Maine College of Art

Listing of all 'Traces' Events (107): Fall 2018
2018-09-08 08:00 - 2018-12-31 17:00 (America/New_York)

Lecture: Martina Castro | Maine College of Art & Design Visiting Artist
2018-09-18 18:00 - 19:00 | Maine College of Art & Design, 522 Congress Street, Portland, ME, 04101, United States
Martina Castro, founder of Adonde Media and co-founder of Radio Ambulante, will discuss storytelling and podcasting in the Americas as part of MECA&D's Visiting Artist lecture series. The talk will be hosted in MECA&D's Osher Hall.

Martina Castro is a bilingual radio producer, sound designer and podcast consultant. She is CEO & Founder of Adonde Media, a new podcast production company and the Spanish-language podcast community, Podcaster@s. Over her career she has worked at NPR and KALW, including cofounding and producing NPR's Radio Ambulante.
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Martina Castro es una productora de radio, diseñadora de sonido y asesora de podcasts bilingüe. Ella es CEO y fundadora de Adonde Media, una nueva productora de podcast y de la comunidad de podcast en español, Podcaster@s. A lo largo de su carrera ha trabajado en NPR y KALW y es cofundadora del podcast Radio Ambulante de NPR.

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Opening Reception for 'Making Migration Visible: Traces, Tracks & Pathways' | MECA&D
2018-10-05 17:00 - 20:00 | ICA at MECA&D, 522 Congress St., Portland, Maine, 04101, United States
The opening night of the featured Making Migration Visible: Traces, Tracks & Pathways exhibition at MECA&D's Institute of Contemporary Art.
Find more information about the exhibition at meca.edu/traces

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Traces | Exhibition: VR Pop-up: At the Periphery | @ MECA&D
2018-10-11 18:00 - 19:00 | Maine College of Art & Design, 522 Congress Street, Portland, ME, 04101, United States
Virtual reality filmmakers Daniel Quintanilla and UnitedYES, working with the Yarn Corporation, will be in the gallery to share At the Periphery, a virtual experience that explores the often paradoxical idea of "visibility" as it relates to the immigrant experience. In this virtual journey, one is transported to spaces occupied temporarily or permanently by immigrant communities in Maine: a seasonal blueberry camp, a community farm organized by refugees, a takeout restaurant.
This event will be hosted in the Institute of Contemporary Art at MECA&D.

Traces | READING: Refuge Malja ملجأ | @ MECA&D
2018-10-18 17:00 - 17:30 | Maine College of Art & Design, 522 Congress Street, Portland, ME, 04101, United States
A reading from Refuge Malja ملجأ by Bess Welden with Arabic translation by Ali Al
Mshakheel. A scene from the play Refuge Malja ملجأ will be read in English and Arabic.
Portland Stage will present Refuge Malja ملجأ as a full lenth production October 30 –
November 18, 2018. Short discussion regarding the play to follow.
This reading will be hosted by the Institute of Contemporary Art at MECA&D.

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Closing Reception | Tim Bavington: Rock & Roll Abstraction
2018-10-19 17:00 - 19:00
Closing Reception: Tim Bavington: Rock & Roll Abstraction Oct. 19, 5–7pm
Abstract painter translates Rolling Stones, Beatles, Cream, and Jimi Hendrix songs into visual experiences
Dedicated to using music and art as a gateway to learning, the Bob Crewe Gallery at Maine College of Art & Design (MECA&D) is exhibiting Tim Bavington: Rock & Roll Abstraction July 13 through October 19. The pieces are on loan from the artist and Morgan Lehman Gallery in New York.
British-born, Las Vegas-based Bavington uses a unique system of pairing musical notes with specific hues of color to represent some of his favorite rock and roll songs of the sixties and seventies. Music by the Rolling Stones, Cream, the Beatles, and Jimi Hendrix form the foundation of his work. Among the songs depicted in the exhibition are “Hey Joe” by Jimi Hendrix, “Kansas City” by the Beatles, “A Kind of Magic” by Queen, “Secret Agent” by Chick Corea, “(back to) Black (addicted)” by Amy Winehouse, and “Let My Love Open The Door” by Pete Townsend.
“Tim Bavington’s work offers an innovative way to deconstruct music into color and form,” said guest curator Jaime DeSimone. “He uses bright, vividly colored stripes to represent the musical notes in the base lines, rhythms, and string solos of each song.” DeSimone previously organized Synthesize: Art + Music for the Museum of Contemporary Art Jacksonville.
“Bridging the disciplines of both art and music, Tim Bavington’s intimate drawings alongside large-scale abstract paintings help to cultivate creativity, critical thinking, and self-expression, all goals of the Bob Crewe Gallery,” said Erin Hutton, Director of Exhibitions and Special Projects, MECA&D.
Free and open to the public. A closing reception and opportunity to meet the artist will be held on Friday, October 19 at 5–7pm.

