Maine College of Art

Meet the Residencies: New date
2018-01-23 17:30 - 19:00 (America/New_York) | ICA at MECA&D, 522 Congress St., Portland, Maine, 04101, United States
Meet the Residencies
Representatives from Maine artist residencies will offer an overview of their various programs. Meet the Residencies will be held at Maine College of Art & Design on Tuesday, January 23 from 5:30pm–7:00pm in the ICA at MECA&D.
Presenters include the Hewnoaks Artist Colony, Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Monhegan Artist Residency, MECA&D Residencies, Celebration Barn, Kismet Foundation, Watershed Center for the Arts, and the Joseph A. Fiore Art Center.
Administrators will discuss the specifics of their residency, who is a good fit, and what makes for a successful application.
*Admission is free. To reserve a seat, contact artistsatwork@meca.edu or 207.699.5016.
Header Image: Meg Hahn, 2017 MECA&D alum, was accepted into two residency programs last summer, the Monhegan Artist Residency and Hewnoaks (pictured). Image credit: Alban Maino.
RSVP on Facebook here.

Salt Alumni Mixer
2018-03-29 17:00 - 19:00
Salt Alumni Mixer @ Rising Tide Brewery
Thursday, March 29, 5:00–7:00pm
Rising Tide Brewery, 103 Fox Street, Portland, Maine
Dear Salt Alum,
Please join fellow Salt alums and current Salt students at a special Alumni Mixer at Rising Tide Brewery in Portland. We’d love to see you there!
Come catch up with old Salt friends, meet current students, and tell us what you’re up to.
Rising Tide offers beer and cider, as well as non-alcoholic drinks— light snacks and a first drink will be provided by Salt.
We’d appreciate it if you’d RSVP by March 20 on our Facebook event page. And if you have any questions about the event, please reach out to Colin Cheney, who teaches the Salt Workshop, and is also our new Outreach Coordinator: ccheney@meca.edu.
Looking forward to seeing you at Rising Tide!
Warmly,
Annie

Collect: Summer Art Sale
2018-06-28 10:00 - 18:00, 2018-06-29 10:00 - 18:00, 2018-06-30 10:00 - 18:00

Curious Nature: 2018 Alumni Triennial
2018-08-03 11:00 - 2018-09-15 17:00 | Institute of Contemporary Art at Maine College of Art & Design, first floor
Curious Nature: 2018 Alumni Triennial
On view from August 3 – September 15, 2018
Exhibition Opening: Friday, August 3, 2018, 5:00–8:00pm
Institute of Contemporary Art at Maine College of Art & Design
ICA Gallery hours: Wed–Sun, 11:00am–5:00pm, Thurs, 11:00am–7:00pm, Friday, 11:00am–5:00pm, (FFAW until 8:00pm)
Curious Nature brings together a diverse group of artists who draw inspiration from the natural world. Employing various mediums, from painting to sculpture, photography, and installation, their works are rooted in the act of looking closer.
The clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness. - John Muir
“These artists explore our relationship with the natural world through investigating the structure of reality, daily rhythms, beauty, texture, and emergent patterns. Focusing their attention on places and processes that are often overlooked, they illuminate the various forces affecting ecosystems and the environment that surrounds us. Their perspectives range from the micro and macro, revealing new views of familiar terrain. In an attempt to capture that which is in a state of constant transformation, they record their surroundings, yielding works that inspire our own sense of awe, inviting us to both celebrate nature and protect it.” -- Guest Curator, Shannon Rankin ’97.
Rankin’s selections include fifteen artists exhibiting diverse works that range from painting, printmaking and photography, to sculpture, ceramics, metalwork and installation. Artists include: Annika Earley MFA ’16, Kristin Fitzpatrick ’13, Danielle Gerber ’12, Alisha Gould MFA ’10, Kayla Goulden ’13, Lenka Konopasek MFA ’01, Mark Marchesi ’99, Tessa Greene O'Brien MFA ’16, Isabelle O'Donnell ’17, Catherine Quattrociocchi ’17, Sam Richardson ’15, Celeste Roberge ’79, Bryan Stryeski ’01, Sarah Camille Wilson ’07 and Charley Young MFA ’14.
Learn more
Masthead Image: Danielle Gerber, Canyon, 2012, bronze, brass, spray paint.

