News
APRIL 21–MAY 28, 2023
Moss Galleries, Portland, Maine
The solo exhibition, Women of the Gulf of Maineem>, includes 24 small bronze figures cast from originals made of seaweed and wax. “The Women of the Gulf of Maine create themselves through the principle of self-organization, like much of nature. Each sculpture begins with one specimen of wet seaweed that is wrapped around a form. The figures emerge from the ever-changing morphology of the drying seaweed. No two seaweeds ever dry the same. I speculate about the possible meanings of these creatures who appear in my studio, riding on their own slick and slippery wave.”
Opening reception Friday, April 21, 2023, 5–7pm
April 29 to July 16, 2023
Ogunquit Museum of American Art Ogunquit, Maine
Shifting Sands: Beaches, Bathers, and Modern Maine Art, curated by Donna Cassidy, Professor Emerita at the University of Southern Maine, Shifting Sands explores the unique place that the beach holds in modern art. The beach is now viewed as a fragile environment subject to a changing climate and human impact. Celeste will exhibit Wet Suit #2, a large archival pigment print,and a new installation titled Where Have All the Mussels Gone? consisting of a biomorphic form made of calceria bryozoa surrounded by 300 gallons of dried blue mussel shells collected on the beaches of southern Maine in the early 1990s.
Members opening reception: April 28, 2023, 5-7pm
Tuesday Talks, July 11, 2023, Details TBA
See: https://ogunquitmuseum.org/exhibition/shifting-sands-beaches-bathers-and-modern-maine-art/
May 5 to July 15, 2023
Portland Public Library, Lewis Gallery, Portland, Maine
Sustenance, curated by Lin Lisberger and Myron M. Beasley, includes the works of eighteen artists focusing on three elements—food, water, and the vessels that contain them. Celeste will exhibit Seaweed Will Be Lapping at Your Doorstep and Swimsuit, both works from the Rising Seas(onal) Collectiond and made of seaweed and wax.
June 15 to December 3, 2023
New Bedford Whaling Museum, New Bedford, MA
Curated by Naomi Slipp, Chief Curator at NBWM, and Maura Coughlin, Northeastern University, A Singularly Marine & Fabulous Produce: The Cultures of Seaweed draws together a wide range of media, spanning European, American, and British examples. This major exhibition of over 125 works probes humankind’s fascination with seaweed from 1780 to today, tracking changing aesthetics and modes of representation, while underscoring a continuous interest in this “singularly marine & fabulous produce,” as described by Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862). The catalogue will make connections between the cultural histories of seaweed, as explored in the exhibition, and urgent environmental issues of today related to climate change, aquaculture, and sustainability. In addition to Fisherman’s Knit Sweater, Celeste will show one cyanotype and two seaweed and textile collages.
See: https://www.whalingmuseum.org/exhibition/the-cultures-of-seaweed/
June 24–June 27, 2021
Conversations on Art + Seaweed, Maine Seaweed Council Newsletter, Brunswick, Maine
Over the past two years, I have interviewed seven artists from Portland to Eastport whose artwork is focused on seaweed. These interviews are archived and published in the online quarterly Newsletter of the Maine Seaweed Council. It seems like there is an artist under every rock in Maine, and now, under every blade of rockweed. Thus far, I have interviewed: Marjorie Moore, Krisanne Baker, Barbara Putnam, Elizabeth Awalt, Karen Adrienne, Amy Ray, and Lisa Tipton Ennis. There are more to come. You can subscribe to the Newsletter, at no charge, on the Maine Seaweed Council home page.
MAY 1–OCTOBER 30, 2021
Ogunquit Museum of American Art, Ogunquit, Maine
The summer outdoor sculpture exhibition at the Ogunquit Museum of American Art includes Chaise Gabion on the front lawn and Chair for Mining Chromium on the cliffside that overlooks the wild Atlantic. Viewers appreciate the meditative function of Chair for Mining Chromium where you can sit in relative solitude and gaze at the rolling waves of the blue Atlantic.
See: https://ogunquitmuseum.org/landscape-2/in-the-park/
Celeste will be giving a public talk on Tuesday July 20 from 5-7pm, on line at the OMAA (or possibly, in person) at this link.
May 15–Late Fall 2021
Corey Daniels Gallery, 2208 Post Rd, Wells, Maine
While reorganizing my studio, I revisited this sculpture from 1985/86 and thought that it would look just right in the unusual Corey Daniels Gallery in Wells, and Corey agreed. Geographies Body was made in Halifax, Nova Scotia and after three exhibitions it went into storage. Geographies Body (aka: Harry; The Monster; L’homme echorche; Melancholia) deserves to be out in the open once again. Also at Corey Daniels is a small bronze sculpture dating from 1978. Definitely vintage.
June 18–21, 2020
The Maine College of Art COLLECT Online Art Sale
The sale will begin at 6PM on Thursday, June 18th and run through 6PM on Sunday, June 21, 2020. This year I will be donating 50% of the proceeds from the sale of the entire edition of a new archival pigment print titled What I Saw on the Glacier 2007/2020, a composite of a watercolor from 2007 inspired by walking on and flying over the glaciers of Iceland and 61 black silhouettes of people walking under the watery flow of the image. All proceeds go to supporting students.
March 2020
Rising Seas: The Visions of Celeste Roberge
A ten page photo/essay, is now available in the March 2020 Issue of Senior Hiker Magazine with a subscription or with the purchase of a single issue. You can view the pdf of the photo/essay with the kind permission of Senior Hiker Magazine. This magazine is a labor of love by the publisher. Subscribe!
