SEARSPORT — The Parsonage Gallery launches its third fall season with two new solo exhibitions by Alicia Ethridge from Maine and G. Roland Biermann from Germany. All are welcome to an opening reception Saturday, Sept. 7, from 2 - 4 p.m.

In the downstairs gallery, The Parsonage hosts Alicia Ethridge’s Echoes of Love, featuring a bevy of large, freshly painted canvases in a riot of vibrant colors and expressive brushstrokes. Flora and fauna comingle in lush jungles, inhabited by beings conjured from dreams, prayers, and imagination.

In Ethridge’s world, humans learn from and even defer to nature, yielding to its vitality and wisdom. These qualities are embodied in the mythic figure of the wolf who prowls through these paintings with an intense but benevolent presence.

“I feel allied with the Wolf,” said the artist, in a Parsonage news release. It “is teaching me that I don’t have to fear my darkest places and loneliness. It is in the dark where life and light is born.”

Where Ethridge revels in the replenishing powers of nature, in the upstairs gallery G. Roland Biermann considers humanity’s ecological depredations. The exhibition includes a site-specific installation made from used tires, plastic bottles, and oil barrels sourced from the region, including the Searsport transfer station. Together, these materials reflect the growing tide of waste affecting the ecosystems of Penobscot Bay and beyond. 

Lining the walls are photographic images printed on tin, concrete, and paper, which delve into the impact of industrial processes and consumer appetites on the environment. In Rheingold, plastic bags float in used engine oil, their seductive sheen belying their insidious effects. Meanwhile, in snow + concrete, snow – that ‘white gold’ which many Maine communities depend upon – mysteriously finds its way into concrete parking garages, blurring the boundary between natural and manmade materials.

“Together, Ethridge and Biermann embody the mission of the Parsonage,” said the Gallery. “The gallery exhibits dynamic work by a diverse slate of contemporary artists, with a special emphasis on issues of ecology and spirituality.”

It is directed by Dr. Aaron Rosen and Dr. Carolyn Rosen and is a program of Our Common Foundation, a registered 501(c)(3). It is open 11am-sunset daily.