You may not be aware Portland’s heart is being poisoned. You may not be aware Portland’s heart has shrunk to 2/5 its original size. According to a group of local artists, Portland’s heart is Back Cove and they are trying to make you aware.
Now through Oct.12, the Area Gallery in the Woodbury Campus Center hosts Back Cove: Heart of Portland, a multimedia art exhibit. Back Cove’s central location and heart shape gave rise to the title of this exhibit which is the first of two focusing on local waters.
“In the first exhibit I was interested in using art to raise ecological, historical and cultural awareness about Back Cove,” said Carolyn Eyler, director of art exhibitions and programs.
The art in Woodbury Campus Center creates a visual history of Back Cove during the industrial revolution when the area was extremely polluted, dirty and foul-smelling. The exhibit ranges from historical maps, ecological statements, including Lauren Molyneaux’s Overflow (detail) Inkjet Print, which shows garbage in the cove, to fanciful proposals for the area’s future, such as Jack Elementary student Sean McKenzie’s suggestion that the cove become an XFL stadium or an android plant.
The exhibit continues outside on Bedford Street with silk screened traffic signs made by printmaking classes at MECA. The signs feature ecological slogans such as Laura Perkins’, “Snowgoose Tundra Swan, Spot them before they are gone.” The signs lead the gallery crowd out of the academic realm into the “heart of Portland” itself. Adventure seekers can explore Back Cove with a fresh eye having learned new information about the area.
Eyler hopes that this exhibit will encourage people to visit both the Portland and Gorham galleries.
“I hope that people in Portland that otherwise might not come to the gallery in Gorham will do so out of curiosity to see the second exhibit,” said Eyler.
The second exhibit, “Watershed Views” opens Oct. 25 and runs through Dec.8. In the Gorham Gallery, Eyler plans to have a mural that will display Katahdin to Casco Bay Watershed.
Contributing Writer joe Frechette can be contacted at: [email protected].