LA Arts exhibit features new works by Lewiston artist

LEWISTON — The Gallery at LA Arts will be exhibiting paintings by Lewiston native William Manning, featuring a newly-completed series of abstract artworks. The exhibition will be on view 11 a.m.to 3 p.m. Wednesday to Sunday through April 28, at the gallery, 221 Lisbon St. Admission to the gallery is free.

Manning, born in 1936, grew up in Lewiston and has lived in Maine his entire life. An artist strongly influenced by the Abstract Expressionist movement, Manning’s works combine geometric and organic forms that are emotional responses to the Maine landscape. Manning observes that landscape paintings are, in many ways, abstractions of what the artist actually sees; his abstractions are no less representational. The “SOLITUDE” paintings in this exhibit are lyrical in their composition and reveal an experienced and sensitive use of color.
For more than 40 years, Manning spent the fall season on Monhegan Island, which has served as an inspiration for prominent 20th-century artists. As an abstract artist, Manning has taken a very different approach in his responses to the island landscape, but as a native of Maine, he believes he has a better understanding of and feeling for the place.
A recipient of awards from the National Endowment for the Arts and the MacDowell Colony, as well as being a finalist for the Prix de Rome, Manning taught for 10 years at the Portland School of Art (now the Maine College of Art) before becoming one of the co-founders of the Concept School of Visual Studies, in Portland, where he taught from 1969 -1973. His work has been included in numerous exhibitions in the U.S. and abroad. He has had solo exhibitions at the Farnsworth Art Museum, the Bates College Museum of Art and the University of New England Gallery of Art.