Maine College of Art

How to Garden in Outer Space exhibition
2016-10-07 09:00 - 2016-10-16 17:00 (America/New_York) | ME
How to Garden in Outer Space – Isabelle O'Donnell '17
Edward M & Carol J Friendman Gallery
On view until October 16
Monday–Friday, 9:00am-5:00pm
My work draws from my personal history, traditional craft processes, and the saturated palette of commodity products. Both the natural world and the commercial mundane influence my process, inspiring my choice of materials, color, and composition. The work itself holds the residue of these influences and contributors, but transcends them by creating a bizarre world blending formal and fantastical elements, and raising questions about material, genre, and function.

Jesus, Take the Wheel: Probably Joel '16
2016-10-07 11:00 - 2016-11-04 17:00 | ICA at MECA&D, 522 Congress St., Portland, Maine, 04101, United States
Jesus, Take the Wheel: A Photo Exhibition of the Inscrutable United States through the eyes of Not-an-American. October 7–November 4, 2016
Jesus, Take the Wheel explores the narrative of Probably Joel’s experience on his recent road trip. He was the photographer for an upcoming documentary production, Trent Turns 40 and Buys a Van, about the loss of faith in religion. As a foreigner and a non-believer, Joel was suddenly exposed to a vast land of mystery, from the muslims of California, mormons of Utah, to alien believers of Nevada and “America’s Next Top Model is proof that god exists” of Wyoming.
In the midst of conflicts between religious beliefs, cultural differences, and prejudice towards other countries, the exhibition aims to document the cultural and geographic diversity within the United States in hopes of finding harmony through people of all walks. In addition, Joel hopes the audience walks away with mild discontent, thus embarking on their own journey across the country.
The show is on view October 7 through November 4, 2016 in the Artists at Work space at Maine College of Art & Design (522 Congress Street, Portland, Maine).
Please view our in-depth interview about Joel's experience here.
Biography
Joel Tsui, also known as Probably Joel, is a multi-disciplinary artist specialising in new media and photography. Born and raised in Hong Kong, Joel fostered his passion in technology and art. Being immersed in an intercultural city influenced him to travel and meet new people, leading him to pursue his higher education in Portland, Maine. Joel’s work has been shown internationally, including Hong Kong, Malaysia and the United States. His work explores a wide variety of narrative methods, from photography and filmmaking to sound and installation art, with the objective of creating a unique experience for the artist, the collaborator and the audience.
Questions regarding the exhibition go to Joel Tsui via this.is.probably@gmail.com or 207.274.3457.
Download the flier for the event here.

2016 Alumni Print Project
2016-10-07 17:00 - 2016-10-09 17:00 | ICA at MECA&D, 522 Congress St., Portland, Maine, 04101, United States
All degree-holding alumni with printmaking experience are invited to apply to participate in the Annual Alumni Print Session on October 7, 8, and 9 at Maine College of Art & Design. The event starts with dinner on Friday evening and continues on Saturday and Sunday from 8am to 5pm in the printmaking studios at MECA&D. Participants work in relationship to a theme. This year's Visiting Artist is Printmaking alum Emmeline Solomon '13 and the theme is Margins and Marginalia.

Artists create 20 portfolios containing 11 prints each, including one master print by each participating artist. Several students and past participants will be on hand to provide studio assistance. At the end of the session each artist will receive one of the portfolios.
Participants should come with an idea or image for your print already worked out, in order to successfully complete 20 prints within the two printing days.
Applications will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis until the participant list is filled. There is a $50 participation fee. This includes the cost of materials, Friday night dinner, brunch on Saturday and Sunday and a portfolio from the session.
To apply, please send an email to jtomlinson@meca.edu with responses to the following questions:

Name
Address
Phone Number
Email Address
Graduation Year
One Digital image of one of your prints with title, media, dimensions, and year
One paragraph outlining how your work relates to this year’s theme, and why you would like to participate in this project

Dwelling Place, Interactive Exhibition
2016-10-14 08:00 - 17:00 | MECA&D Green Space, corner of Casco and Shepley Street
Dwelling Place Interactive Public Art
Community Celebration Hosted on October 18 at 12:30pm at MECA&D’s Green Space on Casco Street
Maine College Of Art, in conjunction with Southern Maine Hillel, will sponsor Dwelling Place, an Interactive Public Art Installation by Asherah Cinnamon '08, at the MECA&D Green Space (corner of Casco and Shepley Streets), in Portland, Maine, from October 16 through October 29. A reception and cultural/religious celebration will be held at 12:30pm on October 18 (rain date 12:30pm October 21), featuring Klezmer music by Rabbi Sruli Dresdner and Lisa Mayer. This event is for students, faculty, staff, and community members from MECA&D, the University of New England, the University of Southern Maine and Southern Maine Community College.
The Dwelling Place is a sculpture, a dwelling place for spirit, a structure in which to celebrate the ancient tradition of Sukkot. There are many themes in this celebration: it is a significant time to reconnect with the Earth and the Elements, and to remember that not everyone in our community, even today, has a permanent home, safe from weather or human aggression and indifference. Like the ancient Jewish people in the desert and like all refugees worldwide, the structure is strong, but vulnerable to many forces.
The Jewish holiday of Sukkot (Festival of Booths) will take place on October 16-23 this year. As a biblical and cultural holiday, Jews celebrate by building temporary structures, reminiscent of their ancestors’ lives as they escaped from slavery in ancient Egypt and wandered the desert for 40 years. “Dwelling Place” is a sukkah or booth. There are many rules that pertain to creating a kosher* sukkah, including how many walls the structure must have and how much of the sky one can see from within (*kosher means suitable for observant religious practice, or according to biblical rules).
Artist, Asherah Cinnamon received her BFA degree from MECA&D in 2008. Dwelling Place was designed and built by her in 2011 with support from the Linda and Joel Abromson Award, presented annually by the Jewish Community Alliance of Southern Maine. It has been installed annually since then, at the University of New England Gallery, The Maine Jewish Museum, on the campus of SMCC, and twice at USM. It’s 7th and final installation will take place in fall of 2017.
Ariel Bernstein, Director of the Southern Maine Hillel, “The sukkah will provide a visual invitation and access for students and the community to participate in this Jewish tradition…” Southern Maine Hillel is a project of the Jewish Community Alliance of Southern Maine whose mission it is to build and support Jewish community locally at MECA&D, SMCC, UNE and USM, in Israel and throughout the world. For more information about the Dwelling Place event, email Ariel Bernstein, the JCA, or MECA&D.
In the second and final stage of installation, the schach, a traditional fresh cut tree branch roof for the structure, will be installed Sunday October 16, at 1pm, just before the beginning of the holiday of Sukkot. We invite students, faculty, and staff to also participate in the holiday by helping to install the sukkah at MECA&D’s Green Space on either of two Sundays: October 9th and October 16. Students are encouraged to help with the installation on October 9 or 16, and also with taking down the structure on Sunday October 30th. Contact Southern Maine Hillel, MECA&D, or the artist for details.
This program made possible in part by a grant from Reform on Campus.

