Maine College of Art

'Selected Works', Emmett Freeman '17
2017-01-03 09:00 - 2017-01-17 17:00 (America/New_York) | 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

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).

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

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.

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.

'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

"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

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.

'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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

How to Garden in Outer Space exhibition
2016-10-07 09:00 - 2016-10-16 17:00 | 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.

In This Realm Exhibition
2016-10-06 11:00 - 2016-10-21 17:00 | Institute of Contemporary Art at Maine College of Art & Design, first floor
IN THIS REALM
Five Artists Explore Identity and Transformation
Cobi Moules, Untitled (Fallen tree near LaVerkin Creek 2), oil on canvas, 21" x 28", 2012
On view from October 6–21, 2016
Exhibition Opening: Thursday, October 6, 2016, 5:00–8:00pm
First Friday Art Walk: Friday, October 7, 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)

Traversing the language of the art historical, psychoanalytic, poetic and philosophic this exhibition presents 5 views of becoming in today's culture. This group invites us to delve deeper into ideas of gender, identity and cultural paradigms to consider the individual as well as the archetype and to question for ourselves ideas of identity. Artists include Allyson Mitchell, Patricia Brace '06, Jung Hur, Cobi Moules and Veronica Cross. Curated by Michel Droge MFA '10.

Julie Poitras Santos: Performance Art
2016-09-29 16:00 - 18:00, 2016-09-15 16:00 - 18:00 | Institute of Contemporary Art at Maine College of Art & Design, first floor
O time your pyramids, by Julie Poitras Santos, in the Institute of Contemporary Art's exhibition Bounty, will be performed three times over the course of the exhibition:

Friday, September 9th, 3:00-5:00pm
Thursday, September 15th, 4:00-6:00pm
Thursday, September 29th, 4:00-6:00pm

BOUNTY: 2016 Biennial Faculty Exhibition
On view from Wednesday, August 24–Thursday, September 29, 2016.
Please join us for the opening reception on Friday, September 2, 2016, 5:00–8:00pm
Guest Curator Sage Lewis '04 has selected artists and work coalescing around the idea of bounty, a word that surfaced while viewing the artists' portfolios. Bounty refers to both generosity and reward, but particularly for the reward sought out by the pursuit of artistic practice. The relation of the artist to their subject matter, the histories of makers and philosophers that have come before, and the often private searching that occurs in seeking and finding form for the work are central parts to this theme.
These relationships will deepen as the format of the exhibition develops in meetings and studio visits with each artist.

Artist Lecture: David Johansen and Mara Hennessey
2016-09-29 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 give presentations 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.
David Johansen and Mara Hennessey
Thursday, September 29th, 12:00pm

New York City rock legend David Johansen has been recognized over the years for his brilliant forays into entertainment and culture. In the 1970’s, Johansen, along with Johnny Thunders formed the seminal protopunk band the New York Dolls. Though they disbanded a few years later ("too much, too soon"), Johansen continued to follow his mantra of "adjust and create," emerging as the iconoclastic persona/performer known as Buster Poindexter, a "Rascal Pack bon vivant" known for his trademark martini glass and pompadour. With The Uptown Horns, Johansen/Poindexter performed a mixture of jazz, lounge, calpyso and novelty. He also occasionally performed with the Saturday Night Live house band.
Johansen claims that he is "neither unhappy enough to be a poet nor indifferent enough to be a philosopher, but lucid enough to be a condemned man." For several years he performed in an act called Howlin for Hubert, in which he conjured Howlin Wolf and Muddy Waters with Howlin Wolf's guitarist, the late Hubert Sumlin. He continues to write, sing, and tour with the New York Dolls as well as through solo performances in NYC’s classiest nightclubs as Buster Poindexter.
Johansen's wife Mara Hennessey has been touring and collaborating with him for many years. A writer and visual artist, Hennessey designs, produces, and art directs their performances, both at home in New York, and all over the world. She is currently working on a book based on material from her travels.

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.

