For March and April, Main Street Gallery is featuring the work of member artist Kathy Flament in a show called “Time.”

Flament, who lives and works in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, is a longtime member of the Cambridge-based cooperative and is known for her colorful, expressionistic paintings. But it was a recent visit to the remains of the Bethlehem Steel Mill in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, that got her thinking about the effects of the passage of time on us all and that led to her new body of work.  

As she wandered with her camera through the old steel mill, now called SteelStacks, she took photos, she says “where the passage of time seemed the saddest or most invasive.” She photographed deteriorating items such as rusted pipes engulfed by saplings and grass and sun-beaten factory windows, items once essential to the mill but degraded by time.

That visit sparked an awareness in her and soon she started seeing the effects of time nearly everywhere she looked - in fallen trees by the road, in sagging buildings, in worn wood with peeling paint. A trip to Atlantic City, New Jersey, itself a down-at-the-heels image of its former self, yielded shots of the worn and weathered boardwalk and odd-shaped rusty bolts underneath it.

“Time leaves its mark everywhere,” says the artist. “It transforms us and the world around us. Fallen trees let you count time. Wood and paint respond to both weather and time at the same time. Rust shows how time sits quietly or attacks. No matter what we look at, time changes what we see right before our eyes.” 

The artist’s photos are more than records of time’s passing, however. Flament has seen in them artful objects, elements of design and surprising shapes. The photos are the inspiration for a new suite of paintings that she’s recently completed and will show alongside the photographs.

“Time” will open on Friday, March 4, and run through Sunday, May 1. There will be two artist receptions on Second Saturdays, March 12 and April 9. 

Main Street Gallery is located at 518 Poplar St. in Cambridge, directly across from Jimmie and Sooks Restaurant. The gallery’s new hours are Friday through Monday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Visitors may also see the exhibit by appointment, by calling the gallery at 410-330-4659 or browsing the gallery’s website at www.mainstgallery.net.

Main Street Gallery artists are taking precautions to ensure the safety of their visitors and are wearing masks and asking visitors to do the same. Main Street Gallery is Cambridge’s only artist-owned and run cooperative and is currently reviewing work from prospective members and guest artists. Please contact the gallery if you are interested in being a part of this vibrant artist community.