‘Clutch’ exhibit at Reed Art Gallery

The Reed Art Gallery at the University of Maine-Presque Isle presents Brianna Gerrish’s ceramic sculpture exhibit “Clutch” from June 7 to July 26. (Courtesy photo)

PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — The Reed Art Gallery at the University of Maine-Presque Isle is proud to present “Clutch”, ceramic sculptures by Brianna Gerrish.

The public is invited to view the exhibition beginning June 7 and running through July 26 and to attend the opening reception on Friday, June 7 from 6-8 p.m. as part of Presque Isle’s monthly First Friday Art Walk. The artist will be on hand to discuss her work.

Gerrish grew up in Northern Maine and graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of Maine in Presque Isle in 2020 with a bachelor of fine arts degree and was the recipient of the University’s Fine Art Talent Award and Art History Scholar Award, as well as the Robert Wanbaugh Memorial Art Award, which allows for the purchase of a work of art by a graduating UMPI student, that will become part of the University’s permanent art collection.Since graduating, Gerrish has set up a home studio and established herself as a prolific artist, frequently showing her work throughout the state of Maine and beyond, and a vital force in the Maine arts community.

“The Reed Gallery is honored to celebrate Brianna Gerrish’s work and present it to a wide audience,” says Gallery Director Frank Sullivan. “Brianna graduated during the early stages of the pandemic, thus preventing us from giving her work the exposure that it deserved. Since graduating, she has grown significantly as an artist and I am quite excited about the prospect of filling the gallery space with her creations.”

Gerrish’s ceramic sculptures explore the universal in nature via forms whose graceful and curvilinear shapes seem to be products of nature herself, each with their own unique character, personality and lifeblood. The sculptures are composed of a variety of earthy colors, both warm and cool, similar to those found in the natural world and their surfaces, the product of the artist’s fearless embracing of the often-unpredictable nature of the glazing and firing process, proudly display irregularities and imperfections, which appear not as blemishes, but as scars of a courageous life subjected to the forces of the natural world and that belie each object’s inherent gracefulness and beauty.

Says the artist of her work, “As an animist and object-attracted individual, I make ceramics that give reverence to the forces of nature from which their organic forms are drawn. Intuitive sculpting uncovers the rippling patterns, cavities and grooves that make up nature’s curvilinear language of form. These sculptures embody both beauty and ugliness, familiarity and alien-ness, material and spirit world, suggesting that: what is ugly can also be beautiful, what is seemingly unfamiliar can be relatable, and what appears inanimate can be very much alive.” 

You can learn more about Gerrish and her work by visiting her website at www.briannagerrish.com.

Regular Gallery summer hours are Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

The Reed Art Gallery is located on the second floor of the Center for Innovative Learning.

For further information, please contact Reed Art Gallery Director Frank Sullivan at frank.sullivan@maine.edu or 207-694-1920.