Drew Hodges
2016-09-14 18:30 | Osher Hall, Maine College of Art & Design, 2nd Floor, 522 Congress St., Portland, ME, 04101, United States
About Drew
Drew Hodges started Spot Design in 1987, followed ten years later by the launch of full service New York City entertainment advertising agency SpotCo in 1997. SpotCo has sold over 30 million tickets to live entertainment, and created the branding and advertising campaigns for numerous Broadway shows and cultural institutions including Rent, Chicago, The Color Purple, Kinky Boots, Avenue Q, Book of Mormon and Hamilton, among many others. Cultural institutions include The New York Botanical Gardens, Lincoln Center, and Carnegie Hall among others.
Drew is the former president of the board of AIGA NY and most recently, the author of On Broadway: from Rent to Revolution, published April 2016 by Rizzoli Publishing. He has interests in the performing arts, contemporary art, watercolor, sculpture, and mentoring entrepreneurs. He and his husband Peter Kukielski reside in Portland and Cushing, Maine.

J. Felice Boucher '84 Exhibition
2016-09-09 09:00 - 2016-11-08 17:00 | Charles C. Thomas Gallery at Maine College of Art & Design, second floor
J. Felice Boucher '84
Charles Thomas Gallery exhibition
September 9–November 8, 2016
Monday–Friday, 9:00am-5:00pm
Felice Boucher is the recipient of the 2016 Canon Par Excellence Award, as well as the 2016 Maine Photographer of the Year and the 2016 PPA International Diamond Photographer of the Year. In 2015, she was New England Photographer of the Year. In describing her work, Boucher notes that her photography is "still and direct, and closely parallels my meditation practices. All sense of time and place is set aside." Her newest body of work centers on women, exploring contrasts of soft and hard, life and death, strength and vulnerability.
Felice Boucher, Blue Bird, photographic print, 29" x 17 1/2", 2015

CREATE V: Annual Continuing Studies Exhibition
2016-09-01 09:00 - 2016-09-27 17:00 | Maine College of Art & Design, First Floor, 522 Congress St., Portland, ME, 04101, United States
Opening Reception for CREATE V: September 1, 5:00–7:00pm
On view: September 1—27, Monday - Friday, 9:00am–5:00pm, Maine College of Art & Design, First Floor

The fifth annual Continuing Studies exhibition showcases the work of both faculty and students in areas ranging from metalsmithing and jewelry, ceramics, painting, drawing, mixed media, found objects, sculpture, and more. Around 100 artists are represented in the exhibition this year, which is sponsored by The Art Mart.
Mark Ford, Munjoy Hill, archival pigment print, 8” x 12”

2016 Biennial Faculty Exhibition
2016-08-24 11:00 - 2016-09-29 17:00 | Institute of Contemporary Art at Maine College of Art & Design, first floor
2016 Biennial Faculty Exhibition
On view from Wednesday, August 24–Thursday, September 29, 2016.
Please join us for the Opening Reception on Friday, September 2, 2016, 5:00–8:00pm
ICA Gallery hours Wed–Sun,11am–5pm, Thurs, 11am–7pm, Friday, 11am–5pm, (FFAW until 8pm)
Kate Greene, Untitled, Photography, 2016
Curator Sage Lewis '04 has selected artists and work coalescing around the idea of bounty, a word that surfaced while viewing the artists' portfolios. Bounty refers to both generosity and reward, but particularly for the reward sought out by the pursuit of artistic practice. The relation of the artist to their subject matter, the histories of makers and philosophers that have come before, and the often private searching that occurs in seeking and finding form for the work are central parts to this theme.
These relationships will deepen as the format of the exhibition develops in meetings and studio visits with each artist.
2016 Artists

