Trace

WHAT REMAINS WHEN SOMETHING IS GONE? A MARK... A SIGN...
EVIDENCE OF WHAT ONCE WAS.

THE MMPA GALLERY PRESENTS "TRACE" - A POWERFUL SPRING PHOTOGRAPHIC EXHIBITION EXPLORING THE VESTIGES OF FORMER EXISTENCE, INFLUENCE, AND ACTION.

EXPERIENCE WORKS BY 10 DISTINGUISHED ARTISTS.

SOME MARKS ARE MEANT TO BE DISCOVERED. WILL YOU FIND YOURS? 

APRIL 4 - MAY 31, 2025

OPENING RECEPTION: FRIDAY, APRIL 4, 5-8PM 

Sarah hood Salomon
JOSEPH PODLESNIK
JUNE KIM
Drew Harty
JOAN FITZSIMMONS
SARA STITES
JON PELLETIER
CAROLINE SAVAGE
FRANK LOPEZ
Jodi Colella

Artist talks: Friday, 5-8pm
April 25 + May16

Joan Fitzsimmons

Small & Large Thoughts is a photographic series that began when I noticed that my emptied bowl of yogurt resembled the remnants of a painter’s palette. It began as a  reflection on that artform’s centuries of practice. Later I noticed my spoons, evidencing decay, the inevitable entropy of life. Re-examining heirlooms of home is a process of reclamation; recycling objects and collecting memories, claiming their very simplicity as material for art-making. - Joan Fitzsimmons

Joan Fitzsimmons is an artist/educator whose practice spans more than 40 years. Working with incidental observations and materials of daily life, she constructs imagery for the camera and photograms. The scale varies from small, intimate inkjet prints to large-scale gelatin silver collages.

June Kim

June Kim makes paintings, photographs, videos and installations that are inspired by the human and animal connection. She is best known for her performative photographs and videos of herself and her wolf-like dogs. The dogs appear in ways that are metaphorical as well as diaristic, and provide a portal to the mythical, mystical and primal. In addition, Kim conveys the concept of equity as it pertains to all living beings, promoting a greater understanding and empathy for the interconnectedness of life. Most recently, she has been working on documenting her mother who has Alzheimer’s. Kim received her MFA at Pratt Institute, and has exhibited in NY, LA, Paris, Seoul and Busan. She has been featured in magazines such as BOMB, Crush Fanzine, Fanzine, and VUU. Kim is faculty at the College of the Atlantic and splits her time between Maine, New York and California with her four huskies.

My work centers around the intersection of painting and photography, where I explore themes of equity, wisdom, and spirituality through the unique lens of human-canine relationships. By layering dynamic, often abstract and childlike brushstrokes over photographs, I aim to transcend the ordinary, inviting viewers into an alternative reality where the roles and perceptions of dogs and humans are reimagined. In these pieces, dogs are not merely pets or companions but are portrayed as equals or, in some instances, superior in wisdom or spiritual depth. This artistic choice reflects a critique human-centric views and challenges the viewer to consider the profound, often overlooked, capacities of animals. By elevating dogs in such a way, my work poses questions about intelligence, empathy, and the essence of companionship. The photographs serve as a canvas, capturing both staged and quotidian moments, which I then transform with paint. This transformation is not just visual but conceptual; it’s about altering perspectives. The brushwork, characterized by its spontaneity and simplicity, mirrors the uninhibited and intuitive nature of the dogs themselves, suggesting a purity and directness of emotion and thought that humans might strive to emulate or learn from. Each artwork aims to blur the lines between species, proposing a world where wisdom is not measured by conventional human metrics but by an innate connection to the natural and spiritual realms. Through this series, I hope to evoke a sense of wonder, encourage introspection, and maybe even inspire a shift in how we view our non-human companions. - June Kim

Glimmers

second Portfolio by June Kim

Glimmers

By June Kim

This gingerbread house - falling apart inside

Just like her mind and the emotions that I hide

Moments of awe and wonder

A memory, a time, a place

I don't know what she’s saying

but I nod with a smile on my face

She’s also gotten brazen -

talking to and touching strangers

Oblivious of any potential dangers

When I call for her she says

“Mom’s not here”