About the Bob Crewe Gallery at Maine College of Art & Design
Named after the legendary record producer, songwriter and artist Bob Crewe (1930-2014), the Bob Crewe Gallery at Maine College of Art & Design presents the work of Bob Crewe and explores the connections between music and visual arts by contemporary local, national and international artists.
Contact
Sue McGovern
​smcgovern@meca.edu
(781) 315-3400

Traces | VR Pop-up: At the Periphery #2 | @ MECA&D
2018-10-25 17:00 - 19:00

Traces | SYMPOSIUM: Art + Politics | @ MECA&D
2018-11-02 09:30 - 17:30 | Maine College of Art & Design, 522 Congress Street, Portland, ME, 04101, United States

Traces | MUSIC + POETRY: Culture + Displacement | @ MECA&D
2018-11-08 17:00 - 18:30 | Maine College of Art & Design, 522 Congress Street, Portland, ME, 04101, United States

Traces | FILM: Infiltrators by Khaled Jarrar | @ MECA&D
2018-11-09 18:00 - 20:00 | Maine College of Art & Design, 522 Congress Street, Portland, ME, 04101, United States

Traces | PANEL: ACLU/ILAP on US Immigration Policy | @ MECA&D
2018-11-15 17:30 - 19:00 | Maine College of Art & Design, 522 Congress Street, Portland, ME, 04101, United States

Traces | FILM + FOOD: Recipe Film Screening + Community Dinner | @ MECA&D
2018-11-30 16:30 - 18:30 | Maine College of Art & Design, 522 Congress Street, Portland, ME, 04101, United States

Traces | CONVERSATION + FOOD: The History of Chinese in Maine | @ MECA&D
2018-12-13 17:00 - 19:00 | Maine College of Art & Design, 522 Congress Street, Portland, ME, 04101, United States
While there has been a relatively small population of Chinese residents of Maine over the years, those who have settled here have made their mark, dating back to the first Chinese immigrant who came in 1857. Come hear some stories about these early Chinese Mainers, and also enjoy some Chinese tea and snacks, sponsored by the Chinese & American Friendship Association of Maine.

This event will be hosted in the Institute of Contemporary Art at MECA&D.

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Traces | CONVERSATION + FOOD: The History of Chinese in Maine | @ MECA&D
2018-12-13 17:00 - 19:00 | Maine College of Art & Design, 522 Congress Street, Portland, ME, 04101, United States

Making Migration Visible | Yu-Wen Wu: Gallery Talk | @ MECA&D
2018-12-13 18:00 - 19:00 | Maine College of Art & Design, 522 Congress Street, Portland, ME, 04101, United States
Making Migration Visible: Traces, Tracks & Pathways featured artist Yu-Wen Wu will discuss her artwork in the galleries, describing the research processes and community practices that contribute to her work. Following her talk, the artist will lead a workshop in conjunction with her Leavings/Belongings series. Leavings/Belongings is comprised of multitudes of cloth wrapped bundles representing all that is left behind– home, family, possessions and what may be carried in migration–survival, hope, dreams. In the tradition of gathering to make things and tell stories, this workshop invites participation in the making of bundles and the sharing of stories.
This event will be hosted in the Institute of Contemporary Art at MECA&D.

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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

Exhibition: Visual Tensions | Parasitic Honeyshoes | Letting Yourself Go
2019-04-05 17:00 - 2019-04-26 17:00
The Institute of Contemporary Art at Maine College of Art & Design Presents ICA Spring Exhibitions:
Visual Tensions | Séan Alonzo Harris
Parasitic Honeyshoes | Greta Bank
Letting Yourself Go | Philip Brou
On view from April 5-26, 2019
Exhibition Reception: Friday, April 5, 2019, 5–8pm
ICA Gallery hours: Wed–Sun, 11am–5pm, Thurs, 11am–7pm, Friday, 11am–5pm, (FFAW until 8pm)

PORTLAND, Maine - The Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) at Maine College of Art & Design (MECA&D) is pleased to announce the opening of the ICA Spring Exhibitions, a collective of three solo exhibitions: Visual Tensions | Séan Alonzo Harris, Parasitic Honeyshoes | Greta Bank, and Letting Yourself Go | Philip Brou. On view April 5-26, 2019, with a public Opening Reception on Friday, April 5, 5–8pm.

