MUSIC: International Open Mic
2018-12-14 19:00 - 21:00 (America/New_York) | Mayo Street Arts, 10 Mayo Street, Portland, ME, 04101, United States
A night of community through music and performance, sponsored by the Maine Immigrant Musical Instrument Project, Jenny Van West Music, and Mayo Street Arts. Featuring a diverse and international lineup of local musicians.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Charles Tracy: Visiting Artist Lecture
2019-01-25 13:30 - 14:30 (America/New_York) | Osher Hall, Maine College of Art & Design, 2nd Floor, 522 Congress St., Portland, ME, 04101, United States
Charles Tracy: Visiting Artist Lecture
Friday, January 25, 2019, 1:30pm
Maine College of Art & Design, Porteous Building, Osher Hall
Admission is free, all are welcome.
Charles Tracy is a landscape architect with the National Park Service who guides long-distance trail development and regional landscape conservation initiatives in New England, including the New England National Scenic Trail. On the national level, he specializes in partnerships with artists and arts organizations to expand the experience of art in national parks and art as a catalyst for inspiring environmental stewardship.
Crossing, 2015 (cropped in header) BANDALOOP founder Amelia Rudolph on Dana Pillar; Photo by Braden Mayfield

Susanna Coffey: Visiting Artist Lecture
2019-01-31 12:30 - 13:30 (America/New_York) | Osher Hall, Maine College of Art & Design, 2nd Floor, 522 Congress St., Portland, ME, 04101, United States
Susanna Coffey: Visiting Artist Lecture
Thursday, January 31, 2019, 12:30–1:30pm
Maine College of Art & Design, Porteous Building, Osher Hall
Admission is free, all are welcome.
Susanna Coffey, Green, 2013, 15x12", oil on panel
Susanna Coffey is the F.H. Sellers Professor in Painting at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She received a BFA from from the University of Connecticut at Storrs and an MFA from The Yale School of Art.
Her portraits are investigations of the iconic human head. The work is driven by questions about what a portrait image can mean. What is a beautiful appearance? Why do conventionally gendered images involve caricature? Can inchoate feeling-states be adequately portrayed?
Meticulously observed, most works show her in many guises and locations: under dramatic lighting, highly costumed, inside a studio, within landscapes, foliage, places of fiery devastation, and amidst phantasmagoric patterns. Some portraits seem almost entirely abstract with only the barest suggestion of a human face.
Susanna Coffey’s work is represented by Steven Harvey Fine Arts Projects in New York City, Alpha Gallery in Boston and Galeria Isabel Ignacio in Seville, Spain.

Kevin Townsend: Visiting Artist Lecture
2019-01-31 18:00 - 19:00 (America/New_York) | ME
Kevin Townsend: Visiting Artist Lecture Series
Thursday January 31, 2019, 6–7pm
Maine College of Art & Design, Porteous Building, Osher Hall
Admission is free, all are welcome.
Kevin Townsend is an internationally recognized artist and professor currently living and working in Kansas City as part of KCAI’s foundation department. Kevin’s expanded drawing practice centers around mark-making, obsession and the phenomenology of time. His current work brings together elements of drawing, sound, video, installation, and performance where the resulting works are temporary, durational, and often public.
Kevin Townsend is currently included in the ICA at MECA&D exhibition Drawing Now.
Supported in part by the Gene R. Cohen Charitable Foundation, and the Isabel K. Pease Trust.
Image: Kevin Townsend, in ghost time (cropped for header), unfixed chalk on panel, 72" x 108", 2 hours, 2016

