THE HEALING POWER OF ART WINTER + SPRING 2019 LEADERSHIP TEAM Art gives meaning to our day-to- Laura Freid, President MAKE YOUR OWN day lives. Now more than ever, Beth Elicker, Executive Vice President MECA is counting on you to help Ian Anderson, Vice President of Academic us provide the next generation Affairs & Dean of the College TRANSFORMATIVE of artists with the opportunities, Matthew Goetting, Vice President of resources, and tools they need to Institutional Advancement GIFT TODAY excel in an ever-changing world. When you support our Annual EDITOR Fund, your gift has an immediate Annie Wadleigh, Assistant Director impact on our students and of Development our communities.
DESIGN MAKE YOUR GIFT TODAY AT Lauren Myers ‘06 meca.edu/donate Krystina Benedetti, Assistant Designer
207.775.5098 BOARD OF TRUSTEES [email protected] Brian Wilk ’95 , Chair Kathryn Yates, Vice Chair Daniel N. Crewe Jenny Scheu
2 Deborah H. Dluhy Ari Solotoff 3 Thomas Dwyer Deborah Spring Reed Edward Friedman ’08 Susan A. Rogers Meredith Koerner P ’16 Susan Schraft, MD Margaret Morfit Cynthia Thompson Dan Poteet Paula Zeitlin
EMERITUS TRUSTEES Joan L. Amory Jane G. Briggs Betsy Evans Hunt, Hon. DFA ’13 Candace Pilk Karu, Hon. DFA ’13
Cover: Flower Power, thesis work by Allysun West '18, modeled by Arun Devon. Photo by Kyle Dubay '18.
MAINE COLLEGE OF ART 522 Congress St Portland, ME 04101 1-800-639-4808 Photo by Erin Little. meca.edu [email protected] CONTENTS 14 LAURA FREID, PRESIDENT Faculty Corner 6 ACCLAIMED “THE REAL ACT OF DISCOVERY,” MARCEL ANIMATOR ADAM PROUST WROTE, “CONSISTS NOT IN 16 Feature 10 FISHER JOINS MECA'S FINDING NEW LANDS BUT IN SEEING WITH THE HEALING NEW ANIMATION & NEW EYES.” Spotlight POWER OF ART Focus on: ICA Exhibit GAME ART PROGRAM INTERVIEW WITH CLOTHING AS MEDICINE Dear Students, Alumni, Family, and Friends, JULIE POITRAS SANTOS I think about seeing with new eyes as I watch MECA students learning how to enhance their ability to view the world around them in different ways—and in that process create work that will transform them and ultimately impact the lives of others. Sometimes the transformation is discrete and other times it is seismic, affecting all who experience it –- like the work in the recent Making Migration Visible: Traces, Tracks & Pathways exhibition in the Institute of
Contemporary Art at MECA. LLC 23 Media, State Magazine, Port of Old Courtesy Wolf, Nicole by Photo In this issue, we explore the work of artists who to educate the next generation of artists and are using their talents to directly encourage designers is one of my top priorities, and I could physical and emotional healing. While artists and not achieve this goal without your support. I scientists may not employ the same methods or am very pleased to report that your increased 4 focus on the same subjects, their motivations participation and contributions have helped us 5 are closely related. Art and science represent our to grow our total giving in the last fiscal year by best attempts to describe the world and to further 24 percent. Thanks to you, MECA is becoming understand it, so it is not surprising to see MECA stronger and better able to educate the talented alumni using their creativity to help people heal. students we attract to learn and work with us. Mary Schmaling Kearns ’98 channels beauty to Thank you for your generosity and improve the quality of life for cancer patients thoughtfulness. All of us here at MECA feel and others; Peter Buotte MFA ’03 harnesses his privileged to be educating the next generation creativity to help traumatized veterans; Martha of artists, designers, and cultural leaders, and Miller ’06, P ’07 discovered that her artistic we welcome you to come and visit us during the 18 The Next Level: DO YOU THINK I COULD 28 Fundraising News process facilitated healing within her own family. semester. Also, let us know what you are working REACH YOU? At their essence, these stories are really about on in your own studio practice so that we can 31 Lifelong Learning: THE SPACE hope in the unseen. The creativity and dedication share it with our community of artists 19 The Next Level: THE RENAISSANCE OF OF FREEDOM of these alumni is inspirational and a poignant and thinkers. reminder of the soft power that artists have to A BLIND ARTIST change our world. 32 Alumni News With warm regards, One of the most rewarding aspects of my job 20 Out and About: FINDING PATTERNS OF as President is the opportunity I have each and HEALING IN THE FRENCH ALPS 36 Alumni Class Notes every day to see optimism embodied within our students. Providing the best tools and facilities 22 Annual Report of Giving 42 In Memoriam
(L - R) Women with henna wedding hands in Jaipur, India. Photo by Mary Schmaling-Kearns '98. Mohamad Hafez, Desperate Cargo [Detail], plaster, paint, float, found objects, MP3 media player, rusted metal, lighting, 144” x 48” x 40”, 2016. Photo by Dave Dostie. Courtesy of Maine magazine, State 23 Media, LLC. Allysun West ’18, Connection, modeled by Linda Holtslander (R) and Jaina Neri (L). Photograph by Kyle Ross. FEATURE: THE HEALING POWER OF ART
THE HEALING POWER OF ART