Her mom, my mom? It is unclear

Relying on obsessions and distractions

I get through it with a bit of positive traction

Then, there’s the glimmer of light

This body of work was spurred by my residency with Lights Out Gallery in the summer of 2024 in Norway, Maine. I spent a week in a Victorian-style inn with five other artists and we we given this unique opportunity to exhibit at The Gingerbread House, a historic landmark. I wanted to present something that either referenced Norway or the house, and ultimately decided on the house. Renovated on the outside, yet falling apart on the inside, I saw a parallel with my mother who has Alzheimer’s. While she looks healthy on the outside, her inside, specifically, her brain is deteriorating. Not only that, the interior of the house with its peeling wallpaper and paint, and broken walls felt abandoned and toxic - similar to human experiences of abandonment and toxicity. It also made me reflect on how I was dealing with this disea that is stealing my mother from me. Suppressing unwanted emotions and thoughts and replacing them with obsessions and distractions. And, yet in all this, there are glimmers of recognition, memories, and light. - June Kim

SARAH HOOD SALOMON

Sarah Hood Salomon, Cracked vines, 1/5, 2024, Scratched digital negative, Inkjet print, 27.5 × 22.5 inches, $1,750.

Sarah Hood Salomon, Turbulence, 1/5, 2024, Scratched digital negative, Inkjet print, 21 × 23.5 inches, $1,750.

My work is rooted in a deep love and admiration for trees. Climate change and urbanization have created enormous challenges for the survival of our forests, and the ever-expanding human population has severely limited the amount of natural habitats. These images were taken on properties about to be developed - the trees in the pictures will soon be destroyed, or in some cases, they have already been taken down. I have purposely scratched the ink off parts of my photographs in response to the tragedy of their imminent destruction. The original images have been permanently altered and can’t be reconstructed, just as landscapes revised by humans can’t be reassembled. Only the echoes remain. - Sarah Hood Salomon

Sarah Hood Salomon is a fine art photographer whose work explores the emotional and environmental aspects of the world around her. Her award-winning images and sculptures have been exhibited in numerous group and solo shows. She received her Master’s degree in photography, and is a photography judge, curator, educator, and author.

Joseph Podlesnik

“For me, the camera lens depicts perspective too easily, which is why I capture and develop photographs which often frustrate readable perspectival space, through glass and light reflections and refractions, bringing the viewer’s eye stubbornly back to the surface of the image, so the mind is not allowed to linger in readable/ navigable space too long. For me, the photographic image is not only a window through which to see the visible world, but also a maker of flat surfaces, shapes which stunt or block logical space. I see photography and pictures not only as documentation, but as commenting on or reenacting visual perception itself.” - Joseph Podlesnik

Joseph Podlesnik is trained mainly in drawing and painting and it is this experience which seems to influence his approach to photography. He lives in Phoenix, Arizona and exhibits his work nationally and internationally, and is facilitator for the Digital Photography Cornell Certificate Program. He received his MFA in drawing & painting from Cornell University.  

Jon Pelletier

Details:

Jon Pelletier, Position One: Meditation, 1/10, 2025, Fine art print on Hahnemühle Photo Rag Metallic 340 gsm paper, 23 x 46 inches, $900. This piece is part of the installation Trace.

 Jon Pelletier, Position Two: Companion, 1/10, 2025, Fine art print on Hahnemühle Photo Rag Metallic 340 gsm paper, 14 x 28 inches, $350. This piece is part of the installation Trace.

 Jon Pelletier, Position Three: Land (Landing), 1/10, 2025, Fine art print on Hahnemühle Photo Rag Metallic 340 gsm paper, 14 x 28 inches, $350. This piece is part of the installation Trace.

 Jon Pelletier, Position Four: Building, 1/10, 2025, Fine art print on Hahnemühle Photo Rag Metallic 340 gsm paper, 10 x 28 inches, $250. This piece is part of the installation Trace.

 Jon Pelletier, Position Five: Realization, 1/10, 2025, Fine art print on Hahnemühle Photo Rag Metallic 340 gsm paper, 23 x 46 inches, $900. This piece is part of the installation Trace.

Structured like a five-card tarot spread, this installation draws on the visual language of divination to invite symbolic interpretation and temporal displacement. "Trace" emerged as a journey through memory and creative discovery following my mother's passing in June 2024 and my subsequent return to Maine. These film-captured images, devoid of digital manipulation, function as metaphors—threads existing outside of time. Though initially unplanned, their deliberate sequencing reveals emergent meanings, collectively mapping both my personal recollections and our shared human experience of loss and remembrance. — Jon Pelletier

Educated at the Maine Photographic Workshops, University of Southern Maine, and Tyler School of Art, Jon Pelletier explores the unexpected through an interest in oddball film cameras and alternative processes.

Sara Stites

Sara Stites, Venom Seen, 2025, Gouache, spray paint and ink on inkjet print, 96 x 36 inches, $3000.

