The Rangeley Friends of the Arts will host an opening reception for an exhibit featuring the work of local art teacher Sonja Eustis Johnson. The reception is scheduled for 5-7 p.m. Saturday, May 27, at Lakeside Contemporary Art Gallery, in the lobby of the RFA Lakeside Theater, 2493 Main St., Rangeley.

The inaugural exhibit will be open to the public from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Thursday, and when the theater is open for events, through June 24.

Johnson, a graduate of University of Southern Maine which included a one year exchange at the University of Hawaii at Hilo, has been providing art instruction at Rangeley Lakes Regional School for 25 years. During her career, she has received three Teacher of the Year nominations, four Disney Outstanding Teacher nominations, RIT Teacher Excellence Award, Maine College of Art Excellence in Education Award, as well as numerous fellowships, grants and commendations.

The body of work on display includes pieces Johnson produced for her Advanced Placement, photography and painting and drawing classes which embodied the concepts for instruction while encouraging a creative approach to problem solving and advancement of artistic voice. Selected student work will also be on display.

The units chosen for this show include: an investigation into the opiate addiction in Maine; primitive art as seen in the delta blues movement; spring poetry as realized through black and white photography; self-portraiture with consideration to earth elements and self-reflection; and a gelatin mono-printing unit.

The students exhibiting work are: Haley Morrill, Eva Jacot-Descombes, Natasha Haley, Megan Keirstead, Vanessa Bisson, Natasha Cogley, Callahan Crosby, Amber Morrill, Makenzie Morton, Olivia Hall, Logan Abbott, Isobel Straub, Chloe Talbert, Leo Perez, Brooke Egan and Abby Waldeck.

For more information, visit rangeleyarts.org.


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