Wiscasset Art Walk’s pop-up Hasenfus Gallery, 64 Main St., will  be hosting emerging artist Seth Bond Perry during the Thursday, June 24 evening, from 5-8 p.m. The artist will be in the gallery drawing and painting and welcomes visitors to stop in and say hello.

Although Perry, who lives in Saco, has worked as a professional graphic designer for almost 20 years, he recently left his job “and decided to move forward as an artist with faith that people will connect with my work,” he said. To help with that transition, Perry works mostly freehand and stays away from computer programs almost entirely. “I can draw a canoe paddle once and could reproduce it endlessly and make clip-art, but I don’t want to do that,” he explains. “I’ve done that so much; I’m done with that.”

Instead, Perry is reveling in a more emotionally-based approach to his work, feeling freer to create images that express his own vision. When not drawing and painting prolifically, Perry spends a lot of time looking at the world around him and searching inward for responses to that world. While experimenting with styles and materials, he describes his art as sometimes impetuous, often fearless, and frequently humorous. But what would you expect, explains Perry, from a guy who spent eight years as a stand-up comic making the comedy club circuit all around New England? In the end, he decided to stick with graphic design and leave the exhausting comedy career behind. Said Perry, “I wasn’t willing to take the risk of leaving my graphic design work for comedy, but I am willing to take that risk for art.”

Connecting with his viewers is important to Perry. “I want to give people ‘the happy’. I really want people to enjoy themselves when they are looking at my work.” In addition to Perry’s art-making during WAW, he’ll be exhibiting and selling completed work in the gallery.

During the Wiscasset Art Walk 2021 season, any state mandated Covid-19 precautions will be in effect as well as safety precautions requested by individual shops and galleries. So please bring a mask.
Lead Sponsors for Wiscasset Art Walk 2021 are Donna and Frank Barnako and First National Bank. Major Sponsors are Ames True Value, Big Barn Coffee, Carriage House Gardens, Cod Cove Inn, Fogg Art Restoration, J. Edward Knight Insurance, Newcastle Realty, Peter H. Eaton Antiques, Red’s Eats, Rock Paper Scissors, Sarah’s Café, and  Tim Dunham Realty.

For more information about Wiscasset Art Walk visit www.wiscassetartwalk.org or send a message to wiscassetartwalk@verizon.net. Wiscasset Art Walk is a program of Wiscasset Creative Alliance.