New Monson Arts exhibit combines painting and poetry

MONSON — “Northwoods: Absence and Presence The art of Alan Bray and Poetry of Wesley McNair,” an exhibit that explores the relationship of people to place in Northern New England, opens on Friday, June 16 and runs through Oct. 29 at the Monson Arts gallery.  

Bray, who grew up in Monson, and studied for his masters degree in painting in Florence, Italy, where he says he “had fallen in love with Gothic and early renaissance painting. The deep spirituality of the work made me aware of what was missing in my own.” After that experience, he began to incorporate the small and large details of Monson in his work, and has made many paintings of the natural world of the region, often featuring a vanishing human presence.

Bray sees the landscape “as a beautiful and fragile place … raw and close to the bone. And yet there is a toughness and resilience in this very landscape and its people that promises survival and transcendence.” His work is in the permanent collections of the Portland Museum of Art and the Farnsworth Art Museum.

McNair was raised on a farm in rural New Hampshire and lives in Mercer. He writes, “The country neighbors I’ve chosen to write about may seem unremarkable — forgotten people, often from the social margins. Yet for me, they have been vivid presences in the face of what’s been erased or taken away. It has been my ambition to honor their struggles and small triumphs just as they are.” McNair served as Maine’s poet laureate from 2011-16, and is the author of 20 books of poetry, most recently “Late Wonders New and Selected Poems” (Godine 2022).

The exhibit was curated by Monson Arts’ senior advisor Stuart Kestenbaum. He says, “reading Wes’s poems or looking at Alan’s art, it’s clear that throughout their artistic lives they have taken the time to examine the power of place- how we shape the land and it shapes us. The show provides the opportunity for the work itself — the poems and the paintings — to have a deep conversation.” 

Monson Arts was founded in 2018 by the Libra Foundation. Its mission is to provide time and space for creative work through residencies for artists and writers, workshops, and educational partnerships. The gallery is open Friday and Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Sunday 12-5 p.m., and by appointment. For further information visit www.monsonarts.org or call 207-997-2070.