Opening of Curious Nature: 2018 Alumni Triennial
2018-08-03 17:00 - 20:00 | Institute of Contemporary Art at Maine College of Art & Design, first floor
Curious Nature: 2018 Alumni Triennial
On view from August 3 – September 15, 2018
Exhibition Opening: Friday, August 3, 2018, 5:00–8:00pm
Institute of Contemporary Art at Maine College of Art & Design
ICA Gallery hours: Wed–Sun, 11:00am–5:00pm, Thurs, 11:00am–7:00pm, Friday, 11:00am–5:00pm, (FFAW until 8:00pm)
Curious Nature brings together a diverse group of artists who draw inspiration from the natural world. Employing various mediums, from painting to sculpture, photography, and installation, their works are rooted in the act of looking closer.
The clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness. - John Muir
“These artists explore our relationship with the natural world through investigating the structure of reality, daily rhythms, beauty, texture, and emergent patterns. Focusing their attention on places and processes that are often overlooked, they illuminate the various forces affecting ecosystems and the environment that surrounds us. Their perspectives range from the micro and macro, revealing new views of familiar terrain. In an attempt to capture that which is in a state of constant transformation, they record their surroundings, yielding works that inspire our own sense of awe, inviting us to both celebrate nature and protect it.” -- Guest Curator, Shannon Rankin ’97.
Rankin’s selections include fifteen artists exhibiting diverse works that range from painting, printmaking and photography, to sculpture, ceramics, metalwork and installation. Artists include: Annika Earley MFA ’16, Kristin Fitzpatrick ’13, Danielle Gerber ’12, Alisha Gould MFA ’10, Kayla Goulden ’13, Lenka Konopasek MFA ’01, Mark Marchesi ’99, Tessa Greene O'Brien MFA ’16, Isabelle O'Donnell ’17, Catherine Quattrociocchi ’17, Sam Richardson ’15, Celeste Roberge ’79, Bryan Stryeski ’01, Sarah Camille Wilson ’07 and Charley Young MFA ’14.
Learn more
Masthead Image: Celeste Roberge, Agarum Clathratum, Cyanotype on Somerset paper, 30" x 22", 2014.
Photography Credit: Robert Diamante. Printed at: University of South Florida, St. Petersburg, FL. Collection of the Artist.

Drawing Now: Exhibition
2019-01-17 11:00 - 2019-03-22 17:00 | Institute of Contemporary Art at Maine College of Art & Design, first floor
Drawing Now
On view from January 17–March 22, 2019
Exhibition Opening: Friday, February 1, 2019, 5:00–8:00pm
Institute of Contemporary Art at Maine College of Art & Design
ICA Gallery hours: Wed–Sun, 11:00am–5:00pm, Thurs, 11:00am–7:00pm, Friday, 11:00am–5:00pm, (FFAW until 8:00pm)
This exhibition is organized by the Institute of Contemporary Art at Maine College of Art & Design, Director of Exhibitions, Erin Hutton and co-curated by Bruce Brown and Munira Naqui.
Drawing Now celebrates the works by artists of the Drawing Collective and three guest artists. With its members hailing from eleven countries, the Drawing Collective’s objective is to maintain the development of an international aesthetic. The common denominator uniting these artists is the practice of drawing.
Descendants of Bauhaus, De Stijl, Réalities Nouvelles and Art Concret their works represent a contemporary continuum of research in the formal purity of abstraction. The core of the Drawing Collective lies in the inter-connectivity of artists separated by geographical, linguistic and cultural barriers. Devoted to the exploration of new strategies and methods, their works expand upon a rich intellectual and aesthetic history of abstract drawing.
Following Paris and Sydney, Drawing Now at the Institute of Contemporary Art at Maine College of Art & Design in Portland, Maine is the Drawing Collective's first exhibition in the United States.
Bruce Brown and Munira Naqui, Guest Curators
Artist Biographies
View Artist Biographies

