The Southport Memorial Library’s next exhibition will feature the photography of Lois Glaser and paintings of Bruce MacDonald Sept. 5 though Oct. 31.

Lois Glaser holds an MS in art education, and though photograph was not her major, it has always held a special fascination for her. After teaching and then a complete career change, it was 25 years until she resumed pursuing her photographic interests through classes, workshops and hours in the field. Lois was initially drawn to details and closeups in nature for her images. She has since expanded her personal portfolio to include to landscapes, scenics, wildlife, and abstracts from nature.

Lois has been exhibiting and selling her photographs since 2006. She was active in Image City Photography Gallery in Rochester, New York for eight years where her work was twice awarded Best of Show. Lois was selected as a Fellow of Camera Rochester, where she has received numerous awards over the years, particularly for her macro photographs. She is also a master photographer in the Loveland Photographic Society and has exhibited in the juried Maine Photography Show. After living in Honeoyer Falls, New York for over 40 years, Lois moved to Colorado for three years with her husband, Wayne. In 2017 they returned to the East, choosing Boothbay Harbor as their permanent home.

The coast of Maine is a paradise for outdoor photographers. Lois continues her work on landscapes, scenes of the sea, and microscapes that depict the beauty of the midcoast region. In addition to bringing pleasure to viewers, Lois feels that if her images open the viewer’s eyes to God’s handiwork, and inspire the viewer to do their share in preserving Earth’s natural beauty, she has done her work well.

Boothbay-based Bruce MacDonald’s art education began at home “with tutorials by grandmother, in whose house I grew up, and my mother. My grandmother was a graduate of the Massachusetts School of Art, and my mother a graduate of Vesper George. I got my first oil painting box at age 14, and had regular lessons in color,composition and drawing from my grandmother over the ensuing years. We spent the summers in Gloucester at what had been my great-grandfather’s painting school at Coggeshall Camp on the shore of Ipswich Bay, and we would often go out for painting sessions from there. In my grandmother's art education there had been a  heavy dose of the classical painters, so we also spent a lot of time studying color and composition in Caravaggio, Rembrandt and Michelangelo among others.

“Despite long careers in education and computer software, I kept painting and took lessons from Albert Czerepak in Rockport over a couple of summers. In 2003 I took a week-long watercolor workshop with Michael Vermette around Mt Katahdin. In 2004 and 2005 I took summer courses in color theory and composition with Peter Brown at the Maine College of Art In Portland. In 2015, I attended a workshop designed to help one paint abstractly, but I have remained a realist.

“The most enduring lessons were those form my grandmother who taught me the virtues of looking, and painting from nature,and those of Alfred Czerepak and Peter Brown. Four years ago, I spent 10 days on a self-organized painting trip to Tuscany. Recent juried shows include Art in ME 2015, and 2016 at the Boothbay Region Art Foundation and small works juried shows at River Arts in Damariscotta in 2015 and 2016. Several of my paintings were chosen by the Maine Arts Commission for display in the State Capitol in Augusta in the Arts in The Capital series in 2010. I paint in oils, acrylics, and on the iPad Pro. Painting with the iPad is an alternative means of plein air. I’ve built my own tripod/easel for the iPad. It’s a great way to do studies in the field.”

The Southport Memorial Library is at 1032 Hendricks Hill Road, Southport Island. For more information, call the library at 633-2741.