Joel Weissman: Visiting Artist Lecture
2019-02-11 12:00 - 13:15 (America/New_York) | Osher Hall, Maine College of Art & Design, 2nd Floor, 522 Congress St., Portland, ME, 04101, United States
Joel Weissman: Visiting Artist Lecture
Sculptor and Ceramicist
Monday, February 11, 2019, 12–1:15pm
Maine College of Art & Design, Porteous Building, Osher Hall
Admission is free, all are welcome.
Joel Weissman has a BFA in Ceramics from Montana State University and an MFA from Syracuse University. Joel is an interdisciplinary artist whose projects hybridize traditional approaches to art making such as ceramics and metal casting, with the more contemporary practices such as digital fabrication, video art and street art. Joel is an Assistant Professor of Visual Art at Ramapo College in Mahwah New Jersey.
Supported by the MECA&D Sculpture Department
Joel Weissman, Subpar (1 of 3): Anything you Say, 2013, hand made stoneware tile, screen-printed ceramic decal, gold luster, abandoned phone booth Syracuse NY.

Emily Thompson: Visiting Artist Lecture
2019-02-14 12:00 - 13:15 (America/New_York) | Osher Hall, Maine College of Art & Design, 2nd Floor, 522 Congress St., Portland, ME, 04101, United States
Emily Thompson: Visiting Artist Lecture
Floral Designer, Sculptor
Thursday, February 14, 2019, 12–1:15pm
Maine College of Art & Design, Porteous Building, Osher Hall
Admission is free, all are welcome.
Emily Thompson was raised in the Northeast Kingdom, Vermont, a place of uncompromising beauty. She brought her sense of this place, its ruins and its wilds, to her work as an artist, traveling from the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, the University of Pennsylvania, to UCLA, where she earned her MFA in sculpture, finally landing in New York City. Here, she fell in with a rough crowd of thorny brambles and made it her mission to bring them to light.
Emily likes to cite William Gilpin, 18th century theorist of the picturesque, who directed builders of follies and artificial ruins to do so as if these ruins were not designed but naturally chosen. What’s more, writes Gilpin, they must be in magnificent style. Emily’s work, like her ideal faux ruin, evokes nature in magnificent style.
Supported by the Sculpture Department
Art: Emily Thompson; Photography: Nicholas Calcott

February Open House: BFA Admissions
2019-02-16 10:30 - 15:00 (America/New_York) | Porteous Building, Maine College of Art & Design, 522 Congress Street, Portland, ME, 04101, United States
Visit MECA&D for a BFA Open House!
Come see first-hand why students are choosing to study in MECA&D's close-knit community and rigorous artistic programs. At an Open House, you'll have a chance to:
+ Get to know faculty and current students
+ Take a tour of our studios and res halls
+ Have your portfolio reviewed with professional artists
+ Explore the vibrant art scene in downtown Portland, Maine
This Open House is specifically designed for students interested in our BFA program — we'll send you more information upon registration.
Our February 16th Open House has reached capacity — please check out other upcoming events here!
If you have any questions about our Open Houses, you can contact us at admissions@meca.edu or 207.699.5026.

Kyungmin Park: Visiting Artist Lecture
2019-02-21 12:00 - 13:00 (America/New_York) | Osher Hall, Maine College of Art & Design, 2nd Floor, 522 Congress St., Portland, ME, 04101, United States
Kyungmin Park: Windgate Visiting Artist Lecture
Thursday, February 21, 2019; 12–1pm
Porteous Building, Osher Hall, second floor
Admission is free, all are welcome.
Funded through the generous support of the Windgate Charitable Foundation.
Kyungmin Park, Shall We?, 2017, Porcelain, Underglaze, Glaze, Resin, Cubic Zirconia
Kyungmin Park is a figurative ceramic sculptor drawing inspiration from childlike perspectives. Contrasting the darker emotions and restricted psyche of adulthood with the boundless consciousness of children, Kyungmin’s sculptures confront the view with uncomfortable juxtapositions, encouraging reflection upon personal expectations and narratives. Kyungmin largely uses handbuilding techniques to construct her figures out of porcelain, a material she prefers for its ability to contrast starkly with bright and colorful decoration.
Originally from South Korea, Kyungmin earned her MFA in Ceramics from the University of Georgia in 2012 and her BFA from the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University in 2008.
Currently, Kyungmin is an Assistant Professor of 3D studio Art at Endicott College in Beverly, MA. Park was a long-term resident artist at the Archie Bray Foundation in Helena, Montana where she earned 2014-2015 Matsutani Fellowship and 2015-2016 Windgate Fellowship. Park has won multiple awards; her most recent recognition being from the National Council on Education the Ceramic Arts (NCECA) for, which granted her the 2016 Emerging Artist of the Year Award; Ceramics Monthly Magazine also gave her that same designation in 2015. Kyungmin was invited as a 2017 Guest Artist at the Jingdezhen International Studio in Taoxichuan Ceramic Park, Jingdezhen, China and One of the recent exhibitions, 74th Scripps College Ceramic Annual show in 2018 was features in LA Times.
She has exhibited both nationally and internationally, most notably at: the Aqua Art Miami Basel, SOFA Chicago, Scripps College Ceramic Annual, Claremont, Ca, Penland school of Crafts, in NC , Arrowmont School of Arts in Gatlinburg, TN, Museum of Arts and Science in Macon, GA, Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art in, Auburn, AL, along with a multitude of galleries, including: the Leedy-Voulkos Art Center, Belger Arts Center, Morean Art Center, Lillstreet Art Center, Eutectic, Kolva-Sulivan, Duane Reed, Abmeyer + Wood galleries.

