Pairings: Selections from the Bruce Brown Photography Collection organized by the Center for Maine Contemporary Art (CMCA) will open Nov. 6 at a temporary exhibition venue at the Dowling Walsh Gallery, 365 Main Street, Rockland. The public is invited to a free reception and gallery talk on Saturday, Nov.14 from 4 to 6 p.m. 
 
CMCA, in conjunction with The University of Maine Museum of Art (UMMA) in Bangor, is presenting a two-part exhibition celebrating one of Maine’s most significant photography collections as part of the year-long Maine Photo Project featuring 39 exhibitions by 32 institutions statewide.  
 
Bruce Brown, CMCA's curator emeritus, began collecting works by Maine photographers in earnest in 1989. Thirty-six photographs from his collection are featured in the CMCA exhibition and thirty photographs are in the UMMA show. Directors Suzette McAvoy of CMCA and George Kinghorn from UMMA each made an initial selection of photographs and asked Brown to pair their choices visually or thematically in a unique “call and response” collaboration between curators and collector.  
 
At Dowling Walsh, the CMCA  selections include works by John Goodman, Brenton Hamilton, Cig Harvey, Jocelyn Lee, Rose Marasco, Scott Peterman, Peter Ralston and Todd Watts among others. 
 
At UMMA, 30 featured artists include David Hilliard, Kris Larson, Claire Seidl, David Brooks Stess and Joyce Tenneson. The UMMA exhibition opened Oct. 2 and will continue 10 am to 5 pm  Monday through Saturday through December 31, 2015. For more information visit umma.umaine.edu/celebrating-photography-in-maine-selections-from-the-bruce-brown-collection/
 
The CMCA exhibition at Dowling Walsh will run through December 19, 2015 from 10-5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. The gallery will be closed for the Thanksgiving holiday, Nov. 23 through 28, reopening Dec.1. Admission is free of charge.