Sara Stites, Venom Lack, 2025, Gouache, spray paint and ink on inkjet print, 96 x 36 inches, $3000. + Studio pic

By layering these components, I explore the interplay between spontaneity and structure, preservation and transformation, and the shifting relationship between personal mark-making and the environments that shape it. The projected drawings originate as organic, uninhibited marker "scribbles" in my notebooks—forms that emerge instinctively, often inspired by nature. These sketches are a constant in my practice, created when I’m away from the studio and later integrated into paintings alongside realistic, geometric, or comical elements. For this series, I used a wallpaper-like background derived from a photograph of a wall in my studio, over which I projected enlarged, cropped images of drawings from my notebooks.The background image is a record of a personal archive: plants I collected on walks, used in drawings, and later pinned to my studio wall. When I changed studios, I photographed this evolving collection as a way of preserving its presence. - Sara Stites

Sara Stites (b. 1950) is an American painter and photographer known for creating imagined narratives that draw upon the complex relationship between the internal and external worlds, calling upon personal history and thoughts and emotions in response to current events and the pull of desire. A native New Yorker, Stites received her BFA from Syracuse University in 1972 and MFA from Pratt Institute in 1976. A crucial part of her childhood was spent in Puerto Rico, where she witnessed the break up of her parent’s marriage. This early experience awakened an interest in exploring “power politics” on an intimate level in her art.

Frank Lopez

This project is named Manifesta)on of Light and Energy and is an expression of my beliefs in Buddhism. From the caves of Lascaux to digital icons, humans have delved into meaning from gestural drawings, symbols, and forms. As with Buddhist principals, I interpret the growth of self in an arch of a life – from recurrence of life, birth, community, to isola;on, death, and rejuvena;on. The analogy of abstract pa3erns opens the viewer to personal interpreta;ons while allowing the interac;ons of chemical reac;ons upon expired silver gela;n paper to produce an ethereal experience that mirrors the emotional unfolding of memory itself - fragmented, sometimes elusive, but certainly evocative.

The medita;ve and interpreta;ve prac;ce of the Chromoskedasic process (simply named Chromo) is a rhythmic response to the natural state of imperfec;on. Specifically, it is my way of shiYing the act of seeing into subjects that are interpreta;ons of light, ;me, energy, and my conscious and unconscious awareness. As a lifelong educator, I am tasked with the ques;on “is it done?” Turning to the mentor-appren;ce rela;onship, I seek to impart wisdom that has been acquired through countless tribula;ons – a single image can take hours or days, and dozens of a3empts un;l the art breathes on its own. It is through this medita;ve breathing tradi;on that the acceptance of natural imperfec;on is reflected in nature and self, revealing that the language of abstrac;on is truly a global human prac;ce. Through this performance, I not only develop my own craft but also extend that knowledge to others, reinforcing the idea that art is both a personal and collective practice. Artistic growth becomes intertwined with my role as a mentor, emphasizing that both creation and teaching are cyclical processes.

U;lizing Chromo is an exercise in slow medita;on and breathing as I liY silver halides to the surface of the silver gela;n paper, whereas they normally sit far below the paper surface in a normal black & white print. Chemical agents arrest development, allowing me to craY the image slowly (and in daylight) with addi;onal developing agents and historic toners. Working with prints for over an hour, each image is sketched and morphed with chemicals, light, and process to provide an experience or trigger an emo;onal response or a lost memory, crea;ng a larger dialogue with the viewers subconscious. . - Frank. Lopez.

Lopez is a visual artist specializing in 19th – 21st century photographic integration. Frank has instructed at the university, secondary, and professional workshop level since 1990 and is a frequent lecturer based on experimental and cultural imagery. Frank leads the international award-winning, issues-based photography program at Greenhill School that integrates 19 th – 21 st century techniques, and is also a Faculty Leader, the highest faculty award. In 2020, Frank was awarded the Center Santa Fe Callanan Award for Photographic Teaching Excellence. Furthermore, he won the Dallas Observer MasterMind award in 2011, recognizing artists making a significant cultural contribution to the City of Dallas.

Drew Harty

Drew Harty, Untitiled l, Acadia 2016, 1/18, 2023, Pigment print, 64.5 x 44 inches, $2,200.

Drew Harty, Untitiled lll, Acadia 2020, 1/18, 2023, Pigment print, 64.5 x 44 inches, $2,200.

