KENNEBUNK – Hidden Stories, an art show featuring the works of Kate Cheney Chappell and Annie Lee-Zimerle at the University of Southern Maine Art Gallery in Gorham, continues through Feb. 18.
Hidden Stories, an art show featuring the works of Kate Cheney Chappell and Annie Lee-Zimerle at the University of Southern Maine Art Gallery in Gorham, continues through Feb. 18. Courtesy image
Close inspection of the works of the two artists- – sculpture, print making, painting and book arts reveals the stories embedded in the imagery, say those who have viewed the show. They invite the viewer to discover more, hidden in plain sight. Questions relating to environmental decline, the experience of time, everyday existence and broad cultural issues lead to more questions on the interrelatedness of life itself, the women said in a news release.
At the opening, Cheney Chappell speaking with curator Kat Zagaria Buckley, pointed to her “Mother Ocean” hanging sculpture in the form of a double helix that fills its space from floor to ceiling. Sea creatures like small octopus and starfish weave in and out of the printed matrix. “It all seems as fine as an ocean on a summer day, but look more closely,” Cheney Chappell said. “You will see images I printed from bread ties and bottle cap inserts collected from my kitchen during the pandemic. Plastics break down into harmful smaller bits that alter our ocean’s very DNA. More and more of our trash finds its way to the sea and forms huge gyres of plastic garbage.”
Buchaechum, or Fan Dance in Korean, is an installation on the wall of seven large accordion fan books, hand painted with images of the rose of Sharon, the national flower of South Korea. Lee-Zimerle said that she made the piece to honor the women who lost their lives in last year’s attack in Atlanta. In South Korean culture, she explained, “Fan dance is performed by a group of female dancers, and the dance is the embodiment of women’s strength and empowerment.”
Hidden Stories is at the USM Art Gallery, 5 University Way, Gorham. The hours are 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday.
Cheney Chappell, who moved to Maine with her husband Tom in 1968, has been involved in making art from an early age. Her biography at katechappellartspace.com notes she entered her first art show when she was 14 years old. She and Tom began Tom’s of Maine in 1970. They sold the natural products company in 2006 and later established Ramblers Way, creating wool and cotton clothing made in the US.
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