ART21 Screening (2 days, 4 screenings)
2016-10-17 16:00 - 2016-10-18 18:00 | Institute of Contemporary Art at Maine College of Art & Design, first floor
The Institute of Contemporary Art at Maine College of Art & Design (ICA at MECA&D) will be screening Art 21. There will be director introductions, Q&A, and student discussion with each viewing.
Featured artists: Natalia Almada, Edgar Arceneaux, Nick Cave, Minerva Cuevas, Stan Douglas, Theaster Gates, Brian Jungen, Barbara Kasten, Liz Larner, Tala Madani, Liz Magor, Damián Ortega, Pedro Reyes, Diana Thater, Jeff Wall, and Chris Ware.
Episodes, Dates, & Viewing Times

Mexico City — Monday, 10/17, 4:00pm
Los Angeles — Monday, 10/17, 6:00pm
Vancouver — Tuesday, 10/18, 9:30am
Chicago —Tuesday, 10/18 , 6:00pm

About Art21 Season 8
The series provides unparalleled access to the most innovative artists of our time, revealing how artists engage the culture around them and how art allows viewers to see the world in new ways. Golden Globe and Emmy Award-winning actress Claire Danes will join the Peabody Award-winning documentary television series “Art in the Twenty-First Century” as its broadcast host for the series’ eighth season.
The new season showcases the geography, architecture, society, culture, and heritage of each location. Each episode highlights aspects of contemporary life that viewers everywhere experience. “Using the sounds, colors, and energy of the city as a landscape that artists respond to and interact with, the films expand beyond the studio to explore each artist’s engagement with their communities and the world around them,” said ART21 Executive Producer Eve Moros Ortega.
Episode Descriptions
Mexico City
Mexico City artists exit their homes and studios to use the growing megalopolis as their canvas. The artists present everyday materials as artworks, mine recognizable images for their poetic potential, and take their art to the streets. Damián Ortega (b.1967, Mexico City, Mexico) uses objects from his everyday life—Volkswagen Beetle cars, Day of the Dead posters, locally sourced corn tortillas—to make spectacular sculptures, which suggest stories of both mythic import and cosmological scale. Pedro Reyes (b.1972, Mexico City, Mexico) designs ongoing projects that propose playful solutions to urgent social problems. From turning guns into musical instruments, to hosting a People’s United Nations to address pressing concerns, to offering ecologically friendly grasshopper burgers from a food cart, Reyes transforms existing problems into ideas for a better world. Minerva Cuevas (b.1975, Mexico City, Mexico) is a conceptual and socially-engaged artist who creates sculptural installations and paintings in response to politically charged events such as the tension between world starvation and capitalistic excess. Cuevas documents community protests in a cartography of resistance while also creating mini-sabotages—altering grocery store bar codes and manufacturing student identity cards—as part of her Better Life Corporation. Natalia Almada (b.1974, Mexico City, Mexico), the great-granddaughter of Mexico’s controversial 40th president, Plutarco Elías Calles, makes intimate films that delve into the tragedies of her Mexican-American family’s personal history as well as the Sinaloa region’s violent present.

Chicago
Chicago is a city rooted in industry and towering architecture, and artists in Chicago are disrupting urban experience through experimentation. Nick Cave (b.1959, Fulton, MO, USA) creates “Soundsuits”—surreally majestic objects blending fashion and sculpture—that originated as metaphorical suits of armor in response to the Rodney King beatings and have evolved into vehicles for empowerment. Theaster Gates (b.1973, Chicago, IL, USA) first encountered creativity in the music of Black churches on his journey to becoming an urban planner, potter, and artist. Gates creates sculptures out of clay, tar, and renovated buildings, transforming the raw material of the South Side into radically reimagined vessels of opportunity for the community. Barbara Kasten (b.1936, Chicago, IL, USA) makes photographs and video projections in her studio that evoke an experience of movement through modernist architecture. Chris Ware (b.1967, Omaha, NE, USA), known for his New Yorker magazine covers, is hailed as a master of the comic art form. Ware’s complex graphic novels, which tell stories about people in suburban midwestern neighborhoods, poignantly reflect on the role of memory in constructing identity.

