June 2, 2026 - June 30, 2026

The Blue Hill Public Library will present “Observations & Studies:
Watercolors, Gouaches, & Oils,” a solo exhibition by Maine artist Rick Landesberg, on
view at the library from June 2 through June 29. The public is invited to a reception on
Saturday, June 13, from 3:00 to 5:00 p.m. Rick will be offering a related lecture at the
library on Wednesday, June 10, at 7:00 p.m., “Using the Sketchbook to Respond to
Places You Care About.”

About the show, Rick offers, “Each of these paintings began with my strong response to
a particular place—a quality of light, the rhythm of trees, a pattern of receding islands,
sun burning through morning haze.”

To achieve that, he transitions into a dialogue with the piece itself. “My loyalty to the
painting rather than to the specifics of the place invariably takes over.” He considers the
paintings small experiments of focused energy and thinks of the finished painting as the
residue of the act of creating it.

Rick chose “studies” as part of the title for this exhibit to reflect the emotional response
to the qualities and characteristics of a place. Some were painted plein air, some were
inspired by photos he takes, and some were entirely imagined. Some were done very
quickly – what he refers to as "faster-than-I-can-think” painting – and some were
revisited over days or weeks.

Common to all the pieces in this exhibit is an exploration of the exquisite tension
between the depicted image and the physical characteristics of the piece. We see this
dichotomy in the world: decaying letters sinking into an old brick wall, a 19th-century
quilt, or Claude Monet’s fluttering French flags above the Rue Montorgueil in Paris. (Or
are they just pieces of color that wonderfully fool us into thinking of flags?)

Rick was born and raised in Philadelphia and earned his degree in Painting from the
Philadelphia College of Art and a Certificate of Studies from Central Saint Martins
College of Art in London. His career was spent practicing graphic design, and in 1982
he started his own design practice with clients that included the United Nations, the
Rockefeller Foundation, the Heinz Endowments, and colleges and universities all over
the country.

The show will include a selection of paintings on loan from collectors living on the Blue
Hill Peninsula.  It will be available for viewing starting June 2, subject to the Howard
Room meeting schedule. For more information, contact the library at 374-5515.