HALLOWELL

On view through Sept. 19 at the Harlow Gallery, “Traces: Vanishing Landscapes” highlights the visions of three Maine artists who examine what is left behind as the state’s economy modernizes and shifts.

Featuring works by Sarah Brayman, Lisa Tyson Ennis and Shanna Wheelock, the exhibit offers an engaging and contemporary dialogue on changing Maine. National and global trends, such as the international migration of industry, fisheries depletion, chain-store domination of retail and reorganization and consolidation of education are grounded in the concrete realities of the areas the artists call home: the Lubec and Brunswick areas, as well as the Canadian isle of Newfoundland.

The public is invited to meet the artists at an opening reception from 5-8 p.m. Friday at the Harlow Gallery, located at 160 Water Street in Hallowell. Gallery hours are noon to 6 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday. Exhibitions at the Harlow are always free and open to the public.

Brayman has an art studio and home in Brunswick. She holds degrees in Studio Art and Appropriate Technology, and a PhD in Urban Planning. She is currently chairwoman of the Brunswick Town Council and has worked in local municipal Maine politics for many years. Primarily a fine art photographer, she has expanded her technical range to include a beeswaxand damar-varnish medium, encaustic, into her visual discipline.

Ennis lives on the remote, rocky, “bold coast” area of Lubec. Her most recent work has focused on the decline of the traditional fishery, with images of herring weirs, smokehouses and abandoned outport villages in Newfoundland. She works solely with historical processes — large and medium format cameras, black and white film, and handmade toners. Each image is hand printed and painted with light in the darkroom. Ennis’s work is in the collections of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, The Tides Institute, Delaware Art Museum, and Portland Museum of Art, and has been included in more than 75 solo and group exhibitions since 2002.

Wheelock lives and works in a remote fishing village on the border of Canada. Her current body of work relays sense of place: the energies, environment, culture, and history of the people who have lived in Lubec for generations. Columns, drawings and paintings are inspired by walks and explorations in and around local sites. Photo documentation and writing are critical in her creative process. As a co-founder of Lubec Arts Alive, Wheelock has been instrumental in community arts-building. She integrates art and fine craft into all aspects of her life while operating a pottery shop out of her barn, is a regular vendor in the local farmers market and exhibits both her pottery and sculpture statewide. Her work has been featured in American Craft magazine.

For more information, visit harlowgallery.org.