Haley Art Gallery hosts talk on Lithuanian Poet Matilda Olkinaite By Laima Vince
KITTERY, Maine – Haley Art Gallery will host a gallery talk: The Silenced Muse: The Brief Life of the Poet Matilda Olkinaite by artist Laima Vince, on Saturday, Sept. 16, 1 to 3 p.m. Vince will discuss how her series of paintings included in the gallery’s current exhibit–In Art We Trust–depict interval moments in the cerulean bird-woman’s flight, which evolved out of the imagery of “The Cerulean Bird” poem written in 1940 by the Lithuanian Jewish poet, Matilda Olkinaitė who was murdered in the Holocaust in Lithuania at the age of 19.
Vince will decipher the “The Cerulean Bird” poem, discussing how sensing the impending doom of the encroaching war, and Hitler’s intent to annihilate Europe’s Jews, Matilda imagined herself as a magical cerulean bird, flying above strife and escaping into ecstasy in the pure joy of living. Her fate was not as inspiring, however, as the cerulean bird’s breast is pierced by three arrows….“carrying black death within.”
Vince received her artistic training in studio arts at the School of Visual Arts, Rutgers University, Hunter College, Columbia University, and the University of Southern Maine. Among noteworthy mentors in her early development as a painter are Will Barnet, Emma Amos, and Emily Mason. She has exhibited in both Europe and the U.S, including Laima Vincė – Paintings at Liudvikas Rėza Cultural Center in Juodkrantė, Lithuania; That Unspoken Word—The Poetry of Painting, Savickas Gallery in Vilnius, Lithuania; Moments of Illumination, SLA 307, New York; and Paintings Inspired by Spirit, Rendall Fine Arts Gallery in Wiscasset, Maine.
Gallery’s current group exhibit–In Art We Trust–features work by seacoast artists Paul Burke, Laima Vince, Carlos Vega, and Duaa Zahra.
Haley Art Gallery also offers Tea-Time Art events on Thursday and Friday afternoons for groups of four or more–by reservation only. The two-hour event is $35 per person and includes gourmet tea and locally sourced delicacies served in antique tea sets. Haley Art Gallery’s gift shop showcases globally sourced social impact gifts hand-made by women. Special discounts are available for interior decorators and designers.
The gallery is open: Thursday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Contact: Haley Art Gallery at 617-584-2580 or haleygallery@comcast.net or visit https://haleyartgallery.com/.
This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Haley Art Gallery hosts talk on Lithuanian Poet Matilda Olkinaite
