Portland Museum of Art exhibits photographic portraits of actors and artists.

The Portland Museum of Art’s growing collection of celebrity portraits reveals the ways appearance helps define public perception of an artist’s work. In Doisneau’s “Poster Artist Savignac,” the artist appears to be interacting with or even part of his painting of a man playing chess. Saul Steinberg is captured from afar as if part of the mural on the wall, while Fernand Leger is shown among his works with similar clothes and expression to his subjects.

Over the course of his prolific career, the subjects of Antonio Frasconi’s illustrations have ranged from the playful animals in his first book, “Twelve Fables of Aesop,” to a dictatorship’s torture victims in his magnum opus, “The Disappeared.” The collection currently on display at Phillips Exeter Academy’s Lamont Art Gallery reveals the magic particular to his children’s illustrations, which came directly out of a devotion to his own sons.

If you’re looking for immediate evidence of the benefits of New Hampshire’s Percent for Art Program, look no further than the new conference center at Hampton Beach State Park. The recently completed facility includes a large mural by Eliot, Maine-based artist Gordon Carlisle, titled “A Delicate Balance.”

More than 100 fine art photographs are currently on display in the New Hampshire Society of Photographic Artists’ 13th annual exhibit and sale at the Exeter Town Hall Gallery. The show includes black and white silver gelatin prints, conventional color prints, pinhole photography, hand-made contact prints and digital images printed on archival papers.

Rochester artist Daryl-Ann Hurst has taken over as curator of the gallery at The Stone Church in Newmarket, and she’s kicked off her duties with a display of her own recent work, titled “Art in Small Places.”

evolving artist collaboration adds a new “Flavor” to Izzy’s for 3S show in Portsmouth

This week, Sarah Haskell makes her mark on an evolving art exhibition that two other artists have already begun. Each of three artists will make three changes to the storefront at different intervals during the display. They are allowed to add new materials or manipulate existing ones, but not remove them, so that they are building on the work of others. Their modifications remain on view undisturbed for a week before the next artist responds.

The third annual ArtPM Challenge kicks off on Wednesday, Feb. 1. Artists are once again encouraged to invoke their creative powers and complete one original piece of visual art in the month of February.

a closer look at the Seacoast in recent works by Tom Glover at the Franklin Gallery

Distinctive pieces of fishing piers—buoys, lobster traps, the hull of a boat—come together and overlap in a way that compounds memory and emotion in Tom Glover’s newest collection of paintings. His semiabstract approach does more to capture the character of the Seacoast than most typical realistic landscapes, which he is also capable of producing.

The nonprofit Rochester Museum of Fine Arts will open to the public this summer.

A board of directors and a jury of artists led by Matt Wyatt, of Wyatt Studios, plan to establish the Rochester Museum of Fine Arts in June. The board is still deciding between three locations in the Lilac City that have accepted their proposal, including Granite State College’s regional campus. Wyatt said they may end up filling more than one space, though all the options are large.

The year in art was marked by public murals, interactive shows and installations

The booming Seacoast art scene was decidedly less passive in 2011 and more of an in-your-face presence. Standout exhibitions offered contemporary public art in unexpected places, interactive and evolving installations, all inclusive workshops, and surprising uses of multimedia.

Portsmouth Athenaeum reveals its annual art show by members and volunteers

An athenaeum is more than just a library. It’s like sacred land for the learned, named after the temple of arts and science established in honor of Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom. The Portsmouth Athenaeum is one of the few remaining of its type, solidly dedicated to local history and culture. And, once a year, the public is invited to see how its members uphold the traditions in their own scholarly and creative endeavors.  That time has arrived with the 16th annual “Proprietors’ and Friends’ Exhibit,” on display through Feb. 3 in the Randall Room.

A photograph allows people to see the world from someone else’s perspective, sometimes a point of view that’s otherwise overlooked. That is essentially what the Shooting Beauty Project is all about. Durham photographer Courtney Bent gives students from Phillips Exeter Academy and the disabled students they volunteer with a camera and an opportunity to show their artwork.

When the ball drops on 2011, some of the season’s most impressive art shows will go down with it. But there’s still time left to treat yourself to a gallery while shopping and celebrating this holiday season.

Wrapping up the year, December’s Art ’Round Town event brought new work by familiar names and a few surprises to Portsmouth galleries.

rock and roll photography is on display now at Wyatt Studios and the Currier Museum

Shortly after John Lennon moved to New York in 1971 with Yoko Ono, Bob Gruen became his personal photographer and friend, capturing both his career and private life. A few years later, he created iconic images of Lennon wearing a New York City T-shirt, which will be among the photos featured at Rochester’s Wyatt Art Studios in December.

holiday fairs, bazaars, art shows and open studios are filled with creative gifts

The calendar is unruly with fun ways to find creative and conscientious gifts of local art and handmade crafts, from holiday bazaars and craft fairs to open studios and small works sales.

This year’s holiday exhibit at the Soo Rye Art Gallery opens with a reception on Saturday, Nov. 19, from 5 to 7 p.m. The second annual “Precious” show includes small works from local and international artists that are smaller than 14 by 16 inches and priced under $300, making them potential holiday gift options.

Wentworth Greenhouses in Rollinsford will again host seven crafts markets during the coming winter farmers’ markets, beginning on Saturday, Nov. 19, and continuing on select Saturdays through March 24, featuring ten regional crafts people.

The Button Factory Open Studios, now in their 25th year, are among the oldest and most anticipated holiday arts events on the Seacoast. A preview of this year’s event with artist tenants will be held on Friday, Dec. 2, from 5 to 8 p.m., and the open studios continue with even more artists on Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 3 and 4, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

ABC News correspondent Jay Schadler opens a new gallery and studio in downtown Portsmouth.

Schadler has worked for nearly 30 years as a correspondent and anchor for ABC News. Looking back, he said his favorite journalistic experiences came during a series of hitchhiking treks around the United States beginning in 1995. Starting on Plum Island in Massachusetts, equipped with two cameras and followed by a small production crew, he stuck out his thumb and embarked on a cross-country trip. “In 10 days I crossed the country, 35 rides,” Schadler said. “It reminded me that the most compelling, remarkable, outlandishly surprising stories are in that next car, around that next corner, if you just open yourself to it.”

concert hall, art gallery and restaurant now planned for former site of Lollipop Tree

The minds behind 3S Artspace have shifted their attention to a new location closer to downtown Portsmouth. They’ve signed a five-year lease agreement and purchase option for the building at 319 Vaughan St., former site of the Lollipop Tree.

all are invited to celebrate Day of the Dead with McLaughlin-Hills Gallery

Under an arch of marigolds, there’s an altar to ancestors in preparation for Day of the Dead, just like Mexican tradition—except this one is in Portsmouth. That, and the flowers are artificial. But the sentiment is all real.

A haunting art exhibition of masks, props and costumes created for, or inspired by, the Portsmouth Halloween Parade is currently hanging at The Press Room. This year, many of the pieces have not yet been worn in the parade, and so they may disappear briefly on Monday, Oct. 31.

Antique pottery collections from the renowned China Students’ Club close out the season at the Discover Portsmouth Center.

“Fired Up” celebrates 75 years of collecting and studying ceramics by the China Students’ Club, which was founded in Boston during the Great Depression. The hardships of the 1930s encouraged many people to collect as an investment. And while that may continue to be true for the future, most collectors are also interested in the history, which can tie them to their grandmothers or another generation, or even a remarkable character like George Washington.