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“Curious,” an exhibition featuring the work of Orr’s Island artists Catherine and Robert Gibson, is on display in the River Room at River Arts in Damariscotta through Oct. 7.
The exhibition, which opened Sept. 12, brings together the work of two longtime artists whose individual creative practices have developed alongside a shared life on the island.
Robert Gibson is an improvisational abstract painter, while Catherine Gibson is a ceramic sculptor. Together, their work reflects curiosity, exploration, and commitment to creative discovery.
Robert, a graduate of the Philadelphia College of Art, has lived in Maine and exhibited his work in the state for more than 40 years. His paintings are held in numerous private collections.
“Art is always questioning,” he said. “It’s having the curiosity and wonder of a child with the experience of an adult, and what happens when the two collide.”
Inspiration can come from unexpected places — a dream, an insightful passage by a newly discovered writer, unusual reflections on the side of a car in daylight, or even a deep passage in a Bob Dylan song. Sometimes Robert begins a painting with nothing consciously in mind, allowing the process itself to reveal what wants to come into being.
“As I work, in the moment, the painting takes on a life of its own,” he said. “I try not to get in the way.”
Catherine Gibson began her love affair with clay more than 50 years ago and has devoted herself fully to her artwork for the past decade. She has studied at the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Maine College of Art, Snow Farm, and the Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts.
Catherine creates sculptural ceramic vessels by hand, using low-fire recycled clays. The vessel is a recurring metaphor for the feminine, while her ongoing exploration of organic forms guides much of her work. As she builds, she focuses on outline, shape, volume, and the balance of light and shadow, often allowing the material itself to guide the process.
“Often, I let the clay lead me,” she said.
Surface is equally important to Catherine. Rather than rely heavily on glaze, she prefers to enhance rather than obscure the natural surface of the clay. Burnishing, colored slips, stains, lusters, and embedded glass or metal add layers of complexity, while post-firing treatments such as sanding, carving, smoking, hot wax and encaustic pigment further transform the work.
The Gibsons’ studios are located at their home on Orr’s Island.
