Celeste Roberge

“Algae Visions Triptych,” Celeste Roberge & Joy Drury Cox

“Algae Visions Triptych,” Celeste Roberge & Joy Drury Cox

Celeste Roberge and Joy Drury Cox first met in 2003 at the University of Florida, where Joy was a graduate MFA student. As a member of Joy’s graduate thesis committee, Celeste played a vital and influential role in expanding Joy’s art practice and research interests. Over the years, they have kept in touch and traveled together on various art adventures. In 2005, they visited Robert Smithson’s Spiral Jetty on the 35th anniversary of its creation. That year the infamous earthwork had just re-emerged from the Great Salt Lake in Utah after twenty years of being underwater.

This collaborative series of photographs is the culmination of Celeste’s vision to create a performative self-portrait with algae. After two years of dreaming and planning, this project became the epitome of Celeste’s decade-long immersion into seaweed research.

Algae Dreams and Algae Visions have emerged from meditations on the primordial chaos of the North Atlantic and the elegant, sinuous, silken forms that sway with the currents and the tides. These photographs speak to their shared interests in water and the fluidity of time in relation to the body and the natural world.

Education
Maine College of Art, Portland, ME, 1979
Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Skowhegan, ME, 1979
Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, 1986

Resides
South Portland, ME

Fellowships/Residencies/Grants

2019 - The Arctic Circle Art/Science Expedition, Svalbard, Norway
2018 - Artist Residency, Monson Arts, Monson, ME
2017, 2011, 2010 - Maine College of Art Artist Residencies
2013 - Arts/Industry Residency in the Foundry, John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Kohler, WI
2008 - William Randolph Hearts Fellowship for Creative Artists, American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, MA
1998, 1991 - Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant, New York, NY

Public Collections

Macpage, LLC, Kohler, Inc., John Michael Kohler Art Center, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Emory University, Agnes Scott College, Nevada Museum of Art, Jackson Laboratories, The Gardner Group, Portland Museum of Art, Farnsworth Art Museum, Textile Arts Foundation, Harn Museum of Art, Runnymede Sculpture Farm, University of New England

Solo Exhibitions

  • 2018 - “Thinking While Walking Under the Sea,” Waterfall Arts, Belfast, ME

  • 2017 - “Drawing with Seaweed,” PhoPa Gallery, Portland, ME

  • 2014 - “Ocean Floors,” Crisp-Ellert Art Museum, Flagler College, St. Augustine, FL

  • 2014 - “Cyanotype Project,” University of South Florida, St. Petersburg, FL

  • 2010 - 2014 - “Granite Sofa,” installed at the Farnsworth Art Museum, Rockland, ME

  • 2007 - “Miniature Stacks,” Atlantic Center for the Arts, Harris House, New Smyrna Beach, FL

  • 2006 - “Mountains & Miniatures,” Aucocisco Gallery, Portland, ME

  • 2003 - “Stacks for Home & Office,” A.V.C. Contemporary Arts Gallery, New York, NY

  • 2002 - “Quarry,” Farnsworth Art Museum, Rockland, ME

  • 2002 - “Sitting Room,” Outdoor Sculpture Installation, Gulf Coast Museum of Art, Largo, FL

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