June Fitzpatrick Gallery

The June Fitzpatrick Gallery is a must-​do on First Friday Art Walk for me. It’s an independent gallery housed inside the Maine College of Art, and their exhibits have ranged from weird to enlightening to confusing to pieces-​I-​have-​never-​stopped-​thinking-​about. Specifically:
1. Pencil drawings of stick figure people climbing into hot air balloons to escape the apocalypse, I believe.
2. A video of a woman who was taped up, and you watched as she became «larger» when the tape was slowly taken off of her.
3. Giant paintings of trees that also had words (maybe they were pages torn from a book?) glued/​plastered into the bark and leaves.
Definitely a gallery worth perusing while you’re in the area, and often times on FFAW they have complimentary snacks: apple cider, sparkling water, hummus and chips. Yum — thank you, June Fitzpatrick folks for being so thoughtful and continually housing art that never ceases to get people to think!
Now I’m sure I’m just being overly sensitive, but the reason why I didn’t give this place five-​stars is because every time I’m here… the curator or whoever is sitting behind the desk GLAAAAAAAAAARES at me like she’s waiting for me to steal a piece of art. I understand I have a face that screams, «I solemnly swear I am up to no good,» and that I once tried to take a picture of the art work here (I only did it because someone else next to me did it, but the lady behind the desk chose ONLY to reprimand me and not the middle aged man who was also at fault). So… maybe a tad more trust or respect towards those of us younger-​looking patrons would be appreciated!