rtmaking, in its many in my studio for prayer cere- smile returns to their face pain of loss. It’s not easy, but forms, is not a passive monies. Creating a healing after so many challenges it gives me hope. A activity. We asked space in my studio has been has been empowering and Our body’s vessel is a vehicle three MECA alumni to share wonderful. I’ve seen beauti- transformative. That’s why for our expression of the their thoughts about the ful tribute paid to the loss of I photograph each person, soul. I never thought I transformative power of art. a loved one through using especially those with the would be doing a henna old letters from a mother’s henna crowns [head tattoos ceremony for someone who Mary Schmaling-Kearns ’98 or father’s handwriting to for those who have lost was dying. I was asked to create a tattoo from their their hair through cancer “I have been applying art decorate her hands and feet own words. treatments]. The skills I on skin for 25 years. The when she only had a few learned at MECA help me to emotional body responds Connecting face-to-face is days left to live. I felt as if I photograph and videotape to henna or tattooing as important and my studio was creating art in honor of my clients with an a form of energy transfer. has provided an opportunity the spiritual transcendence artistic eye. Henna artwork is herbal for people to allow their of impermanence. My henna 6 plant medicine that dates veil of grief or pain to lift, One family member came work found me. I never 7 back over 5,000 years. Its to reclaim their power by up to me after her mother thought it would turn into ceremonial purpose is to creating beauty in the body. had passed and told me my career. It never gets old, honor moments in our life We peel away the layers they had her henna portrait because drawing has been passages that are significant. until parts of their spirit are hanging up and that that my passion since I was six I went to India to study and revealed through brush- was the best day she had years old. My life as an artist document henna patterns. strokes, the workings of a throughout the years of gives me the opportunity to It is a disappearing art—if tattoo, or the impermanence treatment. I have many constantly grow and devel- not recorded, patterns are of henna. Seeing someone friends and family members op my artistic voice.” lost forever. find balance, return to their who were affected by cancer, center, or look at them- so this is a way of giving My work has also given selves in the mirror while a back and acknowledging the me the opportunity to develop sensitivities to the process of creating art for Mehndi bridal hands by Mary-Schaling Kearns’98. Photo courtesy of Maine Tinker Photography. Since 1996, Mary Schmal- people during pregnancies, ing-Kearns ’98 has practiced weddings, cancer treat- henna art mehndi, a a form ments, birthdays, and other of body art. She majored I have talked to many people from diverse cultures who use henna. I have been so for- stages of life. There are situ- in Photography at MECA and continues to work as a ations where I’ve worked multimedia artist. Her prac- tunate to be able to celebrate and honor this ongoing tradition through my one-on-one with people for many years, tices—13 Moons Tattoo, The engagement with communities and families from around the world, and I gained knowl- from the time of their Eye of Henna, and The Healing cancer diagnosis to shaving Art of Reiki – take place in a edge and practice in private homes and through participating as a visiting artist for com- multi-functional studio space their heads for them and in Portland, Maine. In 2018, munity cultural events. This plant has reached so many communities and is still growing having their friends gather the NBC affiliate News Center Maine featured her on their and transforming through its use as body adornment. There is beauty within henna local TV show 207 and in their Mary Schmaling-Kearns '98, markings and the blessings from them as they travel are passed down through time. Maine Portraits video series. Pregnancy Henna Lotus Mandala. Photo by Mary Schmaling-Kearns '98. – MARY SCHMALING-KEARNS '98 FEATURE: THE HEALING POWER OF ART
Martha Miller ’06, P ’07 Lis has struggled with uncontrolled “My art has always been about the seizures, verbal skills, short-term Art-making provides a safe, non-judgmental expression of an inner psychic and memory loss, developmental delay, emotional truth more than outer depression, anxiety, and severe behav- space for my creative process and for emotional appearances. I’ve been making ioral disturbances, including off-the- portraits and self-portraits since I was chart rage attacks. I have four other resonance to occur. 15 years old and my self-portraits are children, and this was a tough way a diary of sorts. I’ve often thought of for them to grow up, in the shadow myself as a ‘drawing writer.’ My art is of their sister’s profound needs. The – PETER BUOTTE MFA ’03 paintings have become both portraits A healing in that I am able to put it all out there and look at it, and it looks and self-portraits. into new perceptions and changes in themselves. The ‘aha’ back at me. I believe that my ability to Making art transports us to another moment has occurred dozens of times in group and individ- express my inner truth gives others realm. It connects us to the unformed, ual therapy sessions. permission to do the same. People the big blank, the infinite source, the recognize something of themselves in stillness, the Nothing Yet. Many artists I have the honor to bear witness to images that have haunt- B ed people for decades. Once, as an intern working with a my art and perhaps feel less alone. speak of being in the zone or in the 92-year-old patient, we uncovered a traumatic event in the In my recent portraits of Lisbeth, I flow when they are