Maine Farmland Trust Gallery features the work of four artists in a new exhibition, “Bearing Fruit,” which opens Friday and runs through May 8.

The artists are Anne Alexander, Leah Gauthier, Jacinda Martinez and Julie H. Rose. An opening reception will be held from 5 to 7:30 p.m. Friday at the gallery, 97 Main St. in Belfast.

Alexander’s ceramic forms reflect a sense of nature and its connection to life stages, growth cycles and the human body. She seeks out unique vegetables and fruits at farmers markets or in her garden to model in clay.

Gauthier’s sculptural work incorporates food, foraged natural materials, live plants and handmade objects.

Martinez is a young artist from Brooklyn, New York, who has spent her last six years farming. She creates elaborate dresses from otherwise discarded vegetable matter.

Rose describes her intricate fiber art as “always about nature, or more clearly, of nature.” She uses mostly organic materials such as sheep’s wool, silk, cotton and linen.

The artists intend for viewers to experience the intersection of human and plant forms, the interdependence of species – or inseparableness – as reflected in the sensuality of Alexander’s fruits and vegetables or the vulnerability of Martinez’ models wrapped in their vegetable-fiber dresses. The imagery suggests that we all stem from the same source.

The gallery is open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. Info at mainefarmland trustgallery.org.


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