Two art exhibitions inspired by health and medicine currently on display at the University of New England are the focus of a recent feature in the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram.
The article, published in the paper’s Sunday, Feb. 23, edition, focuses on the exhibits “Sanctuary,” on display at the Jack S. Ketchum Library on the Biddeford Campus, and “The House of the Soul” at the University’s Art Gallery in Portland.
The interactive “Sanctuary,” by printmaker Carrie Scanga and writer Emily Rapp Black, is intended to be a safe space for people to tell their stories of illness, change, and struggles with physical or mental health. The piece features dozens of hanging sheets of butcher paper, each with laser-cut designs inspired by water.
As the name suggests, the sheets form a paper “sanctuary,” which houses a desk with paper and pencils at the center for people to write their stories. Scanga and Black hope to take the exhibit on the road, using the stories told at UNE as the beginning of a larger conversation.
“The House of the Soul,” which opened Friday at UNE Portland, features 10 artists and illustrators and a unique mix of views of the human body; some are artistic, while others lean more scientific.
“I wanted to do something that would integrate the intellectual interests of the university with the visual arts. These shows honor the university’s strong medical tradition,” Hilary Irons, gallery and exhibitions director at UNE, told reporter Ray Routhier.
Oran Suta, B.F.A., a multimedia medical illustrator who teaches in UNE’s College of Osteopathic Medicine, was also interviewed for the article. Suta, who also submitted three of his own new works to “The House of the Soul,” said the display will show people that there are many different views of the human form.
“We all live in these bodies, but we all have such different views of them,” Suta told the paper. “When I’m working as an illustrator, I am technical and descriptive; that’s my point of view. But there are far more bold and engaging concepts out there was well.”
“Sanctuary” is on display in Biddeford now through May 15,S and “The House of The Soul” is on view in Portland through June 14. Both exhibits are free and open to the public.
Read more about the exhibits at: https://library.une.edu/art-galleries/