creating and art that had occurred 80 years before – that is a long time to incorporated her childhood drawings, plugged in to this place. Time vanishes. keep an experience secret! In my current position, I witness many of which look like any child’s We jump from the horizontal plane of combat imagery that comes in the form of memories, -- full of rainbows, flowers, bunnies daily life and concerns into the vertical flashbacks, dreams, and nightmares. On a daily basis, I am and butterflies. But Lisbeth did many column of connection to what I call convinced of the therapeutic process of art therapy and the drawings in the window of time after Spirit. When we are in the flow, we are transformation that can occur. a seizure known as the postictal collaborating with the energy of this space, and when we create something I attended the MFA program at MECA during the 9/11 attacks state, and these are different. These potent images come from the shadow that has never existed before -- a sound, and an unpopular deployment to Baghdad. That time in a mark, a dance -- I believe that this is a 8 history still informs my art therapy, as well as my art-making realm, and they are remarkable in 9 their power to describe this altered profound form of magic. Peter Buotte MFA ’03 process. I have been working on a series of digitally-rendered sculptures of military members who have traumatic brain state of consciousness. Lisbeth never I had started a series about Lisbeth “Since childhood, some of my deepest art explorations have injuries and/or post-traumatic stress disorders. remembered creating these ‘seizure a few years ago, then shut the pieces helped me to process an alcoholic upbringing, abuse and drawings’ and she cannot grasp what away. I wasn’t ready yet. This year, after violence, family deaths by cancer and stroke, and combat Four threads in life—art-making since the age of five, serving I am doing now in my portraits of her, a rough chapter with Lisbeth’s care, I tours overseas. Art-making provides a safe, non-judgmental as an officer in the Army for over 20 years, caring for my at least not on any earthly level. She’s was finally ready emotionally to do this space for my creative process and for emotional resonance mother with cancer until her passing, and aiding others chronologically 36, yet still around age series. Lis’s situation has tied me down to occur. Personal transformation and insight can occur at through their post-traumatic combat experiences—have six, cognitively and emotionally. But for so many years, but with this series, any phase of the making. Processing and reconciling my combined to shape my current path. I seem to gravitate Lisbeth is an artist, and I believe that she has set me free as an artist. I can own emotional issues has furthered my self-knowledge. In towards those who are avoidant, resistant, or feel there will on a spiritual and psychic level we are finally tell her story.”■ turn, I can therapeutically hold a space, have empathy, never be any change or healing. Like the best art, therapy collaborating; I feel that she under- and give permission for others to creatively explore can change perceptions over time. Making art is a vivid stands and has entrusted me to tell similar difficulties. visual and non-verbal experience.” her story. C The creative process is equally available to ‘non-artist’ patients who haven’t drawn, collaged, painted, or sculpted for years, if at all. Initially, the patient may not have a full insight about what or how to make and that’s okay. Meaning Martha Miller ’06, P ’07 majored in Printmaking at MECA. Miller’s daughter, Lisbeth, suffered a trau- can arrive during the making, when the work is completed, Peter Buotte MFA ’03,Veteran with PTSD, digitally-printed sculpture on granite base, 14" x 18" A matic brain injury after contracting a viral illness or when it is processed. Those moments of surprise and x 16”, 2016. in 1988 at the age of six. This November, the series, Peter Buotte MFA ’03 currently works with Active Duty Army service spontaneity can enable emotional growth and healing. curated by Susan Bickford MFA ’01, was exhibited at members as a Creative Arts Therapist at the Intrepid Spirit Center of The artworks do not lie. As a graduate student intern, my Martha Miller ’06, P ’07, The Green Smile/Dream Catcher, mixed media on green canvas the University of Maine at Augusta and included a Excellence in Fort Hood, Texas. After a third and final active duty tour B broadcloth, 3' x 5' Photo by Gregory A. Rec. Courtesy of Portland Press Herald. symposium on art and mental health. Miller teaches previous patients included seniors with memory difficulties, to Djibouti, East Africa, Buotte retired from the U.S. Army after 27 years. in MECA’s Continuing Studies program and hosts a teenage prisoners at Rikers Island, and pre-adolescents He earned a second graduate degree in Art Therapy from the School of TV show about life drawing called Figure It Out on Visual Arts in New York City and recently had work included in M.I.A. : Martha Miller ’06, P ’07, Red Lisbeth, mixed media on red canvas broadcloth, 5' x 5.10". Photo in transition. My role is to help the patient see the subtle C Portland’s local public access channel CTN5. changes in the artworks over time, which can translate Military Inspired Art at the Buffalo Soldier Museum in Houston, Texas. by Gregory A. Rec. Courtesy of Portland Press Herald. FOCUS ON: ICA EXHIBIT
