Speedwell Gallery, 2024

Alison Hildreth: 50 years

SPEEDWELL Contemporary was honored to present a selection of works spanning much of Hildreth’s storied and extensive career. The exhibition featured deep, gestural large-scale paintings that delved into the depths of consciousness, a poetic collection from the mixed media Night Writing series, early self-portraits, and an installation of figurative sketches—all highlighting Hildreth’s innate ability to weave together various disciplines.

This exhibition was presented as part of a multi-venue retrospective celebrating Hildreth’s work, which included exhibitions and events at New Era Gallery (Vinalhaven), the Center for Maine Contemporary Art (Rockland), the Portland Public Library, and the Portland Museum of Art.

Together, these overlapping exhibitions and programs illuminated the many facets of Hildreth’s complex, multidisciplinary practice and celebrated her remarkable artistic contributions over the past 50 years. Each venue showcased work from a different period of her career, offering a comprehensive view of her evolving vision and creative legacy.

In conjunction with initiating the multi-venue retrospective, SPEEDWELL Contemporary also produced a short documentary film and a comprehensive catalog to mark the occasion. The film premiered at the Portland Museum of Art on Friday, October 13.

CMCA, 2024

Darkness Visible

The Center for Maine Contemporary Art presented Darkness Visible, a solo exhibition featuring works from two ongoing series by Alison Hildreth. This exhibition brought together large-scale mixed media works on Gampi paper, depicting aerial views of the earth, alongside similarly scaled oil paintings on canvas, offering celestial perspectives of planets and cosmic bodies. The interplay between these two series highlighted Hildreth’s dynamic approach to shifting perspectives, material exploration, and her ongoing fascination with the intersection of the terrestrial and the cosmic.

Timed to coincide with a multi-venue retrospective honoring Hildreth’s 50-year career, Darkness Visible was part of a statewide celebration that included exhibitions at SPEEDWELL Contemporary and New Era Gallery. “Alison Hildreth’s remarkable career spanning more than 50 years has left an indelible mark on the arts community in Maine, and we are honored to celebrate her continuing legacy with the selections from two ongoing bodies of work created by Alison in our Bruce Brown Gallery that will invite viewers on a journey of imagination and exploration,” said Timothy Peterson, Executive Director and Chief Curator of CMCA. The exhibition was extended through May 6, 2024, providing audiences with an extended opportunity to engage with Hildreth’s evocative and multidisciplinary practice

Cove Street Arts, 2021

Kindred

Alison Hildreth, Lissa Hunter, Tom Hall

“On the surface, there is little to connect the work of Alison Hildreth, Lissa Hunter, and Tom Hall aside from their friendship. Hildreth often works in abstraction, suggesting concrete forms yet remaining diaphanous. Hunter almost works in the reverse, focusing on everyday objects - spoons, bowls, brushes - that she transforms into the extraordinary. In the storied tradition of Maine art, Hall paints landscapes, wonderfully dramatic and unexpected even when depicting well known Maine locales.

Yet, when viewing the work of the three, their connection is revealed. A similar palette and visual sensibility are immediately apparent, but their kinship runs much deeper. Hildreth describes her work in the show as focused on interconnectedness, how our choices “affect[} the fabric of an intricate and connected environment.” Similarly, Hunter uses everyday objects because they “speak a common language of utility, community and heritage.” As she states, “Nothing less than our shared humanity can be seen in a simple spoon.” Hall, through his depictions of our shared landscape, does not seek merely to reflect the beauty of that landscape, but to find “Beauty with a capital B.” Because, as Hall explains, “Beauty by its very nature implies integration, resolution of conflict, empathy, and love.”

These three artists are not just interconnected on a personal and visual level; their work is fundamentally about interconnection. They can be described as kindred spirits, but, more fundamentally, their work asks us to recognize that we are all kindred.” - Cove St Arts

Exhibit Review - Portland Press Herald

Speedwell Contemporary, 2018

Flight

“Alison's sources are often derived from literature and history. In this body of work, she combined disparate ideas concerning migrations, refugees, medical drawings, astronomy, architectural traces, and more. Visual representations of these interests appear as a shape-shifting progression where one image morphs into another, changes but still holds the prior imprint.” - Speedwell Contemporary

Exhibit Review - Portland Press Herald

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