Nick Dong: Visiting Artist Lecture (Windgate)
2019-02-28 18:00 - 19:00 (America/New_York) | ME
Nick Dong: Visiting Artist Lecture Series
Thursday, February 28, 2019, 6–7pm
Maine College of Art & Design, Porteous Building, Osher Hall
Admission is free, all are welcome.
Nick Dong is a conceptual metalsmith, mixed-media sculptor and socio-commodity engineer with the intention of creating works in order to ignite an experiential moment. Dong uses mixed-media fields to change the relationship of the viewer’s apperception. Art is not an object nor a picture; art is the unique impact created by that object or picture. Dong's work partakes of both aspects to achieve the unique impact and constructs the particular sentiment or antipathy.
Funded by the Windgate Foundation for Crafts
Image: Nick Dong, En-Lightening (cropped for header)

Exhibition: Visual Tensions | Parasitic Honeyshoes | Letting Yourself Go
2019-04-05 17:00 - 2019-04-26 17:00 (America/New_York) | ME
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)

Walter Kitundu: Visiting Artist Lecture Series
2019-04-11 18:00 - 19:00 (America/New_York) | Osher Hall, Maine College of Art & Design, 2nd Floor, 522 Congress St., Portland, ME, 04101, United States
Walter Kitundu is an artist, educator, and 2008 MacArthur Fellow.
Kitundu creates kinetic sculptures and sonic installations, develops public works, builds (and performs on) extraordinary musical instruments, while studying and documenting the natural world. He is the inventor of a family of Phonoharps, multi-stringed instruments made from record players that rely on the turntable’s sensitivity to vibration. Kitundu has created hand-built record players driven by the wind and rain, fire and earthquakes, birds, light, and the force of ocean waves. In 2008 he received a prestigious MacArthur Fellowship in recognition of his work and creative potential.
His eclectic art practice includes receiving a major public art commission, creating a complex site-specific installation in a small town museum, developing wildly imaginative instruments for a string quartet, composing for dance and theatrical production, teaching sculpture at the university level, engaging in fieldwork with wild birds of prey, and heading the design and fabrication of environments for learning at a prominent science institution.
Kitundu has performed and been in residence at art centers and science museums internationally. He has collaborated with the renowned Kronos Quartet, bassist Meshell Ndegeocello, the electronic music duo Matmos, and the legendary Marshall Allen of Sun Ra’s Arkestra - in venues from Carnegie Hall to a high school library in Egilstaadir, Iceland.
Funded by the Windgate Foundation for Crafts
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.

