Maine College of Art

Latest Articles

Spreading Maine ideas

Talking TED
"Innovation is part of Maine's legacy and DNA." So says Adam Burk, executive director of TEDxDirigo, the independent group working to create a local TED conference for Mainers.
By DEIRDRE FULTON | August 25, 2011

The ICA urges examination of disaster

State of catastrophe
Disasters are innately mysterious. They are never pleasant, but nonetheless almost always compelling.
By NICHOLAS SCHROEDER | July 19, 2011

Wanna get away?

Maine retreats offer a chance to recharge and reconnect — with yourself, your partner, or the spiritual world
Believe it or not, there are some people who seek to "get" something out of their vacations beyond a sunburn and a souvenir mug.
By DEIRDRE FULTON | June 15, 2011

For love of art, and humanity

Spirit and nature
If art, as Chris Thompson argues in Felt , is a moral issue, its fiber just got that much stronger.
By NICHOLAS SCHROEDER | March 09, 2011

Review: Light and heavy connections 'Between' Gail Spaien and Ahmed Alsoudani

In grave detail
Gravity, of course, is relative. The weight of a thing is meaningless without its pull toward another. This is especially evident at Aucocisco's November exhibition, where multiple thoughtful takes on the theme of gravity bind the works by Gail Spaien and Ahmed Alsoudani.
By NICHOLAS SCHROEDER | November 16, 2010

Five artists address intimacy at MECA’s ICA

Taking vows
The largely performance-based offerings in "Mind-bending with the Mundane" inspect the confusing grayscale of modern relationships and family structures, addressing what contemporary domesticity looks like in a society of convenience and prerogative with diluted and outmoded institutions.
By ANNIE LARMON | September 22, 2010

Fall Art Preview: Rising to the challenge

Museums, galleries, and artists ready for fall shows
Last weekend’s Block Party was a charming and invigorating celebration of Portland’s art community. The interactive evening, spearheaded by SPACE Gallery, set an ambitious standard for what’s to come on the art front rounding out this year.
By ANNIE LARMON | September 15, 2010

Does Portland want an elected mayor?

Local ballot
The campaign to bring an elected mayor to Portland, a proposal championed by the city's charter commission as well as several arts and business groups, officially launched at a City Hall press conference on Tuesday.
By DEIRDRE FULTON | September 08, 2010

Whitewashed

Examining Jeffrey Clancy's craft theories
Jeffrey Clancy plays with craft theory through the lens of a metalsmith working with traditional techniques and decorative motifs.
By ANNIE LARMON | August 25, 2010

Street musicians at First Friday Art Walk, Portland, August 6

Music seen
With the Tower/Building of Song on hiatus while its creators move apartments (again), the street-music scene on First Friday was quieter than in recent months. But that left more aural room for buskers along Congress Street.
By JEFF INGLIS | August 11, 2010

Thesis defense

MECA’s MFA students strut their stuff
Encompassing a broad range of themes, media, and levels of participation, each set of works in this year’s Maine College of Art exhibition by nine thesis-level Master’s of Fine Arts students achieves its own world and requires a separate toolkit to process and unpack.
By NICHOLAS SCHROEDER | May 26, 2010

Printing matters

Vinalhaven Press artifacts at June Fitzpatrick
An aged poster hangs framed in Patricia Nick’s apartment bearing a handwritten mantra. In faded blue marker, the author scripted “An original print is NOT a reproduction. It is an original work of art conceived and drawn or cut on the plate, block or stone by the artist, the printing of which is either done by him or under his direction or supervision.”
By ANNIE LARMON | April 14, 2010

Interplay

The ICA’s concept-driven show
Caitlin Berrigan’s 2009 video Transfer is simple and elemental.
By ANNIE LARMON | February 17, 2010

We heart these people

Meet Portland's most influential
We all know Portland is a busy, exciting place to live. It takes a lot of people's amazing energy to keep it going, though. Who's doing the moving and the shaking?
By JEFF INGLIS | February 10, 2010

Back to school

Coloring outside the educational lines
Some of us know (or think we know) our paths from a young age. We follow those trails through 12 years of school, and then four (plus) more. Some of us don't. We flounder, we search, we know what we want but we don't know how to achieve it. The crucial component in all these scenarios? Education.
By DEIRDRE FULTON | January 20, 2010