Séan Alonzo Harris, Visual Tensions, 2018
Visual Tensions is a collaborative photography project that brings community members together with members of law enforcement. African American photographer Séan Alonzo Harris creates photographic portraits as a means to foster relationships and build bridges between people of color with members of law enforcement. The project provides a platform to cultivate mutual respect and transform our images and perceptions of others.
Artist Biography
Séan Alonzo Harris’ work as an editorial, commercial and fine art photographer concentrating on narrative and environmental portraiture. Over the past 25 years, Sean’s work is in a range of national publications, advertising campaigns, and exhibitions. In these varied contexts, Sean’s work focuses on human experience, identity, and challenging stereotypes. Sean’s images bear witness to often invisible or overlooked members of our communities, and creates portraits that provide a counter image and narrative of self-worth and personal agency. The Visual Tensions project aligns with the goals and vision of Séan Alonzo Harris’ current practice and with past collaborative photo projects.
His work has been published in Atlantic Magazine, Paris Review, Boston Magazine, Down East, Portland Magazine, Maine Home and Design, Photo District News Rising Star feature, Maine Magazine, Harvard University Magazine, Ralph Lauren magazine, Mother Jones, Adweek, Consumer Reports, Teaching Tolerance, and USA Today. He has received several awards and grants for his work including: Kindling Fund grant from the Warhol Foundation, Good Idea Grant and Arts in the Capital Program, from the Maine Arts Commission, the Broderson Bronze Award, and the VanDerZee Black Heritage Award, from the University of Lowell. Most recently Séan’s work was featured in International Regional Magazine Awards, Silver Award Arts and Culture, Portrait Photography 2015 and One Eyeland, Best of the Best Photographers 2016.
To learn more about Séan or to get involved in the project go to seanalonzoharris.com.

Greta Bank, Parasitic Honeyshoes, mixed media installation, 2019

Parasitic Honeyshoes is a testimony to the colonization of the material and spirit world. It is intended for an audience to see in 15 years, implying that our present is responsive to the future. It is a cosmic sh!t accountable to another reality.
The parasitic behavior of the human species is a form of cannibalism, we consume to sustain a false reflection. We are not living, but surviving in a capitalist ecosystem, negotiating a spiritual crisis deeply founded on centuries of exploitation and extraction.
Artist Biography
Born in Philadelphia Pennsylvania, Greta Bank currently resides in Hollis, Maine. She received her BFA from The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art and a MFA focused on painting from the University of Arizona. Her sculptural work, performance, installations and multi media, often use both topical and historical content to provoke social inquiry. Bank describes her work as visual essays, positioning her audience to reflect on diverse matters such as environmental corruption, mass consumption and social constructs. She has exhibited at SPACE Gallery, the DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park, the Center for Maine Contemporary Art and most recently the Hunterdon Museum of Art. Bank has received multiple grants from the Maine Arts Commission, as well as from the Taconic Community Foundation and an Emerging Artist Grant from the Joan Mitchell Foundation.
To learn more about Greta Bank, visit gretabank.com.

Philip Brou, i, oil on linen, 48_ x 32_, 2017
Letting Yourself Go is a new project by Philip Brou investigating ideas of selfhood, power, and the human condition. The project is rooted in a critical examination of the famous story of Polyphemus, the cyclops from Homer’s Odyssey. In Odysseus’ epic journey to return home, he and his men are held captive in Polyphemus’ cave. As part of a plan to free himself, Odysseus concocts a lie: he tells Polyphemus that his name is Nemo, which translates to Nobody. The presence of the Nobody, as a persona used to escape captivity, dismantle the archetype of the hero, and confront the ego, is at the core of Brou’s project. Although the work is rooted in a story from ancient times, its layered messages resonate today. Letting Yourself Go consists of paintings, drawings, sculptures and found objects. All works in the exhibition function as either portraits or utterances of Nemo, which is to say: portraits or utterances of Nobody.
Artist Biography
Philip Brou is an artist and educator based in Portland, Maine. Brou earned his MFA from The Ohio State University and his BFA from Virginia Commonwealth University. His work has been exhibited at venues such as the Fitchburg Art Museum in Fitchburg, Massachusetts; Corey Daniels Gallery in Wells, Maine; Able Baker Contemporary in Portland, Maine; the Urban Arts Space in Columbus, Ohio; 1708 Gallery in Richmond, Virginia; The Portland Museum of Art in Portland, Maine; The Institute of Contemporary Art at Maine College of Art & Design in Portland, Maine; and The Center for Maine Contemporary Art in Rockland, Maine. His work is in the collection of the Portland Museum of Art. He has received numerous awards including the Biennial Purchase Prize from the Portland Museum of Art, a Good Idea Grant from the Maine Arts Commission, an Individual Artist Fellowship from the Greater Columbus Arts Council, and a Presidential Fellowship from The Ohio State University. Reviews and acknowledgements of his work in notable publications include Art New England, Two Coats of Paint, The Portland Press Herald, The Portland Phoenix and The Columbus Dispatch. Philip Brou and his wife, Jennifer, currently live in South Portland, Maine. He is an Associate Professor in the Painting and Foundation Programs at Maine College of Art & Design. To learn more about Philip Brou, visit philipbrou.com.
NOTE TO MEDIA: For exhibition images, photo credits and captions, please visit this link.
For further information about the exhibition, please visit this link.
Header Image:
Philip Brou, i, 2017 (cropped)