Lucy Breslin
Michael Connor
Jamie Hogan
Hilary Irons
Kate Greene

Justin Kirchoff
Joshua Reiman
Julie Poitras-Santos
Gail Spaien
Gan Xu

Artist Biographies
Lucy Breslin, Associate Professor and Program Chair, Ceramics
Lucy Breslin has taught for over 25 years at MECA&D. She earned her MFA in Ceramics from Kent State University and has a BA from Pennsylvania State University. After completing her MFA, she was awarded a year‐long residency at The Archie Bray Foundation in Montana. The following year she lived and traveled in Spain on a Fulbright Fellowship, visiting over 40 traditional potteries. Her work has been widely exhibited in venues such as Yellowstone Art Museum, Hunter Museum of American Art, NCECA Clay National, and others. She has been a visiting artist at schools and art centers around the country and has participated in numerous NCECA panels and demos. In 2014 she worked with 13 artists from nine different countries at the International Ceramic Center in Denmark. Her work has been included in the publications Ceramics Monthly and Clay Times as well as 500 Vases, 500 Plates, and 500 Ceramics, all published by Lark Books.
Michael Connor, Instructor, Illustration
Michael Connor has taught at Waynflete Summer Arts and Breakwater Creative Arts, as well as taught workshops in comics and cartooning for children and adults before joining MECA&D’s Illustration Program. He is also a freelance illustrator whose clients have included local music acts Big Blood, id m theft able, Tom Whitehead, and Dan Knudsen, as well as international musicians Jaap Blonk and B.J Snowden. He also exhibits his work frequently in local galleries. While he enjoys many means of image‐making, including graphite drawing, collage, painting, and assemblage, his area of expertise is black‐and‐white line art and sequential narrative, much of which has been self‐published in a zine titled Coelacanthus. Michael also works at the local eclectic shop Strange Maine. He earned his BFA from the University of Southern Maine and is a frequent Maine Comics Festival participant.
Jamie Hogan, Assistant Professor of Illustration
Jamie Hogan grew up in the White Mountains of New Hampshire and, after living in Providence, Boston, and San Francisco, settled on Peaks Island in Casco Bay, Maine. She earned her BFA from Rhode Island School of Design and has taught at MECA&D for over a decade. Her illustrations have appeared in American Illustration, Print magazine, Graphis, Maine magazine and the Los Angeles Times. In 2015, her work was featured in the exhibit The Storybook Waters of Illustrator Jamie Hogan at the Sam L. Cohen Children’s Library at the Portland Public Library. Recent projects include illustrations for: Island Birthday, a children’s picture book about a Maine island by renowned essayist Eva Murray; the children’s chapter book Tiger Boy by Mitali Perkins; and John Muir Wrestles a Waterfall by Julie Danneberg. She is the winner of the Jane Addams Peace Association Honor Award for illustrations in Rickshaw Girl by Mitali Perkins and is a member of the Maine Illustrators Collective.
Hilary Irons, Instructor, Foundation
Hilary Irons earned her BFA from Parsons School of Design in 2002 and began teaching at Yale School of Art, where she earned her MFA. She studied as a private student with painter Sigmund Abeles and maintains a studio in the Artists Studio Building in Portland. While her work has become more stylistically diverse with time, some consistent themes remain: how does the juxtaposition of naturalism and abstraction (in the context of composition) mirror the human experience in the natural world, and how does this relate to our use and interpretation of our natural habitat? What kind of power dynamics are at work in the relationship between people and the land? How have landscape painting and geometrical abstraction traditionally approached this dynamic? Her site‐specific work was recently included in the group exhibit Knock Knock at Mayo Street Arts. She has received grants from the Leon Levy Foundation and the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture and received the Al Held Prize to attend the American Academy in Rome.
Kate Greene, Instructor, Photography
Kate Green earned her BFA from Massachusetts College of Art and her MFA from Yale University School of Art. She has lectured at Humboldt State University and served as an assistant curator of public education at Yale University Art Gallery. Her work has been exhibited at the Rhode Island School of Design, the Noorderlicht International Photofestival at Museum Dr8888, the New York Photo Festival, and the Daniel Cooney Gallery. She has received fellowships from the Tierney Family Foundation, Yale Summer School of Art and Anderson Ranch Arts Center.
Justin Kirchoff, Professor and Program Chair, Photography
The son of artists and collectors, Justin Kirchoff has an interest in images both as a form of communication and as objects. His respect for the integrity of the medium is an important value he instills in his students. He earned his BFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art and his MFA from the Massachusetts College of Art. Kirchoff’s work explores the contradictions and connections of fatherhood, masculinity and the home, while prodding the clichés of midlife. He is a Piscataqua Region Artist Advancement Grant 2013 recipient and his work has been collected by The Addison Gallery of American Art and the Center of Creative Photography.
Joshua Reiman, Assistant Professor of the MFA in Studio Art, and Sculpture
Joshua Reiman is an artist working in sculpture, film, video, and photography. His work has been exhibited in galleries and museums across the United States, in Germany, and in Estonia. Prior to joining MECA&D, Joshua was a visiting professor of art at Carnegie Mellon University where he taught sculpture, installation, and site‐work. Josh has an MFA in sculpture from Syracuse University and a BFA in sculpture from the Kansas City Art Institute. In the spring of 2016 he has an exhibition at The Nassauischer Kunstverein in Wiesbaden, Germany. Other exhibitions include solo shows at Napoleon in Philadelphia and Martin Chen Gallery in Pittsburgh. He received a 2015 Wildfjords Artist Residency in Isafjordur, Iceland and is an ongoing contributor to Sculpture Magazine.
Julie Poitras Santos, Adjunct Assistant Professor of the MFA in Studio Art
Julie Poitras Santos employs diverse materials to create installations and site‐ specific performances that share a relationship with language. The work engages ritualized actions and spaces as a methodology for narrative re/creation. Also a poet, her research interests include areas where art and language intersect. She has taught sculpture at Bowdoin College, the Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design,and the University of Colorado at Boulder. She lived in Barcelona, Spain, for three years (2004‐2007) and worked as the artistic director of the art residency program Can Serrat, in Montserrat National Park. She has a BS from Tufts University in Geology and English and earned her MFA at the University of Colorado. She also has an MFA in poetry from the Stonecoast Creative Writing Program at the University of Southern Maine. She was awarded a NES Artists Residency in Skagastrond, Iceland and her work has been exhibited in Reykjanesbaer Art Museum in Iceland and at the Centre for Contemporary Culture in Barcelona, Spain.
Gail Spaien, Professor and Chair of the MFA in Studio Art
Gail Spaien interprets the natural world from different perspectives: as observed specimen, as aesthetic concept, as metaphor, and as a subject that can represent ephemeral experience. She investigates this traditional genre as a commentary on the complexities of our time and a continuation of her interest in the intersection of nature and culture. Gail received her BFA from the University of Southern Maine and her MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute. Her work has been shown at the DeCordova Museum, the Portland Museum of Art, the Center for Maine Contemporary Art, the Crocker Art Museum and other venues. She is affiliated with the Miller Yezerski Gallery in Boston and the George Marshall Store Gallery in Maine. Reviews and mentions in major publications include Art New England, the Boston Globe, and New American Painting. Her work has been widely collected and will also be included in the forthcoming Maine Art New: Contemporary Perspectives, published by University of Maine Press. Past Residencies include the Djerassi Foundation Resident Artist Program, Millay Colony for the Arts, and Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture.
Gan Xu, Professor of Academic Studies, and Art History
Dr. Gan Xu was born in Shanghai, China and studied art history in the at Xi’an Academy of Art, China. He received his MA in Chinese Art History from Vanderbilt University, and his Ph.D. in Comparative Arts from Ohio University. His research and publications focus on Western and Chinese contemporary art. He has published two books and more than 30 articles in magazines and exhibition catalogs. He lectures nationally and internationally, and has taught at Eastern China Normal University, Sichuan Academy of Art, Langzhou University, and Xi’an Academy of Fine Arts. He has led educational overseas travel groups to China, Japan, Korea, Italy and France. He has been exhibiting his work since the 1970s and also teaches Chinese calligraphy and ink painting.

