Natural Born Curator
Elizabeth Moss has been arranging images up on walls since she was a kid. At Moss Galleries In Falmouth and Portland, that childhood obsession has grown into a collection with international appeal
Some kids dream of becoming firefighters. Others want to grow up and fly airplanes, treat sick animals, or open restaurants. Elizabeth Moss, it seems, was born to be a gallerist. As a young woman growing up in the D.C. area, Elizabeth was permitted, on weekends, to take the train into the city to visit the National Gallery of Art. “I would spend hours in the east wing, looking at modernist works,” she says. “I would take a girlfriend, or go on my own, and I could go to any museum I wanted.” She also had a habit of clipping images from magazines and arranging them on her bedroom walls. “It was like early curation. My mom didn’t try to stop me, and my dad didn’t either. They let me do my thing. I guess I just liked the idea of putting things on walls.” Quite the origin story—and all this before her bachelor’s in arts management, her master’s in curatorial research, a job at the Hirshhorn Museum (part of the Smithsonian Institution), and finally, opening her own space in 2004.
Today, the Moss Galleries are premier art centers, not only in Maine (locations in Falmouth and Portland), but on the national and international stage. “Just last week we sold a piece in Spain, one in England. We’re a regional gallery, but we have a pretty far reach,” Elizabeth says. It’s a reach and an influence she enjoys putting to good use. “I’ve been fortunate to be a conduit to larger visibility and larger careers for artists,” she says, “artists like Lynne Drexler, for example.”
Drexler was an abstract and representational painter based on Monhegan Island who was largely overlooked in her lifetime. While the early aughts finally brought her work overdue appreciation, Moss Galleries continues to carry a large and varied inventory of her paintings and works on paper. Liz is also fiercely committed to finding the next new batch of emerging talent, particularly within the state. “I just gave Kate Hargrave her first show, and now she’s got a big New York gallery behind her. I’m always proud when we can do that sort of thing,” she says.
This summer (starting June 5 and running through August), the Moss Galleries will be hosting solo shows by two Maine-based artists, Anne Neely and Alison Hildreth, whose works both focus on nature and its many human entanglements. Anne was recently selected by the National Gallery of Art (Liz’s old stomping grounds) to represent the Northeast region in a project titled West to East to celebrate our nation’s250th anniversary. “The museum created a 15-minute video portrait of her process and work,” says Liz. “The paintings in the video will be featured in our Portland gallery exhibition this summer titled Wonder of the Light. In conjunction with the National Gallery of Art, the Portland Museum of Art will show the production.”
Come for the Art, Stay for the Building
Blue Raven Gallery in Rockland is a quad-level art haven, and we can’t stop obsessing over the 1920s bank that’s been fabulously redesigned into the gallery’s home
Some galleries are more than galleries. Yes, Blue Raven Gallery is right smack in the middle of Rockland, the locus of Maine’s art world—just steps from the Farnsworth Art Museum and CMCA, as a matter of fact—and yes, it has, after only three years in operation (in a space that functioned as a gallery for over 30 years), already garnered a reputation for its focused curation and strong visual point of view—an intentional approach that balances accessibility with a refined and cohesive program. But for owner and director Jodie Willard, Blue Raven Gallery, at its best, is a way to connect with the community through art. “I’ve always believed that if you can make someone feel something deeply, you can begin to shift how they see the world,” Jodie says. “I engage everyone who comes through our door—it doesn’t matter who. We want everyone to feel welcome here. That’s my Golden Rule.”
The space itself is a work of art. Originally a 1923 bank building, the gallery has been extensively reimagined and remodeled, all with an eye toward preserving the best of its historic charisma—gold leafing at the ceiling, brass banisters, a marble tile checkerboard floor, and two former bank vaults that have been transformed into showcases for smaller works. “We’re definitely not a white cube,” Jodie says. Perhaps most unique is the sprawling rooftop sculpture garden, where work by Maine’s leading sculptors is set amongst the treetops, perennial flower boxes, and freeze-you-in-your-tracks views of Rockland. The wealth of sensory stimulation up here is almost enough to make you forget that you’re standing on four floors of fine art, photography, jewelry, and rare and collectible art books in the beloved Blue Raven “Book Nook,” an excellent entry point for a new collector.
Jodie is a photojournalist by training, with twenty-five years of experience collaborating with NGOs in regions impacted by war, natural disasters, and she spent over a decade in the polar regions documenting the visible effects of a changing climate. “My goal was never just to document,” she says of her career, “but to create an emotional response.” It’s an instinct she’s clearly brought to her curation, though the expression has perhaps evolved. “My journalism sought to provoke immediate awareness,” she says, “whereas my curatorial approach focuses on works that carry both visual strength and quiet complexity, pieces that invite a deeper emotional response and continue to unfold over time.” If one quality defines Blue Raven Gallery’s collection, that quality is enduring.
Plus there’s always something happening at Blue Raven Gallery. Throughout the summer, a new show goes up every first Friday and hangs for the month. A reception accompanies each opening with wine and gourmet charcuterie from 4-7pm. It is also the only gallery (that we’re aware of) that hosts a regular poetry reading series, pairing local writers with poets of national renown. Sign up for their newsletter for the inside scoop. You won’t regret it.▪
