Tim Christensen in the Center Gallery

Opening Reception and Maine Craft Weekend Opening Event Friday October 13th, 5-7pm.

The Center for Maine Craft presents 30 Days at Sea, an exhibition of prints, books and clay work by Tim Christensen, October 5-November 19, 2017. The exhibition will feature new works created during, and in response to, the artist’s 2017 journey to Sydney, Australia via container ship.

“In my work, I document the natural systems, as I understand them, that I see in my surroundings here in coastal Maine. This trip is an extension of that, is part of my life as an artist, was possible because of my life as an artist. And as so often happens, there were many rewards from this which I would never have had available: Off the Galápagos Islands, I watched hundreds of dolphins leaping out of the water, joyfully racing toward my ship to play in the bow wake…1000 miles from Pitcairn Island, I saw the ocean and sky, devoid of all life, saw the earth naked, and watched the conversation between sky and water play out over and around me…A day out of Panama, I saw long and thick wind rows of our discarded plastic, sheltering and entangling leatherback sea turtles, Mahi Mahi, sharks, and manta rays…Above a nameless series of seamounts, I saw clouds of flying fish erupting from the water for days on end, hundreds per minute. In the middle of nowhere, I saw a place on earth where I was 1500 miles from the nearest other human. To witness these things was a privilege, to represent them in art an even greater one.” – Tim Christensen

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Tim Christensen has been working in clay since 1999, and teaching the medium since 2002. His iconic etchings, on porcelain sculptures and vessels, of the plants and animals inhabiting the woods and waters of Maine, are collected world-wide, and seek to record the rapidly changing natural systems upon which we all rely. He sees himself as a participant in a 30,000 year tradition of potters recording human history, and our relationship to the natural world. His work has appeared in such publications as Ceramics Monthly, Art New England, The New York Times, and Downeast.

PROJECT PARTNERS

The 30 Days at Sea print project is sponsored by the Print Shop @ Running with Scissors: Artists Studios & Community in Portland, Maine and Industry Framing in Kennebunkport, Maine.

The exhibition is made possible in partnership with Creative Ground.