3S Artspace concludes its 10th year
When it opened to the public in 2015, 3S Artspace got its name in reference to three spaces: art, music and food. That later evolved into three senses, Executive Director Beth Falconer recalled recently, “but then everyone was like, ‘It’s more than three senses’ — and we don’t want to be limited to three spaces.”
Later, the rule of three would reflect the years before, during and after the pandemic. To mark the Portsmouth gallery’s 10th anniversary, they’re harkening back to an exhibit that happened near the end of its first phase. “Third Space” is three curated environments with multifaceted artwork, music and a dose of the spirit that drives 3S Artspace.
Works by regional artists including Jess Dickey, Terry Golson, Aurora Robson and Adrienne Elise Tarver fill “The Garden,” a tropical answer to wintry outside temperatures. It’s curated by 3S board member Emily Leach, who was inspired by trips with her then-small children to Wentworth Greenhouses in Rollinsford.
“We’d breathe the warm air, explore the lush plants, and wonder at the living art sculptures they create,” Leach recalled on 3S’s website. “I designed this room to bring me back to that time and give families a way to experience that same feeling through beautiful and innovative works of art.”
Curated by documentarian, photographer, ski designer and board member Harrison Buck, the “Après Ski Lounge” has works by Buck in collaboration with tattoo artist Heather Quinn, Parlor Skis and Dana Schultz. Tracing Buck’s creative path, it’s called “a love letter to the natural world and a conduit for human connection, design experimentation, and storytelling.”
Art and the Seacoast’s buoyant music community join together in “The Listening Room.” It features posters that papercutting artist Dylan Metrano created for the Diaspora Radio concert series at Portsmouth’s Press Room, and vinyl records playing songs from the iconic albums that inspired them.
Metrano is also a musician and a chocolatier; he runs La Nef Chocolate in Mohegan, Maine, with his wife, a fellow artist. He approached Diaspora Radio creator Stu Dias after their first show, a performance of Music From Big Pink by The Band in September 2021, and offered to do a woodcutting poster for the next concert.
“It was Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On,” Metrano said in mid-December. “They’d used the actual album cover for their poster, and I thought I could do something a little more creative … I didn’t know that it would go on for years and years. I just wanted to do it.”
His distinctive interpretations became synonymous with the event and have been the subject of a few exhibitions, like one at Ceres Bakery that ran last October and November. It included two of his favorites, The Whites Stripes’ Elephant and his first one of Marvin Gaye. Both are among those on display at the 3S exhibit, which runs through Jan. 25.
“Third Space”
When: Thursday to Saturday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Sunday, noon to 5 p.m., through Jan. 25
Where: 3S Artspace, 319 Vaughan St., Portsmouth
More: 3sarts.org
Also Friday, Jan. 2, 5-8 p.m. during Portsmouth Art ’Round Town
Featured photo: Diaspora Radio Poster by Dylan Metrano.