Visiting Artist Lecture: Jim Shaw, Artist
2016-08-01 17:30 - 19:00 | Osher Hall, Maine College of Art & Design, 2nd Floor, 522 Congress St., Portland, ME, 04101, United States
Jim Shaw, Illustrator
Since the 1970s, Jim Shaw has created a vast body of work spanning diverse media and reference points. Shaw’s work mines the essentials of American cultural detritus, from comic books, pulp novels, and album covers, to vintage advertisements, movie posters, and noise rock. Originating from these sources, the work often features recurring characters, including himself, his friends, fictional superheroes, politicians, and film stars. Combining text and the painted figure with objects and drawings from his unconscious, Shaw’s works consistently illustrate purposely bad puns, while twisting politics, religion, and belief into one long dream sequence. Jim Shaw’s most recent solo exhibitions include Jim Shaw, Simon Lee Gallery, London, UK; The End is Here, New Museum, New York, NY; and Entertaining Doubts, MASS MoCA, West Adams, MA. His work will be the focus of two upcoming solo exhibitions: Realisms, at The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg, Russia, and Rather Fear God, at Praz Delevallade & Vedovi, Brussels, Belgium.
RSVP on Facebook here.
About the MFA Visiting Artist Summer Lecture Series
MECA&D’s Master of Fine Arts in Studio Art Program is pleased to announce the 2016 MFA Lecture Series, which brings a national and international roster of visiting artists, curators, and scholars to Portland, Maine. These Visiting Artists intersect with the MFA Summer Intensive Residency Program, deliver a public lecture, attend critiques, and conduct studio visits with graduate candidates.
All lectures in this series are hosted in Osher Hall and are open to the public at no charge. Seating is limited. Call 207.699.5010 for more information.
Media Sponsor

