1 week Ago
Ian Ellis delivers his floral piece for Art in Bloom at the Portland Museum of Art on Tuesday. Ellis’ piece is presented with works by artists James Parker Foley and Brian Smith. Derek Davis/Portland Press Herald Ian Ellis carefully tucked a young protea stem into his sculpture.
The buds are small and round, blue gray beads resting on woven branches of silver maple. As he worked, he talked about Brian Smith and James Parker Foley, local artists and also his friends. They both have pieces on view right now at the Portland Museum of Art.
“Their work is really inspiring,” Ellis said, while working in his studio in the Dana Warp Mill in Westbrook. “It feels new and fresh.” Ellis was also working on something fresh.
Wednesday marks the beginning of Art in Bloom, the busiest and best-smelling weekend of the year at the Portland Museum of Art. More than 20 artists create floral installations in response to specific works on view at the museum. As many as 10,000 people will visit over the next five days to see the galleries become gardens.
This tradition is a popular one at museums across the country (In Maine, for example, the Ogunquit Museum of American Art also hosts its own Art in Bloom every summer). Marcie Parker Griswold, head of communications and audience engagement, said the event is a seasonal boost for both the museum and its patrons. “It is marking the arrival of spring in Maine,” she said.
“It feels like a turning point.” Ian Ellis assembles his floral piece for Art in Bloom in his Westbrook studio. Derek Davis/Portland Press Herald The florists choose their piece from a list of artworks that changes every year; the available works are scattered throughout the museum.
Ellis picked two pieces that had added meaning because of his personal connection to the artists. “Homo Aquaticus,” by Smith is a life-size sculpture of a mermaid tail, glistening and beaded and blue. Three paintings — “Waders Meeting,” “Horizon Fault” and “Divers Approaching Infinite Density” — by Foley depict figures in a blue expanse that could be the ocean or the midnight sky.
The works are side by side in “As We Are,” an exhibit that features emerging artists with connections to Maine and to each other. Ellis, who is 33 and grew up on the Midcoast, felt a deep connection to the show. “Maine has so many of these great young artists, these great contemporary artists,” Ellis said.
“It’s super important to show them that it is possible to make a career here versus going someplace else to do that. Part of that is the institution needs to be the one to elevate them, and seeing that at the museum is really super exciting.” LOGISTICAL CHALLENGES Bringing organic things into any art museum is a logistical challenge.
The museum has parameters to make sure the art and the guests stay safe. Any stamens must be removed from the flowers, for example, to prevent pollen from spreading in the galleries. The galleries’ dry air is good for art but bad for flowers, so Ellis and others are allowed to freshen any wilting blooms later in the weekend.
While assembling his work in his studio, Ellis checked the height and width of his piece with a tape measure to make sure he stayed within size requirements. Ian Ellis’ floral piece will be presented in front of works by artists James Parker Foley and Brian Smith. Derek Davis/Portland Press Herald Ellis grew up in Rockland and was interested in plants from an early age.
He moved to southern Maine to work on a farm and even grew his own flowers for a time. Now he focuses on making art with dried flowers, seaweed and foraged materials. He is self-taught and has found mentors in the Greater Portland area, including John Sundling of Plant Office in Portland and Carolyn Snell of Snell Family Farms in Buxton (Both are also participating in Art in Bloom).
He met Smith and Foley years ago in Portland’s tight-knit art scene, and he and Smith now share a sunlit studio overlooking the Presumpscot River in Westbrook. The friends have cheered each other on and inspired each other. Ecological sustainability is an important element for Ellis, and his own priorities and artistic inspirations aligned with the works by Smith and Foley in “As We Are.
” Smith is thinking about climate change and adaptability, while Foley is deeply inspired by the ocean. “The work that Ian does feels like a really natural extension of my work and Brian’s work,” Foley said. “It’s something that we all share — an interest in the natural world.
” The friends hoped that Ellis would apply to create a piece for Art in Bloom. “To have someone who is so familiar to my process and my work and what’s so important to me and my art — it feels like such a gift that he wanted to respond to it,” Smith said. Ian Ellis assembles his floral piece for Art in Bloom at the Portland Museum of Art.
Ian’s piece will be presented in front of works by artists James Parker Foley and Brian Smith. Derek Davis/Portland Press Herald Ellis started his piece by weaving supple branches into a base. Some are from the Eastern Promenade near his home, while others came from a yellow willow in his parents’ yard.
The basic form is a boat, a recurring motif in Foley’s work. Ellis formed two domes in the dory to reflect the two figures that are often in Foley’s paintings. He shaped a sweeping arch reminiscent of the mermaid’s tale in Smith’s sculpture.
COLORS AND TEXTURES Once the base was finished, Ellis studied a picture of the artworks on his phone. The museum requires primarily fresh flowers for Art in Bloom, so Ellis made a trek on Monday to the New England Flower Exchange in Massachusetts. (The artists get a $250 stipend, but that amount did not cover the cost of making the piece for Ellis.
) He came home with two buckets of blooms in striking shades of purple and blue — delphiniums, chrysanthemums, veronica. He started with a foliage filler, leafy and deep purple, weaving it into the bottom half of the piece. “Both of their pieces have this gradient to them,” he said.
“Brian’s starts dark on the bottom and gets really blue as it’s going up, which I started to do with the branches by starting with the darker ones and moving up to the more yellow ones. James’ pieces have these strong lines I’m going to try to replicate with the flowers. I start off with the darker colors down at the bottom and work my way up to the bright blues and I get to the top.
” Ellis thought not only about the colors but the textures of the art. The blue gray protea mimic the beads on the mermaid’s tail. Spiky Eryngium are a soft purple and look as though they could grow in some underwater forest.
The purple irises have a flash of yellow on their petals, a flash of color reminiscent of the vibrant sun on the horizon in Foley’s paintings. “I was just excited to show with Ian, and then when I realized what he was doing, I was so touched,” Foley said. “I could see in his work that he had really looked closely at mine.
It was really kind.” Ian Ellis delivers his floral piece for Art in Bloom at the Portland Museum of Art with help from local artist Brian Smith, right. Ellis’ piece is presented with works by Smith and fellow artist James Parker Foley.
Derek Davis/Portland Press Herald On Tuesday afternoon, Smith helped Ellis wheel the floral piece into the gallery. Ellis studied the flowers. He moved a ranunculus here, tweaked a delphinium there.
Outside, snow began to swirl. Inside the museum, spring was being assembled. IF YOU GO WHAT: Art in Bloom WHERE: Portland Museum of Art, 7 Congress Square WHEN: Through April 13 HOURS: The museum has extended hours during Art in Bloom.
It will be open to the public from 10 a.m. to 8 p.
m. Wednesday to Saturday and from 10 a.m.
to 6 p.m. Sunday.
Members can also visit during special preview hours from 9 a.m. to 10 a.
m. from Wednesday to Friday. HOW MUCH: Admission is free to everyone on Fridays from 4 to 8 p.
m. It is also always free for visitors 21 and under. Otherwise, admission is $20 for adults and $18 for seniors and students.
INFO: For more details, including a schedule of events related to Art in Bloom, visit portlandmuseum.org How these up-and-coming Maine artists helped a curator learn about his new home Celebrate spring with outdoor concerts, festivals and baseball We believe it’s important to offer commenting on certain stories as a benefit to our readers. At its best, our comments sections can be a productive platform for readers to engage with our journalism, offer thoughts on coverage and issues, and drive conversation in a respectful, solutions-based way.
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