Artists paint Maine woods in an old light

“Into the Woods,” through Nov. 23 at the Clark House Gallery in Bangor.

In August of 1846, Henry David Thoreau left his home in Concord, Mass., and headed deep into the Maine woods. What he found, in Bangor and beyond, resulted in a famous collection of essays (titled, appropriately enough, “The Maine Woods”), which details his travels through wilderness punctuated by logging routes and carriage roads on the way to Houlton:

“The beauty of the road itself was remarkable. The various evergreens, many of which are rare with us … lined its sides, in some places like a long, front yard, springing up from the smooth grass-plots which uninterruptedly border it, and are made fertile by its wash; while it was but a step on either hand to the grim, untrodden wilderness, whose tangled labyrinth of living, fallen, and decaying trees only the deer and moose, the bear and wolf, can easily penetrate. More perfect specimens than any front-yard plot can show, grew there to grace the passage of the Houlton teams.”

Though the Maine woods have changed substantially since then, the experience of walking “Into the Woods” at the Clark House Gallery is similar. So often, paintings of Maine depict the familiar rocky coast.

But the forest has a lure all its own. It is darker, more mysterious. And in an artistic sense, relatively untouched.

For this show, seven artists traveled deep into the Maine woods and emerged with a visual record of its stark, often harsh beauty.

Dennis Pinette’s rich, textured paintings depict the woods in a tangle of branches and brush, always with a sense of motion. On one canvas, stripped branches stick out from a tree trunk like thorns against a backdrop of fiery foliage. Another piece evokes the frenzy of Jackson Pollock’s work – slender birches overlap, while thin, quick brush strokes and the occasional spatter of paint capture the feeling of grass bending in the wind, falling leaves or a bird flying by. Pinette’s forest is charged with the energy of things about to happen.

In contrast, Gaylen Morgan imbues her large-format black-and-white photographs with a sense of serenity. Steep ledges of rock lead to a mirrorlike pond in the tranquil “Quarry,” while a branch-scattered trail beckons the viewer into the mist in “Path to the Beach.” Morgan’s woods are wild but welcoming, a place for contemplation.

June Grey’s ultra-detailed acrylics are equally peaceful. They depict the forest as inviting – leafy, sun-dappled clearings glow with spring-green light. Ed Nadeau’s glossy, textural paintings also draw in the viewer, with lonely roads that lead to dark forests. There’s always a sense of solitude, from a lone crow perched high on a pine, black against a crystalline sky, to a crimson blueberry barren sloping into an inky stand of pine.

That sense of solitude pervades the show. Only one human figure appears in the whole group, in the middle of Scott Moore’s “Woman in the Woods.” And it’s not the subject of the work. Though a deer and a bear show up in Neil Welliver’s prints, the focus is on the pattern of the leaves and branches that surround them, rather than the creatures themselves.

Squidge Liljeblad’s ceramic sculptures focus on the creatures, but they serve as metaphors for the spirit of the forest. The eyes of giant ravens peer down at the viewer, while angels and fairies (one with a leafy halo) hint at the magic that hides among branches and tree trunks.

It’s the spirit that Thoreau felt more than 150 years ago. The lure of a place unspoiled by overexposure. Still dark and mysterious, after more than a century of change.

Art notes

. The Center for Maine Contemporary Art in Rockport will wrap up its annual “Work of the Hand: Crafts Show and Sale” this Sunday. The show features the work of 48 Maine artisans, including jewelers, metalsmiths, potters and fiber artists. The center is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily Admission is $3 per person. For more information, call 236-2875 or visit www.artsmaine.org.

. If you’re in the mood for revelry, check out Le Cirque Du Poulet, a multimedia arts festival (and circus) at an old chicken farm in Frankfort. The event will include live music, installations, painting, sculpture circus acts, spoken word and performance art, and will take place all weekend (through Sunday, Oct. 20) at 49 West Hill Road in Frankfort. For more information or directions, contact David Allen at 223-4155.