Circling the Square Fine Art Press in Gardiner is pleased to announce a new exhibition entitled “inkomprihensuhbuhl,” which features fine art prints and mixed media work by Maine artists Adrienne Beacham and Barbra Whitten.

Thanks to the generous sponsorship of the J.W. Robinson Welfare Trust, Beacham and Whitten have been pursuing independent printmaking projects at Circling the Square Fine Art Press during the past ten months as fellowship recipients. Both artists studied printmaking at the University of Maine at Augusta (UMA) under the instruction of master printmaker Karen Adrienne, who is also the co-founder, owner, and director of Circling the Square Fine Art Press.

Adrienne Beacham of Augusta (formerly of Farmington) completed her BA in Studio Art at UMA last spring. Her work is often a fusion of distinct media and is the result of spontaneous experimentation in tactile and process-oriented ways. Elements of painting, drawing, fabric/fiber constructions, and collage pile upon each other to form singular pieces. Since receiving the J.W. Robinson Trust Fellowship at Circling the Square, printmaking has become an important part of her latest investigations. The pieces shown in “inkomprihensuhbuhl” are the fruits of her time at the press, and they express her love of what printmaking brings to her work as a medium and as a process.

Barbra Whitten of West Rockport (formerly of Kennebunk and Augusta) earned her BA in Studio Art from UMA in 2011. Having completed a student internship at Circling the Square in 2010, she has been an active member of the open-access press ever since. Her contributions to this exhibition are an extension of a series she began in 2011, which explores the potential and limitations of the printed word. Her work contains fragmented letters of various shapes, sizes, and colors, which collide, overlap, and blend together in chaotic jumbles without the supportive conventions of written language. Although the marks and their contexts are visually familiar, the pervasive lack of textual conventions creates disorder and visual “noise” that forces viewers to derive their own meanings from her colorful compositions.

The public is invited to attend a free opening reception and artists’ talk on Sunday, April 13 from 4-6pm at Circling the Square Fine Art Press, which is located directly across the street from Johnson Hall at 275 Water Street in downtown Gardiner. The exhibition will run from April 1 through April 26. The gallery is open on Fridays and Saturdays from 10am-4pm, as well as by appointment or chance. For more information, please contact press director Karen Adrienne at: 207-582-6600 or 207-582-2108, or by email at [email protected].