When you are on a beach, can you resist picking up the smooth rocks and putting them in your pocket?  Do you do anything special with your chosen rocks?

Mary Hall is someone who actually does something beautiful with those stones.  Mary picks up stones wherever she travels.  The rocks she is featuring in the August show at the Stable Gallery in Damariscotta are all from Pemaquid beaches.

“I look for stones that are polished flat by the ocean on at least one side.  That way the stones fit better into the silver that surrounds them,” explained Mary.  “I have lived all my life by the sea and the stones represent to me something solid and enduring.” 

As her colleague Roz Welsh adds, “The stones speak to Mary as she is a ‘rock whisperer.’”

Mary and Roz are working members of the Stable Gallery.  Nine artists manage the gallery as working members and take responsibility for selecting the others artists and making the gallery business successful.  There are over 30 commission artists, all from Maine, who show their work at the gallery every month from May until the gallery closes in mid-October.

The current show with Mary Hall’s “Rockin’ Maine” jewelry will be on display until September 7.  Also featured in this month’s show are Hati Modr (oil painting), Tom Stewart (concrete), Helene Farrar (encaustic painting), Jackie Melissas (ceramics), Marcia Brandwein (oil painting), Bill Bellows (woven rugs), David Jacobson (glass), and Arielle Cousens (sculpture).  All other artists have works on display in the smaller rooms of the gallery.

The Stable Gallery, at 26 Water Street in Damariscotta, is open daily 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. through mid-October. For more information, visit stablegallerymaine.com.