Vancouver
In small and tightly-knit Vancouver, artists reframe the world through a series of sophisticated illusions. By recreating historical moments, staging photos of vernacular scenes, and crafting intricate sculptures that trick the eye, artists reveal how everyday images and moments from the past are not always what they seem. Liz Magor (b.1948, Winnipeg, MB, Canada) makes uncannily realistic casts of humble objects—gloves, cardboard boxes, cigarettes—that speak to mortality and local histories. Through complex video installations, photos, theatrical productions, and virtual reality simulations, Stan Douglas (b.1960, Vancouver, BC, Canada) reenacts historical moments of tension that connect the history of Vancouver to broader social movements of struggle and utopian aspiration. Brian Jungen (b.1970, Fort St. John, BC, Canada) draws from his family’s ranching and hunting background, as well as his Dane-zaa heritage, when disassembling and recombining consumer goods into whimsical sculptures. Attentive to the accidental encounters that can inspire an image, photographer Jeff Wall (b.1946, Vancouver, BC, Canada) recreates flashes of inspiration by building sets and repeatedly photographing gestures until they coalesce into a picture that’s printed on a grand scale.

Los Angeles
While sprawling Los Angeles has world-class museums and art schools, artists working in the shadow of the entertainment industry are more “under the radar,” affording them the space and time to imagine. Diana Thater (b.1962, San Francisco, CA, USA) makes video installations that poetically grapple with threats to the natural world. She is filmed preparing for her monumental exhibition, The Sympathetic Imagination, at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Liz Larner (b.1960, Sacramento, CA, USA) experiments with abstract sculptural forms in a dizzying array of materials, including polychromatic ceramics that evoke the tectonic geologic shifts of the western landscape. Tala Madani (b.1981, Tehran, Iran) skewers stereotypes in her sharply satirical paintings that evoke clashes of culture: men and women, the rational and the absurd, Western and non-Western. And Edgar Arceneaux (b.1972, Los Angeles, CA) investigates historical patterns through drawings, installations, and multimedia events, such as the reenactment of Ben Vereen’s tragically misunderstood blackface performance at Ronald Reagan’s 1981 Inaugural Gala.

Artist Lecture: Allyson Mitchell
2016-10-20 12:00 - 13:30 | Osher Hall, Maine College of Art & Design, 2nd Floor, 522 Congress St., Portland, ME, 04101, United States
MECA&D’s Visiting Artist & Guest Lecturer Series invites professional artists, educators, curators, thought leaders, and creative entrepreneurs to present on topics of interest and importance to the MECA&D community.
All lectures in this series are hosted in Osher Hall and are open to the public at no charge. Seating is limited. Supported in part by the Gene R. Cohen Charitable Foundation, the Isabel K. Pease Trust, and friends of the College through the Osher Chair Naming Program. Call 207.699.5010 for more information.
Allyson Mitchell
Thursday, October 20th, 12:00pm
Lady Sasquatchs – installation view of Midge by Allyson Mitchell
Allyson Mitchell is a maximalist artist working in sculpture, performance, installation and film. Her practice melds feminism and pop culture to investigate contemporary ideas about sexuality, autobiography and the body, largely through the use of reclaimed textile and abandoned craft. These articulations have resulted in a coven of lesbian feminist Sasquatch monsters, a room-sized Vagina Dentata, an army of super genius Holly Hobbies and a woodland utopic library complete with a wishing well of forbidden political knowledge. Her works have exhibited in galleries and festivals across Canada, the US and Europe, including Tate Modern, the Textile Museum of Canada, the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art, the Andy Warhol Museum, Walker Art Center, The British Film Institute, Winnipeg Art Gallery and the Art Gallery of Ontario.
A survey of Mitchell's "hand made" animated film and video work recently toured festivals and performance spaces internationally with exhibitions in Dublin, London and Bologna. Until their retirement in 2004, Mitchell also performed actively with the fat performance troupe 'Pretty Porky and Pissed Off', which she co-founded in 1997.

Media Sponsors

Maine Home+Design is connected to those who live and breathe architecture, art, and good living. Its pages are filled with architectural masterpieces, home design inspiration, compelling artwork, designers, craftspeople, and the latest design trends and industry news.
At Maine Magazine, we believe that Maine is alive with intense creativity and passionate people who contribute to the vibrancy that makes this such a great place to live. We dedicate ourselves to bringing it to our readers.

Public and Alumni Forum on Salt
2016-10-20 17:15 - 18:30 | Maine College of Art & Design, First Floor, 522 Congress St., Portland, ME, 04101, United States
When Salt entered into partnership with Maine College of Art & Design, the College promised to host a forum about Salt to which Salt alumni would be invited. The date for this forum is Thursday, October 20, 2016 at 5:15 pm at Maine College of Art & Design. The first half of the forum will address general questions about Salt and the second half will take the form of a discussion regarding the proposed curriculum for the new graduate certificate program. We will close with an optional tour of MECA&D, led by Dean Anderson.
If you wish to attend the forum, please RSVP in this link.

'Anguish' Exhibition
2016-10-28 11:00 - 2017-01-14 17:00 | Institute of Contemporary Art at Maine College of Art & Design, first floor
Anguish
Artist: Martha McDonald; Photographer: Christian Capurro; Medium: dress-crepe paper fused to muslin and interfacing, polyester thread, metal fasteners, cotton tape, elastic cord; platform--birch plywood. Dimensions: dress: 67" x 55"; platform: 14" x 89" x 89"
On view from October 28, 2016 – January 14, 2017
Exhibition Opening: Friday, October 28, 2016, 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)
Curated by Cynthia Nourse Thompson, Director, MFA Studio Art / MFA Book Arts + Printmaking and Associate Professor at the University of the Arts. Anguish is a visceral portrait of isolation, desire and remorse. Removed from the shadows, a collection of international artists present a visual dialogue which is strikingly raw and at the surface of our emotional armature—one which we work diligently to prevent illuminating. Imposing presence of fear and loss compounded by images, which while beautiful are laden with sorrow, regret and despondency, and beckon the viewer to pause and reflect on the frailty of contemporary society. Artists include Janine Antoni, Nils Ericson, Louise Bourgeois, Anna Tsantir, Oscar Muñoz, Piper Shepard, Roberto Mannino, Rosemary Laing, Anders Krisar, Gail Deery, Jenny Holzer, Markus Hansen, Donna Smith, Carson Fox and Martha McDonald.

