At Pemaquid Art Gallery this season a visitor will find several artists who are not painters, but work in other mediums. Two who have been with the gallery for quite a long time are Bruce Babb, who creates marquetry pieces and Trudi Curtis, a clay artist creating many kinds of pottery pieces.

Maine native Bruce Babb of Damariscotta has been with the gallery since 1994. He is highly skilled at the demanding art of creating inlaid wood veneer patterns.  Using an X-Acto knife, Babb cuts small thin pieces of woods that come from all over the world, placing them on another piece of wood to form patterns. These may become wall plaques, tabletops, game boards, and jewelry boxes. He occasionally works with a cabinet maker to create patterned tops for tables.

Each piece is unique, based on his own patterns and designs, or inspired by antique quilt patterns. Marquetry requires great skill and patience, both in the design and finishing stages. Each piece is entirely hand-cut and finished with at least six coats of hand-rubbed varnish.  Babb’s work can also be seen at the Gifts at 136 in Damariscotta, The Good Supply, a New Harbor craft shop, and online at www.covehousestudios.com.

Trudi Curtis first became involved with clay about 50 years ago at the Tower School in Marblehead, MA, where she was an instructor after her initial education at The School of Practical Arts (now the Art Institute of Boston), and the University of Massachusetts at Salem. Most of her art career was spent as a teacher and she is well known locally, as she was an instructor for 16 years at the former Round Top Center for the Arts. Among the several continuing education venues she attended, her experiences at Haystack, the renowned craft school on Deer Isle, ME, were most inspiring and life changing.

Curtis has been with the Pemaquid Art Gallery for 10 years. Working in her home studio, she creates a diverse and varied assortment of fired and glazed clay pieces. They may be functional plates or platters, or, more often, animals and unique pieces that charm and captivate gallery visitors. As she says, she loves what she does, producing “by inspiration and by request.” Her work may be seen at her home studio in Damariscotta, by appointment.

The 2019 exhibiting members of the Pemaquid Group of Artists include: Barbara Applegate, Debra Arter, Bruce Babb, Julie Babb, Stephen Busch, Midge Coleman, Trudi Curtis, William Curtis, Dianne Dolan, Peggy Farrell, Sarah Fisher, Bill Hallett, Claire Hancock, Kay Sawyer Hannah, Kathleen Horst, Hannah Ineson, Will Kefauver, Jan Kilburn, Barbara Klein, Patti Leavitt, Sally Loughridge, Marlene Loznicka, Judy Nixon, Belva Ann Prycel, Paul Sherman, Cindy Spencer, Liliana Thelander, Barbara Vanderbilt, Bob Vaughan, Steve Viega and Bev Walker and guest artists, Kimberly Traina and John Butke.

The gallery is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. through Columbus Day. For more information, please call 207-677-2752 or visit www.pemaquidartgallery.com.