WINTER HARBOR, ME.- Schoodic Institute at Acadia National Park has announced an exhibition of Nantucket artist Judy Brust’s glorious, luminous, large format canvases, titled Life Cycles: Past and Present, which explore the theme of progressive stages of our time on this planet. The show, which opens with an artist’s reception on Friday, August 17th, from 6-8:00pm in the Moore Auditorium, will coincide with a two-person show at Sam Shaw Gallery in Northeast Harbor that opens on Thursday, August 16. Brust will donate 25% of works sold to Schoodic Institute.

76 year old Brust, who has made her studio on Nantucket Island for the past two decades, has long investigated the stages of life and her own spiritual journey in her work. Life Cycles will be composed of canvases from both her Celestials and Spirit Guide series, which resonate with the annual Acadia Night Sky Festival at Schoodic Institute, set to take place from September 5-9th.

“My work has always been about Life Cycle, Journey, Religion and Ritual, Generational Passage, and the Map of Life,” said Brust, who was heavily influenced by Gaston Bachelard’s The Poetics of Space, Joseph Campbell’s The Power Myth, and extensive reading of the works of Carl Jung. “The series of Celestial pieces come at a time when I am entering the last part of my journey through life. Where do we come from and where do we go? I believe that the beginning and the end is centered in the Universe. It is fascinating that the stars are made of the same elements as humans.”

The mission of Schoodic Institute is to advance ecosystem science and learning for all ages through a unique partnership with Acadia National Park. It was created after the former Navy Base on Schoodic Point was returned to the National Park Service in 2003. Multi-million dollar investments of federal and philanthropic funding have been made to create the Campus, which offers housing and meals to individual researchers, groups, conferences, classrooms, laboratories, and a modern 124-seat auditorium in one of the most inspirational natural settings in the country. The Arts Advisory Council was formed in 2013 with the purpose of exploring and promoting the marriage of science and the arts.