Q: Obviously this was a very timely respective experience and interests, exhibit. Why was this exhibition it became clear that from within our C so important? different fields and shared concerns we could develop a project together The United Nations Population Fund A: based on the work of artists estimates that 258 million people, 3.4 engaged with the topic of migration. percent of the world’s population,
lived outside of their country of origin in 2017. The U.N. calculated there were 10.3 million people A displaced from Syria alone by the end of 2017. Worldwide, an estimated 65.6 million people are displaced
Photo by Kyle Dubay ’18 Dubay Kyle by Photo from their homes. Whether migrants in search of better economic and social opportunities, INTERVIEW climate refugees, or refugees fleeing violence or other inhumane with conditions, millions of people are currently on the move, seeking JULIE POITRAS refuge and setting up lives in entirely new and foreign locations. SANTOS Making Migration Visible: Traces, My work as an artist regards the Making Migration Visible: Traces, Tracks & Tracks & Pathways challenged the relationship between site, story, Pathways was a wide-ranging exhibition of a idea that migration is an exception, and mobility; many of my projects dynamic group of contemporary artists whose showing viewers that migration work engages the theme of migration. It was use walking as a tool to navigate is now the norm, inscribed in our 10 organized by Erin Hutton ’98, Director of the relationship between site and 11 Exhibitions and Special Projects at the Institute landscapes, memories, bodies, E for Contemporary Art at Maine College of Art, individual story. My paternal and co-curated by Julie Poitras Santos and and imaginings. grandparents crossed our northern Catherine Besteman. Poitras Santos is Assistant border on foot in the 1930s looking Professor in the MFA program at MECA. for work and a transformed Besteman is a Professor of Anthropology at Q: Migration is such an enormous F livelihood. They lived through Colby College. U.S. Participating artists part of human history; how did included Ahmed Alsoudani ’05, Caroline the idea for this exhibit develop some difficult and precarious Bergvall, Edwige Charlot ’10, Jason De León with and evolve? years as they created their lives Michael Wells and Lucy Cahill, Eric Gottesman, and eventually became Americans. Mohamad Hafez, Romuald Hazoumè, Ranu A: My co-curator, Catherine, and I Mukherjee, Daniel Quintanilla with United Youth So many of us are here because Empowerment Services (United Y.E.S), María began talking about this project our ancestors migrated, whether Patricia Tinajero, and Yu-Wen Wu. For more in late 2016. As we spoke about our brought by force, or coming on their information, visit meca.edu/traces. continued on page 12
D B
Mohamad Hafez, Desperate Cargo, plaster, paint, float, found A objects, MP3 media player, rusted metal, lighting, 144” x 48” x 40”, D Photographs by Michael Wells. Photo by Michael D. Wilson. 2016. Photo by Michael D. Wilson.
B Mohamad Hafez, Desperate Cargo, plaster, paint, float, found E Photographs by Romuald Hazoumè. Photo by Michael D. Wilson. objects, MP3 media player, rusted metal, lighting, 144” x 48” x 40”, 2016.
F Installation by María Patricia Tinajero. Photo by Michael D. Wilson. C Michael Wells, Migrant artifacts. Sonora Desert, Arizona, photograph, 2010-2013. FOCUS ON: ICA EXHIBIT
own for reasons of economic need the reactive response that signifies many people are envisioning and or political freedom. Catherine has much of our contemporary news actively participating in making our spent the past decade interrogating landscape. Rapid response action communities more compassionate borders, asking whose interests they is critical, but the artists making and welcoming on a daily basis. serve and who they empower. Her these works had taken the time work as an ethnographer in Somalia needed to draw out a story carefully. Q: How did this exhibit change in the late ’80s, and with Somali We wanted to honor that model of people’s conception of the On view from immigrants in Maine, has provided storytelling. role contemporary artists her with a unique and very personal play in our society? January 17 – March 22, 2019 understanding of the challenges Q: How did this exhibition go beyond and triumphs experienced by a typical gallery experience? A: In addition to the exhibition contemporary refugees and local What kind of impact do you and parallel programming, we immigrants. think this exhibit had in the held Art+Politics, an all-day A
local community and beyond? symposium, which was free and When we first talked about the open to the public. Leaders in the project, many suggested we A: Throughout our exhibition planning, community spoke about the role should bring this show to fruition we reached out to local individuals, of art in cultivating spaces for immediately in order to address institutions, and organizations civic engagement on controversial current issues surrounding to participate. There were over 60 topics and sparking social change. immigration in this country. Since D other institutions planning parallel Our aim was to engage discussion that time, the global conversation programming during the timeframe regarding the potential of art to surrounding migration has only of the exhibit. provide platforms for dialogue and intensified. We both felt strongly learning about others’ experience. that the exhibition should There were exhibitions, artist talks, We hoped to challenge