Panel Discussion & Community Conversation: Visual Tensions
2019-04-18 18:00 - 19:00 | Institute of Contemporary Art at Maine College of Art & Design, first floor
Visual Tensions Panel Discussion & Community Conversation
Please join us in the ICA for a public panel discussion and community conversation in conjunction with the exhibition Visual Tensions from artist Séan Alonzo Harris. The artist will be joined by a panel of project participants: Sophia Namara, Chanel Lewis, and Kelly Gorham.

About the Panel
Sophia Namara / Photo by Séan Alonzo Harris
Sophia Namara is an arts administrator living and working in Portland, ME. After graduating from Bowdoin College, she joined Portland’s art community as the manager of PhoPa Gallery, an exhibition space dedicated to showcasing photography and works on paper from Maine-based artists. At Phopa, Sophia curated and organized exhibitions, designed promotional content, and built a strong network of artists, makers, and curators in Southern Maine. After PhoPa closed its doors in 2018, Namara joined the Portland Museum of Art as the Communications Manager, where she now spearheads projects in marketing, design, advertising and PR for the museum. Namara’s passion for art and curation was ignited by the Visual Arts and Art History programs at Bowdoin and nurtured by the thriving art community of the city she now calls home.

Chanel Lewis / Photo by Séan Alonzo Harris
Chanel Lewis believes in the power of listening, learning, dialogue, and action as tools for change. Her work and passion is fueled by a desire to live in a society and community where everyone is included and has equitable access to empathy, compassion, understanding, and respect. Chanel, like many in her generation, has a 9-to-5, juggles multiple projects, engages her community, and somehow manages to make friends as an adult. Ultimately, Chanel is enthused and energized by people, community, communication, and culture.
Chanel is an Employer Relationship Manager at the University of Southern Maine’s Career & Employment Hub. In this role, she facilitates engagement opportunities with organizations to provide equitable access for students in hiring, experiential learning opportunities, and professional connections. As a member of her community, Chanel created an initiative called A Seat at the Table, serves as a board member for the Portland Parks Conservancy, and previously lended her perspective as a member of the City of Portland’s Office of Economic Opportunity advisory council.
Chanel lives in Westbrook, Maine with her spouse and local musician, Just Plain Jones. She is an amateur photographer, avid cook, and organizational development nerd. A lifelong fan of Harry Potter, Chanel believes in the power of friendship, community, and love. In particular, how those three values work together to make our communities stronger, full of compassion, empathetic, respectful, and full of joy.

Kelly Gorham / Photo by Séan Alonzo Harris
Detective Kelly Gorham has been a member of the Portland Police Department since 2002.

Séan Alonzo Harris’ work as an editorial, commercial and fine art photographer concentrating on narrative and environmental portraiture. Over the past 25 years, Sean’s work is in a range of national publications, advertising campaigns, and exhibitions. In these varied contexts, Sean’s work focuses on human experience, identity, and challenging stereotypes. Sean’s images bear witness to often invisible or overlooked members of our communities, and creates portraits that provide a counter image and narrative of self-worth and personal agency. The Visual Tensions project aligns with the goals and vision of Séan Alonzo Harris’ current practice and with past collaborative photo projects.
His work has been published in Atlantic Magazine, Paris Review, Boston Magazine, Down East, Portland Magazine, Maine Home and Design, Photo District News Rising Star feature, Maine Magazine, Harvard University Magazine, Ralph Lauren magazine, Mother Jones, Adweek, Consumer Reports, Teaching Tolerance, and USA Today. He has received several awards and grants for his work including: Kindling Fund grant from the Warhol Foundation, Good Idea Grant and Arts in the Capital Program, from the Maine Arts Commission, the Broderson Bronze Award, and the VanDerZee Black Heritage Award, from the University of Lowell. Most recently Séan’s work was featured in International Regional Magazine Awards, Silver Award Arts and Culture, Portrait Photography 2015 and One Eyeland, Best of the Best Photographers 2016.

