Gallery hours: Wednesday through Sunday, noon to 5 p.m. and by appointment

Mood and Manner at Mathias, a zippy exhibition, opens on Saturday, Aug. 4, and showcases a fine selection of works by Chris Alexander, Brenda Bettinson, Mike Culver, Paul Feyling, Brigitte Keller and John Lorence.  Consisting of drawings, paintings, photographs and small sculpture, the title unifies this multimedia show and is the key to the show.

Many works of art are capable of projecting such a strong sense of mood or ambiance that viewers are drawn in and begin to truly experience the atmosphere of the subject and the feelings that directed the artist while in the process of creating the work.  Usually, when artists intend mood to be an important part of their subject, it is essentially style and method (in other words, the manner used to execute the work) that communicates the emotional elements to the viewer.

That scale is irrelevant to the projection of mood is brilliantly demonstrated by two miniature black and white semi-abstract compositions by Brenda Bettinson.  Reflecting some of the atmosphere of her acclaimed, larger than life size Trojan series, these two small drawings measuring 2.25 inches by 4 inches and entitled Conflict communicate the striving and awful clamor of armed single combat.

Mike Culver and Paul Feyling have both relied upon the time of day (or night) and weather conditions to create mood magic in the photographs that have been chosen for this exhibition.  Culver, who is also a well-known color-field painter, has shunned color in his photographs, preferring to have his viewers experience the natural draining of color from a landscape under certain conditions.  In these photographs the forms are washed by a cold rainy Maine climate that has transformed his roads and fields into monochromatic blurs.  In contrast, the surfaces of Culver's paintings are rich with bold swathes of vibrant color.

Paul Feyling, in a brilliant study of the night sky over a broad cove, transports the viewer into a meditation on the scintillating infinity of our universe.

Brigitte Keller is adept at drawing the viewer into the mood of her large abstract or quasi-abstract canvases, which are painted with polymer wax emulsion.  Quite often calling her process of composition “remembrances,” her large areas of saturated color, which conform to a personal geometry, succeed in enveloping the viewer in atmospheres of hope, quiet meditation and joy.

Brenda Bettinson, at home in any medium, surprises with a large combined woodcut cum monoprint which has for its subject a lichen-covered stone wall beside the summer sea.  The mood of peace and familiarity stems from Bettinson's superb control of the chisel as it manipulates the grain of the soft Maine white pine plank and the calming tonalities of the pale green and blue monoprint.  In contrasting manner and mood her large mixed media rendering of an old building perched over the water and viewed from contrasting perspectives communicates the endurance and silent strength of Maine's coastal structures.

Chris Alexander's small seascapes executed in oil with bold splashes of color are well able to project the turbulence and ever changing aspect of New England's coastal waters.

And lastly veteran artist John Lorence has contributed two small and most unusual “winterscapes.”  Executed in oil paint on Indian paper, his Winter White: White as Color  and Winter White: Pine and Maple form a perfect coda for this show, for it is the manner of their execution that is entirely responsible for the delightful and sensitive winter mood that they communicate.

Viewers will be well rewarded by the time they are able to spend in contemplating these highly diverse works, each one in its own way a special statement of the artist's vocabulary and skills.

Mathias Fine Art is located on Barter’s Island, 6.5 miles from Boothbay Center leading over two handsome bridges.                                                

For more information call 633-7404 or go to www.mathiasfineart.com.