Down East Enterprise, Inc., is a multimedia company based in Camden, Maine. The company’s flagship publication, Down East Magazine, is the largest paid-circulation magazine dedicated to the Pine Tree State. For nearly six decades, Down East has been the authority on Maine, and today continues to capture the reader’s attention with an insider look at contemporary life in Maine. People who love Maine love Down East.
Artwork Credit
Jim Shaw, Seven Deadly Sins, acrylic on muslin, Left: 96" x 48", Center: 96" x 96", Right: 96" x 48"; 96" x 194" overall, 2013. Courtesy of the artist and Blum & Poe, Los Angeles/New York/Tokyo.

Visiting Artist Lecture: Ann Hirsch, Performance Artist
2016-07-25 17:30 - 19:00 | Osher Hall, Maine College of Art & Design, 2nd Floor, 522 Congress St., Portland, ME, 04101, United States
Ann Hirsch, Performance Artist
Ann Hirsch is a video and performance artist who examines the influence of technology on popular culture and gender. Her immersive research has included becoming a YouTube "camwhore" with over two million video views and an appearance as a contestant on Frank the Entertainer...In a Basement Affair on VH1. She was awarded a Rhizome commission for her two-person play Playground, which debuted at the New Museum and was premiered by South London Gallery at Goldsmiths College. Hirsch has been an artist-in-residence at Yaddo, Atlantic Center for the Arts, and Lower Manhattan Cultural Council. Recent solo shows include MIT List Visual Arts Center, Smart Objects, Los Angeles, and the New Museum’s online project space First Look.
RSVP on Facebook here.
About the MFA Visiting Artist Summer Lecture Series
MECA&D’s Master of Fine Arts in Studio Art Program is pleased to announce the 2016 MFA Lecture Series, which brings a national and international roster of visiting artists, curators, and scholars to Portland, Maine. These Visiting Artists intersect with the MFA Summer Intensive Residency Program, deliver a public lecture, attend critiques, and conduct studio visits with graduate candidates.
All lectures in this series are hosted in Osher Hall and are open to the public at no charge. Seating is limited. Call 207.699.5010 for more information.
Media Sponsor

