BELFAST, Maine — When visitors walk into the Waterfall Arts summer exhibit, “Fermentation,” they might first be struck by the faint scent of pickles.
Their eyes may wander to the mysterious display of glass jars neatly lined up on one wall, the objects inside them floating in a sea of muted color. Then they may catch sight of an old world-style still life photo of a loaf of bread, a pat of butter and a glass of wine or a collection of words cut from old books that are steeping in a solution of vinegar and water.
The exhibit highlights the result of the process of fermentation, seen in the photographs of bread and wine, but also has its eye firmly fixed on the process.
“Fermentation is kind of a good metaphor for the serendipity of artmaking,” Martha Piscuskas, the co-director of Waterfall Arts, said this week. “You’re taking materials and your creative spark. You have an idea, but you don’t know what the end result will be.”
Fermentation, the metabolic process of converting sugars to alcohol, gases and acids, is popular these days — perhaps no surprise for a process that can result in the making of wine, sourdough bread, pickles and cheese. For painter Lesia Sochor of Brooks, who had the idea to mount an exhibit, fermentation also is about her personal history and the tough, sometimes messy process of being an artist.
Sochor, of Ukrainian heritage, said she comes from a “long line of fermenters” and grew up watching her mother make kvass, a fermented beet drink, and sauerkraut. One day, when she was struggling in her studio to make a piece work, she had a realization.
“My brain was just churning, churning, churning away,” Sochor said. “The word ‘ferment’ came to mind. This is what my brain is doing: fermenting. I thought, wouldn’t it be great and interesting to have artists pair up with fermenters? I was completely open. I honestly did not know what would come of it.”
She did know she wanted artists who work in a variety of mediums to explore their ideas of fermentation. While some of the artists did pair up with home or commercial fermenters, others chose not to do so.
In Orono-based artist Susan Smith’s piece, “Slow Cloth/laboratory,” different textiles are tied into knots and put into glass jars filled with liquid and objects that will dye them. She wrote in her artist notes that in a fast technology world, “slow cloth is an environmentally conscious process of obtaining color and print on textile. Requiring time and patience, the practice counters our desire for instant gratification.”
The sun will help to change the color of materials that include silk broadcloth, vintage textiles and hemp with dyes such as iron staples, fermented indigo, copper, annatto seeds and more. By the end of the show, the material will be different than when it was first placed into the jars, transformed by chemistry and time, though it’s impossible to know exactly how it will look.
That’s exactly the point, according to Sochor.
“There are lots of elements of surprise to the show, which is all good with me,” she said.
Other art on display includes etchings of sauerkraut, pottery vessels used during some part of the fermentation process, photography showing the making of dandelion wine and much more.
“People went and took it in all kinds of directions,” Piscuskas said. “It’s really, really cool, actually. Some of it is very literal. And some of it is very metaphorical.
“Fermentation” runs until Sept. 11 at Waterfall Arts at 256 High St. in Belfast, with the gallery open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and from noon to 4 p.m. Saturdays in August. An art salon and art dialogue associated with the show will be held at 7 p.m. Friday, Aug. 28. For more information, call 338-2222 or visit waterfallarts.org