Greg Mort’s Dusk Till Dawn Open Studio August 5th & 6th, Fieldstone Castle, Port Clyde, Maine 10am to 5pm will celebrate his forty summers of painting in Maine. Greg will make a presentation during the Open Studio on Saturday at 1PM sharing reflections on the influence Maine has had on his art and life.
The beauty of Maine has inspired artists for centuries but Greg Mot’s experience is a bit different because he finds Maine’s star filled nights as captivating as its sun drenched or fog bound shores. For Greg each inlet and island has it’s own mysterious personality and mood bathed in sunlight or surrounded by an inky blue nocturnal sky showered with stars and a brilliant Milky Way. For the past forty summers he has been driven to capture these ever changing images ruled by the declination of the, sun, moon, constellations and shifting tides. Whether creating a landscape or a still life, he prefers to paint directly from life. This preference has bought him face to face with many adventures and challenges.
“During my first summer in 1977 I would hitch a ride on lobsterman and friend Sherwood Cook’s boat the “Gwendolyn J” out to Little Green Island at dawn for a day of painting. When he competed hauling his traps he would pick me up and critique my artwork as we traveled back into homeport. Many evenings the Armstrong family welcomed me into their warm home and fed me my first lobster. Since then Jerry Cushman and siblings have generously shared their knowledge and experiences. Kind island folks accepted me including the Whitehead family on Southern Island, the Porters to Matinic, the Trevors to Mosquito, the Smiths to Graffam, the Huppers to the Brothers and many others. It is my good fortune that Maine has not only given me artistic inspiration but our family the gift of community.”
Mort is an internationally acclaimed artist whose artwork reflects a fascination with the intersection of art and science and his passion for ecological issues. His paintings can be found in museums throughout the world including the Smithsonian, American Visionary Art, Portland Art, Farnsworth, Academy Art, and Biggs museums and in the private collections of three United States presidents, two vice presidents, as well as in numerous embassies as part of the State Department’s Art in Embassies program. Mort's paintings One World, Planet Evolution and Stewardship, all originally shown in Maine were on extended display in the White House during various terms.
In 2007 his devotion to environmental education lead him to established The Art of Stewardship Project which supports and encourages artists to use their talents to promote awareness of the Earth’s fragile beauty. To recognize the tenth anniversary of TAOS Greg produced ten large-scale giclee canvases of his most iconic environmentally themed paintings which tour as a traveling exhibition to educational institutions. In February the collection made it’s debut at Goucher College’s Rosenberg Gallery with Greg Mort – eARTh – The Art of Stewardship. This exhibition was done in conjunction with the Maryland Association of Environmental and Outdoor Educator’s annual conference and Greg was the Keynote speaker. For Earth Day 2017 Mort worked with over 100 artists at the Howard County Conservancy Gudelsky Gallery and RiverArts Gallery to mount art exhibitions focusing on environmental awareness. This summer Greg was a guest lecturer at the Island Institute presenting “The Enduring Influences of the Islands of Maine”.
John Schratwieser, Former Executive Director Maryland Citizens for the Arts offered this critique:
“Greg is a master at helping us to see our planet as a gift to be treasured. His Art of Stewardship program highlights the role of the citizen artist – to create more than a concert on a stage, or a framed image on a wall, but to create a call to act – using art – in a way that makes the world better for all.”
Currently Mort’s paintings and sculpture are included in the Peabody Essex Museum’s LUNAR ATTRACTION exhibition, the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum’s Hall of Planets, the Carla Massoni Gallery FULL CIRCLE exhibition. In October the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore, Maryland will feature his artwork in The Great Mystery Show an exhibition created in collaboration with NASA and the Space Telescope Institute. Mort will also have a one man showing at the Somerville Manning Gallery in opening November 15th, 2017.
A commissioned NASA artist and passionate life long astronomer Greg serves on the board of the Lowell Observatory. At the Artist Talk on Saturday at 1pm he will offer perspectives and safe viewing tips for the upcoming Solar Eclipse taking place on August 21st. For more information: GregMortCollection.com and 207-372-8658.