Film Screening: Urban & Suburban Meadows
2019-04-16 18:00 - 19:30 (America/New_York) | Osher Hall, Maine College of Art & Design, 2nd Floor, 522 Congress St., Portland, ME, 04101, United States
Urban & Suburban Meadows: Bringing Meadowscaping to Big and Small Spaces by author and photographer Catherine Zimmerman brings into focus the amazing diversity of life that inhabits meadows as an alternative to lawns.
60 Minute Film Followed by Q & A
$5 Suggested Donation: FREE for students. Osher Lecture Hall at MECA&D, 2nd Floor.
For more info, contact portlandpollinators@gmail.com or 207-332-0253.
Sponsored by Wild Seed Project, Portland Pollinator Partnership, and Maine College of Art & Design.

Panel Discussion & Community Conversation: Visual Tensions
2019-04-18 18:00 - 19:00 (America/New_York) | 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)

IN MOTION: Salt Spring ’19 Film Exhibition
2019-05-02 17:00 - 19:00 (America/New_York) | Osher Hall, Maine College of Art & Design, 2nd Floor, 522 Congress St., Portland, ME, 04101, United States
IN MOTION features work by the members of Salt’s Spring 2019 class. The film showcase is this Thursday, May 2, from 5–6pm at Maine College of Art & Design. Free and open to the public. RSVP here.
Over the past semester, our storytellers honed their skills while seeking out the narratives of people in Maine and beyond: from the shores of Rockland and Harpswell, to the inland towns of Wilton and Brookfield, VT, to the southern reaches of Kennebunk and Portland, to Indian Township and Bradbury Mountain State Park. Their collective body of work demonstrates a respect for the stories of those they met along the way.
Please join us for this final exhibition.
Featured Storytellers

Christian Buckler
Lynnea Domienik
Jake Homovich
Taya Jae
Halle Johns
Jaime Kaiser
Ali Lemer
Rachael London
Carlye Meisburger
Lauro Minaya
Adreanna Rodriguez
Brooke Saias
Shelby Saucier
Erin Slomski-Pritz
Zach St. Louis
Emily Vaughn

Artwork in header: Shelby Saucier

MECA&Dmorphosis 2019
2019-05-03 17:00 - 20:00 (America/New_York) | Maine College of Art & Design, 522 Congress Street, Portland, ME, 04101, United States
Save the Date!
This year, the MECA&Dmorphosis Spring Gala will take place on Friday, May 3, 2019. Attendees will be able to see both the Runway Fashion Show and the BFA Thesis Exhibit.

The Fashion Show has SOLD OUT and tickets are no longer available. To be added to a wait list in the event of cancellations, please contact Abby Peck at 207.699.5012 or apeck@meca.edu.
Friday, May 3, 2019
The event will coincide with the First Friday Artwalk.
For sponsorship levels or more information, contact Abby Peck, Director of Institutional Giving & Special Events, at apeck@meca.edu or 207.699.5012.

International Painting Retreat on the French Riviera
2019-05-15 - 2019-05-22 | ME

