Peter Wallis on Impermanence and Memory

In 2007, American artist Stephen Pace (1918-2010) bequeathed his summer home in Stonington for use by Maine College of Art & Design as a residency and gallery, to ensure its continued use as an artistic haven.

Stephen Pace was born in 1918 in Missouri and studied at the Art Students League in New York and the Academie de la Grande Chaumiere in Paris. He settled in New York and became an acclaimed artist known for his Abstract Expressionist work. In later years, he devoted himself to more representational paintings and drawings. Stephen and his wife, Palmina, bought the Stonington house, a turn-of-the-century sea captain’s residence set on a ledge overlooking the Penobscot Bay, in 1943. They summered there for sixty-four years, until their relocation to Indiana.

Peter Wallis developed a body of work at the PACE house, June 2024, exploring the history of the New England Coast, while investigating themes of impermanence and memory. These works are playful criticisms on our Colonial past. Peter worked with colleague Theodore Bettcher on Interactive Animations that will be presented in Los Angeles this fall. Working in Stephen Pace's Studio allowed for larger and more expressive works using Oil.