Artist Lecture: Saya Woolfalk
2016-11-03 12:00 - 13:30 | Osher Hall, Maine College of Art & Design, 2nd Floor, 522 Congress St., Portland, ME, 04101, United States
MECA&D’s Visiting Artist & Guest Lecturer Series invites professional artists, educators, curators, thought leaders, and creative entrepreneurs to present on topics of interest and importance to the MECA&D community.
All lectures in this series are hosted in Osher Hall and are open to the public at no charge. Seating is limited. Supported in part by the Gene R. Cohen Charitable Foundation, the Isabel K. Pease Trust, and friends of the College through the Osher Chair Naming Program. Call 207.699.5010 for more information.
Saya Woolfalk
Thursday, November 3rd, 12:00pm
Saya Woolfalk, Virtual Chimeric Space, Mixed Media with HD Digital Video Projections, 42' x 12' x 12'
Saya Woolfalk is a New York based artist who uses science fiction and fantasy to re-imagine the world in multiple dimensions. With the multi year projects No Place, The Empathics, and ChimaTEK, Woolfalk has created the world of the Empathics, a fictional race of women who are able to alter their genetic make-up and fuse with plants. With each body of work, Woolfalk continues to build the narrative of these women's lives, and questions the utopian possibilities of cultural hybridity.
Her work considers the idea that symbolic and ideological systems can be activated and re-imagined through collaboration, imaginative play and masquerade. To effect this re-imagining objects, bodies, and landscapes are constructed to immerse us in the logic of another place. In many ways Woolfalk’s works become the repository of the dreams and ideas of the many people who participate in producing and imagining the contours of the works. In the tradition of the fable or folk story, Woolfalk maps the desires and ideas of people to create narratives that attempt to be relevant to a contemporary audience.

Media Sponsors

Maine Home+Design is connected to those who live and breathe architecture, art, and good living. Its pages are filled with architectural masterpieces, home design inspiration, compelling artwork, designers, craftspeople, and the latest design trends and industry news.
At Maine Magazine, we believe that Maine is alive with intense creativity and passionate people who contribute to the vibrancy that makes this such a great place to live. We dedicate ourselves to bringing it to our readers.

"Freedom Over Me" Book Launch at Portland Public Library
2016-11-05 14:30 - 16:30 | Rhines Auditorium, Portland Public Library, 5 Monument Way, Portland, ME, 04101, United States
Ashley Bryan Presents New Book: Freedom Over Me at the Portland Public Library Rines Auditorium. November 5, 2016, 2:30-4:30pm

Followed by Book Signing by Award Winning Maine Author, Illustrator Ashley Bryan, 93, artist and author/illustrator of over 50 books, will present his newest and most ambitious book to date: Freedom Over Me. Books will be available for sale and signing at the event by Shermans Bookstore.
Freedom Over Me brings to life eleven slaves Bryan first encountered in an 1828 slave document he bought at a local Maine auction over a decade ago. The original bill of sale listed the eleven individuals only by name and price—along with other goods from a southern estate—livestock, household goods, farming equipment. With brush and pen, Bryan assigned the people faces, histories, skills, talents, relationships, hopes and dreams. He described the effort of creating their lives as a “mind, heart and soul project.” As he drew their portraits and wrote their stories in prose, he thought of himself, “a black man, reading, writing, painting freely,” all the time aware that, “had I been born under slavery…” He noted that a slave “caught in these acts would have been brutally beaten, even to the extreme of cutting off the slave’s hands.” When the anguish of these thoughts would overcome him, Bryan would go out into the garden and paint the hollyhocks and dahlias to relax.
“An impressive coalition of groups came together to organize this Portland launch for Freedom Over Me,” notes Daniel Minter, one of the event organizers. Minter, also an artist and children’s book illustrator who considers Ashley Bryan to be a significant mentor and role model, teaches at the Maine College of Art & Design (MECA&D). He is a founding board member of the Illustration Institute and serves on the Board of the Ashley Bryan Center. The Ashley Bryan Center, along with the
Illustration Institute, MECA&D, the Portland Public Library, the Abyssinian Meeting House, First Book and Shermans Bookstore are all collaborating partners in the event. The Illustration Institute’s exhibition, Picture This: The Art and Workings of the Illustration Institute will be on view in the library’s Lewis Gallery (through December 17). The exhibition shares the ideas, process, craft and art of seventeen local and national professional illustrators, including Ashley Bryan.
The November 5th Portland event is scheduled just two days after the prestigious Kirkus award will be announced in Austin, Texas. Freedom Over Me is one of six nominees in the Kirkus Young Readers Literature category, selected from over five hundred candidates. Bryan has won numerous awards for his works in children’s literature in the past, including a Coretta Scott King—Virginia Hamilton Award, and a Laura Ingalls Wilder Award—both for Lifetime Achievement. He received an honorary award at MECA&D in 2014 in acknowledgement of his lifetime achievements in the arts.

