Two Artists Combine Function and Artistry at Pemaquid Art Gallery
Translucent Flower, by Bruce Babb. (Photo courtesy of Pemaquid Art Gallery)
Hannah Ineson and Bruce Babb are the two artists at the Pemaquid Art Gallery who create objects rather than paintings, producing beautiful works of art that can also be very functional.
Ineson is a versatile artist who exhibits a wide range of her works in ceramics, although she is also an accomplished painter and watercolor journaling instructor. She produces unique, handcrafted objects from high-fired clay, creating functional objects and small sculptures with rich glazes, often with highly decorated surfaces and textures, sometimes with Maine-inspired themes and of the natural world.
Babb is skilled in the exacting art of creating inlaid wood marquetry, decorative designs made using small pieces of wood veneer of different colors, precision cut and glued to a wooden base. These ornate pieces of wood can become wall plaques, table tops, game boards and jewelry boxes, and Babb worked with a cabinetmaker to create the patterned table tops.
Ineson splits the year between Damariscotta and Naples, Florida. She began painting in her early adulthood when she took up watercolors, eventually taking many workshops with nationally known painters drawn to the Maine coast. She has always experimented with new subjects and mediums, from traditional watercolor and pastel to palette knife oil and acrylic painting.
Circular vase, by Hannah Ineson. (Photo courtesy of Pemaquid Art Gallery)
She turned to pottery over 10 years ago in Florida where she is a member of the clay guild and a teacher at the Marco Island Center for the Arts. Teaching and mentoring the process of creating art is as fascinating to her as making art. His work has been widely publicized in this field and can also be viewed on his website, hannahineson.com.
Babb is originally from Maine and now lives in Damariscotta. He worked as a research chemist for Eastman Kodak Company until his retirement and return to Maine in 1992. He taught himself the art of marquetry over a period of 20 years and refined it. in an exciting and creative way, inspired by everything from antique quilt patterns to whimsical and unique interpretations of nature.
He assembles the pieces with skill and meticulous precision, and finishes them with several coats of hand-rubbed varnish, producing highly original works of art. More recently, her work has been featured at Archipelago in Rockland, Gifts at 136 in Damariscotta, and The Good Supply in Pemaquid. More can be viewed on his website, covehousestudios.com.
Other 2022 exhibiting members of the Pemaquid Artist Group include: Barbara Applegate, Debra Arter, Julie Babb, Stephen Busch, John Butke, Dianne Dolan, Gwendolyn Evans, Peggy Farrell, Sarah Fisher, Claire Hancock, Kay Sawyer Hannah, Kathleen Horst, Will Kefauver, Jan Kilburn, Barbara Klein, Patti Leavitt, Sally Loughridge, Judy Nixon, Alexandra Perry-Weiss, Belva Ann Prycel, Paul Sherman, Marnie Sinclair, Gary Smith, Cindy Spencer, Liliana Thelander, Kim Skillin Traina, Barbara Vanderbilt, Bob Vaughan, Candace Vlcek and Sherrie York.
