Priestess of The Moon
New Paintings by Abbeth Russell
Opening Reception:
Friday August 1st 2025 5-8pm
Oak Street Gallery
72 Oak St. Portland, Maine
Exhibition Dates: August 1st – August 31st
Priestess of The Moon is an exhibition of new acrylic paintings on wood panels by Abbeth Russell in her characteristic surreal expressionistic style. She explores the theme of lunar priestesses while letting the paint become its own force within the narratives. The priestesses are figures of strength and wisdom in a world on fire. This is what Abbeth has to say about the series:
“I began painting a Heaven and Hell on Earth series a few years ago. Researching depictions of this dichotomy throughout history and across cultures, bringing home stacks of relevant books from the library, my sketchbooks became populated with demons, angels, underworlds, and divinity as I prepared to put paint to panel. I gessoed a panel black and dripped liquid vermillion and crimson to create fire lapping up from the bottom of the panel. I mixed phthalo blue and white and wisped ethereal clouds, drifting above. The stage was set for the series but over the following months as the acrylic layers built, there seemed to be more hell on earth than heaven and the paintings reflected that.
The Lunar Priestesses emerged out of the half painted satanic fires and holy clouds. The arrival of the divine feminine took me out of the masculine duality of heaven and hell. The Priestesses became my guides. Around the time they showed up I started meditating through the moon phases. Letting go during the full moon and manifesting during the new moon. This waxing and waning mirrored my painting process. Hours spent building texture and detail can be sanded down or painted over. This is how life feels too. Years spent connecting lead to years spent disentangling. Grief ebbs, flows, and sometimes drowns us entirely. I lay a painting flat and pour a glossy pink pool over a finely detailed section. The details disappear under the sheen and opacity of the wet paint. It seems like they are lost forever until the transparent glaze dries to reveal them once again, in a new light, tinted and glowing with magenta. Bringing in and letting go, trusting that what is let go will be brought back again in a new form. The tides, the moon, life, and painting follow these patterns and the Lunar Priestess simultaneously orchestrates and experiences these rhythms.”
Abbeth Russell is a visual artist, performer, songwriter, teacher, and community organizer based in Portland Maine since 2009. Abbeth regularly goes on tour with her art and music. She received her BFA from Maine College of Art. Her magical surreal narratives are influenced by our world but exist closer to the spirit realm. The mythologies she creates are born in sketchbooks and raised on wood panels, imbued with the life force of acrylic paint. During the process, each painting transforms from an image into a living object with a soul.
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