Unity — The Portland Museum of Art released its list of artists for this autumn’s PMA Biennial March 15. Among 28 artists selected from nearly 900 entries is Abbie Read of Appleton. “The 2013 Portland Museum of Biennial: Piece Work,” the PMA’s eighth consecutive biennial and the first to include a subtitle, will run Oct. 3 through Jan. 5.

Closer to the Midcoast, the Leonard R Craig Gallery at Unity College presents “Abbie Read: Library” through April 7. A closing reception will be held Thursday, April 4, from 5 to 7 p.m. The reception is free and open to the public, and refreshments will be provided. The gallery is located in the Unity College Center for the Performing Arts, 42 Depot St.

Read’s mixed media construction “Library” was created from old books, altered books, parts of books and assemblage employing the clam shell or portfolio box. Inspired by old and odd objects, the patina of time on the surface of things and the art of collecting, the wall of curiosities is 7.5-feet high and runs 18 feet in length. In addition to the installation, several individual mixed media pieces are on display.

As an undergraduate, Read studied printmaking and art history at Oberlin College, graduating in 1978. Following seven years teaching art at Concord Academy, in Concord, Mass., she and her husband relocated to Ann Arbor, Mich., where she attended the School of Art at the University of Michigan, receiving her MFA in 1991. Abbie and her husband Bart moved permanently to Appleton in 1998, where she works daily in her studio on Appleton Ridge. In Maine, she has taken classes with Rebecca Goodale in order to hone her technical skills in making artist books.

For more information, contact Ben Potter, professor of art and curator of the Leonard R. Craig Gallery, at 948-9239 or bpotter@unity.edu. Depot Street is off Route 202 and is open during events and by appointment.

Courier Publications’ A&E Editor Dagney C. Ernest can be reached at (207) 594-4401, ext. 115 or dernest@courierpublicationsllc.com.