Mourning after

By Chris Thompson

“PLACEBO”: Amy Podmore’s cast interior of a bear (detail), part of the ICA’s “Domestic Culture” exhibit.

After last year’s apocalyptic predictions about the chaos that the Millennium Bug had in store for us, and the impending end of the world that even had atheists among us finding religion, this year is suspiciously quiet. Perhaps 2001 will be ushered in by fire and brimstone, and the people who went on about this being the real millennium will have what really will be the last laugh. Or maybe all this quiet is the sound of us trying to figure out what, if there is another millennium ahead of us, we’d like history to remember us by. Many exhibitions seem to be picking up on this, wishing to understand how intensely local, even private, concerns are at the same time global and public ones.

The Salt Institute for Documentary Studies: Salt’s show “Just Down the Road: Maine Lives and Communities” (until March 31) combines the institute’s various documentary programs and media into an engaging collection of projects by its recent graduates. Consisting of collaborations between writers, photographers, and radio documentarians, the show explores a range of local subjects (from beauty pageants to the life of a female schooner captain) in terms of the artistry involved in all kinds of work.

Center for Cultural Exchange: In addition to a fantastic winter performance schedule — which includes the return of West African drummers Ibrahima (January 19) and Mongolian throat-singers Uragsha (February 24) — Cambodian artist Toro Vaun’s compelling color photographs are on display until February 1. Entitled “Faces of Tomorrow,” they stage Vaun’s vision of a future of racial cooperation.

Bowdoin College Museum of Art: From January 27 through March 18, Bowdoin will show major video works and accompanying drawings by South African artist William Kentridge. A crucial figure in contemporary art, Kentridge’s work explores relationships between identity and history, emotion and memory. Released four years after the South African election, and the Truth and Reconciliation tribunals that were such a contentious part of that country’s recent history, his 1998 video WEIGHING . . . and WANTING engages with the notion, practice, and limits of reconciliation. Stereoscope (1999), the other major work on display, tackles the way political processes colonize our so-called private worlds.

Aucocisco Gallery: Aucocisco kicks off its full schedule on New Years Day with its Gallery Show (through January 28), featuring the gallery’s 16 artists. We’ve seen many of them in Aucocisco’s recent exhibitions, but the opportunity to catch them together is not to be missed. Gallery artist George Daniell returns to Aucocisco for the show “Recent Watercolors and Vintage Photographs” (February 26 to March 25).

The Hay Gallery: From February 27 through March 31, The Hay will exhibit Mary Harrington’s paintings alongside Jackie Mast’s quilts. Harrington’s complex and richly textured surfaces are made through both applying and scraping away layers of paint. Mast’s quilts also have a touch-inviting quality that contrasts with their ethereal appearance.

The Clown: On February 1, The Clown opens “The Color Red, The Artist’s Choice,” a group show of various artists, all of whose work will use the color red. The exhibition is intended to raise both awareness of breast cancer and money to support research. The Clown will donate 40 percent of profits from the sale of works in the show to the American Cancer Society.

Maine Coast Artists: From January 13 through February 17, in conjunction with the 2001 Camden Conference, Maine Coast Artists in Rockport will hold two shows examining Maine’s place in the global community. In the first, “Global Reflections,” seven foreign-born Maine College of Art MFA students and faculty working in different media explore the relation between their native roots and their lives in America. The second, “Vessels,” is an exhibit of Singaporean native, Rockport resident, and painter Evelyn Lam’s renditions of traditional Chinese vessels.

The Museum of African Tribal Arts: Beginning in March and running through April is “The Role of Women in African History,” a tightly focused look at women’s contributions to and roles in certain African societies. The multi-media show will draw from various tribal works in its collection, New England’s largest.

June Fitzpatrick Gallery: Their official season begins on February 2, with Lynda Litchfield’s recent works in encaustic on paper. In January, Fitzpatrick gives her gallery space to emerging artists. From January 3 through 13, the gallery will present Shirley Haynes McKay’s recent works on paper, while Fitzpatrick curates a show of the work of Edwin Gamble in the former Montgomery Gallery in the Maine College of Art’s Porteous Building.

Pejepscot Historical Society: On February 22, Brunswick’s PHS begins a show that will last until January 2002, entitled “Sew What? Making Sense of Making Things.” This historical look at the use of textiles, and sewing in particular, focuses upon objects created for utilitarian as well as decorative purposes. Items from the permanent collection will be compared with works by contemporary textile artists.

Portland Museum of Art: 2001 is the year of the PMA’s Biennial, but between now and April the museum will present another major, if comparatively understated, show: “In Search of the Promised Land: Paintings by Frederic Edwin Church” (January 18 through March 18). This exhibition, on the centennial of Church’s death, takes an unusual approach to a retrospective of this important American painter. It looks at his fascination with natural science, travel, and geography, and the way that these concerns became strong currents in his painting.

3 Fish Gallery: From March 2 through 31, the gallery will hold a show to benefit Romanian orphans. Bilingually titled “Soul-United: Suflete-Unite,” it will exhibit works — primarily paintings — by young Romanian artists, as well as paintings by show curator Kim Curry.

The Institute of Contemporary Art at the Maine College of Art: Following its “Faculty 2001” show (January 27 through March 1), the ICA will hold an exhibition entitled “Domestic Culture,” running to early May. It will be part of a city-wide collaborative project with the Victoria Mansion (which will invite artists to respond to its 19th century rooms), Aucocisco, and other local galleries. “Domestic Culture” explores the relationships between various definitions and experiences of “home,” its role in contemporary art and culture, and the way that the home functions as the site where private and intimate, public and political meet.

Chris Thompson teaches at the Maine College of Art and is a juror for this spring’s “Greater Portland Regional” exhibition at Maine Artists’ Space. He can be reached at xxtopher@hotmail.com.