Down East Enterprise, Inc., is a multimedia company based in Camden, Maine. The company’s flagship publication, Down East Magazine, is the largest paid-circulation magazine dedicated to the Pine Tree State. For nearly six decades, Down East has been the authority on Maine, and today continues to capture the reader’s attention with an insider look at contemporary life in Maine. People who love Maine love Down East.
Artwork Credit
Ann Hirsch, Playground, 65 minute two person play, performed at The New Museum, presented by Rhizome, 2013. Photo cred: Oresti Tsonopoulous

Visiting Artist Lecture: Keith Edmier, Sculptor
2016-07-18 17:30 - 19:00 | Osher Hall, Maine College of Art & Design, 2nd Floor, 522 Congress St., Portland, ME, 04101, United States
Keith Edmier, Sculptor
Keith Edmier has evolved his artistic process into one that intertwines his own personal narrative with historical personalities, architectural simulations, and botanical wonders. He has directly collaborated with many iconic figures such as Farrah Fawcett, Evel Knievel, and Frank Veteran (the doctor who attended to John Lennon the night Lennon was shot), among others. His use of materials such as casting his childhood crush in white Crayola crayon, the recreation of his childhood home, or masterfully executed botanical specimens in otherworldly synthetic materials add to the presence of his work when one encounters his ghostly creations. Keith Edmier has been the focus of numerous exhibitions including Keith Edmier: 1991—2007, CCS Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York; Crystaline Wombs and Pregnant Hearts, neugerriemschneider, Berlin; and Keith Edmier, Die Hallen Haarlem, Frans Hals Museum Haarlem, The Netherlands. His upcoming solo exhibition, Brementowne, opens at the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis in 2017.
RSVP on Facebook here.
About the MFA Visiting Artist Summer Lecture Series
MECA&D’s Master of Fine Arts in Studio Art Program is pleased to announce the 2016 MFA Lecture Series, which brings a national and international roster of visiting artists, curators, and scholars to Portland, Maine. These Visiting Artists intersect with the MFA Summer Intensive Residency Program, deliver a public lecture, attend critiques, and conduct studio visits with graduate candidates.
All lectures in this series are hosted in Osher Hall and are open to the public at no charge. Seating is limited. Call 207.699.5010 for more information.
Media Sponsor

Down East Enterprise, Inc., is a multimedia company based in Camden, Maine. The company’s flagship publication, Down East Magazine, is the largest paid-circulation magazine dedicated to the Pine Tree State. For nearly six decades, Down East has been the authority on Maine, and today continues to capture the reader’s attention with an insider look at contemporary life in Maine. People who love Maine love Down East.
Artwork Credit
Keith Edmier, Victoria Regia (First Night Bloom), Polyester resin, silicon rubber, acrylic, polyurethane, pollen, steel, 285 x 325 x 338 cm, 1998. Courtesy of the Akzo Nobel Art Foundation Collection.

The Inspiration of Abstraction
2016-07-15 19:00 - 20:15 | Institute of Contemporary Art at Maine College of Art & Design, first floor
Portland Preview Event
Doug Varone and Dancers team up with Abstract Painter and MECA&D Faculty member Michel Droge for a look at the inspired work of Joan Mitchell through dance, imagery, and dialogue. A special presentation co-sponsored by Maine College of Art & Design and the Bates Dance Festival. Friday, July 15, 7:00pm at the Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) at MECA&D.
Image header shows Doug Varone and Dancers by Grant Halverson.
About Joan Mitchell
"La Vie en Rose". 1979. Oil on canvas. Overall (4 panels): H. 110-3/8, W. 268-1/4 inches (280.4 x 681.4 cm.). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Anonymous Gift and Purchase, George A. Hearn Fund, by exchange, 1991 (1991.139a-d) Image licenced to Jen Dohne Joan Mitchell Foundation by Jen Dohne. © Image copyright © The Metropolitan Museum of Art / Art Resource
Joan Mitchell’s primary medium was oil paint on canvas. Mitchell’s professional period began around 1950 and can be loosely defined as the point when she moved into full abstraction. Throughout her life she never ceased to deepen and refine her relationship to and facility with the medium. Her oeuvre can be broken down into a multitude of periods; shifts in her work typically coincide with a shift in her surrounding landscape, personal relationships, or some major life event. Learn more.
About Doug Varone
Award-winning choreographer and director Doug Varone works in dance, theater, opera, film, television and fashion. He is a passionate educator and articulate advocate for dance. By any measure, his work is extraordinary for its emotional range, kinetic breadth and the many arenas in which he works.
His New York City-based Doug Varone and Dancers has been commissioned and presented to critical acclaim by leading international venues for nearly three decades. In 2008, Varone’s Bottomland, set in the Mammoth Caves of Kentucky, was the subject of the PBS Dance in America: Wolf Trap’s Face of America. Learn more.
About Michel Droge
Michel Droge received her BA from Oberlin College and her MFA from Maine College of Art & Design. She is the recipient of awards and grants including the Joan Mitchell Foundation MFA Award and a Maine Arts Commission Grant. She exhibits regularly both nationally and internationally. Learn more.

