More info: https://nomagalleryfrederick.com/current-exhibition/
Also going on in Frederick this weekend!
Finishing touches on the upcoming show
Author: melipenco
Books!
Handmade mezzotint books by Lanesville Press of Flora Mnemonica project
I am beyond excited that Gary Kachadourian of Lanesville Press in Lanesville New York asked if he could engrave and print some of my photographs from the flora mnemonica project using the mezzotint printing process. Four of the specimens were chosen and printed in these handmade books. So far, there has been two editions, with slightly different covers. All four images were selected because they’re native plants and have significant personal memories associated with them.
To hear me talk about those memories and maybe nab your own copy (I only have 20), come see the exhibition at NOMA Gallery in Frederick Maryland opening February 3rd. More info here.
He also surprised me with a copy of his Mummy Bags book in this last shipment:
See more of Gary’s work at http://www.garykachadourian.com/
Natural Selections – exhibition with Caitlin Gill at NOMA Gallery
Super excited to announce “Natural Selections”, an upcoming show with Caitlin Gill in February at the NOMA Gallery in Frederick, Maryland.
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On view February 3 – 26
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Reception February 4 from 5 – 8pm
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Artists talks February 16 from 7 – 9 pm
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“Natural Selections” an exhibition by artists Melissa Penley Cormier and Caitlin Gill investigates the natural world as metaphor. Cormier and Gill have entirely different relationships with the natural world, however both use nature as a way to explore their complicated relationships with societal constructs to include time, relationships and gender.
Melissa Penley Cormier’s work uses photography and installations to document and explore
how we mark time. Often using the model of scientific collection and sampling, Cormier’s projects center around looking closely and carefully.
Caitlin Gill uses printmaking, sculpting, drawing, painting, collage, and fiber to create artwork that explores ideas of identity, femininity, and domesticity. Gill’s work examines the patriarchy the male gaze and gender through animal and insect portraits.
Yonder Cabinet at Maryland Art Place
I’ve been so happy to be a part of this project, The Yonder Cabinet. Collaborating with Baltimore artist and designer, Kelley Bell, The Yonder Cabinet invites artists to create dioramas of places they have “visited” in literary works they love. Artists also recorded a short audio clip of them reading a favorite passage from the work.
The first round of artists have been amazing to see work from. I was lucky document their work (photographs & soon video) for the website that Bell designed. We hope to invite more artists soon.
Our work will be on view at Maryland Art Place for the SPARK: A Brave New World? exhibition. Where you can see it in real life!
Also, a video tour by the curator can be found here.
Also additional content from the Yonder Cabinet artists can be found on the website below:
images from “Held, 2020” on view now at the Hamilton Gallery
Bearing Witness – the artists’ tenacious view
Bearing Witness – the artist’s tenacious view – a virtual exhibition
Starting February 15th at 5pm you can view the exhibition at http://www.bearing-witness.org
Bearing Witness explores how the events of 2020 have impacted the creative process and psyche of working artists. 59 artists from the Baltimore/Washington metropolitan area are included in the exhibition. The group exhibition showcases a wide range of artist’s viewpoints working in various media including: drawing, printmaking, painting, photography, sculpture, and mixed media.
The exhibition is co-sponsored by HAC|HG and a grant from Baltimore Office of Promotion and the Arts.
Bearing Witness is curated by Jessica Devilbiss a HAC|HG exhibiting artist member who currently works as an Emerging Professionals Program Guide at the Glenstone Museum in Potomac, MD.
The virtual exhibit runs through April 15, 2021.
Artists featured in the exhibition:
Kathleen Adrian, Kiane Artis, Jude Asher, Beverly Baptiste, Ruby Bassford, Loring Boglioli, Dominique Butler, Schroeder Cherry, Melissa Cormier, Diane Dennis, Julie Dietrich, Jim Doran, Heather Dorst, Grace Doyle, Donald Edwards, Abby Fitzgibbon, Amanda Hays, Elli Maria Hernandez, Jodi Hoover, Jessie Houff, Samantha Iaconi, Noelle Imparato, Chloe Irla, Yasmine C. Iskander, Flora Iste, Janet Jeffers, Annette Jones-Wilson, Amy Klainer , Nic Koski, Walter Levy, Katana Lippart, George Lorio, Jon Malis, Dereck Mangus, Alberta Marchesani, James McDonald, Greg McLemore, Chloe Ndour, Nef Partlow-Myrick, Katey Phelps, Linda Popp, Lynn Poshepny, Tim Prendergast, Theresa Reuter, LJ Richey, Lucas Rougeux, Lynn Rybicki, Lauren Silex, Val Smith, Therese Spadaro, Peter Stern, Bridget Z. Sullivan, Carol Tankard, Maxine Taylor, David, Thompson, Chloe Wack, Samantha, Welsch, Delvonta Wilson, Monica Youn, and Richard Gordon Zyne
Artist Talk
Spotlight! Guest Instructor Series: Melissa Penley Cormier
Photography as Evidence and Excuse
Friday, April 23, 2021 · Noon – 1 PM
This artist talk will center around photography as evidence and scientific data — and how the act and process of photography is an excuse to look at, study deeply, and devote time to subjects. Using examples from Special Collections as well as images of her recent works, Melissa Penley Cormier will discuss how art and science inform and inspire each other in her own work as well as others’.
more info and to register: https://my3.my.umbc.edu/groups/library/events/91635
career Q & A: UMBC Magazine
Every so often, we chat with an alum about what they do and how they got there. By day, Melissa Penley Cormier, M.F.A ’17, intermedia + digital arts (IMDA), helps faculty and students at UMBC create the graphic pieces they need for presenting their research. By night, she’s building an arts practice that draws from nature and scientific processes. Here, Cormier gives us a peek into her life as an artist.
Read the full article by Jenny O’Grady here:
https://magazine.umbc.edu/career-qa-melissa-penley-cormier-m-f-a-17/
Video Shorts Premier in Butcher’s Hill window theater – Window26
Window26 is a small local projection experiment taking place in the front window of Kelley Bell‘s home in Butcher’s Hill, Baltimore. It’s a way of sharing art in a public space that’s intimate yet at a safe distance.
Time-based media artists of all stripes are invited to submit work for a series of programmed nights of projection this summer. Artists who do not work in time-based media, but have some interesting ideas of how to work with the site are also encouraged to submit ideas.
For more information, as well as templates and guidelines please use the contact form below:
Secret:
Learned that my thesis work was collaged into a beautiful webcomic by one of my favorite Baltimore Artists before we ever met. Jim Doran made Gin Rumi from images he shot of my worry slides and “inspired by the Sufi poet and based on something he wrote.” The mashup makes my heart sing in all sorts of ways thinking back on this project and what it meant to devote a year to focus on this collection. 
Melissa Penley Cormier 