Wahida Azhari (Germany) A Hamburg-based artist, Azhari is inspired by the relationships between space, emptiness and light.
Louise Blyton (Australia) A reductive artist experimenting with light and form, Blyton explores the fragility of beauty through subtle shifts of light and shadow.
Christine Boiry (France) Boiry’s work comes from the study of color, material and movement to create a minimal space, in search of rhythm, emptiness and light.
Anne Brochot (France) Brochot’s work is influenced by the geometrical patterns, materials and tools of architecture, as well as the organic structures of the countryside.
Liz Davidson (Canada) Davidson’s drawings are not preparatory sketches for other works. They are studies of light and shadow observed through the seasons in her studio in rural Quebec.
Elena Dombrovska (Ukraine) Dombrovska uses the line as a structural and form producing element to reflect on the aesthetics of geometric forms.
Clint Fulkerson (USA) Fulkerson is a graduate of the Maine College of Art & Design (MECA&D). Fulkerson’s work features complex patterns and forms made by an accumulation of hand drawn marks. His art is influenced by science, mathematics and information technology, as well as an innate curiosity about the fundamental aspects of existence.
André Geertse (Netherlands) Geertse’s work is inspired by his time spent on the North Sea Coast of the Netherlands with the spectacle of sea, light and air. The work reflects a strength of color, space and light.
Ellen Golden (USA) Golden’s drawings flow from an intuitive and emotional response to the natural world. Her drawings are products of a very focused meditative process.
Barbara Halnan (Australia) Halnan, a multimedia artist believes drawing is essential to her art-making. Her fine line drawings on paper reference the flatness of the dry lake bed .of Menindee in NSW - the distant horizon, the sky and the colors of the local vegetation, sand and earth.
Daniel G. Hill (USA) A multi-disciplinary artist who has worked in sculpture, installation, painting, and digital media, Hill focuses on the works construction and its physical presence that gives rise to self reflective viewing ito remind us of our capacity to wonder. Hill is an Assistant Professor of Fine Arts at the Parsons School of Design in NYC and is the President of American Abstract Artists.
Erdem Kucuk-Koroglu (Turkey) Having a master’s degree in mathematics has greatly influenced Kucuk-Koroglu’s artwork, which he describes as geometric abstract paintings.

Emma Langridge (Australia) Landridge, who considers herself primarily a painter, applies the same strict practice used in her paintings in her drawings. She uses everyday materials, strictly controlled procedures, and a reliance on millimeter increments with allowance for irregularities.
Danielle Lescot (France) Lescot is a painter, ceramist and sculptor who lives and works in Paris. Lescot”s drawings are results of a daily exploration of color and form in her studio.
Jean-Luc Manguin (France) The basis of Manquin’s art work is the square, a quadrilateral figure that is a surface to divide evenly, a checker board space to fill, or an element to build into a grid.
Marilyn Chapin Massey (France) Passionate about color, Massey’s work is inspired by the colors and shapes of urban areas, such as New York and Paris. Massey”s recent drawings use non color as she continues to experiment with the underground transportation web.
Munira Naqui (USA) The Drawing Collective founder Naqui, born in Bangladesh came to the USA in 1982 after studying in Moscow. She lives in Portland and works from her studio in New Gloucester. For Naqui, drawing is a meditative exercise that follows the manner of Tibetan mandalas, always focusing on the process to reach clarity of thought.
Michael Perlbach (Germany) A visual artist who uses a drawing technique he calls “dissolution”, Perlbach’s drawings are assembled from tiny structures sometimes not distinguishable from simple dots.
Marion Piper ( UK) Drawing and painting are increasingly indivisible activities in Piper’s studio. Each sets the stage for the other and creates space for an improvised performance in both the manufacture and the content of the work. Colour, materials and surface form part of the plot.
Tineke Porck (Netherlands) The nature of Porck’s art is abstract, minimal and has interfaces with constructivism, zero and minimal art. She uses a basic language of form - lines, points, crosses and surfaces – and sober colors, such as shades of grey, white and black.
Grieteke Roosma (France) Roosma pursued drawing and photography after earlier careers in education and fashion design. A keen observer of nature and different cultures, her drawings are abstract studies greatly influenced by the physical and emotional world.
Diane Scott (New Zealand) A sculptor, Scott uses sculpture to inform her drawings through their shared concerns of space, illusion, materiality and light. She employs different media for her drawings that push the boundaries of traditional drawings.

