BELFAST — A Sense of Place / El Sentido del Lugar makes its eastern Maine debut at the Waterfall Arts Center from May 27 — July 22. A gala reception is scheduled for May 27 from 5 to 8 p.m., at the gallery. There will be an artist talk on June 24 at 7 p.m.

A Sense of Place / El Sentido del Lugar is a cross-cultural, collaborative printmaking exhibition of 90 original works by two fine art presses separated by 3,800 miles. Circling the Square Fine Art Press of Gardiner, Maine and Fundación Estampería Quiteña of Quito, Ecuador celebrates a visual conversation on sustainability, biodiversity and the ways local changes may have global impacts.

Participating are seventeen artists from Circling the Square Fine Art Press and fifteen from the Fundación Estampería Quiteña. Press member Judith Long, who has family in Quito, is the International Facilitator who brought the two presses together for this project and facilitated the English and Spanish conversations.

The Maine artists are: Karen Adrienne, Circling the Square Fine Art Press Director, Robin Brooks, Judith DeMilo-Brown, Christine J. Higgins, Judith Long, Diana McFarland, Christine Olson, Rebeka Ouellette, Jane Page-Conway, Donna Parkinson, Ellen Roberts, Kris Sader, Susan Dean Smith, J. P. Strode, Sarah Vosmus, Lisa F. Wheeler and Barbra Whitten.

Artists from each press created two limited edition prints and one intervention print that focus on sustainability and biodiversity. The intervention print, initiated by an artist at one press, was sent to an artist at the other press to complete. These shared visions and artistic conversations about environmental concerns are communicated through lithography, serigraphy, linocut, intaglio and various other printmaking techniques.

During 2016, this dynamic exhibition travels to five venues in the state. An identical exhibition opened at the Metropolitan Cultural Center in the colonial center of Quito, Ecuador on March 18. Four of the Maine artists participated in the Quito opening.
A bilingual exhibition catalog is available at each venue in Maine and Ecuador.

Waterfall Arts, 256 High Street, is open Tuesday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. FMI: (207) 338-2222.