For more information about the event, call 207.871.1700 x723
For more information about Ashley Bryan, please visit this site.
Media contact: Donna Isaacs 802.236. 5646; donna.isaacs@gmail.com

'Journeys: Translations of Travel & Transience' Exhibition
2016-11-12 11:00 - 2016-11-30 17:00 | ICA at MECA&D, 522 Congress St., Portland, Maine, 04101, United States
An exhibition, featuring seven artists whose work is impacted by movement.
Journeys will be opening in the Artists at Work Gallery, at Maine College of Art & Design, on Saturday, November 12th, and will be running through November 30th.
Movement is essential to knowing the world in which we exist; to feel the shape of the earth and the distance that defines us. This holds true today, despite our culture, which encourages an ever more insular and sedentary lifestyle. In this way, travel is rebellion.
The exhibition will create a montage experience, featuring a diverse range of work including installation, ceramic, sculpture and print. Much of the work is interactive. There will be three evenings of events in the space over the course of the exhibition.
Featuring work from up and coming artists: Anna Welch, Elizabeth Conlin, Jo Hatlevig, Emma Wolfson, Sara Inacio, Ssengam Niloc, Ellanor Milkgren
Events
Opening: Saturday, November 12, 6:00pm
Meal by Jo Hatlevig, 6:30pm
Performance by Visitor 10, 7:30pm
Performances and Artist Talks
Friday, November 18, 6:00pm
Meal by Jo Hatlevig, 6:30pm
Performance by Anna Welch and Myles Bullen, 7:30pm
Performance by Visitor 10, 8pm
Closing Dinner- Monday, November 28
Meal by Jo Hatlevig 7:00–8:00pm

Remembrance Day for Lost Species: Poetry Reading
2016-12-02 12:30 - 13:30 | Institute of Contemporary Art at Maine College of Art & Design, first floor
Friday, December 2, 12:30pm
Please join local poets in the galleries in the ICA at Maine College of Art & Design for a lunchtime reading of poems in memoriam to species extinctions. This reading has been organized in response to a global movement of artists and creatives seeking to bring attention to these losses through a worldwide Remembrance Day for Lost Species on November 30.
Poets reading include:

Gibson Fay-LeBlanc, Portland Poet Laureate
Annie Finch
Megan Grumbling
Julie Poitras Santos

Image provided by the Facebook page of Remembrance Day for Lost Species.

MECA&D Holiday Sale
2016-12-02 17:00 - 2016-12-03 17:00 | Porteous Building, Maine College of Art & Design, 522 Congress Street, Portland, ME, 04101, United States
Mark your calendars for this free, all ages event and give the gift of original art! The sale is produced by the Artists at Work team to benefit MECA&D’s education, outreach, and student programs while providing an opportunity for MECA&D students, alumni, faculty and staff to sell unique, handmade arts, crafts and gifts for the holiday season.
2016 Location and Sale Dates

Maine College of Art & Design, Porteous Building
522 Congress Street, Portland, Maine 04101

Friday, December 2, 5pm–9pm
Saturday, December 3, 10am–5pm

Please click on poster for larger file.
Media Sponsors

Maine Home+Design is connected to those who live and breathe architecture, art, and good living. Its pages are filled with architectural masterpieces, home design inspiration, compelling artwork, designers, craftspeople, and the latest design trends and industry news.
At Maine Magazine, we believe that Maine is alive with intense creativity and passionate people who contribute to the vibrancy that makes this such a great place to live. We dedicate ourselves to bringing it to our readers.

Info Session: Painting Retreat on the French Riviera
2016-12-04 15:00 - 16:00 | Osher Hall, Maine College of Art & Design, 2nd Floor, 522 Congress St., Portland, ME, 04101, United States
Painting Retreat on the French Riviera
Students are housed in the 19th century Italianate "Villa" (above) and in the Château.
The Château de La Napoule
With Diane Dahlke, May 15–22, 2017
Info Session: Sunday, December 4th
3:00-4:00pm in Osher Hall

We will hold an Informational Session on Sunday, December 4th from 3:00-4:00pm in MECA&D’s Osher Hall. Meet Diane Dahlke, discuss the curriculum, view slides from previous retreats and learn more about the history of the Château and the great beauty of its environs.
Read more information about the trip here

Viewing: PBS' Mercy Street
2016-12-06 17:30 - 20:00 | Osher Hall, Maine College of Art & Design, 2nd Floor, 522 Congress St., Portland, ME, 04101, United States
The Maine Film & Video Association (MFVA) will be hosting South Portland producer Lisa Quijano Wolfinger of Lone Wolf Media in a presentation of the Second Season of her most recent project, the prime time episodic drama for National PBS, Mercy Street. Wolfinger will be screening the first episode of the Second Season over a month earlier than its January 22nd premiere on Maine Public Television. She will lead a discussion of what it takes to sell an idea to the PBS network, how this second season differs from the first in terms of characters, story and production. Free Leonardo’s Pizza and drinks.

The event is open to all. MFVA members and MECA&D students are free.
Non-member admission is $10.

The series was co-created by David Zabel, (showrunner/writer for NBC’s ER) and is executive produced by David Zuker (The Good Wife) and Ridley Scott (Gladiator and Thelma & Louise).

'Selected Works', Emmett Freeman '17
2017-01-03 09:00 - 2017-01-17 17:00 | Maine College of Art & Design, First Floor, 522 Congress St., Portland, ME, 04101, United States
Selected Works, Emmett Freeman '17
An installation of sculptural ceramic figures by Emmett Freeman '17.
Zand Head Gallery, First Floor
January 1–18, 2017, 9:00am–5:00pm
What’s going on in this piece figure 4, Earthenware, Terra Sigillata, 2016

'Remembering the Intentionally Forgotten'
2017-01-03 09:00 - 2017-01-18 17:00 | Front Window at Maine College of Art & Design, 522 Congress St., Portland, ME, 04101, United States
Remembering the Intentionally Forgotten, Nicole Guest '17
An installation on memory, utilizing laser-cut text in paper and fabric, by Nicole Guest '17. Front window of Porteous building on Congress Street.

