The Mid-Season Exhibitions Are Open at Barn Gallery. The doors opened on Saturday evening, June 27th, and Barn Gallery filled up the way it always does when Ogunquit’s art community has something worth gathering for. The Opening Reception for the Mid-Season Exhibitions drew a steady crowd from 4 to 7 PM — collectors leaning in close to read labels, artists catching up with each other in the middle of the gallery floor, first-time visitors working their way slowly from wall to wall. The food table anchored one end of the room, but most people barely made it that far before something on the walls stopped them.
Regional Artists: An Open, Juried Show, one of Barn Gallery’s most closely watched annual exhibitions. This year’s juror is Pamela Moulton, known professionally as Posey, a Maine-based environmental artist whose large-scale installations made from salvaged materials have been exhibited across the country and internationally. The Open Juried Show draws emerging and established artists from across New England — including Ogunquit Art Association artists, giving the full exhibition a breadth that a single-source show rarely achieves.
Running concurrently is the Ogunquit Art Association Members’ Show — which pulls together painters, photographers, graphic artists, and sculptors working across a wide range of subject and medium, and the result is a hang that rewards time. There’s no single dominant style or theme — oil next to photography next to mixed media, landscapes alongside abstraction alongside figurative work — just as it’s always been. The Ogunquit Art Association, founded in 1928 by Charles H. Woodbury and other area artists, brings together professional artists to exhibit their finest work. The OAA’s original mission statement offers the public ‘the opportunity for aesthetic experience and the acquisition of works of art.’ It offers artists life-long memberships and the opportunity ‘to display that which is, in his or her own judgment, his or her finest work, free from the usual vagaries of popular opinion and fashions of taste. This brings into view a true representation of art from the artists’ point of view.’
Outside, the Sculpture Court presents work by OAA sculptors and invited New England sculptors. And inside, the Expanded Collectors Gallery offers ready-to-hang work — nothing larger than 16×20, all priced at $850 or under.
If you weren’t at the reception Saturday, you have until July 25 to see it. The galleries are open, the work is on the walls, and a lot of it won’t be there long.
Scroll down to see photos/video from the event — and to read Posey’s Juror Statement for Regional Artists: An Open, Juried Show…
Photos of the Opening Reception for the 2026 Mid-Season Exhibitions at Barn Gallery (by OAA Artist Member, Dave Wade)
Video of the Opening Reception for the 2026 Mid-Season Exhibitions at Barn Gallery (by OAA Artist Member, Mark Pizza)
View this post on Instagram
Additional Information
The Regional Artists: An Open, Juried Show exhibition visitors are seeing on the walls now started on the floor. Before the hanging, before the reception, the gallery was transformed into something closer to a staging ground — works laid out in corridors across the entire floor, dozens of paintings several rows deep, sculptures on tables and plinths, everything waiting to be seen and decided upon. Volunteers moved pieces on cue. People carried canvases like precious cargo. Hara Harding and Andres Azucena Verzosa even jumped for joy in the middle of it all — see the photos below. OAA artist member Dave Wade was there to photograph the process.
A Note from Deidre O’Flaherty, President, Ogunquit Arts Collaborative/Barn Gallery:
“In 2026, 124 artists entered 206 works of art. The Juror selected 109 pieces – 30 works by 24 members of the Ogunquit Art Association and 79 works by 58 Regional Artists. Congratulations! We thank Posey for selecting an exciting and beautiful exhibition and thank all of the artists who enter work in the exhibition year after year!”
Juror’s Statement by Posey:
Deidre telephoned me nearly two months ago inviting me to jury the Ogunquit Arts Collaborative Open Regional Juried Exhibition at the Barn Gallery. What a distinct honor. Mainers and non-Mainers know that Ogunquit Maine was historically an artist community and that it continues to embrace this reputation and vibrancy. But hearsay and wikipedia are one thing, and walking through the Barn Gallery door experiencing the flash of enthusiasm, bustling artists, camaraderie and a flood of artwork to discover first hand, is another story completely! I was humbled!
I stationed myself in the Barn Gallery parking lot, observing the ebb and flow of art delivery. All ages, artwork of every size, large canvases gently wiggled through hatchbacks, pairs of people holding art in their arms like precious cargo, bubble wrap flapping in the breeze. I peeked inside the windowed space and the gallery was buzzing. I didn’t know what I’d find once inside.
At 3:55 precisely, I entered the well-lit spacious gallery and was taken aback by the sea of artwork before me. Paintings, drawings, collage, photography, sculpture, prints, mediums that stretched my imagination in every direction. Naturally there were works inspired by Maine’s stunning landscapes but also many bold abstractions, works of art that created a quiet. Surprises! Literally hundreds of works!
The art was organized on the floor like dotted lines- several works deep, with no particular order. Encaustic painting beside a photo, or was that a photo? I wandered through the floor maze with passages just large enough for me to traverse each art corridor. There may have been as many as 8 corridors of art to explore – not counting the artwork leaning against walls. On my first wave through the overwhelming number of works, there were paintings that seemed already to be conversing with each other. A group of chartreuse paintings seemed in close discussion, sculptures sequestered to plinths beckoned my presence, a closer scrutiny. Are those contact lenses? This art environment was alive in chatter!
There are always undeniable connections between artworks- as with people. The volunteers were in my wake, shuffling and moving pieces that I signaled to move. They were generous and the greatest pleasure to collaborate with. The space quickly transformed into a different landscape with more spaces to move about.
It was a blind adjudication: the artist’s identity and where they hailed from was secret. My judging criteria was based on originality, personal voice, and technical skill. I have not experienced a juried exhibition where the actual work of art is dropped off on-site for review in decades! This facilitated jurying, allowing me to fully experience the art and materials. What a daunting task to reduce the number of works to close to 100.
I thank all artists for your participation. There was an impressive level of excellence in this year’s work and I applaud the material exploration and experimentation. Your passion is evident throughout the hundreds of entries. It was a tremendously difficult selection process, I wish I had a magic wand and could have expanded the space to accommodate more art. There is no right answer when selecting works from such a broad assortment of art. I honor the artists who helped create this engaging exhibition. Thank you for the opportunity to collaborate with the Ogunquit Arts Collaborative/Barn Gallery and your thriving art community.
Posey
Pamela “Posey” Moulton, Multidisciplinary Artist
www.poseyart.com
Photos of the Jury Process for the 2026 Regional Artists: An Open Juried Show at Barn Gallery (by OAA Artist Member, Dave Wade)
Barn Gallery 2026: Exhibitions, Gallery Talks, Workshops, Demos, Auction, More…
Learn more about the Barn Gallery 2026 Schedule: barngallery.org/2026-season