Women Make Movies Make History
2016-07-15 14:00 - 15:30 | Osher Hall, Maine College of Art & Design, 2nd Floor, 522 Congress St., Portland, ME, 04101, United States
With Special Guest Ariel Dougherty, director and Women Make Movies co-founder
General Admission $10 / $7 for MECA&D Faculty / $5 for MECA&D Students
Screening of historic, narrative shorts from the 1970s — “Domestic Tranquility” and “Sweet Bananas” — followed by Q&A talkback with director Ariel Dougherty on the films, the history of Women Make Movies, and the future for filmmakers who want to make narrative films about women and girls. The screening will be approximately 45 minutes with 30 minutes for Q&A afterward.
This event is part of the Bluestocking Film Series— an exclusive showcase for provocative, well-produced films that feature complex female protagonists driving the narrative and leading the action. All short fiction films must feature a female protagonist, submissions must also pass the Bechdel-Wallace Test.

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Visiting Artist Lecture: Lori Nix, Photographer
2016-07-11 17:30 - 19:00 | Osher Hall, Maine College of Art & Design, 2nd Floor, 522 Congress St., Portland, ME, 04101, United States
Lori Nix, Photographer
Lori Nix was born in the late 1960’s and raised in the American Midwest. Her early exposure to the destructive powers of Mother Nature and Hollywood dystopian stories fueled her young imagination. For the last 20+ years she has constructed small scale dioramas and photographed them. Beginning with retelling the tall tales of her youth in her Accidentally Kansas series, she has progressed to imagining urban scenes of the apocalypse. Her last series, The City, spanned 10 years and imagined a future mysteriously devoid of mankind. Intensely detailed and rich in color, her photographs offer up a possible future for modern society. A small selection of Nix’s solo and group exhibition venues include The Museum Schloss Moyland, Bedburg-Hau, Germany; Galerie Klüser, Munich, Germany; Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA; ClampArt Gallery, New York, NY; George Eastman House, Rochester, NY; and Apex Art, New York, NY. Her solo exhibition at the Nerman Museum of Art, Kansas Focus Gallery, Overland Park, KS, is upcoming.
RSVP on Facebook here.
About the MFA Visiting Artist Summer Lecture Series
MECA&D’s Master of Fine Arts in Studio Art Program is pleased to announce the 2016 MFA Lecture Series, which brings a national and international roster of visiting artists, curators, and scholars to Portland, Maine. These Visiting Artists intersect with the MFA Summer Intensive Residency Program, deliver a public lecture, attend critiques, and conduct studio visits with graduate candidates.
All lectures in this series are hosted in Osher Hall and are open to the public at no charge. Seating is limited. Call 207.699.5010 for more information.
Media Sponsor

Down East Enterprise, Inc., is a multimedia company based in Camden, Maine. The company’s flagship publication, Down East Magazine, is the largest paid-circulation magazine dedicated to the Pine Tree State. For nearly six decades, Down East has been the authority on Maine, and today continues to capture the reader’s attention with an insider look at contemporary life in Maine. People who love Maine love Down East.
Artwork Credit
Lori Nix, Fountain, from the series The City, C-print, 2008
