Arts

People, unhid

A Robert Solotaire retrospective at Gleason
The late Bob Solotaire collected views the same way he collected friends, and he had a great many of both.

By KEN GREENLEAF | October 07, 2009

All for jazz

Freeport Players' Side Man dominates the stage
Clifford Glimmer (Paul Menezes) goes into advertising after college, but he got his name -- plus a lot of other blessings and problems -- from jazz.

By MEGAN GRUMBLING | September 30, 2009

A mill grows in Biddeford

Six artists wax hyper-real at the North Dam Mill
'We're responding every step of the way to our environment. And to each other.'

By ANNIE LARMON | September 30, 2009

Learning curve

Maine novelist teases our brains
Maine novelist teases our brains

By DEIRDRE FULTON | September 23, 2009

A dream cast in Good Theater's Little Dog
The exquisitely jaded Diane (Denise Poirier) describes her world as one in which Cobb salads are special-ordered with the intricacy and significance of Buddhist mandalas.

By MEGAN GRUMBLING | September 23, 2009

Deep layers

Mark Wethli's latest work is some of his best
Throughout his long career Mark Wethli's work has been studied, careful, and formally rigorous.

By KEN GREENLEAF | September 23, 2009

Catharsis + rebirth

Portland theater's losses and gains since 1999
My own backward gaze over the last decade of local theater only takes in the second half of it, so I've consulted a few veterans.

By MEGAN GRUMBLING | September 16, 2009

Mixin' it up

Fall's theater shows cover serious ground
First on my dance card this fall is the Good Theater's The Little Dog Laughed (September 17-October 11), a scathing comedy about Hollywood, a closeted actor's indiscretions with a hustler, and his agent's desperate clean-up duties.

By MEGAN GRUMBLING | September 16, 2009

No assignments here

An enjoyable reading list
Need a break from all that required reading this fall? You're in luck. In

By DEIRDRE FULTON | September 16, 2009

Retro for fall

Major artists of Maine's past go on display
Leaves are turning, roads aren't crowded; it's time to look ahead for interest in the fall art season.

By KEN GREENLEAF | September 16, 2009

Growth + maturity

Portland's art scene has changed quite a lot
The Phoenix 's first 10 years in Portland roughly bracket the period during which I stopped writing about art.

By KEN GREENLEAF | September 16, 2009

Topographic musings

MECA's second Alumni Biennial
"Aggregate" is Maine College of Art's second themed Alumni Biennial at the Institute of Contemporary Art, showing work chosen by a jury from among recent work by BFA and MFA graduates. While the artists represent a range of mediums, graduating class ('97 to '08), and experience, the integrity of the selected works is consistently impressive.

By ANNIE LARMON | September 09, 2009

Victorian jewel

A fictional setting that never fades
What price beauty? That's the question lovely Grace Hammer has to answer as her world begins to fall apart.

By CLEA SIMON | September 09, 2009

Which was fine

Jessica Anthony's pleasantly disturbing Convalescent
There are probably 10 or 15 reviews I could write of Jessica Anthony's The Convalescent . Leitmotifs populate the book's 240 pages like thick, black hairs on the back of an old man's wrinkled ass.

By SAM PFEIFLE | September 02, 2009

Revisionist whims

Karen Lewis purges her obsession at the CMCA in Rockport
The story of Johann Christian Woyzeck goes like this: A German man born into poverty in the late 18th century tries his hand in several professions. Handicapped by a schizophrenia unrecognized by most at the time, he eventually becomes a soldier.

By ANNIE LARMON | September 02, 2009

Idealist views

Three shows at the PMA explore truth
The path through my various responsibilities has led me to the Portland Museum several times in recent weeks, and along most of the floors. While passing through the Julia Margaret Cameron exhibit of photography I was struck by thoughts about templates created by dominant illusions, and how a consistent sense of an ideal world flowed through Cameron's work.

By KEN GREENLEAF | August 26, 2009

Lesbians unite

Reclaiming the state's history and image
For centuries, sundry artists have extolled Maine as a locale for all sort of idylls and creations. This weekend, a series of plays will limn our state's romanticism with seductive specificity: as a setting for imaginative and sensual women loving women.

By MEGAN GRUMBLING | August 26, 2009

Visible man

Tracy Kidder gets into the picture
As Tracy Kidder’s immersive journalism matures — his latest book recounts his travels through genocidal East Africa — he becomes more visible.

By JEFF INGLIS | October 15, 2009

Musical power

MSMT's lively Drowsy Chaperone
The Man in the Chair (Charles Abbott) is a man of a certain age who wears both a sweater vest and a cardigan, feels pangs of a "non-specific sadness," and harbors an abiding nostalgia for the musical theater of yesteryear.

By MEGAN GRUMBLING | August 19, 2009

Building up

Inspired modernists Cutler and Thon
In the current show at the June Fitzpatrick Gallery at the Maine College of Art in Portland, we see two generations of 20th-century modernist painting.

By KEN GREENLEAF | August 19, 2009