Art in Exodus
2019-05-30 - 2019-06-20 | Porteous Building, Maine College of Art & Design, 522 Congress Street, Portland, ME, 04101, United States
Art in Exodus is a mentoring and exhibition project through which refugee artists and Mainers from underrepresented populations share their art and culture.
Maine College of Art & Design presents Art in Exodus, a mentoring and exhibition project through which immigrant artists and Mainers from underrepresented populations share their art and culture.
The third Art in Exodus exhibition takes place in MECA&D’s flagship Porteous Building from May 30–June 20, 2019. Art in Exodus began in recognition of World Refugee Day, which takes place every year on June 20 and features a variety of celebrations.
Art in Exodus features eight artists; an opening reception will be held on June 6, 2019 from 5-8pm. The exhibit will also be open for the June 7 First Friday Artwalk from 5-8pm at which work by the artists will be for sale in the Porteous lobby.
This year’s artists include Liz Rhaney MFA '20 from Savannah, Georgia (multimedia); Caroline and Papa Mendy from Senegal (recycled wood designs); Amber Shahzad from Pakistan (painting); Jordan Carey ’19 from Bermuda (textiles); Shannon Infantes ’21, originally from Peru (photography); Sabina Najafova from Azerbaijan (painting, installation); and Hadithi Abdulle from Somalia (music). The various components of this event encourage underrepresented artists to share their art in a venue rooted in the center of the Arts District, gain confidence in their work, and build lasting connections with MECA&D and the greater Portland and Maine communities.
Amber Shahzad says, “I have been painting since childhood but the thirst of learning still remains. I want to be a skillful artist who could capture and perceive what an eye could see, a mind could imagine, and beyond imagination! I am searching for the light inside the human spirit which gives us faith and strength through my work. Whenever I paint I feel the urge to learn more. The vast ocean of knowledge stands in front of me and I am just waiting to jump in!”
Sabina Najafova who graduated from Azerbaijan State Academy of Art with a degree in applied arts, folk art & ceramics, says, “I want to invite my love for life, for nature, my love for my home country of Azerbaijan, which I love unconditionally, in this work. Azerbaijan is rich with natural resources and beauties, such as oil, gas, minerals, the Caspian Sea and Caucasus Mountains. When I look at the material, I know what to create from it, but fantasies come in the process. The day I came here I thought about MECA&D and how I could be involved, and now I am part of MECA&D. Here, I have free artistic expression. I have been building my network, making new work, and experimenting. I am learning about contemporary art and how to share my experiences with people.”
Recent MECA&D graduate Jordan Carey ’19, who majored in Textile & Fashion Design, says, “I always wanted to be an artist but found little to no opportunities for me in Bermuda. My father is American and through him I was able to come to the United States and pursue an art education. Feeling unfulfilled in my country of origin and unrepresented in my new home I struggle to find a fulfilling identity. In my work, I play with the contrasting voices of the Caribbean and the Celtic Isles that I see as polar voices blurred together within me.”
This project reflects MECA&D’s historic and ongoing interests in diversity, community, and public engagement and supports the College’s mission to “educate artists for life.” There is strong value in inviting artists of color and members of underrepresented communities to exhibit at one of Portland’s premier art spaces, where artists can gain greater visibility, interact within a central core of the Maine/Portland art community, and further their professional development skills.
The exhibition initially started as a way to recognize World Refugee Day, a global celebration that is held annually to honor the courage and struggles of the more than 15 million people worldwide displaced by war and persecution. Each year, Maine welcomes refugees from war-torn countries and helps them to rebuild their lives in safety. Since 2002, Maine has resettled more than 4,000 refugees from 24 countries.
This project is funded in part by a generous gift from the Moser Family Foundation, with in-kind support from Maine College of Art & Design and the participating artists.
Contacts
Leah Igo, Director of Marketing & Communications
207.699.5010 or ligo@meca.edu
Kelly McConnell, MAT Professor and Director of Art Education Outreach
207.699.5042 or kmcconnell@meca.edu

Header: Artwork by Sabina Najafova (cropped)

Virtual Portfolio Day
2019-05-31 08:00 - 17:00 (America/Halifax) | Online
Join Maine College of Art & Design for a Virtual Portfolio Day on May 31, 2019 from 8am–5pm!
This event is free and open to anyone interested in pursuing undergraduate studies. You'll be able to get feedback on your art portfolio, whether it's complete or still in progress. And if you're applying for admission for Fall 2019, you can use this review to complete the portfolio requirement for application to MECA&D.
To participate, register online here.
Please note: this event is online. Our Admissions Counselors will be happy to chat with you virtually! This event is recommended for transfer students, high school seniors looking to enter MECA&D in Fall 2019, as well as current juniors and sophomores in high school.