'Hired Wrights: Manifest Artistry' Exhibition
2017-01-06 09:00 - 2017-02-01 17:00 | ICA at MECA&D, 522 Congress St., Portland, Maine, 04101, United States
Hired Wrights: Manifest Artistry Exhibition
The Hired Wrights are a collective of MECA&D alumni artists, designers and craftspeople available for freelance work. This is your go-to crew if you need a logo, a video, an illustration, a photograph, a mural or custom furniture. See examples of their work on display.
Artists at Work Gallery Space
January 6–19, 2017 , 9:00am–5:00pm

'Process + Place​​' Exhibition
2017-01-10 08:00 - 2017-02-28 17:00 | Charles C. Thomas Gallery at Maine College of Art & Design, second floor
Process + Place Exhibition
Charles Thomas Gallery, Second Floor
January 10–February 28, 2017
Monday–Friday, 9:00am-5:00pm
A group exhibition featuring work by alumni who participated in a 2016 artist residency at either the Stephen Pace House in Stonington, Maine or the Baie Ste Marie Artist and Family Residency in New Edinburgh, Nova Scotia.
This show includes work by Bruce Brosnan '95, Caren-Marie Michel '78, Angela Warren MFA '11, Eric Vaughn MFA '12, Margaret Lawrence '93, Matthew Burnett MFA '06, and Scott Fuller MFA '06.

Angela Warren MFA '11, untitled, acrylic on canvas, 30''x30'

'Stick Pins': Metalsmithing & Jewelry
2017-01-16 08:00 - 2017-02-03 17:00 | Front Window at Maine College of Art & Design, 522 Congress St., Portland, ME, 04101, United States
Stick Pins
An exhibition of stick pins designed and crafted by students in the Metalsmithing & Jewelry Program, led by Associate Professor/Program Chair, Sharon Portelance '82.
Porteous Front Window, Congress Street
January 16–February 3, 2017

'Maine Region Scholastics' Exhibition
2017-01-30 09:00 - 2017-02-10 17:00 | Maine College of Art & Design, First Floor, 522 Congress St., Portland, ME, 04101, United States
Maine Region Scholastics Exhibition at Maine College of Art & Design
First Floor, Porteous Building, 9:00am–5:00pm
January 30–February 10, 2017
The Maine Region Scholastic Art Award Exhibition exhibits juried work submitted by 7th to 12th graders who are residents of, or attending schools in the state of Maine. This exhibit features the work that has received the highest recognition; Silver Key Awards and Gold Key Awards. This is an excellent opportunity to see the quality and breadth of work created by middle and high school students under the guidance of Maine’s art educators. Students who earn recognition at the Gold Key Award regional level compete nationally and have a chance to earn national recognition. If you would like more information regarding the Scholastics Art and Writing Competition, please visit their website.
View 2016 Winners
Page Header Credit: Caitlyn Duffy, Mantra, Grade 12, Art Teacher: Chris Crosby, Gorham High School

Accountant Workshop: Using the Opportunity Maine Tax Credit
2017-01-30 17:30 - 19:00 | ICA at MECA&D, 522 Congress St., Portland, Maine, 04101, United States
Accountant-In-Residence Workshop:
Using the Opportunity Maine Tax Credit
Monday, January 30, 5:30pm
Artists at Work, Maine College of Art & Design
The Opportunity Maine Tax Credit reimburses student loan payments for college graduates from 2008-2016 who live and work in Maine. Bonus points if you graduated with a degree in graphic design or new media, which are considered STEM degrees and have additional benefits.
Free for faculty, staff, students, and alumni. Please reserve a seat by emailing jtomlinson@meca.edu.

Collective Actions II
2017-02-01 09:00 - 2017-03-03 17:00 | Institute of Contemporary Art at Maine College of Art & Design, first floor
Collective Actions II, an exhibition of printed matter highlighting collaboration, communication, and public engagement, opens in the Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) at Maine College of Art & Design on Wednesday, February 1, 2017.
The reception takes place on Friday, February 3, 2017 from 5:00-8:00pm and is open to the public. The exhibit will be on view until Friday, March 3, 2017.
Collective Actions II consists of three elements:
- The Unity of Opposites
- Print Lab
- Mobile Print Power
The Unity of Opposites exhibition features the collaboration between two printmaking studios: Zea Mays Printmaking (Florence, MA), and Peregrine Press (Portland, ME). The two studios created a visual “rip-off” of the childhood game Telephone, in an effort to expose real-world issues about communication and interpretation in our contemporary culture. The process continued until 75 artists participated over the course of five months; each artist’s response highlights their own perspective on their collaborator’s art.
The interactive Print Lab is being brought to fruition by the Future Mothers art collective, the multigenerational New York City collective Mobile Print Power, and by student artists from MECA&D’s Zine Club. Three distinct but complementary projects, comprised of the Future Bridges tent, the Mobile Print Power silkscreen cart, and the Zine Fair, will employ socially engaged art practices and draws on a rich history of collaboration, dissemination, and public action through printmaking. Through participatory workshops that engage local community members, participants will explore urgent social and political issues through creative mediums.
Mobile Print Power (MPP) is a multi-generational collective based out of IMI Corona, in Queens, New York, that utilizes silkscreen printmaking and participatory design in public spaces to engage communities. Soñamos Sentirnos Libres: Making it Real is an evolution of the exhibition Soñamos Sentirnos Libres: Under Construction. This version of the exhibition highlights some of the collaborative work produced throughout its initial run, which focused on utilizing historical resources to to draw connections between past and current struggles for the rights of immigrants, intentionally prioritizing the voices of youth, undocumented folks, and women. At Maine College of Art & Design, a series of public events will engage different communities with the ideas behind MPP’s work, including collaboration, immigrant identity, and the role of the artist.
The Institute of Contemporary Art is open to the public, free of charge, Wednesday–Sunday, 11:00am–5:00pm, Thursdays until 7:00pm, and First Fridays until 8:00pm.
Artwork: Nancy Doniger, Dance, Monoprint

