From time immemorial love has been expressed through the spoken word, poems, ballads, songs, films, art, signage and greeting cards. Love can be the “Elusive Butterfly” Bob Lind sang about in 1965; magical, sometimes out of reach, desired, yet unattainable; or found, but lost. 

“Love," River Arts’ current show, is on exhibit through April 5. Artist Diana Kerr of East Boothbay was juror of the show. The collection of paintings she selected explore love in a myriad of ways: traditional images of hearts and flowers, people expressing love; current, lost, desired and longed for. The works in this show are expressed through an extensive list of media: acrylic, oil, fiber, collage, wood assemblage, found objects, fabric, photography, wood, plaster, metal, clay, graphite, ink on paper …

Where to begin? It has to be with Susanlora Morris’ “love is smoke – star-dust like, but smoke nonetheless.” This mixed media and acrylic image casts a spell, much like love. Through her mind's eye, a woman of Japanese descent with her back to the viewer is reflecting on a past love. She sees him and we see him right in front of her so close he could touch her. His form is grayed out - he is a lingering memory, his face close to hers ... she remembers his kiss, one she still longs for. In the older memory about to come into focus, he rests his head in one hand, eyes closed – he does not see her and she, she is faded from his view as is his memory of her. To have reached the memory in view and the one to come she is acutely aware that this love is gone. She has traveled through a mist of blue, black and gray, the colors of her emotions since the man’s departure from her life. Black at the left bottom of this image represents her initial reaction – hurt, anger and despair; the broken up area of red above the black, once love is breaking apart, like her heart.

The blue, black and gray also represent the fading of time, broken by the veins of white where memories remain – for now. For me, this work captures the wide range of emotions experienced when love ends and how our hearts and souls carry the memory of that love; the part which is never completely erased.

I spoke with Susanlora after the March 8 opening reception for the show about this piece. Let’s start with the book of haiku she’s had for a long time entitled, "Haiku Love," (edited by Adam Cummings and published by The Overlook Press) from which she found two images used, noting some of the drawings in the book were of courtesans and those paying for their time. The title of the piece is verse from the book as well.

"I thought this would be about obsessive love. I worked to veil the figures and just hint at what was going on there. And, just to make it interesting to myself I drew those little boxes around where I wanted you to look. I love the layers, the scraped area revealing the red paint behind the image. The layering of tissue papers, glazing and the colors shining through. I want to see those things. I want to be with the colors. And as somebody that I was reading said, 'You have to make love with the paint.' And I thought, Man, that's a really interesting analogy."

Susanlora wants her paintings to be messy, strong, mysterious, powerful, dark, complicated. All of which are certainly qualities that draw me in! And with this piece she’s created all of these elements.

Southport artist Jane Southworth’s painting, “Visiting,” depicts a man bringing a bouquet of colorful flowers to a loved one, most likely his wife, now in assisted living. Clearly in his senior years, the white-haired gent walks carefully with his three-footed cane. This painting will warm, will melt your heart, really ... love really can be forever, and if you spend some time in this scene even your eyes well up.

Jean Larkin, another East Boothbay artist, takes viewers back to the days when making valentines included breaking out the lace, tatting, thread, paints and color paper to create an old-time valentine. This 3-D oil on canvas, simply entitled “Tatting & Oil Paint," reminds viewers of the time when making a message for someone loved came straight from the heart and mind, and skills of the sender. And all manner of materials were used in their expressions of love. Hallmark? Feggetaboudit.

At 94, this retired nurse has studied with Sidney Wilson at the Boston School and with her nephew, Don Demers. Jean took a course in tatting at a technical school and became fascinated by its history that, she said, dates back to Greece when fishermen knitted their nets. By the early 1900s, socialites in England held tatting groups. Not long later, women in the U.S. were, too. “It makes beautiful lace. I wanted my tatting to show because it is a lost art and I wanted to expose that.”

Her painting includes English roses along the bottom of the work, also a nod to history; connecting the women and the art form. Preserving history “is a passion” for Janet and the roses connect with the women of 1900s England.

Jean has also written several books, which would require an entire article to discuss completely. “I guess, based on my writing history, I look for the definition of love, and it provides great interest and pleasure.”

Wendy Gedenken of Damariscotta’s “Flight School” is composed of acrylic paint and fabric on hard board. This colorful piece illustrates the gradual steps parents take letting their little ones try new things, to experience dreams, to soar with love and guidance supporting them. Each parent is depicted with a winged child, both have expressions of excitement and fear – but the love expressed in this image cannot be denied.

Alice de Mauriac’s “Chemical Reaction” is an abstract of frenetic color in varying shapes and sizes – colors represent the wide range of emotion running through the brain and extending toward the bodies of two people with a shared desire.

I could go on and on (I probably already have), and there are other artists I wished to include, but my inner voice is telling me to “rein it in.”

That being the case, I suggest you find your way to River Arts and experience this show featuring the work of 60 artists. Take your time. Feel the love.