AUGUSTA — The Maine Arts Commission recently announced the opening of “Painting Islands: Uniting Community with Art” by Maine photographer Howie Motenko.

The exhibit explores collaborative art using the photographic technique of light painting on all 15 of Maine’s unbridged, year-round islands. The exhibit is free to the public and on display until June 30 on the second floor of the State House in the Governor’s Reception area.

Motenko’s mission in the “Painting Islands” project was to create participatory art with each island community through the medium of light painting photography. The result is 15 highly color saturated, archival pigment prints that represent Maine’s island community’s choices of images that best represent them.

Motenko is a resident of Mount Desert Island who has spent the past nine years photographing Acadia National Park and local area. He says that “Travel and landscape photography are in my blood,” and has visited six continents, 30 countries and 26 states. Additional projects have included “Painting Bridges: Uniting Community with Art,” studies of the carriage road bridges at Acadia National Park, and Acadia Photo Safari.

The Art in the Capitol program features rotating exhibits throughout the Capitol Complex and offers an additional venue to expand the audiences for Maine artists or artists working in Maine on Maine-based themes. Exhibitions are self-guided and may be viewed during the building hours where the exhibition is on display.

For more information email julie.horn@maine.gov or call 287-2713.

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