Artist Lecture: Dyani White Hawk
2017-02-02 12:00 - 14:00 | Osher Hall, Maine College of Art & Design, 2nd Floor, 522 Congress St., Portland, ME, 04101, United States
Dyani White Hawk
Thursday, February 2, 12:00pm
MECA&D’s Visiting Artist & Guest Lecturer Series invites professional artists, educators, curators, thought leaders, and creative entrepreneurs to present on topics of interest and importance to the MECA&D community. All lectures in this series are hosted in Osher Hall and are open to the public at no charge. Seating is limited.
As a woman of Lakota and European ancestry, White Hawk was raised among Native American communities within urban landscapes. Her work reflects these cross-cultural experiences through the combination of modern abstract painting and traditional Lakota art forms. Some works are executed strictly in paint; others incorporate beads, porcupine quills, ledger paper, brass sequins and other materials representing a Lakota aesthetic. White Hawk strives to create honest, inclusive compositions that acknowledge all parts of her history, Native and non-Native, urban and reservation, grassroots and academia. These works are intended to increase exposure and inclusion of Native American contributions and thought within contemporary arts. The complexity of visual and conceptual references encourage conversations which in turn acknowledge the diversity of Native experiences, break down misconceptions, generalizations, and reinforce the importance of a Native voice within contemporary arts.
Dyani White Hawk, Untitled (blue and gold), acrylic, oil, vintage beads, thread on canvas, 2016

Media Sponsors

Maine Home+Design is connected to those who live and breathe architecture, art, and good living. Its pages are filled with architectural masterpieces, home design inspiration, compelling artwork, designers, craftspeople, and the latest design trends and industry news.
At Maine Magazine, we believe that Maine is alive with intense creativity and passionate people who contribute to the vibrancy that makes this such a great place to live. We dedicate ourselves to bringing it to our readers.

Lights Across Congress Celebration
2017-02-03 18:00 - 22:00 | Portland Museum of Art, 7 Congress St, Portland , ME, United States
This February 3, the Portland Museum of Art experience will extend outside the walls of the museum, through an innovative event and celebration called Lights Across Congress. This event, anchored by a 124 foot wide by 36 foot high multi-dimensional projection on the museum’s brick facade, will be the art and cultural event of the year.
At 6:00pm, we will start the countdown to the main event, accompanied by music, ice sculptures, and food trucks along Free Street. Then, at 6:30pm, watch from Congress Square as the building comes to life with a custom presentation by local production company, P3. The PMA will be awash with light, and you'll be welcome to come inside and take a first look at Your Museum, Reimagined, with completely reinstalled galleries, new special exhibitions, gallery talks, a new installation of The Workshop, celebratory treats in the PMA Café, and activities for all ages.
Free and open to the public! Congress Square.

Research Writing Workshop 1: Getting Started
2017-02-21 12:00 - 13:30 | The Learning Studio, 522 Congress Street, Room 200, Second floor, PORTLAND, ME, 04101, United States
Tutoring takes place in Room 200, the Learning Studio, adjacent to the Joanne Waxman Library.These will be offered Universal Time: 12pm–1:30pm, unless otherwise noted. More details will be posted for each.
Sign-up is encouraged, as space will be limited in some workshops. To sign up, students can email tutor@meca.edu.

Tuesday, 21 February: Research Workshop 1: Getting Started
Thursday, 23 February: Using the Chicago Manual of Style (mini-workshop)
Tuesday, 28 February: How to Take Great Notes
Tuesday, 7 March: Nailing the Scholarship Application Essay
Tuesady, 28 March: Research Workshop 2: Writing, Citing & Paraphrasing
Thursday, 30 March: Beyond the 5-Paragraph Essay
Tuesday, 4 April: Senior Synthesis Workshop
Tuesday, 18 April: How to Write a Great Artist Statement
Tuesday, 25 April: Creative Journaling

More information about MECA&D's Tutorial Services, along with how to create an one-on-one meeting, is available on this page.

'Mainestream Art' at St. Botolph Club
2017-03-01 08:00 - 2017-04-07 17:00 | St Botolph Club, 199 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, Massachussetts, 02116
Mainestream Art at St. Botolph Club
On view March 1 – April 7, 2017
199 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, MA 02116
Two MECA&D Alumni are featured in the show: Anne Ireland '94 and Connie Hayes '80.
Past St. Botolphe awardees have included Anthony Bragg '07, Jenny Dougherty '03, Pilar Nadal MFA ‘13, Edwige Charlot ‘10, Lisa Pixley '06, Patti Sandberg '02, Randy Regier MFA '07, Sa Schloff.