About the Project
Visual Tensions is a collaborative photographic project and community dialogue that pairs people of color with members of law enforcement. African American photographer Séan Alonzo Harris worked with local residents and officers from the City of Portland, Maine Police Department to create photographic portraits as a means to confront and question cultural and racial assumptions, stereotypes and fears.
After individual photographs were complete, the artist placed the images within a diptych composition and positioned the portrait subjects to face each other to create a heightened moment of recognition and tension. While the placement of the subjects and scale of the images capture a powerful visual tension, the individuals also appear to be looking just past each other. This moment of disconnection reflects the rupture and breaches within our communities locally and nationally.
The project provides a platform to examine the relationship between people of color and law enforcement, to provoke dialogue about injustice and implicit bias, and make space to engage these critical issues creatively. In addition to creating the photographic portraits, the artist interviewed project participants and asked about their personal experiences with racism, law enforcement, their sense of belonging or not belonging in their community and their interactions with people across difference.
This project is supported in part by The Kindling Fund, SPACE Gallery grant program.

Header Image: Séan Alonzo Harris, Anthony and Mwiza, 2019 (cropped)

'Darkness and the Light' Exhibition
2019-07-12 10:00 - 2019-09-20 17:00 | Institute of Contemporary Art at Maine College of Art & Design, first floor
Darkness and the Light
On view from July 12—September 20, 2019
Opening Reception: July 12, 5–8pm
Institute of Contemporary Art at MECA&D
Dark and light. The space between. The moment of change. The necessity of one to identify the other. Hope. Fading. The opportunities to explore the theme seemed so many and varied that the idea of a group exhibition was born. Invited artists have created work addressing the psychological and/or physical implications of light and/or dark. All are Maine artists with established careers and reputations for fine craftsmanship and artistic excellence. Because of the size of the Institute for Contemporary Art, participants were encouraged to undertake large-scale work, if they wished, in order to take advantage of the unusual opportunity to use this vast, beautiful space.
Exhibiting Artists include: Lynn Duryea, South Portland; Rebecca Goodale, Freeport; Tom Hall, Raymond; Joe Hemes, South Portland; Alison Hildreth, Portland; Lissa Hunter, Portland; Jamie Johnston, Portland; George Mason, Nobleboro; Julie Morringello, Stonington; Jan Owen, Belfast; Warren Seelig, Rockland; Carol Stein, Kittery Point; Todd Watts, Blanchard TWP; Susan Webster, Deer Isle
Learn more

This exhibition is organized by the Institute of Contemporary Art at Maine College of Art & Design, Interim Director of Exhibitions Nikki Rayburn, and Guest Curator Lissa Hunter.
When I was a child, my mother would say, “Be in before dark”, as I ran out the door to play in summer. We lived in that kind of neighborhood. It was the fifties, in the Midwest, on a short block with dozens of kids and no fences. “Before dark” became a particular designation of time, between outside in daytime and the inside at night. It held a kind of magical conversion, a sliver of time that signaled a shift in energy and focus.
When the sun fell below the horizon, colors flattened and lost definition. The sky looked lighter than the treetops below, which became a single mass of darkness. Houses were Monopoly pieces, with no definition of windows or porches, just outlines and dark interiors until the lights within were turned on, creating golden rectangles.
The air became cool. The earth smelled moist. And the fireflies became apparent, flashing lights against the gathering dark, adding to the sense of separation from the real world. It didn’t last long. Maybe ten or twenty minutes.

Header
Warren Seelig, Shadowfield: Colored Light (detail), 2019
Photograph: Dowling Walsh Gallery
ICA Gallery hours: Wed–Sun, 11:00am–5:00pm, Thurs, 11:00am–7:00pm, Friday, 11:00am–5:00pm, (FFAW until 8:00pm)

'Darkness and the Light': Opening Reception
2019-07-12 17:00 - 20:00 | Institute of Contemporary Art at Maine College of Art & Design, first floor
Darkness and the Light
On view from July 12—September 20, 2019
Opening Reception: July 12, 5–8pm
Institute of Contemporary Art at MECA&D
Dark and light. The space between. The moment of change. The necessity of one to identify the other. Hope. Fading. The opportunities to explore the theme seemed so many and varied that the idea of a group exhibition was born. Invited artists have created work addressing the psychological and/or physical implications of light and/or dark. All are Maine artists with established careers and reputations for fine craftsmanship and artistic excellence. Because of the size of the Institute for Contemporary Art, participants were encouraged to undertake large-scale work, if they wished, in order to take advantage of the unusual opportunity to use this vast, beautiful space.
Exhibiting Artists include: Lynn Duryea, South Portland; Rebecca Goodale, Freeport; Tom Hall, Raymond; Joe Hemes, South Portland; Alison Hildreth, Portland; Lissa Hunter, Portland; Jamie Johnston, Portland; George Mason, Nobleboro; Julie Morringello, Stonington; Jan Owen, Belfast; Warren Seelig, Rockland; Carol Stein, Kittery Point; Todd Watts, Blanchard TWP; Susan Webster, Deer Isle
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This exhibition is organized by the Institute of Contemporary Art at Maine College of Art & Design, Interim Director of Exhibitions Nikki Rayburn, and Guest Curator Lissa Hunter.
When I was a child, my mother would say, “Be in before dark”, as I ran out the door to play in summer. We lived in that kind of neighborhood. It was the fifties, in the Midwest, on a short block with dozens of kids and no fences. “Before dark” became a particular designation of time, between outside in daytime and the inside at night. It held a kind of magical conversion, a sliver of time that signaled a shift in energy and focus.
When the sun fell below the horizon, colors flattened and lost definition. The sky looked lighter than the treetops below, which became a single mass of darkness. Houses were Monopoly pieces, with no definition of windows or porches, just outlines and dark interiors until the lights within were turned on, creating golden rectangles.
The air became cool. The earth smelled moist. And the fireflies became apparent, flashing lights against the gathering dark, adding to the sense of separation from the real world. It didn’t last long. Maybe ten or twenty minutes.

