PORTLAND — In July, Maine artist Anna Hepler will construct a monumental installation inside the Portland Museum of Art’s Great Hall. Made from a nestlike mesh of salvaged and sewn sheet plastic, this installation titled “The Great Haul” will be part of an exhibition of Hepler’s work that continues on the museum’s fourth floor.

“Anna Hepler: Makeshift,” on view July 24 through Oct.17, will also include 20 prints and a related inflatable sculpture. This will be Hepler’s first solo exhibition at the PMA, and is the first in a new series of exhibitions called “Circa” that will explore compelling aspects of contemporary art in the state of Maine.

“The Great Haul” installation will take advantage of the architectural eccentricities of the museum’s expansive entry space. Layers of latticed plastic will be hung from the clerestory, 22 feet above the floor, and extend downward nearly to the ground, drawing attention to the geometric volume of the space and the effects of outdoor light on the translucency of plastic.

On the museum’s fourth floor, Hepler will exhibit a second installation made from re-purposed plastic along with a series of cyanotypes (blue prints) and drypoint prints. These prints combine photographic and traditional print-making techniques with imagery that relates to her three-dimensional installations. Like her sculptural pieces, the forms pictured in these prints are semi-transparent and defined by light.

Hepler, who has lived in Maine for eight years, has exhibited widely throughout the country. She has taught at the Maine College of Art in Portland and at Bowdoin College in Brunswick. She recently completed large-scale installations at Open Satellite in Bellevue, Wash., Montserrat College of Art in Beverly, Mass., and he Center for Maine Contemporary Art in Rockport. She also has solo shows planned for 2010 at the Nancy Margolis Gallery in New York and at Icon Contemporary Art in Brunswick.


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