Jane Gibson exhibit opens at West Paris library

Exhibit opens Photo:

LIBRARY EXHIBIT - Jane Gibson is shown with "Linoleum Block Prints, Christmas Card Collection."

WEST PARIS - "One Woman's Journey: the Art of Jane Porter Gibson" will open at the West Paris Library on Friday, December 17. There will be an evening reception from 5 to 7 p.m., an opportunity to meet Jane and enjoy her work.

The Friends of the Library group timed this second exhibit in the new addition and the original castle, to coincide with the Christmas season. Jane's linoleum block prints were designed as Christmas cards over the years. Each of these engaging prints captures Jane and her husband Bill's life on their Stearns Hill farm in West Paris. These "moments," whether it is a rooster bringing the dawn, a black cat pausing at the farmhouse's snowy doorway, or steam rising from the sugar house in the spring air, announce with a beautiful simplicity the heart felt spirituality of their daily lives. Many will be familiar with these images from the 2007 calendar, "Save the Barn on Stearns Hill Farm."

The show moves backward in time, tracing the artistic journey of a woman with many interests. It is clear she has had a lifelong fascination for older houses; "Red House" and "White House in Moonlight," as well as village and cityscapes; "Boston Remembered" and "Front Street" and "Abbott Hall, Marblehead." These tell of the time that preceded her and Bill's return to the family farm. "Red Rover" and "Hansel & Gretel" seem to foretell her future vocation, teaching young people. She has the distinction of being the first SAD 17 art teacher, eventually settling into the Agnes Gray school community in West Paris as the fourth grade teacher.

Jane's first art class was at a small college in Nebraska where she majored in English literature, followed by graduate study in art education at Columbia Teacher's College in New York City. When Jane and Bill moved to Georgia with their two daughters, she was profoundly inspired by a local college art teacher.

Jane's art work has evolved over the years as her life experiences have changed and allowed her time to express her feelings in various media, including oils, crayons, ink, collage and most recently linoleum block printing.

The Gibsons continue to live on Stearns Hill, in a new house of Jane's design, built in the apple orchard above the farm.

The West Paris Public Library is proud to have this selection of Jane Gibson's art to share with the public during library hours: Monday and Friday, 1:30-6 p.m.; Wednesday, 1:30-7 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m.-2 p.m., through Saturday, January 29, 2011. For more information, please call 674-2004.