Jamel Sghaier (Germany) After serving in the Merchant Marines, Tunis-born Sghaier, became a self-taught visual artist. His work is inspired by pure abstractions of forms. He currently lives and works in Tunisia and Germany.
Bogumila Strojna (France) A sculptor born in Poland Strojna lives and works in Paris.She has used drawing as a sketching tool, as well as a point of departure to develop independent works.
Truong Thanh (Vietnam) Thanh focuses his work on the use of three-dimensional geometry, inspired by constructivist and minimalist art. His drawings are based on the structures of objects and their response to forces.
Richard van der Aa (France) Born in New Zealand, van der Aa lives and works in Paris. He is the founder of ParisCONCRET. The works on paper van der Aa is presenting in Drawing Now are indicative of the lexicon of reduced but evocative forms the artist has been employing over many years in his exploration of the limits of minimalism and formal abstraction.
Wilma Vissers (Netherlands) A Dutch visual artist who is inspired by emptiness and space, Vissers believes spatiality and infinite space must be present even in the smallest work.

Participating artists also include the following guest artists:
Josefina Auslender (USA) Born in Argentina during the era of abstract art, Auslender established herself as a successful sculptor. The troubled times of the 80s in that part of the world brought her to the USA where she started again as a visual artist. Her repertoire include intricately executed drawings that go beyond intellectual mark making. She uses simple forms to address complex issues related to her unique world view.
Kevin Townsend (USA) An internationally recognized artist and professor currently living and working in Kansas City as part of KCAI’s foundation department, Townsend’s expanded drawing practice centers around mark-making, obsession and the phenomenology of time. He previously taught as visiting professor in the Art Education Department of Massachusetts College of Art and Design and as a visiting artist and lecturer in Drawing & Painting at Boston’s School of the Museum of Fine Art at Tufts University.
Michael Winkler (USA) Winkler is a visual/conceptual artist. For over 35 years he has been engaged in an exploration of the imagery and implications of a process-based transformation of the signs of language. His abstract images reveal the patterns encoded in the letter-sequences of the spelling of word. Winkler says: “A word’s spelling is an unplanned product of a collective awareness which extends back to the word’s ultimate origin.”

Masthead Image: Clint Fulkerson, Portal 20 (cropped), graphite, ink and gouache on paper, 30" x 22", 2018

Meet the Residencies: Info Session
2019-01-22 18:00 - 20:00 | Osher Hall, Maine College of Art & Design, 2nd Floor, 522 Congress St., Portland, ME, 04101, United States
Meet the Residencies: Information Session
Tuesday, January 22, 2019, 6–8pm
Maine College of Art & Design, Porteous Building, Osher Hall
Admission is free. To reserve a seat, contact artistsatwork@meca.edu or 207.699.5016.

