Botanicals, mono print on fabric; Meredith Mustard Submitted photo

Two new exhibits – “Collaboration: The Power of Two,” featuring the one-of-a-kind art of Meredith Mustard and Judy (Foss) Tollefson and “New Works” by photographer Fred Dearnley – will wrap up the summer season at the Emery Community Arts Center at the University of Maine at Farmington. The exhibits are free and open to the public.

“Collaboration: The Power of Two” will be on display in Emery’s Flex Gallery from through Friday, Sept. 16. “New Works” will be on display in Emery’s lobby spaces beginning Monday, Aug. 29, through Friday, Oct. 14. A joint public reception will be held from 5-7 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 8.

Calendar Page, digital collage and design: Judy (Foss) Tollefson; analogue collage: Meredith Mustard Submitted photo

“Collaboration: The Power of Two” is an exhibit of analog and digital collage created with alternative printmaking processes, stencils, transfers and botanicals. The exhibition also includes wearable art designed with hand-printed fabric. Tollefson and Mustard have been working collaboratively for more than 40 years. They discovered this connection in Berkeley, California, when they joined forces in the Calligraphy Studio of Moss Foss & Mustard. They opened a channel of creativity that inspired and delighted. What these two imaged together eventually became a partnership called Two Imagine Studios. Circumstances have brought them to live on the same land — neighbors in Farmington — sharing a studio through the pandemic. This exhibition traces some of the treads of their story, and includes calendars and cards, prints on paper and fabric, the wearable art and other elements that contributed to their shared vision. Represented in the exhibition are some early works and a body of current work.

Aquarium; Fred Dearnley Submitted photo

Dearnley’s photography is a combination of art and science. He originally worked as a marine biologist, with his early photographic work documenting the amazing designs of the microscopic organisms he studied. Later he worked as a photographer in the Center for Visual Studies at Unity College where he found teaching photography helped him visualize photography as an artform. Over the past few years, he has been experimenting with the interaction of human activity/design with the environment and the realization that a photograph is an idea of what was seen and felt at the time, an image of an ephemeral event.

The Emery Arts Center gallery is located on Academy St. (between Main St. and High St.) in downtown Farmington. The gallery is open from 9 a.m.-3 p.m., Monday through Friday. Please check Emery’s website for holiday closures at https://wpsites.maine.edu/emerycommunityartscenter/ For more information contact Ann Bartges, director of UMF Emery Community Arts Center at ann.bartges@maine.edu or 207-778-7461.