Mid-Coast Currents 10/19/12

Producers/Hosts: Host: John Zavodny & Sara Trunzo
Studio Engineer: Amy Browne

Issue: people, events, and ideas in Mid-Coast, Maine

Program Topic: The social and political activism of Rob Shetterly and Kenny Cole.

Key Discussion Points:
1. What is “American’s Who Tell the Truth?”
2. How can art help make political and social change?
3. Where can people see the works of Kenny Cole and Rob Shetterly for themselves?

Guests:
1. Robert Shetterly´s paintings and prints are in collections all over the U.S. and Europe. A collection of his drawings & etchings, Speaking Fire at Stones, was published in 1993. He is well known for his series of 70 painted etchings based on William Blake’s “Proverbs of Hell”, and for another series of 50 painted etchings reflecting on the metaphor of the Annunciation.

For more than ten years he has been painting the series of portraits Americans Who Tell the Truth. The exhibit has been traveling around the country since 2003. Venues have included everything from university museums and grade school libraries to sandwich shops, the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in New York City, and the Superior Court in San Francisco. To date, the exhibits have visited 26 states. In 2005, Dutton published a book of the portraits by the same name. In 2006, the book won the top award of the International Reading Association for Intermediate non-fiction.

2. Kenny Cole may be the “hardest working man in the Maine art world.” His artist’s resume includes literally hundreds of entries, including recent solo shows at the Meg Perry Center and Space Gallery in Portland. And until the end of October, “Even Now the Reaper Draws His Wages” is on display at the Leonard R. Craig Gallery at the Unity College Center for the Performing Arts. Recent group shows include the Bridge Gallery in Chicago, and the Brooklyn Art Gallery in Brooklyn NY. Kenny is currently in The Biennial Show at the Center for Maine Contemporary Art Until December 2. Kenny has been the recipient of multiple grants including grants from the Maine Arts Commission, Maine Community Foundation, and the Ford Foundation. Portland critic Nicholas Schroeder writes: “for work so unapologetically political, so dedicated to finding new ways of revealing dark secrets, there sure are a lot of pretty colors.”

3. Martha Piscuskas (589.4339 OR 338.2222) | is the Programming Director at Waterfall Arts in Montville and Belfast. Martha is an artist herself making interactive installations and community performances, including JUMP: War, a performance on November 3 in Belfast. She holds a BA in Cultural Anthropology from Wesleyan University, and a BFA from the Maine College of Art.

For More Information:
http://kennycole.com/home.html
http://www.americanswhotellthetruth.org/

Our Mission: Creating community in harmony with nature through the transformative power of the arts. Feel the power of art!

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