stereotypes address the long view, to regard films, panel discussions, community regarding refugee status and global migration as well as local dinners, community art projects, experience, immigrant lives, and 12 immigration, and that we should 13 book releases and discussions, migrants. The exhibition affirmed take time with the development of music, and poetry—all looking at the power of art to tell stories about the project. We were addressing a experiences and stories surrounding who we are as human beings and transformation that is ongoing, im/migration, as well as creating urged us to engage each other in B C E as well as the human stories pathways for engagement and challenging issues. ■ that were told from within that activism. While the challenges of our transformation. We sought to avoid current political climate are great,
2019 SPRING EXHIBITION VISUAL TENSIONS DONOR SUPPORT Solo Exhibitions on view from April 5 – 26, 2019 SÉAN ALONZO HARRIS THIS GROUNDBREAKING EXHIBIT AND ITS MANY COMPONENTS Exhibition Opening: Friday,VISUAL April 5, 2019,TENSIONS 5:00–8:00pmLETTING YOURSELF GO WOULDN’T HAVE BEEN POSSIBLE WITHOUT RAISING $80,000 SÉAN ALONZO HARRIS PHILIP BROU IN ADDITIONAL FUNDING, INCLUDING A LEADERSHIP GRANT OF $40,000 FROM THE NATIONAL ENDOWMENT OF THE ARTS, VISUAL TENSIONS LETTING YOURSELF GO PARASITIC HONEYSHOES A $10,000 LUNDER FOUNDATION CHALLENGE GRANT, AND A SÉAN ALONZO HARRIS PHILIP BROU GRETA BANK GIFT OF $10,000 FROM COLBY COLLEGE, AS WELL AS VALUABLE LETTING YOURSELF GO PARASITIC HONEYSHOES SUPPORT FROM AN ANONYMOUS DONOR, COFFEE BY DESIGN, PHILIP BROU A Christine GRETBoiry, BirdsA of BParcANK Montsouris, 2018 C Clint Fulkerson, Portal 14, 2018 ALISON D. HILDRETH ’76, HON. DFA ’17, CANDACE PILK KARU, PARASITIC HONEYSHOES HON. DFA ’13, THE MAINE ARTS COMMISSION (AN INDEPENDENT Drawing Now Installation View: Bogumila GRETA BANK B D Michael Winkler, Henge of Language Series, 2018 STATE AGENCY SUPPORTED BY THE NATIONAL ENDOWMENT Strojna (left); Wahida Azhari (right) FOR THE ARTS), AND JEREMY MOSER AND LAURA KITTLE. E Michael Perlbach, Untitled, 2018 FACULTY CORNER FACULTY CORNER
D E ACCLAIMED ANIMATOR ADAM FISHER JOINS MECA'S NEW ANIMATION & GAME ART PROGRAM
In recognition of the digital revolution impacting every We prepare future animators and game at Hasbro, Inc., noted that animation “I’m excited by MECA’s reputation for A aspect of contemporary life, MECA has launched an Anima- artists to be competitive in the profes- and game art is a hot field that is creativity, cross-disciplinary collabo- tion & Game Art major (formerly called Digital Media) to sional marketplace.” getting hotter. “The global games ration, and innovation. It strikes me provide student artists with the creative expertise they need The Animation & Game Art major market is expected to grow from $137.9 as a place where ideas come first and to become 21st century storytellers. MECA’s newest hire, focuses on 2D, 3D, and stop-motion billion in 2018 to more than $180.1 techniques are utilized in unexpected Adam Fisher, joins the Animation & Game Art faculty after animation, as well as game design, digi- billion in 2021,” Wilk said. “This meteor- ways to share these ideas in the most several years in the industry, most recently at LAIKA, where tal modeling, concept art, and cinemat- ic growth has created a high demand effective manner possible. This is how I he worked on films such as Coraline, The Boxtrolls, and Para- ic storytelling. Students learn to use for well-trained, interactive artists like to work,” said Fisher. Norman, all Academy-Award-winning films in the category the tools and technologies of contem- who understand the core animation “As such, I’ve learned to animate 14 of Best Animated Feature. Fisher’s earlier achievements porary animation and game art produc- principles and the fundamentals of using puppets, clay, paper, pencils, 15 include his work as lead stop-motion animator on Anomali- tion in industry-standard workflows. cinematic storytelling.” Maya, Adobe After Effects, and even sa, which, in addition to other awards and nominations, was In addition, through MECA’s Artists at A native of Prospect Harbor, Maine, my own beard! I design, plan, build, the first animated film to win the Grand Jury Prize at the Work program, students are connected Fisher received his MFA in Animation, shoot, composite, record sound, edit, 72nd Venice International Film Festival. to animation and game art internships with a focus on character animation in publish, and promote my work, and am Vice President of Academic Affairs & Dean of the College Ian and other career opportunities. “I also stop-motion and Maya, from Rochester looking forward to sharing this with Anderson said, “I am thrilled that we are offering this new know how to help students get their Institute of Technology. He earned students.”■ major. Increasingly, global visual culture is interactive and work seen,” Fisher says. a Bachelor of Arts in Film Studies at mediated by animation, games, video, and visual storytelling. Brian Wilk ’95, MECA Trustee and Vice Wesleyan University and has almost 10 President of Design and Development years of industry experience.
B
Photo by Dave Dostie. Courtesy of Maine magazine, Photo by Dave Dostie. Courtesy of Maine magazine, A D State 23 Media, LLC. State 23 Media, LLC.
Photo by Dave Dostie. Courtesy of Maine magazine, B State 23 Media, LLC. E Photo by John Leonhardt
C Photo by Dave Dostie. Courtesy of Maine magazine, State 23 Media, LLC.
