The lightheartedness of the Maine Art Gallery’s opening exhibit, “Whimsy: Flights of Fancy” is expressed in “Rocking the Boat” by Sarah Fisher. It will be on display May 1-June 15 at 15 Warren St. in Wiscasset. Submitted photo

WISCASSET — The Maine Art Gallery exhibition schedule for 2025 offers member artists numerous opportunities to participate in exhibits while inviting gallery visitors to experience the varied ways in which Maine artists are influenced by the beauty and quirkiness of life in this part of the world.

“Virgo Tiger” courtesy of Maine Farmland Trust, will appear in a major 2025 retrospective of work by Joseph Fiore at the Maine Art Gallery in Wiscasset. Submitted photo

The gallery season is set to begin with “Whimsy: Flights of Fancy,” running May 1 to June 15 at 15 Warren St. This exhibit liberates the artist to communicate via imagery unconstrained by formal perspective or faithful representation in the service of light-heartedness, caprice and satire. All Maine artists are eligible for juried entry to this show, according to a news release from the gallery.

In mid-June, the gallery will present a major retrospective of the art of Joseph Fiore (1925-2008) alongside a thematically paired juried member show. “Fiore at 100: Maine Observed,” is a collaboration with Maine Farmland Trust to celebrate an artist who was a participant in the first years of the Maine Art Gallery. Fiore’s early representational landscapes as well as his later abstractions reflect the natural beauty of the Maine environment that was his inspiration. The exhibition, curated by Fiore’s former student and Maine watercolorist David Dewey, can be viewed on the first floor of the gallery from June 19 through Aug. 24.

The Juried Member Exhibit runs concurrent with the Fiore retrospective from June 19 through July 27. It provides an occasion for contemporary MAG artist members to express their experience with, and interpretation of, Maine vistas that so influenced the work of Fiore.

Fiore was also a practiced Plein Air painter, and this year’s “Paint It! Maine” offers contemporary artists in the genre the chance to extend the legacy that Fiore contributed to as a MAG artist. This show runs from July 31 through Aug. 24, after artists from throughout Maine have been creating art on site in all parts of the state during the first weeks of summer. The Juried Members Exhibit and Plein Air show will run sequentially on the gallery second floor parallel to the Fiore retrospective.

“Made in Maine: Annual Members Show” runs Aug. 28 through Oct. 18. Artist members of the Maine Art Gallery will present recent work in a variety of media including drawing, painting, printmaking, sculpture, photography and assemblage.

The gallery will hold its annual Wiscasset school K-12 Student Show on three weekends beginning April 12.

Detailed entry information and calls for art will be issued during the season and posted as available at maineartgallerywiscasset.org.

For more information, email info@maineartgallerywiscasset.org or call 207-687-8143.

Check out other upcoming area events!