Kerr+Jones Fine Art & Craft Gallery in East Boothbay will feature the paintings of Susan Bartlett Rice and MJ Benson, with a gallery reception for the artists on Friday, July 5, from 4 to 6 p.m. 

The paintings of Bartlett Rice and Benson will stop you in your tracks. Their creative perspectives could not be further apart but their visions are clear and boldly beautiful. Each artist has truly made the Maine landscape her own. 

Susan Bartlett Rice paints along the Damariscotta River and Pemaquid peninsula but is most inspired by the simplicity of her “everyday life” on the family farm in coastal Walpole. She’s drawn to the colors of the natural world and the change of seasons. Her vivid compositions capture the mood of seasonal transitions on land and sea.  

Bartlett Rice received a BA in studio art & art history from the University of Vermont. She pursued further studies at the Rhode Island School of Design as well as California College of Arts & Crafts.

MJ Benson’s  atmospheric landscapes are bold and dramatic. She begins with, in her words, “the horizon and its ever steady line of delineation between the spaces of land, sky and sea. In between are layers of light and color, sprung from memory but unbound by realism.” Although she uses a few rules of composition or color, she works and waits until she feels a sense of harmony with the elements. 

A resident of South Portland, Benson received her BFA from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and an EdM from Harvard University. She is a recipient of a Maine Arts Commission Project Grant for Artists in 2022 and has had recent solo shows at Maine Audubon and the Maine State House. 

Kerr+Jones Gallery is located at 268 Ocean Point Road in East Boothbay. Parking is available at the School Street public lot behind fire station. (Gallery parking is limited.)

The gallery is open weekly Wednesday through Saturday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. and  Sunday 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Find us online at kerrjones.com and on Instagram/FB @kerrjonesgallery.