UMF Emery Community Arts Center presents “A Retrospective, Interrupted: Landscape Paintings by Phil Poirier” June 13 – Sept. 17

FARMINGTON, ME (May 21, 2026)—The UMF Emery Community Arts Center is excited to be exhibiting the artwork of Rumford native Phil Poirier with “A Retrospective, Interrupted: Landscape Paintings by Phil Poirier.”The solo exhibit will be on display in Emery’s Flex Gallery from June 13 – Sept. 17, 2026, with an opening reception Saturday, June 13, from 5-7 p.m. It is free and open to the public.

This exhibit features 40-plus years of Poirier’s work and is a celebration of new work as he finds his way back to landscape painting.

Working in acrylics on canvas and masonite, Poirier’s art is informed by the Zen aesthetics of simplicity and asymmetry, and focused on a viewing experience that quiets the mind, distilling the essence of place. He brings to canvas his boyhood environs—the western mountains of Maine: cool mountain lakes, tumbling rock-filled icy streams and the tangled spruce-fir forest, cut only by footpaths.

In his early work, he strove for hyperrealism, labeling his work as neo-luminism, after the luminist movement of the mid-nineteenth century. Luminism implied that the landscape was imbued with the spiritual, represented by light, almost always with a reference to man.

But Poirier asserted that the existence of man is already implied by the artifact of the painting itself, leaving out traces of man in his landscapes. He asserts that for him too, nature is imbued with the spiritual, though his recent work has moved away from the stylistic precision embodied by luminism. Rather, it generally has become more impressionistic, a bit looser, with a more saturated and vibrant color palette.

Poirier admires Maine artists Tom Crotty, Allan Magee and Neil Welliver, as well as the graphic and color sense of N.C. Wyeth. In particular, Welliver helped Phil see that it was ok to paint the interior of Maine

Gathering source material for his paintings, Poirier spends chunks of time in the backcountry, including multi-day solo trips — always with a camera. This is home. His place of solace; of inspiration and mindfulness.

Poirier is a graduate of the University of Southern Maine. He was awarded the Carina House Monhegan Artists Residency in 1996 when he spent five weeks on Monhegan Island, painting and hiking the island’s natural wonders. His work has been shown at a number of Maine galleries including Frost Gully Gallery, Greenhut Gallery, Bayview Gallery, Mast Cove Gallery, The Baline House and the Jameson Gallery.

You can view his work here: www.philpoirier.com

The Emery Community Arts Center gallery is located on Academy St. (between Main St. and High St.) in downtown Farmington. During the summer, the gallery is open Tuesday – Saturday, 12 – 6 p.m.

For more information contact Ann Bartges, director of UMF Emery Community Arts Center at ann.bartges@maine.edu or 207-778-7461.

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EDITOR’S NOTE:

Image: https://farmington.edu/app/uploads/2026/05/RP256-041A.webp
Photo Caption: Phil Poirier- Morning, Cathedral Woods
Photo Credit: Submitted Image

Image: https://farmington.edu/app/uploads/2026/05/RP256-041B.webp
Photo Caption: Phil Poirier – Holding On, acrylic on canvas
Photo Credit: Submitted Image

Image: https://farmington.edu/app/uploads/2026/05/RP256-041C.webp
Photo Caption: Phil Poirier- Open Water, acrylic on masonite
Photo Credit: Submitted Image

Image: https://farmington.edu/app/uploads/2026/05/RP256-041D.webp
Photo Caption: Phil Poirier
Photo Credit: Submitted Image