NORWAY — Following a two-year hiatus, the Western Maine Art Group’s REALLY BIG Show returns next month, with an opening reception from 5:15-7:15 p.m. Aug. 1.

The show will be held at the Lajos Matolcsy Arts Center, 480 Main Street in Norway. It will be open to the public each Thursday, Friday and Saturday in August from 12-3 p.m.

Local artist Peter Herley is organizing this year’s exhibit and has invited eighth grader Colby Martel of Paris as the show’s special guest.

Martel has a unique connection to the WMAG: his grandfather was Lajos Matolcsy, who founded the arts organization in 1962 and died in 1982, according to the group’s website.

This is the second partnership between Herley and Martel. The pair collaborated two years ago for a monthlong “Restless Art” show at the Matolcsy center and share a passion for vibrant, abstract works.

Martel has produced a lot of well-regarded artworks, an astonishing accomplishment for anyone but especially impressive considering he has Down syndrome, autism, and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

“Colby is very excited to be showing with Peter Herley again and is especially looking forward to the opening reception,” said Martel’s mother, Aranka Matolcsy, a multimedia artist. “He is well aware of his grandfather’s legacy and aspires to be an artist when he grows up.

“He has been very serious and diligent about taking on such a large project and tells me he is an ‘artist like Grampa Lali,’ which just makes my heart melt. He often leads me to my father’s self portrait and says ‘Like me!’

Herley brought back the REALLY BIG Show in part to stretch his vision in size and subject.

“I usually exhibit mid-size works. This show gives me a chance to create and show larger pieces — of landscapes and what is going on now, in a roundabout way,” he said.

Martel has the knack for incorporating pop culture art and celebrities into his own personal style as well as his art. Past inspirations include “The Wizard of Oz,” Scooby Doo, Michael Jackson and even Ace Frehley of KISS. Martel also sometimes emulates sharply-dressed men, choosing to wear business suits and ties for going to school, running errands about town and for outdoor play.

“Colby’s approach is very much sensory driven beyond sight,” his mom said. “He explores the feeling of the marker or the pencil in his hand as well as on the panels, the sound of the pen strokes. It’s a multisensory experience for him.”

For this exhibit, Martel is again dipping into pop culture for inspiration, working on several large panels with a range of markers, pens, color pencils and acrylic paint sticks.

“This show is based on his love of things being mutated, like the ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ and dinosaurs from ‘Jurassic World,’” Matolcsy continued. “One panel represents mutated dinosaur DNA, others represent the Ninja Turtles mutagen known as ‘ooze,’ while one panel he named ‘I love my grampa Lali.’”

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