Waldo Theatre gallery cultivates “Hope is a Seed” as September art exhibit

WALDOBORO — The Waldo Theatre, located at 916 Main Street, kicks off the Fall season with a September art gallery show featuring two refreshing Maine artists who share a focus on the human experience and cultural identity through their work in photography and printmaking. In “Hope is a Seed”, professional photographer Sean Alonzo Harris and printmaker Elizabeth Jabar highlight a variety of public engagement projects and print editions created by the two artists.

Award winning editorial, commercial and fine art photographer Séan Alonzo Harris concentrates his work on both narrative and environmental portraiture. Over the past 25 years, his photography has been featured in a wide range of national publications, advertising campaigns, and exhibitions. Across these varied contexts, Harris focuses on identity and representation by examining how individuals visualize themselves and how they are portrayed. His images bear witness to often invisible or overlooked members of our communities, and create portraits that provide a counter image and narrative of self-worth and personal agency.

Creating in a very different medium, feminist printmaker Elizabeth Jabar explores a range of personal-political issues including cultural identity, representation, equity and maternal ethics. Her practice is located in the studio, the classroom and the community where she co-creates collaborative and participatory projects with students, colleagues and community members. Jabar’s hybrid works on paper and cloth display a highly personal visual language that incorporates motifs from popular culture, folk art, religious traditions and textiles. Her printed objects and environments embody printmaking’s democratic tradition of resistance and collective power.
Art pieces displayed will be available for sale, a portion of which benefits the Waldo programming. 

Viewing hours for this Waldo Theatre Gallery exhibition will also be open before scheduled events from August 29 – September 27, as well as during the Waldoboro ArtWalk on August 30, from 4 – 7 p.m.

More About the Artists

This husband and wife team reflect their commitment to art and expression as a tool for social change. Together, they have collaborated on a range of social change projects that connect youth, emerging and established artists alongside their community partners, including art institutions, nonprofit organizations, businesses, and educational institutions. In 2022, the couple opened Hinge Collaborative, a printmaking studio storefront in Waterville, Maine.

Séan Alonzo Harris has received several awards and grants for his work including: Good Idea Grant and Arts in the Capital Program, from the Maine Arts Commission; the Broderson Bronze Award; and the VanDerZee Black Heritage Award, from the University of Lowell. He was selected as one of the sixty most-collectible artists in Maine 2010, featured in Maine Home and Design magazine. Harris graduated from the Art Institute of Boston and studied photography in Viterbo, Italy and at the Maine Media Workshops in Rockport, Maine. A gallery of his work can be found at seanalonzoharris.com.

Elizabeth Jabar is the Lawry Family Dean of Civic Engagement and Community Partnerships at Colby College, where she is designing and launching an innovative program expanding community based learning and active citizenship. She was formerly the Chair of the Printmaking Program and Director of Public Engagement at Maine College of Art where she designed and launched MECA’s distinctive social practice undergraduate curriculum, the Public Engagement Minor. She received her BFA from Massachusetts College of Art and her MFA from Pratt Institute. Her art and community engagement can be found at elizabethjabar.com and hingecollaborative.com.