Featured Artists
Lauren Beach, Kelly Ufkin, and NinaDevenney
The guest artist for Pop-Up
Thursday, July 22 to Wednesday, July 28
Read on to learn more about their inspiration, their process, and their work.
Wild Rosie – Maine artist, Nina Devenney
Wild Rosie is the creation of Maine artist Nina Devenney, who resides in midcoast Maine and works from a cozy home studio nestled against the woods and just a few miles from the sea. She was raised by ceramic artists, whose work and artistic visions were a constant in her childhood home. Above all, being raised by artists taught her to notice, appreciate deeply, and find joy in the tiniest of moments.
Nina has been making art with her own two hands for as long as she can remember. With a background that covers a breadth of media, she has found herself continually inspired by the earth and revels in the endless wonder of Maine’s land and coastline.
Wild Rosie was born out of a sincere love of the natural world and a true desire to bring beauty and a genuine joy to the lives of others. Environmental conservation is often at the heart of her work, with a deep love of all the exquisite beauty the earth gives to those that call it home. She is constantly driven by a strong desire to bring our world closer together and to encourage others to look upon the world with a sense of wonder and awe. In seeing the natural riches that we all share and have in common, she hopes to inspire the viewer to take good care of the place we all call home.
You can visit Wild Rosie at www.wildrosiemaine.com and follow along on Instagram @wildrosie.maine
Kelly Ufkin
My paintings have taken on a more personal significance as I explore content that has importance to me, moving beyond the figure and still lifes. I am striving to obtain composition, balance, and color relations while experimenting with textures. Even though my intuitive responses occasionally stray from color accuracy, I want to maintain precision with perspective and proportion. I have realized that I am not a narrative artist but would like my viewers to experience a sense of escape.
My work has taken on new directions through the inspiration and study of artists that have impacted me, especially from the Impressionist era. Monet, Renoir, and Corot have enlightened me on how to really capture a moment in time in a simplistic manner. They give just enough indication and detail to portray a mood. Caravaggio and Artemisia Gentileschi’s realism and extensive technique have helped me enhance my style and progress as an artist. Modern painters such as the Wyeth family have provided me with motivation and insight.
My more recent paintings contain elevated complexities with composition, lighting, and contrast. The main focus is the distortion of images within water that converses with the concrete physicality of its surroundings. Rather than being inclusive of the standard formula of distribution between sky and land, I prefer to mostly deny the sky to allow water to be the primary element.
Lauren Beach
Lauren Beach (Mt Desert, ME) creates jewelry in wood and metal in her home-based studio. A bone carving and inlay apprenticeship in New Zealand in 2010 was the catalyst for pursuing a studio practice. In the last two years, she has taught herself additional woodworking and lapidary skills.
“Working with a jeweler-mentor who has experience with wood and metal and can help me find creative ways to connect them is essential to my growth. I feel as though I am on the brink of being able to move towards making my studio practice a full-time career, and I feel this opportunity will help me make the jump.” – Lauren Beach.