Header
Left: Carol Stein, Reflections on Hope #1, 2019; Photographer: Larry Elbroch
Right: Carol Stein, Reflections on Hope #2, 2019; Photographer: Larry Elbroch
Darkness and the Light exhibition
ICA Gallery hours: Wed–Sun, 11:00am–5:00pm, Thurs, 11:00am–7:00pm, Friday, 11:00am–5:00pm, (FFAW until 8:00pm)

'Darkness and the Light' | Artist Gallery Talk
2019-08-02 17:00 - 18:00 | Institute of Contemporary Art at Maine College of Art & Design, first floor
Artist Gallery Talk featuring Curator Lissa Hunter, and exhibiting artists: Lynn Duryea, Tom Hall, Jamie Johnston, Julie Morringello, Jan Owen, Todd Watts, and Susan Webster.
Find more information about the exhibition here
Darkness and the Light
On view from July 12—September 20, 2019

'Simultaneous Light and Dark' | Lecture featuring Bernie Reim
2019-08-08 18:00 - 19:00 | Institute of Contemporary Art at Maine College of Art & Design, first floor
Darkness and the Light Lecture featuring Bernie Reim, author of the Portland Press Herald's monthly astronomy column What's Up?, co-host of WMPG’s live weekly radio program "Scientifically Speaking", and an Instructor of astronomy lab courses at the University of Southern Maine.

Find more information about the exhibition here
Darkness and the Light
On view from July 12—September 20, 2019

'Darkness and the Light' | Performance featuring Barry Saunders
2019-09-05 18:00 - 19:00 | Institute of Contemporary Art at Maine College of Art & Design, first floor
Darkness and the Light Performance featuring jazz musician Barry Saunders.
Saxophonist, clarinetist and composer, Barry Saunders has played clubs, festivals and concerts throughout the United States, with a few dates in Europe and Asia, with such notable musicians and ensembles as Conte Condoli, Pete Christlieb, OK|OK, Michael McGinnis, Stew & TNP, Brad Terry, Erik Deutsch, Barry Manilow, Three Dog Night, Portland Jazz Orchestra, Fogcutters Big Band, Portland (Maine) Symphony Orchestra, New Hampshire Music Festival Symphony Orchestra, Assisi Festival for the Arts (Italy), North Shore Philharmonic, and Opera North.
Barryʼs work, with his own ensemble, has been featured on the award winning Maine Public Radio news program Maine Things Considered. Most recently, he could be heard on Spinning on Air with David Garland from the studios of WNYC. He can also be heard on Erik Deutschʼs CD “Hush Money” (hammerandstring.com) and Mike McGinnisʻs CD “Road*Trip” (mikemcginnis.com).
Prior to teaching at the School of Music at USM, Barry has taught at Bennington College, Williams College, and Bates College. In addition to teaching at USM and MSAD51, Barry also enjoys a thriving private studio where he teaches, saxophone, clarinet, improvisation and composition.

