The UMF Emery Community Arts Center will host the next major exhibit, “Dona Seegers: A Celebration of Art and Life,” in the Emery Flex Gallery (and throughout the Emery Arts Center) from Saturday, June 24, through Saturday, Aug. 5. An opening reception will take place from 5-7 p.m. on Saturday, June 24, at the Emery Center. The event is free and open to the public.

Dona Seegers (1948-2023) was a lifelong artist and enthusiastic art educator. This multi-media retrospective presents a selection of artwork created over the last four decades. The exhibit includes works in watercolor, pastel, graphite, colored pencil, photography, sculpted paper, video and digital media. Her generous spirit and passion for art, design, color and beauty are evident throughout this exhibition.

Seegers earned her art degree from the Museum School in Boston and her bachelor’s degree in education from Tufts University. She moved to rural Maine in the late 60s where she raised her family. During her early years in Maine, she co-founded the successful greeting card business, Blue Mountain Printmakers. She then moved on to teach art in the public schools in Franklin and Kennebec Counties as well as at the University of Maine Farmington, until her retirement. All the while she maintained a prolific studio art practice and engaged in collaborations resulting in a large and varied body of work that has been exhibited widely throughout Maine and Vermont.

A keen and thoughtful observer of nature, she spent countless hours outdoors engaging in her creative process. She was often photographing her environment, taking art materials outside, and bringing natural materials inside–all of which she would fold into her work, both literally and figuratively.

Seegers explained, “I develop a series of works around personal reflections, then combine photography, mixed media and installation to express my ideas. It is essential for me to be able to work outdoors as well as in the studio.”

Her deep connection to the earth and her curiosity about the human spirit wend their way into all of her work through an interactive dance of observation, experience and materials.

The Emery Community Arts Center is an innovative, experimental venue for the arts in Western Maine. It features an exciting 2,500-square-foot, 109-seat multipurpose performance space with dynamic vertical foldaway doors that open onto an outdoor performance area and a 1,600-square-foot Flex-Space gallery for traditional exhibits, new media and performance art. A dramatic interior corridor offers additional exhibition space and connects the center with the UMF Alumni Theater.

The Emery Arts Center gallery is located on Academy St. (between Main St. and High St.) in downtown Farmington. The gallery is open Monday-Friday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m.; Saturday, 4 p.m.-6 p.m. and is closed Sundays and holidays. Please check Emery’s website for updates at wpsites.maine.edu/emerycommunityartscenter. For more information contact Ann Bartges, director of UMF Emery Community Arts Center at ann.bartges@maine.edu or 207-778-7461.

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