Maine College of Art & Design and Hewnoaks present "Meet the Residencies". Representatives from Maine artist residencies will offer an overview of their various programs.
Presenters include the Hewnoaks Artist Colony, Monson Arts, The Ellis-Beauregard Foundation, Monhegan Artist Residency, MECA&D Residencies, Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts, and the Joseph A. Fiore Art Center. Administrators will discuss the specifics of their residency, who is a good fit, and what makes for a successful application.
Snow date: Wednesday, January 23, 2019 at 6:00pm.
Cover image: Meg Hahn, 2017 MECA&D alum, was accepted into two residency programs last summer, the Monhegan Artist Residency and Hewnoaks (Photographer: Alban Maino)

Alexandra Silverthorne MFA ’10: 'yes is the only living thing' | Exhibition + Reception
2019-07-05 09:00 - 2019-08-16 17:00 | ME, United States
Alexandra Silverthorne MFA ’10: yes is the only living thing

On view: July 5–August 16, 2019
Opening Reception: July 5, 6–8pm
Artists at Work Gallery at MECA&D

Artist Talk + Book Signing
August 1, 5:30pm
Osher Hall at MECA&D

This summer, Alexandra Silverthorne MFA ’10 will be showing work from the series at the Artist at Work Gallery at MECA&D. The show will be up from July 5—August 16, with an opening reception July 5, 6-8pm.
Alexandra Silverthorne MFA '10 is releasing her new book, yes is the only living thing, a series of 76 images looking at moments of celebration, wonder, and stillness in her own life. Shot the year following a friend’s sudden cancer relapse and near-immediate death, the images echo her attempts to infuse her own life with some of the same determination, thoughtfulness, and grace that was ever-present in her life. The series was captured with recently-discontinued peel apart instant film on a fickle hand-me-down Polaroid Reporter camera. Silverthorne was attracted to the unpredictability of both the film and the camera and how this seemed to echo the unpredictability of life, itself. The book features all 76 images, a collection of text by Julie Poitras Santos, and a conversation with Annie Mahon.
View the project and learn more here.

There will also be an Artist Talk + Book Signing featuring a conversation with Julie Poitras Santos on August 1, 5:30pm at Maine College of Art & Design in Osher Hall. The talk will be moderated by Katarina Weslien.

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Alexandra Silverthorne, yes is the only living thing, 11" x 14" archival inkjet print from scanned instant film. Edition of 5.

Alexandra Silverthorne MFA ’10: 'yes is the only living thing' | Artist Talk + Book Signing
2019-08-01 17:30 - 19:00 | Osher Hall, Maine College of Art & Design, 2nd Floor, 522 Congress St., Portland, ME, 04101, United States
Alexandra Silverthorne MFA ’10: yes is the only living thing

On view: July 5–August 16, 2019
Opening Reception: July 5, 6–8pm
Artists at Work Gallery at MECA&D

Artist Talk + Book Signing
August 1, 5:30pm
Osher Hall at MECA&D

There will be an Artist Talk + Book Signing featuring a conversation with Julie Poitras Santos on August 1, 5:30pm at Maine College of Art & Design in Osher Hall.

Alexandra Silverthorne MFA '10 is releasing her new book, yes is the only living thing, a series of 76 images looking at moments of celebration, wonder, and stillness in her own life. Shot the year following a friend’s sudden cancer relapse and near-immediate death, the images echo her attempts to infuse her own life with some of the same determination, thoughtfulness, and grace that was ever-present in her life. The series was captured with recently-discontinued peel apart instant film on a fickle hand-me-down Polaroid Reporter camera. Silverthorne was attracted to the unpredictability of both the film and the camera and how this seemed to echo the unpredictability of life, itself. The book features all 76 images, a collection of text by Julie Poitras Santos, and a conversation with Annie Mahon.
This summer, Alexandra Silverthorne will be showing work from the series at the Artist at Work Gallery at MECA&D. The show will be up from July 5—August 16, with an opening reception July 5, 6-8pm.

View the project and learn more here.