Find more information about the exhibition here
Darkness and the Light
On view from July 12—September 20, 2019

'Darkness and the Light' | Curatorial Talk presented by SDA Maine & MCA
2019-09-14 14:00 - 15:00 | Institute of Contemporary Art at Maine College of Art & Design, first floor
CURATORIAL TALK WITH LISSA HUNTER
Surface Design Association Maine (SDA Maine) and Maine Crafts Association (MCA) present a talk with Lissa Hunter, the curator of Darkness and the Light at The Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) at Maine College of Art & Design (MECA&D) on Saturday, September 14 at 2 pm. The talk is free and open to the public.
Hunter's talk will touch on the process of curating the show, developing working relationships with the artists, and being witness to their practice. Darkness and the Light was conceived by Hunter several years ago. She invited thirteen Maine artists with established careers and reputations for fine craftsmanship and artistic excellence to join her in creating work specifically for this exhibition.
Exhibiting artists work in a range of materials and processes and include Lynn Duryea, Rebecca Goodale, Tom Hall, Joe Hemes, Alison Hildreth, Lissa Hunter, Jamie Johnston, George Mason, Julie Morringello, Jan Owen, Warren Seelig, Carol Stein, Todd Watts, and Susan Webster.
Find more information about the exhibition here
Darkness and the Light
On view from July 12—September 20, 2019

'Darkness and the Light' | Artist Gallery Talk
2019-09-19 18:00 - 19:00 | Institute of Contemporary Art at Maine College of Art & Design, first floor
Artist Gallery Talk featuring Curator Lissa Hunter and exhibiting artists: Rebecca Goodale, Joe Hemes, Alison Hildreth, George Mason, Warren Seelig, and Carol Stein.
Find more information about the exhibition here
Darkness and the Light
On view from July 12—September 20, 2019

'Birds and Buildings', Nick Liadis, RA: Lecture
2019-10-30 18:00 - 19:00 | Osher Hall, Maine College of Art & Design, 2nd Floor, 522 Congress St., Portland, ME, 04101, United States
Nick G Liadis, RA
Wednesday, October 30th, 6–7pm
MECA&D, Osher Hall, Second floor
Free and open to the public
Millions of birds in North America fatally strike windows each year. Strikes can occur on any building type—from single family homes to large towers—and primarily affect migrating songbirds. The talk explores why birds strike windows and how design can help them safely navigate around buildings and cities.
Nick G Liadis is a cross-disciplinary thinker working at the interface of architecture and avian conservation biology. Trained as an architect—balancing professional practice with teaching at Carnegie Mellon and Chatham Universities—he’s defined a new approach to architecture by expanding a strong interest in the natural world, and in particular, birdlife. Central to this cross-disciplinary work is protecting birds from colliding into the windows of buildings, which occurs when they get tricked into perceiving their habitat reflected in glass.
Nick has expanded his research with appointments at the Point Reyes Bird Observatory in California, and at the Powdermill Avian Research Center and Fallingwater Institute in Pennsylvania. His bi-coastal experiences have given him tremendous insight into the struggles birds face when they encounter North American cities. This unique perspective is defined by promoting healthy landscapes across the multitude of environments that birds traverse as they migrate, from forests to cities.
As a research fellow at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Nick leverages his cross-disciplinary background with the depth of resources at the museum, such as the Bird Safe Pittsburgh Program. With his endorsement by the American Bird Conservancy and the American Institute of Architects to teach about bird-safe cities and buildings, he unites architects, planners, policy makers, and scientists around the protection of birds in cities.
This lecture is hosted by the Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) at MECA&D, in conjunction with the exhibition DesignInquiry: Futurespective. On view October 4 - December 14, 2019.

Performance: o t i t o | Sondra Graff + Petra van Noort
2019-12-06 18:15 - 19:30 | Institute of Contemporary Art at Maine College of Art & Design, first floor
Please join us in the Institute of Contemporary Art at MECA&D for a one-night performative dance from Sondra Graff + Petra van Noort. An event developed in collaboration with the ICA's current exhibition DesignInquiry: Futurespective, the performance will begin Friday, December 6 at 6:15PM in the ICA. Free and open to the public.

...to unravel the bind: Maine College of Art & Design 2020 Faculty Triennial Opening Reception
2020-01-17 17:00 - 20:00
...to unravel the bind:
Maine College of Art & Design 2020 Faculty Triennial
Opening Reception
On view from January 17 – March 1, 2020
Exhibition Opening: Friday, January 17, 2020, 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 Julie Poitras Santos, and Juror Ellen Tani, Boston-based art historian and independent curator.
Is the end in sight, or can we already see the end times? In 2020, we will weather the swells and tensions of subterfuge, irreversible change, and societal forces that tend toward self-destruction. Now more than ever, we need the thinking, making, and imagining that drives artists to make work both because of and in spite of these challenges. Inevitably pulled into the fray, where there is no clear path forward, up, or out, their practices navigate shifting grounds one step at a time, adapting to uncertainty both provisionally and purposefully. To unravel the bind, some pursue processes of dismantling, yielding new spaces and material configurations. Others take up forms, materials and design once intended to visually obscure or physically confine, transforming or repurposing them into new tools and structures for generative exploration. In doing so they explore the increasingly evanescent contours of truth, knowledge, and fact, reading the world as it presents itself—in all its complexity and imbalance—even when it does not make sense.
- Ellen Y. Tani, Guest Juror

