The George Marshall Store Gallery is delighted to begin summer in earnest with No Small Thing - a reverent response to the singular magic of the Maine landscape. Six Maine artists explore the transcendent lure and grounding force of this unique environment through works that interpret, pay homage to, and collaborate with the natural world. The show borrows inspiration from the poem “Spring Tide” by poet, educator, and environmentalist Nancy Nielsen.
On view are birds and fish stylized in metal leaf, carved mahogany, and cast bronze (Bowdren); encaustics visioned from a treehouse studio (Davidson); poetic paintings of Midcoast (Faragher); baskets formed with rockweed and driftwood (Leendertse); sea stones rendered in ceramic (Michael); and a light-catching installation that communes with the York River (Watka).
No Small Thing is on view June 17 - July 30, 2023. An opening reception will be held Saturday, June 17, 5-7pm.
Gallery hours are Thursday 1-5pm, Friday - Sunday 11am-5pm, and by appointment.
Spring Tide
by Nancy Nielsen (1930-2016)
When we came home, the sea said, “Wait.”
We waited.
That’s the way it is here;
sometimes the wind says, “Shiver,”
and we shiver;
sometimes I make a shopping list,
but if the snow says, “Stay,”
we clean the cupboard and make soup.
When we came home, and found the tide
over the road and into the alders,
I didn’t mind. The water rose quietly,
and when it ebbed and we passed,
we went quietly.
That’s the way it is here, sometimes,
and then we remember that it is no small thing,
to live in a holy place.
*With thanks to Maine Coast Heritage Trust for first introducing us to this piece through their 2020 publication, Voices From the Coast.