C SPOTLIGHT: ALLYSUN WEST SPOTLIGHT: ALLYSUN WEST
t age 11, I began experiencing an undiagnosable imbalance in my body. The pharmaceutical drugs I A was prescribed ended up causing more problems than solutions, so I began exploring other forms of healing, such as herbs, meditation, and diet. This long conversation with my body, mixed with my love of textiles and fashion, led me to combine these two aspects into the creation of healing garments. It wasn’t until after I intuitively began using this method that I learned that this practice is actually an ancient technique from India used in Ayurvedic medicine [the ancient 5,000-year-old Indian system of Vedic health- care] called Ayurvastra. The garments I create are made with decomposable hand- knit and woven natural and organic fibers, and are dyed with medicinal plants to protect and heal the body. I use only ethically sourced fibers, as well as repurposing yarns and fabric whenever I can. I believe that plant and animal ener- gies in themselves are healing and beneficial to be in contact with our bodies. The plants I choose for dyeing are the most important part of the process because their medicinal qualities work with the parts of the body that the garments Thesis work by Allysun West ’18 at MECA’s 2018 MECAmorphosis Spring Fashion Show. interact with. Photo by Kyle Dubay ’18. Historical, spiritual, and medicinal qualities of plant dyes, such as madder root, indigo, and calendula, are the quali- My work harnesses the positive to clean the atmosphere around the ties that I look for when selecting colors for my garments. healing energies emanating from the wearer. All components are decompos- 16 Madder root creates a red dye and can be used medicinally natural fibers in combination with the able and beneficial to the earth after 17 for skin rashes, varicose veins, kidney and bladder stones, plant dyes, the medicinal qualities of the garment’s life, reducing the waste internal bleeding, and coughs. Indigo was historically used which are emitted through the active created in the world, especially by the to dye fabrics worn under the armor of Japanese samurai, chemical compounds in the plant and fast fashion industry. as it helps protect wounds from bacteria , while calendula then soaked into the fabric to radiate I have come to realize that, as a creates a yellow color and aids with inflammation, healing healing qualities onto the wearer. wounds, bruises, sprains, and skin irritations. designer of textiles and garments, it These medicinal energies promote a is my responsibility to play a role in These plants, among many others, have helped me to direct pathway for healing as they are reversing the injustices that happen in balance my health and it feels amazing to be able to allow absorbed through our largest organ, the fashion industry and the world. I them to share their powers on the outside of my body while the skin. I refer to this process as am thankful that my craft of garment they support me from the inside as well. I strive to inspire “radiating energies.” Thus, the healing construction is an applicable way to people to invest in just a few special articles of clothing that garments act as an armor, a second communicate ideas of sustainability, will last for a long time, are healing for them, beneficial for skin, and create a sanctuary for the slow fashion, and slow living for a the environment, and significant enough to mend if they person wearing them. Additionally, healthier, calmer way of life. This is the wear out. It is important to make this practice available to air-purifying plants like orchids, ivy, direction in which I plan to continue as everyone and encourage people to experiment with plants ferns, and peace lily, are incorporat- , thesis work by Allysun West ’18, modeled by Zoe Rosenfield. Photo by Kyle Dubay ’18. Dubay Kyle by Photo Rosenfield. Zoe by modeled ’18, West Allysun by work , thesis I build a business of my own, spreading
’ 18 ed into the wearable environment
and understand they can dye a beloved old shirt, giving it a Eco , health and insight through garments new life. through pockets and necklaces in order and plants.■ I also feel a passion and responsibility to spread awareness of the fact that the second biggest contributor to waste in the world, next to oil, is the fashion industry. In today’s world, Allysun West ’18 is a medicinal, dye-based, textile designer in Portland, Maine. She earned her BFA chemicals and toxins are abundant in our clothes and air. in Textile & Fashion Design from MECA in 2018 where she began working with natural fibers and
ALLYSUN WEST ALLYSUN plant-based dyeing methods, transforming her work into garments of healing. West challenges
CLOTHING AS MEDICINE AS CLOTHING BY ’18. Dubay and Kyle ’19 Murphy Alara by Photo Robinov. Alex by modeled ’18, West Allysun by work thesis Madder, Plants the ideas of synthetic-based items in and around our bodies with alternative options of natural comfort and healing from the outside in. THE NEXT LEVEL THE NEXT LEVEL