June 2019
Artist-in-residence with The Arctic Circle
Celeste was an artist-in-residence on an expedition with The Arctic Circle in June 2019 sailing along the west coast of Svalbard in the High Arctic with 30 artists, writers, historians, and educators. After this trip completes a gestation period, the focus will be on the ominous GLACIERS and the spectral forms of the Arctic. The sensation in the High Arctic can best be described as PURE ENERGY and its after effect as STUNNED SILENCE.
March 2019
The great French filmmaker, Agnes Varda, passed away on March 29, 2019
I was thinking of her in 2013 while at the Kohler Arts/Industry residency in Kohler, WI when I made this homage to her in cast iron with an asymmetrical chair, Stack for Agnes Varda. Varda loved chairs, especially blue chairs, like this drawing from Paris in 2006. Bon voyage, Agnes.
March 30–July 21, 2019
Divergent Convergence, Harn Museum of Art, Gainesville, Florida
Celeste exhibited 4 miniature stacks from the Harn collection.
June 1–July 13, 2019
Photographing Coastal Maine, curated by Bruce Brown for the inaugural exhibition at Cove Street Arts, Portland, Maine
With her collaborator, Joy Drury Cox, Celeste exhibited Algae Dreams and Algae Visions.
See: https://www.covestreetarts.com/exhibitions-1/current-exhibition-2-nwxcn
November–December, 2018
Artist-in-residence at MonsonArts
Celeste was an artist-in-residence at MonsonArts in Monson, Maine in November/December 2018. While there she made drawings and photos on slate, about slate, and with slate. This residency was a return of sorts to her work with slate in sculptures in 2000 or before.
August 2018
Feature article “Seaweed Dreams” by Bob Keyes in the Portland Press Herald, Maine
View article: http://mainetoday.com/maine_art/celeste-roberge-art-seaweed/
Time Lines 01, 2018. Edition of 20; Archival Pigment Print; 13" x 13".
May 1–October 31, 2018
Bench Space, Shelburne Art Museum, Shelburne, Vermont
In this group outdoor exhibition, curated by Carolyn Bauer, runs from May 1 to October 31, 2018. Celeste is showing Chaise Gabion #5/10.
August 3–September 15, 2018
Curious Nature: 2018 Alumni Triennial, Institute of Contemporary Art, Maine College of Art, 522 Congress St., Portland, Maine
This group exhibition is curated by Shannon Rankin and runs from August 3 to September 15 with an opening reception August 3, 2018, 5–8pm. Celeste is showing six Seaweed Boats in cast iron, enamel, and brass, created during an Arts/Industry Residency in the foundry at Kohler, Inc, along with three large cyanotypes of marine macroalgae created at USF-St.Petersburg, FL in collaboration with Bleu Acier, Inc, Tampa, FL.
See: https://www.meca.edu/about/institute-of-contemporary-art/coming-soon/curious-nature/
September 23, 2018–January 13, 2019
Interior Effects: Furniture in Contemporary Art, Fitchburg Art Museum, 185 Elm Street, Fitchburg, Massachusetts
This group exhibition, curated by Lisa Crossman, runs from September 23, 2018 to January 13, 2019. Opening Reception: September 23, 2018, Time TBA. Celeste will be exhibiting five Miniature Stacks.
See: http://www.celesteroberge.com/w-ministacks-newworks.php
July 27–September 14, 2018
Thinking While Walking Under the Sea, Waterfall Arts, 256 High Street, Belfast, Maine
Opening Reception: July 27, 2018, 5-7pm; Gallery Talk: August 15, 2018, 7pm; Closing: September 14, 2018
This Solo Exhibition is an expansion of Celeste’s work with different kinds of marine macroalgae in sculpture, photography, drawings, collages, prints and cyanotypes. The exhibition harkens back to Celeste’s exhibition at PhoPa Gallery in Portland in 2017. Thirty highly varied art works are included in the exhibition.
January 18–March 4, 2017
Solo Exhibition: Drawing with Seaweed, PhoPa Gallery, 132 Washington Avenue, Portland, Maine. TEL: 207.317.6127
Preview work at “phopagallery.com”.
Gallery Hours: Wed to Sat, 12 to 5pm; Opening Reception: Thu, January 19 from 5 to 7 pm; Gallery Talk: Sat, February 4 at 3 pm.
This solo exhibition will consist of 20 works on paper made with collages of seaweed specimens, textiles, photographs, and drawings. In addition the exhibition will include cyanotypes of seaweed, photogravures, digital photographs, and sculptures.
Collecting Seaweed in Scarboro: Algae specimens on arches hot press, unique collage, 14 ½" x 11".
March/April 2016
Rising Cairn commissioned and installed outdoors at a private collection in Pacific Heights, San Francisco, California
- Rising Cairn. Edition 6/10. Welded, galvanized steel and 4,000 pounds of river rocks, 58" x 54" x 40".
Winter 2015
Feature Article in Maine Boats, Harbors and Homes by Carl Little
View article PDF: “Art Flotilla: Celeste Roberge’s Seaweed Boats Float the Imagination”.
September 2015
Walking Cairn commissioned and installed at a private collection of large outdoor sculpture in Upperville, Virginia
- Walking Cairn. Edition 3/10. Welded, galvanized steel and 4,000 pounds of river rocks. Height: 105".
March—April 2014
Solo Exhibition: Ocean Floors
“Ocean Floors” at Crisp-Ellert Art Museum, Flagler College, St. Augustine, Florida.
View brochure PDF: Ocean Floors.
Fall 2013
Arts/Industry Residency in the Iron Foundry
Sponsored by the John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Sheboygan, Wisconsin.