[ON]now Exhibition | Shelter (Earth, House, Body, Spirit)
November 20, 2020 – March 6, 2021

Jurors | Annika Earley + Tessa Greene O’Brien, Co-directors, Able Baker Contemporary, Portland, ME

Jurors’ Statement

Shelter (Earth, House, Body, Spirit) features 20 artists who examine the slippery nature of what seeking cover and comfort looks like. For some, these explorations are specific and literal. For others, they move like brackish water between the four categories that emerged from the submissions: earth, house, body, and spirit. 

Some artists offer shelter by grounding the viewer in the underbrush; some use rich textures to explore the care, tenderness, and occasional exhaustion that bodily shelters can offer to the self and others; and some look deeply inward towards the spirit as a reprieve. This collection of works show how multi-faceted the idea of shelter can be: comforting, powerful, fallible, tender, exhausting, and essential.

Artists Included

Cecilia Ackerman, Judith Allen-Efstathiou, Jeane Cohen, Eleanor Conover, Kenny Cole, Alicia Ethridge, Jessica Gandolf, Brice Garrett, Sarah Haskel, Nina Jerome, Alice Jones, Rachel Katz, Arnela Mahmutovic, Lindsay Mercer, Meghan Mitchell, Whitney River, Judith Schneider, Sharon Shapiro, Shane Smith, Kiana Thayer

[ON]now is a series of online exhibitions presenting the work of Maine artists through a digital venue. Juried by guest jurors, [ON]now goes beyond the physical gallery walls to expand possibilities of showing and viewing contemporary art.