Featured Artists
Marian Baker, Stephen Benenson, Michel Droge MFA '10, Annika Earley MFA '16, John P. Gardiner '07, MFA '14, Kate Greene, Adrian King '12, Alysha Kupferer, Alex Lukas, Honour Mack, Kelly McConnell, Rachel Eleni Somerville, Ling-Wen Tsai

For more info, visit: meca.edu/to-unravel-the-bind

Featured Image: Michel Droge

Exhibition | Some Things We Can Do Together | Megan and Murray McMillan
2020-03-18 11:00 - 2020-04-24 20:00 | Institute of Contemporary Art at Maine College of Art & Design, first floor
Some Things We Can Do Together: Megan and Murray McMillan
Opening Reception: Thursday, March 19, 2020, from 5–7pm
On view from March 18–April 24, 2020
Institute of Contemporary Art at Maine College of Art & Design
ICA Gallery hours: Wed–Sun, 11am–5pm, Thurs, 11am–7pm, Friday, 11am–5pm, (FFAW until 8pm)
Megan and Murray McMillan make large scale projects that result in short videos, installations and photographic series. Constructing complex, architectural sets that become stages for video and photography, the McMillans create works that offer a window into seemingly impossible situations. Their intention is to find a connective thread between the temporality of video and the observational distance of photographs to imaginatively situate the viewer inside metaphorical, visceral, fabricated environments such as the coal bin of a decommissioned power plant or on a small boat circling an island in the Gulf of Finland. Employing a varied lexicon of elements throughout their work – vessels of transport, theatrical stages, bridges, passageways, rooms – the McMillans create magical, transportive journeys.
Megan and Murray McMillan have exhibited their large-scale video installations at Mass MoCA in Massachusetts, the Kunsthallen Brandts Museum in Odense, Denmark, The State Museum of Contemporary Art in Thessaloniki, Greece, The RISD Museum in Rhode Island, and the deCordova Museum in Massachusetts. Their work has been included in numerous group exhibitions, film festivals and international biennials.
Some Things We Can Do Together: Megan and Murray McMillan, curated by Jamie Uretsky, was first exhibited at the New Bedford Art Museum/ArtWorks! in New Bedford, MA.

Featured Image: Megan and Murray McMillan, Some Things We Can Do Together, photograph, 2019

POSTPONED: Opening Reception | Some Things We Can Do Together | Megan and Murray McMillan
2020-03-19 17:00 - 19:00 | Institute of Contemporary Art at Maine College of Art & Design, first floor
EVENT POSTPONED. MECA&D is proactively postponing this event to prioritize the safety of our community, given the public health concerns surrounding the Coronavirus and in line with recommendations from the CDC. We look forward to rescheduling this event. Stay tuned for updates. Learn more about MECA&D's implementations for the Coronavirus (March 12, 2020).

Opening Reception: Thursday, March 19, 2020, from 5–7pm

On view from March 18–April 24, 2020
Institute of Contemporary Art at Maine College of Art & Design
ICA Gallery hours: Wed–Sun, 11am–5pm, Thurs, 11am–7pm, Friday, 11am–5pm, (FFAW until 8pm)

Please join us for the opening reception of Some Things We Can Do Together: Megan and Murray McMillan, featuring a survey of over ten years of work by Megan and Murray McMillan. The exhibition will be on view from March 18 through April 24, 2020.
Megan and Murray McMillan make large scale projects that result in short videos, installations and photographic series. Constructing complex, architectural sets that become stages for video and photography, the McMillans create works that offer a window into seemingly impossible situations. Their intention is to find a connective thread between the temporality of video and the observational distance of photographs to imaginatively situate the viewer inside metaphorical, visceral, fabricated environments such as the coal bin of a decommissioned power plant or on a small boat circling an island in the Gulf of Finland. Employing a varied lexicon of elements throughout their work – vessels of transport, theatrical stages, bridges, passageways, rooms – the McMillans create magical, transportive journeys.
Megan and Murray McMillan have exhibited their large-scale video installations at Mass MoCA in Massachusetts, the Kunsthallen Brandts Museum in Odense, Denmark, The State Museum of Contemporary Art in Thessaloniki, Greece, The RISD Museum in Rhode Island, and the deCordova Museum in Massachusetts. Their work has been included in numerous group exhibitions, film festivals and international biennials.
Some Things We Can Do Together: Megan and Murray McMillan, curated by Jamie Uretsky, was first exhibited at the New Bedford Art Museum/ArtWorks! in New Bedford, MA.

Featured Image: Megan and Murray McMillan, In What Distant Sky, video still, 2013