Anne Ireland '94
Anne Ireland grew up near New York City and, after graduating from Bowdoin College, she returned to work for CBS NEWS. While in New York, she took painting classes at the Brooklyn Museum of Art and after moving to Maine in 1985, she earned a BFA with honors from the Maine College of Art & Design. Ireland has had solo and group show all over Maine, and in 2010 and 2013 her work graced the cover of the spring and summer L.L.Bean's catalogues. In 2012, she was awarded a residency at The Studios of a Key West, Florida. Ireland's work is represented by Thos.Moser Gallery in Freeport, Maine, The Gallery at Somes Sound in Somesville (Southwest Harbor) Maine and Collier West Gallery in Brooklyn, New York.
View her website here.
Connie Hayes '80
Connie Hayes is a painter living in Rockland, Maine. She received her M.F.A. from Tyler School of Art at Temple University in Philadelphia, and Rome; her B.F.A. from the Maine College of Art & Design in Portland; and her B.A. from the University of Maine. She received a fellowship to attend the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in 1989. Born in Gardiner, Maine she taught at the Maine College of Art & Design for 10 years, also participating in arts administration there for 15 years, including serving as the interim Dean of Faculty. In 2003 she was awarded an honorary doctorate in fine arts from the Maine College of Art & Design. From 1992-1998 she lived in New York City. Since 1990 she has been painting on location through her Borrowed Views project and developing figurative work in her Rockland Studio. She serves as a member of the board of trustees for the Farnsworth Art Museum.
View her website here.

Artist Lecture: Abelardo Morell
2017-03-02 12:00 - 14:00 | Osher Hall, Maine College of Art & Design, 2nd Floor, 522 Congress St., Portland, ME, 04101, United States
Abelardo Morell
Thursday, March 2, 12:00pm
MECA&D’s Visiting Artist & Guest Lecturer Series invites professional artists, educators, curators, thought leaders, and creative entrepreneurs to present on topics of interest and importance to the MECA&D community. All lectures in this series are hosted in Osher Hall and are open to the public at no charge. Seating is limited.
Abelardo Morell was born in Havana, Cuba in 1948. He immigrated to the United States with his parents in 1962. Morell received his undergraduate degree in 1977 from Bowdoin College and an MFA from The Yale University School of Art in 1981. In 1997 he received an honorary degree from Bowdoin College.
His publications include a photographic illustration of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1998) by Dutton Children’s Books, A Camera in a Room(1995) by Smithsonian Press, A Book of Books (2002) and Camera Obscura (2004) by Bulfinch Press and Abelardo Morell (2005), published by Phaidon Press. Recent publications include a limited edition book by The Museum of Modern Art in New York of his Cliché Verre images with a text by Oliver Sacks.
Abelardo Morell, Tent Camera Image, Walden Pond, 2016

Media Sponsors

Maine Home+Design is connected to those who live and breathe architecture, art, and good living. Its pages are filled with architectural masterpieces, home design inspiration, compelling artwork, designers, craftspeople, and the latest design trends and industry news.
At Maine Magazine, we believe that Maine is alive with intense creativity and passionate people who contribute to the vibrancy that makes this such a great place to live. We dedicate ourselves to bringing it to our readers.

This Week: 'Eve of a Hundred Midnights' Book Signing & Reading
2017-03-08 18:00 - 19:30 | PhotoLab, 522 Congress Street, PORTLAND, ME, 04101, United States
Please join us on Wednesday, March 8, at 6:00pm for a book signing and reading with Bill Lascher Salt '02 for his book Eve of a Hundred Midnights. This event takes place in the PhotoLab, located in the Lower Level of the Porteous Building. Free and open to the public.

Eve of a Hundred Midnights
Eve of a Hundred Midnights tells the true story of two newlywed war correspondents’ island-hopping run for their lives across the Pacific after the fall of Manila. The book charts the career of Melville Jacoby, who covered China and the Philippines during World War II, and recounts how Mel’s love for China and journalism brought him into the orbit of MGM scriptwriter-turned-journalist Annalee Whitmore, who he married in Manila barely a week before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Portland, Oregon-based author Bill Lascher, a relative of Jacoby’s and a 2002 graduate of the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies, will discuss the book and how journalists like Mel and Annalee brought the oft-neglected conflict in China and the Philippines to U.S. audiences. Lascher will also discuss how he used archival sources from private and institutional collections to bring the Jacobys’ story to life.
Purchase the book here
Bill Lascher, Salt ’02
Artist Biography
Bill Lascher is a Portland, Oregon-based journalist whose work appears in Atlas Obscura, The Guardian, Pacific Standard, High Country News, the Oregonian, Portland Monthly and elsewhere. A graduate of the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies in Portland, Maine, and Oberlin College, Lascher studied history with a politics minor. Lascher also earned a master’s degree in 2009 in specialized journalism from the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Southern California.

Jenny Scheinman Lecture
2017-03-09 12:30 - 14:00 | Osher Hall, Maine College of Art & Design, 2nd Floor, 522 Congress St., Portland, ME, 04101, United States
Jenny Scheinman
Kannapolis: A Moving Portrait

Jenny Scheinman will give a lecture discussing the vision behind Kannapolis: A Moving Portrait and the inspiration for her live score in Osher Hall at 12:30pm on Thursday, March 9. Further information about the artist, her project, and upcoming performance can be found at Portland Ovations.
Free and open to the public.
"In her new multi-media project, acclaimed composer, singer, and violinist Jenny Scheinman invites us into the captivating visual world of Depression-era filmmaker H. Lee Waters. Scheinman is joined by guitarist Robbie Fulks (who is “so good, it’s scary” according to The Chicago Tribune) and banjoist Robbie Gjersoe to create a live soundtrack of new folksongs, fiddle music, and field sounds to accompany this fascinating footage of small town America, masterfully reworked into a new film by director Finn Taylor. The humanity in these songs and images bares a transcendent, universal quality that speaks to any community."
