintings is to feel the push and pull of looking into and through shimmering leaves and crossing lines. Hannah Berta’s choices can be playful or jarring, harmonious yet punctuated by the occasional clash of a surprising color or bit of drawing.
Hannah Berta (b. 1991) is an interdisciplinary artist living and working in Rockport, Maine. Hannah works with paper, paint, and sculpture. Her work is often a mixture of these mediums and focuses on topics of environmental awareness, relationships and self-reflection. With intent, attention to detail and care, Hannah transforms simple materials into complex, detailed works. She hopes to inspire others to use simple materials to create everyday magic. She graduated from the University of Maine in 2016 with a degree in Art Education, minoring in Studio Art and Art History.
Cangelosi emphasizes that all her work is in response to her Maine surroundings, “by the relation and connection, leisure freeze frames about intimate moments between friends and loved ones” —Sophie Cangelosi quoted in conversation with Kelly Holt, Art New England, March/April 2024
Sophie Cangelosi uses bold colors and pattern surfaces to make paintings that are social and youthful, conveying the feeling of fellowship and the joy of being outdoors or gathered around the hearth inside. Cangelosi depicts her experience of friendship in Maine’s queer community. Cangelosi makes compelling choices in scale and perspective and effectively uses color to create mood and energy around each figure. Cangelosi’s tight compositions work equally as an abstract collage of color shapes and as a fully representational painting.
Sophie Cangelosi (b. 1993) is an emerging visual artist living and working in Rockland, Maine. Since earning her BFA from Maine College of Art.
The words “sumptuous” and “luxuriant” come to mind when viewing Colin Page’s recent still-life paintings. Even when depicting the remains of a simple meal or a few selected objects on a brocade tablecloth, Page reminds us to luxuriate in the everyday and to savor the sumptuous visual feasts that are freely available to us—if, of course, we choose to look. -Suzette McAvoy, Feb 2009 MH+D magazine
Colin Page is known for pushing his paintings to hold a maximum amount of color. He plays within the bounds of value to make representational paintings of Maine's landscape and the figures, boats and architecture within it, as well as both indoor and outdoor still life paintings. Colin Page brings us into his home and out into nature with his family. His gestural paintings, the energy of his color and brushstrokes, emphasize and convey the joy and urgency of a vibrant and full life.
Colin Page (b. 1977) was raised in Baltimore, Maryland and studied painting at the Rhode Island School of Design and at the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art. He lives and works in Camden, Maine and owns and curates Page Gallery. Colin Page's paintings have been featured in solo exhibitions and group shows nationally, including the Kaiping Museum of Art in China, the LA Natural History Museum, the Annual Juried Show by the Guild of Boston Artists, the Portsmouth Historical Society, the Laguna Beach Plein Air Invitational, and the Maynard Dixon Camp Out by the Thunderbird Foundation.