Site-specificity

37-A Gallery opens with Hannah Barnes
Wharf Street is quickly becoming a hotbed for the esoterically minded. Building on early pioneers such as clothier Rogues Gallery and smart seafood at Street and Company, the original waterfront is being bolstered with the recent opening of Brook There, Brook DeLorme's sustainable-clothing design studio and shop, and 37-A Gallery, opened in a conjoined space.
By ANNIE LARMON | January 20, 2010

Portland’s wishes for 2010

New Year’s resolutions
Ah, these fresh moments of the new year, when our hopes and resolutions are unsullied by the rough ravages of time, politics, and the Maine winter.
By DEIRDRE FULTON | December 30, 2009

Hot for teacher

MECA faculty re-imagine the natural world and play with nostalgia
MECA faculty re-imagine the natural world and play with nostalgia
By ANNIE LARMON | December 02, 2009

Recalling genocide

Artist Statements
Painter Stephen Koharian has international relations on his mind when he’s in his studio.
By JEFF INGLIS | November 04, 2009

Look for activist postcards on First Friday and beyond

AIDS Art Action
Approximately 1300 people in Maine live with HIV/AIDS, according to the state’s Department of Health and Human Services.
By DEIRDRE FULTON | November 04, 2009

Topographic musings

MECA's second Alumni Biennial
"Aggregate" is Maine College of Art's second themed Alumni Biennial at the Institute of Contemporary Art, showing work chosen by a jury from among recent work by BFA and MFA graduates. While the artists represent a range of mediums, graduating class ('97 to '08), and experience, the integrity of the selected works is consistently impressive.
By ANNIE LARMON | September 09, 2009

Building up

Inspired modernists Cutler and Thon
In the current show at the June Fitzpatrick Gallery at the Maine College of Art in Portland, we see two generations of 20th-century modernist painting.
By KEN GREENLEAF | August 19, 2009

Under scrutiny

MECA visiting faculty at the ICA
Portland summers can be a time of scarcity for art lovers seeking conceptually challenging artwork, or a selective sampling of widely exhibiting international artists. Cue the annual visiting-faculty lecture series and accompanying exhibit at the Institute of Contemporary Art at Maine College of Art.
By ANNIE LARMON | July 01, 2009

Go back in time

Gay and lesbian Mainers revisit the last 25 years
Last weekend was Pride weekend here in Portland, and though rain made its own appearances occasionally, it didn't stop hundreds — even thousands — of people from, well, coming out and celebrating.
By PORTLAND PHOENIX STAFF | June 24, 2009

Your own personal Darwin

Dorothy and Elliott Schwartz meditate on the man behind the theory
Dorothy and Elliott Schwartz meditate on the man behind the theory
By ANNIE LARMON | June 24, 2009

Summer people

Artists have long visited Maine, too
Ever wonder why there is so much professional-level art made and shown in Maine, a state with a total population less than that of many minor cities? One answer is that following the fame of people like Winslow Homer, creative types flocked to Maine, often to artists' colonies.
By KEN GREENLEAF | June 10, 2009

Structural integrity

A group show at the Whitney
The five artists featured in "Stratum," now on view at Whitney Art Works, are diverse in background, medium, and scale, but they comfortably crowd the gallery's two rooms with sculptures, paintings, and drawings that respond to the relationships exposed by stripping back layers and how meaning and interpretation shift when new layers are presented.
By ANNIE LARMON | May 27, 2009

Printing Portland

Local artists reclaim mass production
Local artists reclaim mass production
By IAN PAIGE | February 18, 2009

Interview: Randy Regier

Living the dream
Randy Regier, 44, received his MFA from the Maine College of Art and is now an instructor there and at Bowdoin College. He is the recipient of a Maine Arts Commission 2009 Fellowship and is currently exhibiting two installations.
By IAN PAIGE | February 11, 2009

Looming dark

Works by Jim Campbell + Megan Greene + Kim Keever + Bennett Morris
In "Twilight," now showing at the Institute of Contemporary Art at Maine College of Art, four artists pull some roots from the Gothic Romantic tradition and rearrange them to fit their needs.
By KEN GREENLEAF | January 28, 2009