Imaginative Landscapes and Quirky Cats Featured at Wiscasset Art Walk on Sept. 29

Jazz Great Brad Terry and Friends Return to Final 2016 Art Walk

WISCASSET, MAINE – Two local artists who paint exuberantly with joy, color, and unique vision are highlights of the final Wiscasset Art Walk of the 2016 season on September 29, from 5-8pm.  Alna resident Kate Nordstrom will greet visitors to her exhibit of abstracted landscapes at Midcoast Conservancy, 36Water St., Wiscasset Village.  Barbara Welborn, a self-described autistic artist, greets visitors and displays selections from her fanciful cat series at Beelicious Market, 64 Main St. Both artists approach their subjects playfully resulting in landscapes that you’ve never seen before and cats that are not your home-grown variety.

          To artist Kate Nordstrom, “color is everything.” She likes to layer and build up the color on her canvas to give depth to her oil paintings. She describes her method as improvisational. While a landscape may begin as a real place, she explains, the image becomes more and more abstracted as she responds to the texture and color on the canvas. To help her brain detach from the reality of an image, she uses her left, non-dominant, hand as much as she does her right hand; each hand paints differently. She calls on her history and her emotional response to what’s before her on the canvas until, finally, the landscape becomes something imagined and symbolic.

          Barbara Welborn is a Wiscasset autistic artist who enjoys painting whimsical cats. Barbara has used art as an outlet for her creativity since she was very young. For the cat lover, Barbara accepts commissions and, based on a photo, will paint someone’s beloved feline in a costume suggested by the kitty’s personality and quirks.  Purrfect for a gift.  In addition to painting, Barbara sculpts, draws, and embroiders. She also enjoys musicals and movies.

            Bath resident and world renown jazz clarinetist Brad Terry returns to Wiscasset Art Walk where he and colleague Vaughn DeForest on acoustic bass and young Asa Waldo on jazz guitar will serenade visitors in WBG Modern & Contemporary, 8 Federal St.  According to Terry, their time spent playing in this gallery during the August Art Walk was “a near perfect 'gig'. Good acoustics, people listening, friendly people . . . so let's please do it again!”

          There’s so much more to see and do during the last Wiscasset Art Walk of the season on Thursday, September 29, 5-8pm.  Park your car and spend an early fall evening meandering through the OPEN DOORS of Wiscasset Village, enjoying the work of exceptional artists, specialty shops, wine tasting, antique selections, and floral bouquets for sale, hand-picked by members of the Garden Club of Wiscasset.     

          Wiscasset Art Walk is held on the last Thursday of the summer months, June through September, from 5-8pm. Participant sites are marked with colorful streamers and touring maps are available at all participants throughout the Village.  Major Sponsors for Wiscasset Art Walk 2016 are Ames True Value, Big Barn Coffee, Carleton Real Estate, Carriage House Gardens, First National Bank, and Fogg Art Restoration. Additional sponsors are the Carl M.P. Larrabee Agency, Cod Cove Inn, French & Co. Antiques, and Red's Eats.