After struggling to maintain passing grades in high school and college, I asked my mother what she thought of my poor academic efforts. She said, “I understood that you learned differently.” Photography has been that difference for me. Photography became a means to look at and think about the world that was meaningful. Using a camera fueled my curiosity, sparked an interest in reading, in the work of other photographers, and the broader arts. Interpreting forms and light through the lens and black and white print values developed into a natural, intuitive language for me. -Drew Harty

 Throughout his life, Drew Harty has worked as an artist, freelance photographer, and an independent filmmaker. In my professional career, I specialize in projects for museums and cultural agencies producing work for exhibits, publications, and media installations about cultural identity, architecture, and the power of creative endeavors to shape our world. My fine art work varies from life-long investigations, to projects with a specific scope and goal, to portfolios created from carrying a camera while canoeing or strolling around a local reservoir.

Jodi Colella

I’m a sculptor of objects and room-sized installations that speak to an overlapping discourse about craft, women’s work, domesticity and feminism. These new sculptures from my Figments collection capture fleeting memories of those who came before me. Ceramic vessels stitched with autobiographical fibers and silk photographs to render dimensional portraits. Something is a little off. The holes are in mismatched places. They reveal some of the interior but not much. Herman Ray stands upright with an intentional gaze. Lonnie hangs an ill-disposed hand from his knee. A third sculpture, Neither Here Nor There, portrays a blurred landscape as if speeding down the highway on a Sunday drive. There is a dichotomy between the rigid ceramic structure and the plushness oozing out the holes that feels both comfortable and unsettling. The soft imagery and domestic textiles are nostalgic, almost ghostlike, like a vestige of a former existence.

Balancing tradition and innovation I employ needlework to infuse renewed power to craft, engage the senses and explore the human condition. I use textiles to convey stories of loss and constraint primarily in women’s lives. Attracted to color and texture, my durational process embraces the ideals of labor and community. I’ve recently introduced ceramics commingling rigid forms with fibers to create vessels that don’t hold water but instead contain stories embodying domestic life. Aspiring to David Pye’s Workmanship of Risk my final products are not predetermined and controlled from the outset. In contrast they depend on my judgment, dexterity and care during the process of making. It is the direct contact between me and the material that connects to earth and authenticity. I read the rawness and state of un finish as tenderness and challenge the pristine uniformity of mass-production as the nullification of expression. - Jodi Colella

Balancing tradition and innovation I create sculptures with elaborate layers of stitch, pattern and meaning using materials from soft domestic to rigid ceramic. My recent work intertwines familial connections and the inheritance of objects, skills and ideas passed through generations. Grandmother’s quilts, wedding dresses, drapes, plaid shirts, furry remnants from toys, upholstery, threads from unfinished needlework, and family photos are manipulated with crochet, weaving, wrapping and embroidery. I’ve recently introduced clay commingling rigid forms with fibers to create vessels that don’t hold water but instead contain stories embodying domestic life as an inquiry and form of self-discovery.

CAROLINE SAVAGE

Caroline Savage, Stafford Springs, CT, 2024, Inkjet print, 16 x 20 inches, $1000.

Caroline Savage, Biddeford, ME, 2024, Inkjet print, 16 x 20 inches, $1000.

Moving from the precision of photographers Ansel Adams, Aaron Siskind and Minor White, the romance of Imogen Cunningham to the experimentation of filmmakers Marie Menken, Hollis Frampton and Malcolm Le Grice,I honed my craft at the San Francisco Art Institute, immersed in possibilities of painting with light, time and motion. Musicians John Cage and Steve Reich introduced me to chance, strategy and synchronicity to discover and reveal the harmonic sound patterns in nature.
I make landscapes that are based on formal associations of interconnected moving light, line, and color which open a unique poetic vein. Multilayered images arise in which the fragility and instability of our seemingly certain reality is questioned. By applying abstraction allowing the camera to record light and movement, I investigate the dynamics of landscape. Rather than presenting a factual reality, I create sequences which reveal an inseparable relationship between motion, light and space. By questioning the visual concept of movement, I formalize the coincidental and emphasize the aleatory process of color and light composition. - Caroline Savage

“I have lived in Port Said Egypt, Karachi, Pakistan; London, England; Arlington, Virginia, Dobbs Ferry, New York and San Francisco and Pacifica, California, and Carlisle, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Currently, I live in Portland, Maine. I travel by airplane, train, car, ship and foot across landscapes, terrains always in flux, our transient geography. This shaped my interest in noticing and experiencing the landscapes as a voyeur and flaneur of the transitory world. Light, time, space, chemical and physical processes became my artistic tool.” - C S