Transfer Day at MECA&D
2019-05-31 13:00 - 16:00 (America/New_York) | Maine College of Art & Design, 522 Congress Street, Portland, ME, 04101, United States
Transfer Day at Maine College of Art & Design
Friday, May 31, 2019
1–4pm
Thinking about transferring to Maine College of Art & Design? Our Transfer Day is designed to show you what MECA&D has to offer to students with previous college experience. You can even get a transfer evaluation done while you're on campus to see where your credits fall in our graduation plan!
Over the course of the afternoon, you can:
+ Take a tour of our studios and res halls
+ Learn how a MECA&D education will prepare you for a career in the arts
+ Get your admissions, financial aid, and credit transfer questions answered
+ Understand how your credits will transfer into MECA&D
+ Explore the vibrant art scene in downtown Portland, Maine
+ Receive an admissions decision on the spot!*
*In order to offer a decision, students must submit their application, essay, and recommendations at least a week in advance of the Transfer Day AND must either submit transcripts and portfolio in advance as well or bring official transcripts and portfolio to MECA&D for review.

RSVP: Transfer Day

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Phone*College/University Transferring From:* Which Transfer Day would you like to attend?Friday, May 31, 2019: 1–4pmWhat program and year are you interested in attending?*BFA, starting Fall 2019BFA, starting Spring 2020BFA, starting Fall 2020Other/UnsureWould you like a Portfolio Review and/or Transcript Evaluation while on campus?

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Jamillah James: Visiting Artist Lecture (MFA)
2019-06-20 17:30 - 18:30 (America/New_York) | Osher Hall, Maine College of Art & Design, 2nd Floor, 522 Congress St., Portland, ME, 04101, United States
Jamillah James: Visiting Artist Lecture
Curator at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (ICA LA)
Thursday, June 20, 2019; 5:30pm
Osher Hall, Porteous Second Floor
Free and open to the public

Jamillah James is the Curator at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (ICA LA). Previously, she was Assistant Curator at the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, and organized exhibitions and programs for Art + Practice in Leimert Park. In Los Angeles, James has organized the first solo institutional presentations of artists Abigail DeVille, Sarah Cain, Simone Leigh, Alex Da Corte, Njideka Akunyili Crosby, and Charles Gaines. James has held curatorial positions at the Studio Museum in Harlem and Queens Museum, and has independently organized exhibitions, performances, and screenings throughout the US and Canada since 2004. She is currently working on major presentations of B. Wurtz, the artist’s first American survey (2018); Nayland Blake, his first solo museum exhibition in Los Angeles (2019); and solo projects with Rafa Esparza, Maryam Jafri, and Lucas Blalock.
James’s writings have been included in Artforum and the International Review of African American Art, in addition to exhibition catalogues for the ICA LA, the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art, New York; Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; the Nasher Museum at Duke University, Chapel Hill, N.C.; and the Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, among others. She is an adjunct professor in the Graduate Art Department at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, and regularly lectures on curating, contemporary art, and professional development for artists at various colleges and institutions across the country.

Master of Fine Arts (MFA) at MECA&D
MECA&D's Master of Fine Arts in Studio Art program is pleased to announce the 2019 Summer Lecture Series, which brings together a national and international roster of visiting artists, curators, and scholars to participate in the MFA Summer Intensive in Portland Maine. In addition to critiques and studio visits with graduate candidates, visiting artists deliver a talk that is free and open to the public.

Media Sponsor

"BOMB Magazine has been publishing conversations between artists of all disciplines since 1981. BOMB’s founders—New York City based artists and writers—created BOMB because they saw a disparity between the way artists talked about their work among themselves and the way critics described it."

COLLECT: MECA&D’s 2019 Summer Art Sale
2019-06-27 10:00 - 2019-06-29 18:00 (America/New_York) | Institute of Contemporary Art at Maine College of Art & Design, first floor

