After departing their space in Kittery Foreside midwinter, Just Us Chickens has re-opened on Route 236, two doors down from the Post Office. The cooperatively-run gallery has been a fixture in Kittery for seven years. Their retail store offers a mix of locally-made arts, jewelry, clothing, household items and more.

spring fever breaks into summer art shows

First the trees bud, then the tulips pop, the green grass grows, then come the summer art shows. Spring on the Seacoast is bursting with vivid color after a long gray winter, and so are art galleries throwing open their doors for the new summer season. This year, they’ll be joined by a new crop of outdoor markets, murals, sculpture gardens and artwalks.

The fourth annual ArtPM Challenge brings amateurs and professionals together for a show at Buoy Gallery in Kittery.

This year, the challenge was met by 86 artists. Paintings, drawings, prints, mixed-media collages and photographs deck the gallery walls. The overall installation is bold, bright and colorful, a welcome contrast when stepping in from the slushy streetscape outside.

The power of Hyatt’s black and white photography is that it distills images, focusing the viewer on primal elements. At the center of this epic are the famed ruins of Machu Picchu aloft vertiginous mountain peaks. Hyatt conveys the power and beauty of the highland’s natural world and the deferential relationship of an indigenous population to its rugged and mystical landscape. He seems particularly interested in the duality of humanity versus nature, heightened by the monochromatic medium of black and white film. In many of photos the population is portrayed as weary, even skeptical, except when they are looking to the sky.

A year ago, on New Year’s Eve, Portsmouth artist Patrick Healey had just finished a painting and was raising a toast of celebration when the First Night fireworks went off, and it seemed the whole city was celebrating with him. Healey had just reached his goal of painting 100 paintings in ten months, moving quickly, not dwelling, almost not even thinking. “Don’t worry about the way you used to paint,” he told himself. “Don’t get stuck on a painting. If you start running into that, rip it up.” He ripped up three.

Sculptor Emile Birch and sixth- and seventh-grade students from the Indian River School in Canaan have collaborated to create New Hampshire’s official ornaments for the 2012 National Christmas Tree that will be on display at President’s Park in Washington, D.C., throughout December.

Works by 13 area artists appear in the 2013 “Artists of the Seacoast” calendar, now on sale to benefit Families First Health & Support Center. The cover painting, “Blue Water” by Lennie Mullaney of Portsmouth, was part of a Memorial Bridge series that the artist completed for her UNH Master in Fine Arts Exhibition.

Newburyport artist Sandy Farrier has found a way to blend his passion for design and theater. He’ll premiere his theater “Posters for Plays Not Yet Written” at the Firehouse Center for the Arts in January.

Newburyport artist Sandy Farrier has found a way to blend his passion for design and theater. He’ll premiere his theater “Posters for Plays Not Yet Written” at the Firehouse Center for the Arts in January.

Kim Ferreira ends nine years at Portsmouth’s Three Graces Gallery with her first solo show.

In classical mythology, the Three Graces are goddesses of human creativity, and have stood for and served as muses for many artists. Three Graces Gallery in downtown Portsmouth has done much the same. It has forwarded the careers of all the talented artists that showed their work under its sign, an image of the goddesses immortalized by Italian painter Raphael. While owner Kim Ferreira is understandably proud of how the gallery has promoted other artists for the past nine years, she has made personal sacrifices to do so, including putting her own artwork last. For this and other reasons, Three Graces will close at the end of this year. Its last exhibit will be the first solo show of paintings by Ferreira, opening with a reception during Art ’Round Town on Friday, Dec. 7, from 5 to 8 p.m.

Kim Bernard’s kinetic sculptures have a lot of explaining to do at the Discover Portsmouth Center.

Large circles of fabric are suspended from the ceiling of the Discover Portsmouth Center, with symmetrical patterns applied by Kim Bernard. That is the art of it.

A visiting artist from Portsmouth in “Old” England compares the coasts in illustrations at Drift.