State Street was undoubtedly an adjustment, his drive to DO YOU THINK THE RENAISSANCE create was ever-present, and lent structure to his days. In attending the weekly drawing classes and art sessions, he not I COULD REACH YOU? OF A BLIND ARTIST only found purpose: he found a new community. BY SHANNON MCGINTY MFA ’19 BY CAROLINE GODDARD SALT ’18 My documentary, Àjà, captures the joy and resiliency that Àjà draws from the spirit of this community of residents. On March 24th, 2018, people of all ages from across the coun- Bill Àjà decided to pursue art for the first time in the midst The hardest part of my project was narrowing my story arc try flooded city streets to stand behind our nation’s youth in of an unimaginable crisis: the loss of his vision, which result- down to just one person’s life. Each resident I spoke to had a their fight to address monumental issues surrounding gun ed in his relocation to an assisted living facility. fascinating past, from the retired arts educator who resur- violence. The March For Our Lives movement was organized In the last two years, Àjà has suffered from five strokes, rected her career so she could teach basic drawing to other in the aftermath of the devastating school shooting that resulting in a sharp decline in his ability to see, further residents, to the nonagenarian who processed his experi- took place at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in complicated by also losing his eyesight to retinal disease. ences in World War II by writing a play. In making this film, I Parkland, Florida. Refusing to passively stand by, I found While he can make out general shapes, he has tremendous was reminded that renaissance is possible at any age. ■ myself walking up High Street in Portland, Maine, that day difficulty reading, seeing details, distinguishing dark colors, in March with hope and fervor in my heart to converge and, sometimes, drawing a line between two points. with organizers, activists, students, teachers, and families at Congress Square Park. While I was engaging with others, I I first encountered Àjà and his work at an art exhibit at became less aware of my surroundings, and when I finally Seventy-Five State Street, the Portland care facility where looked up, I saw that thousands of people had descended on he resides. Intrigued by the fact that Maine’s population has that tiny square. the highest median age in the country, I was on the hunt for story leads for my Graduate Certificate in Documentary United by our convictions, we marched down Congress Studies from the SALT Institute at MECA. Street, proudly displaying handmade signs and banners while chanting “Not One More.” As we made it to the steps At the exhibition, my eye immediately fixed upon Àjà’s of Portland City Hall, I felt vibrations in my body and an drawings. At once naive and finely executed, his use of black- energy in my bones that inspired me to continue fighting and-white charcoal on neutral tone papers, coupled with a distinctive graphic signing of “Àjà” made them easily identifi- 18 after I left the rally that day, and I was going to do it using 19 able. It didn’t take long for the artist himself to come up and the power of art. Do You Think I Could Reach You? by Shannon McGinty MFA '19. Photos by Paige Salmon MFA '19. say hello. Like his work, Àjà is somehow both unassuming Do You Think I Could Reach You? is a work that combines and outgoing, and he cheerfully mentioned in passing that an art object and performance in the hopes of catalyzing he’d only been drawing for six months. reformation in regards to our nation’s gun laws. Composed of 239 individual segments of three-foot red cotton fabric Culminating at the steps of Portland City Hall, a reference Àjà draws daily in his room. He, starts by sketching simple (one segment to represent each school shooting that has to the convergence of protesters during mass movements, animals, working his way through the alphabet -- ape, bear, taken place in the United States since Sandy Hook in 2014), the performative act of unraveling over 700 feet of fabric cat -- before taking on more detailed species: pheasant, my intention was to make a hand-knotted chain as long as demonstrated the insurmountable losses experienced by blue-footed booby, snowy owl. The eyes of his creatures— physically possible within the time constraints of the initial our communities in light of these tragedies. Throughout crystalline and lifelike—beckoned me to engage. His depic- installment of the project. Illustrative of communication the process of creating this work, I reflected on a statement tions of animals and deference to negative space brought the breakdowns and fundamental differences in one’s core made by my personal hero, author bell hooks, who noted, “A work of self-taught African American artist Bill Traylor to beliefs, Do You Think I Could Reach You? aims to point out culture of domination always wants us to think about power mind. Traylor, too, began drawing prolifically late in his life. Photos of artist Bill Aja by Caroline Goddard Salt ’18 that no matter how prominent an art work becomes, there as outside of ourselves.” That day at the march I learned A former engineer who built his homes by hand and spent are still going to be some people who cannot be reached about the power that lies inside myself to bring awareness his free time sailing or working on projects in his wood- physically or metaphorically; even so, we should to an important issue. I also realized that people start to heal shop, Àjà did not seem the type to waste time regretting the continue fighting. the moment they feel heard. ■ sudden changes in his life. While his move to Seventy-Five
Shannon McGinty MFA ’19 is a mixed-media artist and teacher from Garden City, Michigan. They have a Caroline Goddard Salt ’18 is a documentary photographer co-based in Portland, Maine, and Newport, Rhode BA in Visual and Performing Arts from Worcester State University and are currently a student in the MFA Island. She received her B.A. in Visual Art from Brown University in 2010. Her work investigates the humanism Program at MECA. and place-based identity of vernacular space, cultural landscapes, and stories of intentional living. OUT AND ABOUT
In honor of nationally known artist Dahlov Ipcar (1917 - 2017), in collaboration with master printer David Wolfe of Wolfe Editions (wolfeeditions.com). PROCEEDS BENEFIT MECA’S STUDENT SCHOLARSHIP FUND.
Call 207.699.5015 or visit www.meca.edu/ipcar to purchase FINDING PATTERNS OF HEALING or for more information.
IN THE FRENCH ALPS Odalisque, woodblock print, 15”h x 27”w, 2014 BY NINA PETROCHKO ’08 Limited edition of 100, signed and numbered by the artist.