Eneida Sanches: Visiting Artist Lecture (MFA)
2019-07-01 17:30 - 18:30 (America/New_York) | Osher Hall, Maine College of Art & Design, 2nd Floor, 522 Congress St., Portland, ME, 04101, United States
Eneida Sanches: Visiting Artist Lecture
Indigo Arts Alliance Artist-in-Residence; Visual Artist
Monday, July 1, 2019; 5:30pm
Osher Hall, Porteous Second Floor
Free and open to the public
Eneida Sanches began her studies in arts at the Art School of Bahia at the age of six. She studied architecture from 1980 to 1990 and simultaneously along with the course of Fine Arts at the Fine Arts of the Federal University of Bahia, Brazil.
She has research on African and Afro-Brazilian aesthetics since 1990 and studies calcography (prints from etching) at the Museum of Modern Art workshops in Bahia from 1995 to 2000. She exhibits from 1992 to 2000 in Museums and Galleries in Brazil and the United States with tools of liturgical use of the Yoruba candomblé showing works related to the theme of the Transe and expands the language of the prints into objects and installations.
In 2007, she was awarded the XXIV Salon of the Bahia Museum of Modern Art MAM-Ba and took part in the Frie Academie, Den Haag, The Netherlands.
As of 2011, she brings together printing and video-installation through the series Transe - Displacement of Dimensions in a collaborative work with photographer and video maker Tracy Collins (NY).
In 2013 she has his work published in the Magazine of Contemporary Art N / Paradoxa (Bisi Silva) and exhibits installation Transe (video installation) at the Festival Video Brasil 2013 - SP. In 2014 she was selected for a 3-month art residency at NAFASI Artspace in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania. She was also nominated to the most important prize in the country, PIPA Prize. In 2016 she presents his work at Itau Cultural SP in the collective Diálogos Ausentes curated by Rosana Paulino and Diane Lima.
In 2017 she moved his studio to Sao Paulo where she works and lives. She participates in the Gaia Biennial in Portugal. In 2018, she is part of the PretAtitudes collective exhibition at SESC Ribeirao Preto, curated by Claudinei Silva. She presents her first solo show at Galeria Andrea Rehder, Sao Paulo and has her artwork published in the Contemporary And (C&) Berlin-based magazine.

Master of Fine Arts (MFA) at MECA&D
MECA&D's Master of Fine Arts in Studio Art program is pleased to announce the 2019 Summer Lecture Series, which brings together a national and international roster of visiting artists, curators, and scholars to participate in the MFA Summer Intensive in Portland Maine. In addition to critiques and studio visits with graduate candidates, visiting artists deliver a talk that is free and open to the public.

Media Sponsor

"BOMB Magazine has been publishing conversations between artists of all disciplines since 1981. BOMB’s founders—New York City based artists and writers—created BOMB because they saw a disparity between the way artists talked about their work among themselves and the way critics described it."

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

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

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

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

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

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

Bradford Nordeen: Visiting Artist Lecture (MFA)
2019-07-08 17:30 - 18:30 (America/New_York) | Osher Hall, Maine College of Art & Design, 2nd Floor, 522 Congress St., Portland, ME, 04101, United States
Bradford Nordeen
Curator and Author, Founder of Dirty Looks
Monday, July 8, 2019; 5:30pm
Osher Hall, Porteous Second Floor
Free and open to the public
Based in Los Angeles, Bradford Nordeen is a writer, curator and founder of Dirty Looks. His publications include Check Your Vernacular, Dirty Looks at MoMA, Fever Pitch, and the Dirty Looks Volume series (editor). He has written for Frieze, Art in America, Afterimage, Huffington Post, indieWIRE and Butt Magazine, and received the 2018 Creative Capital / Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grant for the podcast Analog Tendencies. He was Platinum Programmer for Outfest Los Angeles (2013-2016), and guest curator for inaugural season of public programs at The Broad Museum. He has curated exhibitions and screenings at ONE Gay and Lesbian National Archives, RISD, MoMA, The Kitchen, SFMoMA, The Hammer Museum, and New York Live Arts. He holds a BFA from CalArts and an MA in Contemporary Cinema Cultures from King’s College London.

Master of Fine Arts (MFA) at MECA&D
MECA&D's Master of Fine Arts in Studio Art program is pleased to announce the 2019 Summer Lecture Series, which brings together a national and international roster of visiting artists, curators, and scholars to participate in the MFA Summer Intensive in Portland Maine. In addition to critiques and studio visits with graduate candidates, visiting artists deliver a talk that is free and open to the public.