For his narrative drawings, British artist Arran Mackintosh says history is the best source for stories. “You don’t need an author, especially where I come from. It’s just steeped in history,” he said. “You’re almost spoiled for choice.” Mackintosh came from the original Portsmouth in “Old” England to spend three days ambitiously illustrating our Portsmouth here in New England, as the winner of the Seapoint International Artist Residency’s “3 Days, 1 Artist” competition.

two new shows contrast the essential lessons of life drawing and still life at UNH

Even for someone with a modern aesthetic toward straight lines, nothing compares to the expressiveness of the shadows of a face or the curves of a figure in a drawing. The two new exhibitions at UNH’s Museum of Art are reminders of that, and all that goes into rendering a believable and relatable likeness of life.

new installations take shape at 3S Artspace and Buoy Gallery

The last weekend in October was all about three-dimensional art. An installation by Emily Bowser opened at 3S Artspace on the same night that Peter Donovan, who painted the mural on the outside of the building, and Steve Orr, one of the studio tenants inside it, opened a show of their work at Buoy Gallery. Both venues give artists the freedom and room for site specific installations and have become known for the kind of original, noncommercial art that makes an exhibition an experience.

Walk into the warm embrace of the area’s art museums this autumn and feel the love for art, from epic classical pieces to hip contemporary collections.

Displayed in the quiet atmosphere of the Seacoast African American Cultural Center, the fabrics in Nora Bailey’s collection of patterned quilts brighten the center’s otherwise bare walls. The show, “Quilt Expo 2012,” features a collection of quilts stitched by Bailey as well as antique quilts she has purchased.

Emerging artists "Taking Flight" at Soo Rye Gallery

One of these up-and-coming artists is Alexandrea Paige Noonan, whose figurative paintings show off a mature sophistication and classical training. But she says most of her works, including those on display, are extended narratives about her personal struggles, fears and ambitions as a young woman. Two are focused specifically on the transition from teenager to young adult, referred to as “The Odyssey Years.”

Art 2 Go gala at Buoy benefits Seacoast Outright youth programs

Ten years ago, Andrew Houldsworth snuck a note into the lunchboxes of each of his parents, telling them he’s gay. At school that day, he handed out similar notes to his friends in the cafeteria. “I just didn’t want to say it,” he said. With the help of Seacoast Outright, Houldsworth learned to talk about his sexual orientation in support groups, and eventually, he even shared his story with the public as part of the nonprofit’s outreach and leadership programming. This week, he'll be at a fundraiser to support their work.

Home and abroad combine in collaged photographs by Julee Holcombe in Portsmouth.

In this series, Holcombe experiments with a technique called angle of totality, which is found in the Chinese tradition of scroll paintings and depicts multiple perspectives at once. Though she already practiced a similar technique with her collage work, she said, the tradition is more meditative, based on poetry, pristine beauty and experiencing the moment.

new exhibits, painting demonstrations and live music at Newburyport Artwalk this weekend

The Newburyport ArtWalk is a self-guided tour of galleries that can be done at any time, but there are only four weekends during the year to catch special exhibits, artist discussions, painting demonstrations, and live music at casual receptions throughout the tour.

Unique plein air paintings by Liz Wilson and Jesse James Thomas are on display at Main Street Art in Newfields

Art lets us see someone else’s vision, and in this case, we see double.

The third “Let’s Help Deb!” fundraising event is scheduled for Friday, Aug. 3, from 6 to 9 p.m., at the Newmarket Creativity Center.

Tim Beavis’ beach paintings and more are on display at York Library

Local landscapes are at once familiar and yet unmistakably marked by Tim Beavis' unique perspective and abstract edge, just as each is similar but none are exactly the same.

The Exeter Arts Committee is seeking submissions for its third annual “30 Under 30” group exhibition to be shown at the Exeter Town Hall Gallery in October. This showcase of contemporary Seacoast artists under 30 years of age is an opportunity for young professionals to be seen and gain experience. For the viewers, it provides a preview of up-and-coming artists.