studioe
Gail Spaien
CV | gailspaien.com | #gailspaien
EXHIBITIONS
past
Gail Spaien & Heather Wilcoxon Oct, 2023
Seattle Art Fair, July 27 - 30 2023, Seattle WA
TINTE: 2022, Seattle WA
In here: August 7 - Septemenber 11, 2021
Artist statement:
The images in my paintings are of observed and imagined places where one can be in relationship with others and the world and the self. My use of scale, proportion, pattern and subtly shifting color are visual elements that create a slight perceptual and physical dislocation, similar to encountering a one hundred year old bonsai tree.
My paintings are places where many kinds of time overlap. Concrete and ephemeral. There but not there. Phenomenon and mirage. Places at the intersection of time and timelessness.
Gail Spaien is an American artist and educator based in Maine. Her studio practice centers around the idea that a painting is a site of connection; an object which transmits touch and emotion from one person to another. She is of a lineage of artists who think craft and beauty shape and build a more relational world.
Spaien has been the recipient of numerous fellowships including the Varda Artist Residency Program, Millay Colony for the Arts, the Djerassi Foundation Resident Artists Program, and the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. She has received grant funding from the Lillian Orlowsky and William Freed Foundation, the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation Artist Advancement Grant, and the Maine Arts Commission. Spaien’s solo exhibitions include Ogunquit Museum of American Art, Ogunquit, ME; Colby College Museum of Art, Waterville, ME; Nancy Margolis Gallery, New York, NY; Taymour Grahne Projects, London, UK; and Ellen Miller Gallery in Boston, MA. Group exhibitions include the DeCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, Lincoln, MA; Provincetown Art Association and Museum, Provincetown, MA; Center for Maine Contemporary Art, Rockland, ME; San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art, San Jose, CA; Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, CA; the Portland Museum of Art, Portland, ME; the University of New Hampshire Museum, Durham, NH; and studio e gallery, Seattle, WA. Spaien received her BFA from the University of Southern Maine and her MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute. After thirty years as a faculty member at Maine College of Art and Design she is now working full-time in her studio.
Spaien has been the recipient of numerous fellowships including the Varda Artist Residency Program, Millay Colony for the Arts, the Djerassi Foundation Resident Artists Program, and the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. She has received grant funding from the Lillian Orlowsky and William Freed Foundation, the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation Artist Advancement Grant, and the Maine Arts Commission. Spaien’s solo exhibitions include Ogunquit Museum of American Art, Ogunquit, ME; Colby College Museum of Art, Waterville, ME; Nancy Margolis Gallery, New York, NY; Taymour Grahne Projects, London, UK; and Ellen Miller Gallery in Boston, MA. Group exhibitions include the DeCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, Lincoln, MA; Provincetown Art Association and Museum, Provincetown, MA; Center for Maine Contemporary Art, Rockland, ME; San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art, San Jose, CA; Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, CA; the Portland Museum of Art, Portland, ME; the University of New Hampshire Museum, Durham, NH; and studio e gallery, Seattle, WA. Spaien received her BFA from the University of Southern Maine and her MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute. After thirty years as a faculty member at Maine College of Art and Design she is now working full-time in her studio.
