Maine College of Art

'Darkness and the Light' | Artist Gallery Talk
2019-08-02 17:00 - 18:00 (America/New_York) | 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

POSTPONED: Artist Gallery Talk: Some Things We Can Do Together | Megan and Murray McMillan
2020-03-19 17:30 - 18:30 | 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).

Artist Gallery Talk with Megan and Murray McMillan
Thursday, March 19, 2020 at 5:30pm
Institute of Contemporary Art at MECA&D
Free and open to the public
Megan and Murray McMillan will discuss their work and the process of working together on the newest ICA installation Some Things We Can Do Together.
The artists 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 worlds. Finding a connective thread between the temporality of video and the observational distance of photographs, their works imaginatively situate the viewer inside metaphorical, fabricated environments such as the coal bin of a decommissioned power plant or 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. Some Things We Can Do Together features fifteen years of the McMillans’ collaborative work. Learn more about the exhibition here.

Opening Reception: Thursday, March 19, 2020, from 5–7pm
On view from March 18–April 24, 2020
ICA Gallery hours: Wed–Sun, 11am–5pm, Thurs, 11am–7pm, Friday, 11am–5pm, (FFAW until 8pm)

Featured Image: Megan and Murray McMillan, The Shape of Our Best Intentions, photograph, 2011