Media Sponsor

"BOMB Magazine has been publishing conversations between artists of all disciplines since 1981. BOMB’s founders—New York City based artists and writers—created BOMB because they saw a disparity between the way artists talked about their work among themselves and the way critics described it."

'Darkness and the Light' Exhibition
2019-07-12 10:00 - 2019-09-20 17:00 (America/New_York) | 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 (America/New_York) | 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
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)

Charlie Hewitt: Visiting Artist Lecture (MFA)
2019-07-15 17:30 - 18:30 (America/New_York) | Osher Hall, Maine College of Art & Design, 2nd Floor, 522 Congress St., Portland, ME, 04101, United States
Charlie Hewitt
Painter, Printmaker, Sculptor
Monday, July 15, 2019; 5:30pm
Osher Hall, Porteous Second Floor
Free and open to the public
Charlie Hewitt, a prolific printmaker, painter, and sculptor, lives and works in Portland, Maine. Stylistically rooted in expressionism and surrealism, Hewitt’s art is both playful and serious, a quality he shares with artists Alexander Calder, Joan Miro, Paul Klee, and his mentor Philip Guston. Hewitt’s most important work to date is the Urban Rattle sculpture on the High Line Park in Chelsea, New York. Urban Rattle, located in the courtyard in the back of Ten23, is the only permanent artwork installed along the High Line Park. Charlie Hewitt has since installed large public Urban Rattle sculptures in Lewiston and Portland, Maine.
His imagery is largely influenced from the mill-working communities he grew up around. The energy and culture of these communities and the values of church, family, and work have infused his artwork and are the foundation of his imagery and symbols. Hewitt’s work is represented in numerous collections, including those of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY; Whitney Museum of American Art, NY; New York Public Library, NY; Brooklyn Museum, NY; Library of Congress, Washington, DC; and the Portland Museum of Art, ME.

Master of Fine Arts (MFA) at MECA&D
MECA&D's Master of Fine Arts in Studio Art program is pleased to announce the 2019 Summer Lecture Series, which brings together a national and international roster of visiting artists, curators, and scholars to participate in the MFA Summer Intensive in Portland Maine. In addition to critiques and studio visits with graduate candidates, visiting artists deliver a talk that is free and open to the public.

Media Sponsor

"BOMB Magazine has been publishing conversations between artists of all disciplines since 1981. BOMB’s founders—New York City based artists and writers—created BOMB because they saw a disparity between the way artists talked about their work among themselves and the way critics described it."

Jessi Reaves: Visiting Artist Lecture (MFA)
2019-07-22 17:30 - 18:30 (America/New_York) | Osher Hall, Maine College of Art & Design, 2nd Floor, 522 Congress St., Portland, ME, 04101, United States
Jessi Reaves, Sculptor
Monday, July 22, 2019; 5:30pm
Osher Hall, Porteous Second Floor
Free and open to the public
Jessi Reaves (b. 1986, Portland, Oregon; lives New York) received her BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence. Her work has been included in group exhibitions nationally and internationally, in venues including Swiss Institute, New York and A Palazzo Gallery, Brescia, Italy. In 2016, Reaves presented her first solo exhibition with Bridget Donahue, New York. She has also presented solo exhibitions a Herald St, London and was included in the 2017 Whitney Biennial and the 2019 Carnegie International.

Master of Fine Arts (MFA) at MECA&D
MECA&D's Master of Fine Arts in Studio Art program is pleased to announce the 2019 Summer Lecture Series, which brings together a national and international roster of visiting artists, curators, and scholars to participate in the MFA Summer Intensive in Portland Maine. In addition to critiques and studio visits with graduate candidates, visiting artists deliver a talk that is free and open to the public.

Media Sponsor

"BOMB Magazine has been publishing conversations between artists of all disciplines since 1981. BOMB’s founders—New York City based artists and writers—created BOMB because they saw a disparity between the way artists talked about their work among themselves and the way critics described it."
