“Implements” will feature found object sculpture by Maureen Block, Ellen Gibson, Mildred Johnson and Jonathan Price from Jan. 17 to Feb. 8, at the Harlow Gallery, 160 Water St. The public is invited to meet the artists at an opening reception from 5-8 p.m. Friday, Jan, 17.

About the artists:

Maureen Block worked at her small, family-owned sawmill for 20 years while raising three sons. She now works at Spindleworks in Brunswick mentoring artists with disabilities and she is studio assistant to artist Mildred Johnson. With minimal formal education in art, the heart of her work lies in the rusty surfaces and smooth patina of found objects and the stories they tell. Block describes her sculpture as an attempt to bind a history and place with new narratives. She especially credits the influences of design and spirit found in the art of the Inuit, African and Oceanic peoples.

Ellen Gibson has been a furniture maker and sculptor for 40 years using a wide variety of materials. Her work ranges from larger than life-sized figures and objects to small jewelry. All materials have a narrative quality – size, weight, feel, patina, history – and Gibson chooses materials for these characteristics, using found objects as well as fabricated parts and work in several series at one time. Tools — how they are used and who uses them — are important references. The connections between parts and the transitions between materials are very important to the artist and the hardware she chooses is as specific as the materials used. Gibson received an MFA from the Mass. College of Art and currently resides in Hallowell.

Mildred Johnson graduated from the University of Oregon in 1948 with a degree in architecture. After working in San Francisco and New York City as an architect/designer, she moved to the Boston area and began her career as a painter and fiber artist. She taught weaving and design for many years and exhibited widely in and around Boston. Johnson moved to Maine in 2004 and maintains a studio at Fort Andross in Brunswick where she is working on assemblages and mixed media collage. She lives in Topsham.

Of her work as an artist Johnson said, “I honestly can’t remember a time when I wasn’t making art. As a kid I used to find scraps of wood and other junk and make my own toys, so my interest in building has been with me for a long time. I guess I’ve never really grown up – I’m still playing with found materials – and I still feel the excitement of discovery that I remember as a child.”

Jonathan Price spends most of his time wandering around looking for things that usually don’t exist. When his motorbike runs out of gas, or his legs get too tired he then sets out to create what it is he couldn’t find. He works at SpinOff Studios in Hallowell and lives in West Gardiner.

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