Monson Arts Gallery summer exhibition
MONSON — The Monson Arts Gallery is pleased to announce its summer exhibition “Graven Images: Stone, Wood, Copper, Steel, Bone” featuring Michael Rothschild’s first exhibition in the United States.
Rothschild is the author of “Wondermonger”, an acclaimed collection of modern tales and folklore set in the woods of Maine.
“I can think of no other writer who so captures the terror and grandeur of the North Woods,” wrote the Washington Post. “Mythmaking at its finest,” said The New York Times Book Review, “…the devotedly beating heart of one who has the careful ability to mold and chisel his stories into living, breathing, works of art.”
It is no coincidence that his drawings, graphic work and sculpture share the same vivid power. Sketches, linocuts, etchings on copper and finally lead, stone or wood lead him to what he is after. Invariably, the raw materials are found near at hand. While his work has been shared in lecture and display in Beijing, Xian and Nanjing, China and is in private collections in this country, this will be his first public exhibition in the United States.
It is not an accident that the village of Monson, home of the slate quarry, has been chosen. Rothschild often uses the deep black Monson slate for its delicate strength. By exhibiting these works in Monson, he is bringing the quarried stones home in a new form.
The exhibition will show a collection of precious obsessions. The drawings that inspired etchings accompany the sculptures. Each medium has its own power over the subject. The grain of the wood and stone guide the form. Human figures, often of motherhood, and creatures of the sea, sky, rivers, and land dominate the work in all mediums.
Rothschild was born in Bangor. All his adult life he has lived on a 200-year-old farm in the hills of western Maine. An orchard of old-strain apple trees – Baldwin, Wealthy and Deane – surrounds the farm where the extended family raise Jersey cows, Suffolk sheep and maintain large gardens.
The exhibition runs June 13 through Oct. 12, with the opening reception from 2 to 4 p.m. Saturday, June 20 at the Monson Arts Gallery, 8 Greenville Road. Rothschild will give a reading from his newly released book “Sculpture and Tales” from 4 to 5 p.m. at the Moore Studio Building, 3 Tenney Hill Road.
Monson Arts was founded in 2018. Their mission is to provide time and space for creative work through residencies, workshops, exhibitions, and educational partnerships. Visit www.monsonarts.org to learn more about all of their programs.