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The evocative work of artist Meg Brown Payson is titled "Awakening" in June LaCombe's home in Pownal.

Meg Brown Payson, "Stele: Echo Lake 2", dye sublimation print on aluminum, courtesy of June LaCombe

It's June, and I mean this month, there are women: private art dealer June Racomb.

Location: Hawk Ridge Farm, 90 Minot Road, Pownal

Opening Hours: Make an appointment every day

Every June and October, LaCombe collects the works of artists from all over New England (many from Maine) and displays their sculptures around her home in Pownal, Hawk Ridge Farm. This year, the "Awakening" exhibition (until June 30) spreads around forest trails, meadows near pastures, detached garages, barns, backyards and swimming pools.

LaCombe's sculpture exhibition has nearly 160 works by 40 artists, which is undoubtedly a sensational event. But the crowd will not spoil the experience, because she needs to make a reservation (through the website). You may not like all of this, but the sheer volume and variety — media including bronze, granite, basalt, stainless steel, copper, aluminum, stoneware and weathered steel — ensure that everyone can find something suitable.

Each exhibition has a headline, this year it is the famous coastal artist Meg Brown Payson of Maine. She recently exhibited at Cove Street Arts in Portland, but in my opinion, the most concise description of her work is the catalog article written by Edgar Allen Beem for "Chiasm", which was her presentation in Andover, Massachusetts in 2014 An exhibition at Merrimack College. Beam writes that her art is “a response to the mystery of creation. The colorful rings, lines, cells, and protozoan forms that make her work lively read like the primordial soup that all life emerges, whether it comes from The microscopic broth of the petri dish is still the cosmic plasma of the Big Bang."

The beautiful patterns of her paintings and textiles can resemble endlessly dividing cells and spirochetes, leaves on a lake or colorful Rorschach test, etc. For her sculptures, she uses the dye sublimation process to print these patterns on aluminum panels, a computer-generated technology that uses heat to transfer images to metal.

When placed in the woods, those with a green palette appear to you almost unexpectedly like a disguise. Others dressed in blue or bright orange announce their presence from a distance and bring amazing colors to the forest's monochromatic green and brown. They are all rectangular panels, some stand alone, and some are in groups. The latter are the most interesting to me because they evoke the feeling of being quietly immersed in secret conversations. They can convey the quiet dignity of Rodin's striking political sculpture "Citizens of Calais".

Individually, they are also cute, especially when they grow from piles of ferns or perennials. But the effect is not as lasting as the cluster works. Whether alone or in groups, they look most impressive when the legs supporting them are not visible, but the bottom of the panel is flush with the ground. The legs are deliberately designed to raise the panels above any foliage that might obscure them. But when they are visible, they feel slender and weaken the more powerful overall effect, especially because their thickness of only one inch emphasizes their slight bulkiness.

David Allen, "Goddess of Elements", Granite

The other two outstanding figures on the show are David Allen and Miles Chapin. Both work in granite, but Chapin also explores bronze. Allen’s "Elemental Goddess" (tourist map #118), "Expanse" (#154) and "Halo" (#123) reveal the difference between this sculptor and others who work in this medium: he created The unexpected kinetic energy of elegance is the opposite of what we consider to be heavy and immovable materials.

The "Goddess" is a delicate, perfectly smooth U-shaped granite that sits on a rough-cut granite bench. It appears to be static, but the gentlest push will interrupt its inertia, activating a slow and calm rocking motion. "Expanse" is a perfectly polished upside-down top shape on another roughly defined base. Likewise, its apparent weight stability obscures the fact that it can be easily rotated by the observer.

George Sherwood, "Fibonacci Memory", stainless steel

The "halo" is nothing but a technically impeccable ring hung on a tree, although carving and polishing it without breaking is a feat in itself. When it rotates gently in the breeze, it constitutes a variety of scenery. When it perfectly surrounds the fantastic circular sculpture named "Fibonacci Memory" (#122) by George Sherwood in the distance, its title comes to life, and it is arranged in a pattern of seeds on a sunflower Metal discs, sparkling with the airflow, they swing in the sun.

Chapin is the magician who makes the stone ("Traverse", #112)-in the case of "Flutter 2/5" (#83), the bronze-feels smooth and flexible. His elaborate sculptures excavate ribbon-like forms from these densely packed granite blocks, which are twisted and tangled in a continuous line, as if dancing in mid-air forever.

Of course, Mark Pettegrow has been running between New Hope in Pennsylvania and Kennebunkport for many years, and has been casting bronze in liquid-like forms for many years. His "Tide Series: Twilight" (#84) is reminiscent of the vortex of a whirlpool, while "Arabesque 7/15" (#85) reproduces the intertwined lines of this kind of ornament commonly seen in Moorish designs.

Melita Westerlund, "Morning Cloud", aluminum, paint, steel

This season, Eagle Ridge Farm is also full of fantastic ideas. The most enjoyable is Melita Westerlund's "Morning Cloud" (#94) in Bar Harbor, which is an irregular colored rustle in the shape of aluminum coated. Westerlund has several other interesting works here, including a weird bench named "After Picasso" (#156). Antje Roitzsch of Lincolnville was originally an art jeweler, and he contributed several colorful powder-coated phones similar to Calder. They are fun, but when made of copper, they not only feel the ideal balance between sculpture and jewelry, but also very suitable for placement in the woods, as their quintet proves here. They are the "earrings" of trees.

For the purely emotional form, it is impossible to compete with the "Personage #4 and #5" (#107) of Sharon Townsend in South Portland. Also evocative are the trees and the female body. They are reminiscent of the virgin Greek tree fairy Daphne, whose father Penez, the river god, turned her into a laurel tree when she escaped from the lovesick Apollo. Protect her.

Her keen sensitivity and admiration for nature—and her dexterous handling of ceramic media—are also deeply displayed in the garage where LaCombe's husband Bill Ginn charges their electric car. The wall sculpture "Cascade" (#40) looks like a layer of birch trees falling from a vertical plane, but thanks to the so much labor required to reproduce it in this medium-molding, glazing, and firing Wait-make it precious and encourage us to take a closer and more appreciative look at what nature has given us. In the other three Townsend clay works in this gallery, the feeling of gifts from nature is more real. They are represented by sticks and branches wrapped in birch bark.

Pat Campbell, "Sea Games", rice paper, wood, reeds

The small gallery also displays three exquisite works by another Maine artist, Pat Campbell, whose independent wall structure is made of rice paper and reeds. Her art draws heavily on Buddhism and Japanese culture and nature. She said that they are "meditation works" and "means peace and peace." Her more public Buddhist works—lotus and ginkgo leaves—are not shown here. Instead, we are happy to see the movement of water in "Sea Games" (#61) and "Waves" (#38), and the shape of wings in "Flying" (#26).

This is just a sample of the wealth displayed. Next time you have the opportunity to experience this special artist gathering will be held in October. do not miss it!

Jorge S. Arango has written articles on art, design and architecture for more than 35 years. He lives in Portland. He can be contacted by: [email protection]  

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