CRAFT Gallery will open the fall season Friday, Sept. 6, with a new body of work by Portland artist Lissa Hunter. "Same Voice/Different Song" will be Hunter's first solo show at CRAFT, located in the courtyard at 12 Elm St., which will host her in an opening reception from 5 to 8 p.m.

The gallery will present large charcoal drawings on white gessoed archival paper, as well as Hunter's signature three-dimensional shelf arrangements of objects made of clay. Clay has become the foundation of her current work, replacing basketry as a medium to bring drawing, sculpture and craft together.

“Thirty-five years of working in fiber, mostly basketry, had left me spent … And so you see in this work new materials and processes. But I hope that you see what I see, hear what I hear. Same voice, different song," she said.

Hunter is a sought-after spokesperson for the arts in writing, teaching and mentoring. She has had a Yaddo residency and teaches workshops at Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, where she is on the Board of Trustees. Her work is in the permanent collection of Smithsonian's Renwick Gallery in Washington, D.C., as well as in private, corporate and museum collections. Her book "Histories Real and Imagined" by Abby Johnston will be available during the show.

Also on view will be new work by selected gallery artists. CRAFT hours are from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays and 1 to 4 p.m. Sundays. For more information, call 594-0167 and visit craftonelm.com.

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

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