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.

The Portsmouth Museum of Art caused a commotion when it commissioned street artists to paint murals around the city for the exhibition “Street a.k.a. Museum,” while showing other examples inside at One Harbour Place from May through September.

With permission from private owners and a go-ahead from the city, people had the rare opportunity to meet and watch normally elusive street artists at work. And the public murals allowed street art to be seen in its true context. The show ran in conjunction with one in Los Angeles, giving the city some publicity as a contemporary hot spot and adding an urban edge and pop of color.

The internationally recognized artists included Herakut, Alexandros Vasmoulakis, Andreas von Chrzanowski, HERA, Shark Toof and Bumblebee. And the locations included the Harbour Place Marina, summer storage units at Prescott Park, the Marple and James building, the Bartlett Street railroad overpass, Papa Wheelies Bicycle Shop, Granite State Minerals, Kaffee Vonsolln, and a storefront on State Street. Several of the murals remain, but the historical quote on the overpass was painted over and a piece by Bumblebee on a former gas station was vandalized.

Through workshops, the museum encouraged student artists to collect mockups of their own designs in a sketch book. Some hoped the high level of creative and technical talent shown by the artists would help solidify the difference between public art and vandalism.

But the project drew its share of critics, as some found the public artwork unappealing and feared it would incite graffiti, a problem law enforcement has been battling for years. In addition to several letters to newspaper editors debasing the murals for not fitting in with Portsmouth’s historical downtown, a group of residents circulated a petition that gathered about 50 signatures. The noise has since quieted down.

After two years, the Portsmouth Museum of Art recently left its Harbour Place location and is expected to announce a new one in 2012. The criteria include the ability to present even more diverse and interesting work from emerging artists worldwide.

Other public art was instigated by 3S Artspace. Although its permanent venue isn’t expected to open until the fall of 2012, 3S has already established a presence with its creative collaborations in the Open Space series. The multipurpose venue co-founded by Chris Greiner and John Gayle is slated to include a mid-sized performance hall, a non-commercial art gallery and a farm-to-table restaurant at 319 Vaughan St., former site of the Lollipop Tree.

The first art project 3S initiated was a local version of “Before I Die…,” which set up a temporary chalkboard at Strawbery Banke Museum over the summer. It invited individuals to complete the sentence “Before I die I want to...,” and made public some of the secret longings and reasons for living within the community.

Next came the sensational “21 Rooms,” in which selected artists spent two days and nights in the Nevada Motel, across from Long Sands Beach in York, Maine, using it as a temporary studio to create an interactive exhibition on Sept. 23. Every room had a unique art installation or performance piece, from the sentimental recreating of a retro era to the contemporary commentary of covering surfaces with insulating Tyvec HomeWrap. 

Among the local artists to participate were Katherine Doyle of New Castle, Stephanie Cornell of Portsmouth, Carly Glovinski of Dover, and Sarah Baldwin of Wells, Maine. Others came from around the Northeast and as far away as Dallas.

Beginning Saturday, Dec. 31, 3S will present “Flavor: A Collaborative Art Installation” in the windows and interior of Izzy’s Frozen Yogurt at 33 Bow St. in Portsmouth. Regional artists Laura Braciale of Manchester, Kate Doyle of New Castle, and Sarah Haskell of York will take turns manipulating existing materials and adding new ones to the initial installation. Each modification will remain on view undisturbed for one week before the next artist responds with her changes. It runs through March 10.

More outdoor art was on view this summer at the Wentworth-Coolidge Mansion in Portsmouth, where “Art Encounters Preservation” brought installation art into the 250-year-old house and its surrounding grounds for the first time. Thirty artists from across the country and Europe created work specifically designed in response to the site’s history, artistic legacy, and waterside environment. Many replicated people and objects from local history, fusing the preserved past with contemporary reinterpretations.

The Wentworth-Coolidge Commission provided a map and artist statements so that each installation could be found and identified. It made for a fun scavenger hunt, revealing parts of the property that may be overlooked on an average tour.

The artwork carried the eye to unused shelves, off-limits stairways, up to slanted attics, down to the basement and onto trails outside. The exhibit challenged observers to think differently and more in depth about the property, with installations composed of ceramics, wood, embroidery, paint, photography, video and even sound.

The exhibit was curated by Allison Newsome, of Harvard University, who contributed “Pastoral,” a clay cornucopia sculpture on a round hay bale outside, and “Grain Cradle,” with hay-making imagery inside a baby’s bed in the mansion. Both hinted at changes made to water and land over time, specifically, the clearing of wilderness for agriculture.

Buoy Gallery in Kittery, Maine, enhanced its art offerings this year with a number of site-specific installations, including Jason Turgeon’s “When It Snows in May: (Bury Your Lambs) No. 2,” a minimal series of slanted walls with metal inserts. The was also “The Face that Tastes the Place” by Boozefox, a larger-than-life alien sculpture and stage made from painted cardboard, and “Unprisoning,” a collaboration of composer Agnes Charlesworth, poet Kimberly Cloutier Green and painter Cappy Whelan combining sounds, words and images.

Another highlight of 2011 was the emergence of the McLaughlin-Hills Gallery, which opened on State Street in Portsmouth in mid December of 2010. The gallery represents several Mexican artists, including Eloy Aquino Perez, Santiago Martinez, Estéban Urbieta, Fernando M. Diaz and Rolando Siguenza.

Rochester bolstered its art scene with Wyatt Art Studios, founded over the summer by natives Matt Wyatt and Mandie Haynes. The gallery adds significantly to the developing contemporary culture in the Lilac City, which has been anchored by Artstream Studios and Art Espirt. Art Espirt’s 2011 public art exhibition was “Rochester Creates: Portraits,” a sculpture made up of hundreds of paintings by community members. The work will soon be transported to the Rochester Community Center for permanent display.

Wyatt is also CEO of the Rochester Museum of Fine Art, which is expected to open in July at 1 Old Dover Road.

Portsmouth recently gained the Jay Schadler Studio, showing photography by the Emmy Award-winning correspondent at 82 Fleet St. This year also saw the return of Piscataqua Fine Arts at a new location, 123 Market St., featuring reduction woodcut artist Don Gorvett and other New England artists.