rt is a healing force inspired by who showed us yellow gentian, a of the use of extracts of natural origin MAINE COLLEGE OF ART PRESENTS patterns in nature. As an artist coveted flower with a bitter root used as medicinal agents] in plants, and their Aand citizen scientist, my focus is to support the digestive system. I also epigenetic effects on humans. Medici- on drawing plants that have positive ventured to three educational gardens nal plants provide answers to problems A Limited Edition Print by Dahlov Ipcar influences on lifestyle, longevity, and in the region to learn more about the in each of the body’s complex systems. the human genome. history and application of alpine plants. For example, during an herbal appren- 20 With a desire to be immersed in nature, A lot of my days were spent hiking, ticeship in Maine in 2016, our class 21 I packed my bags in the spring of 2018 photographing, and exploring. learned how chaga, a fungal growth for a one-month artist residency at the Drawing a plant from life is so fulfilling that occurs on birch trees, also helps to Chalet Châtelet in the Haute Savoie because there is a physical deadline of heal tumors in the body. CONTINUING STUDIES AT MECA All photos by Kyle Dubay '18 region of the French Alps. My quest the specimen fading in a few days, or a This residency provided the precious, was to draw, research, and explore the few hours. This necessitates getting the uninterrupted studio time hoped for mountains for flowers and plants that lines down on paper quickly and really after many weeks at my day job. It was have medicinal uses as part of a body being in the moment. also a time to explore and learn from of work entitled Patterns of Healing. I The act of drawing plants symbolizes a new landscape and culture, and to was greeted by cowbells ringing in the a way of sustaining oneself. The same reflect on life. What I enjoyed most was mountains. Wildflowers, illuminated by garden you grow and eat from is the the peacefulness of the pastoral coun- sun, lifted my senses. one that can give you inspiration. My tryside, and getting to know the people During my time at the Chalet Châtelet, experiences with herbalism, farming, in the village. The feelings and memo- I participated in a local plant walk led and nutrition have led me to explore ries gained there will have a lasting by an herbalist in Vacheresse, France, phytotherapeutic properties [the study impact on my work going forward.■
PRE-COLLEGE YOUTH + TEEN PROGRAMMING ADULT SUMMER PROGRAMMING JULY 7 – 27, 2019 JUNE 20 – AUGUST 2, 2019 STARTING JUNE 1 Nina Petrochko ’08, Woodstock Flowers, pressed local wild plants colored with watercolor and gouache in Woodstock, NY, 36” x 48”, 2014 (Top). The residential Pre-College program provides high school Now open for registration. Summer Adult Classes are available for Nina Petrochko '08, Anti-Inflammatory Mandala, graphite, colored pencil, gouache, digital media, 24” x 36”, 2017. students with the skills to embark Classes available for ages 8–10, registration starting April 1, 2019. The piece is composed of ten individual illustrations of herbs: licorice, cinnamon, aloe, ginger, turmeric, arnica, on a rigorous study of the arts. ages 11–13, and ages 14–17. Visit cs.meca.edu for more information. horsetail, sea cucumber, reishi mushroom, and calendula. It represents well known anti-inflammatory plants Visit meca.edu/precollege Visit cs.meca.edu for more information. used in Western and non-Western herbal medicine (Left). for more information.
Nina Petrochko ’08 is the daughter of two artists, Dorie and Peter Petrochko. and the great granddaughter of Arthur Hollick. a paleobotanist at the New York Botanical Garden. Her work explores the synthesis of science and art through mediums of graphite, pen and ink, colored pencil, and watercolor. MAINE COLLEGE OF ART | 522 CONGRESS ST. | PORTLAND, ME 04101 | meca.edu/cs | 207.699.5061 ANNUAL REPORT OF GIVING ANNUAL REPORT OF GIVING
Jeremy Moser, Laura Kittle & the Judy Hamlin ’82 & Gordon Hamlin $1,000–$1,999 Honour Mack & Paul Frey Charles David Thomas ’68, Hon. Moser Family Foundation David Marsden DFA ’16 Betsy & Christopher M. Hunt, Hon. Anonymous Olwen and Peter Gardiner P ’07 ANNUAL REPORT Brian Wilk ’95 & Linda Lorenzo ’95 DFA ’13 C. Waite Maclin Lynn M. Thompson Ian C. Anderson & Kari E. Lisa Gent Wilsonart Janet Hyland & Ann Hinkle Radasch ’97 Arnela Mahmutovic ’17 Marian A. Godfrey Mr. Nathaniel P. Thompson OF GIVING Kathryn A. Yates The William Sloane Jelin Charitable Susan Baker-Kaplan Maine Community Foundation Amalia Moon Guettinger ’12 Susan Tureen ’96 Foundation The Edward S. & Cornelia Carol G. Male Lindsay Hancock Kathryn & Peter Wagner AS OF JUNE 30, 2018 $ $ Mark & Meredith Koerner P ’16 Greaves Bates Fund of the Maine 5,000– 9,999 Michael & Ralph & Katherine Harding Monte & Anne Wallace Margaret Lawrence ’93 Community Foundation Nancy Marino Katherine Bradford Ineke Heinhuis-Schair Ashley G. Wernher-Collins ’16 Maine College of Art is proud to present our Annual Report Baxter International Foundation The Lunder Foundation June M. McCormack Guy G. Williams ’80 of Giving to acknowledge and thank our donors for gifts Coffee by Design Matching Gifts Program Julie Holladay P ’80 Neil & Suzanne McGinn Naomi McNeill ’08 LoLisa M. Windover P ’18 Julie Crane ’86 Michael & Wheaton & Elinor Hudson made between July 1, 2017 and July 30, 2018, which totaled: Roy Milligan Munira Naqui Estate of Edith R. Tucker ’76 Nancy Beebe Alice Wheatland Ingraham Susan V. Morris & S.P. “Chip” Newell Tessa G. O’Brien MFA ’16 $ $ $ Barbara M. Goodbody Christine Beneman Anne M. Ireland ’94 & Kenneth M. 250– 499 Northland Enterprises, LLC Suzi Osher 1,680,918 Hasbro, Inc. Matching Gift Program Bernstein Shur Cole III Anonymous Anne & Vincent Oliviero through the Porta & Company The Holt Family Fund of the Maine John Bisbee Jamie Johnston Justin & Rachael Alfond We are deeply grateful to every donor who supports Arthur W. Perdue Foundation Estate of Elizabeth Porteous ● Community Foundation Matthew Blackwell’ 77 Rachel Katz ’00 & Brian Cronin Nathan Aranson our mission to educate artists for life. Every gift has Sam & Teresa Pierce Steve Potter & Katharine Drake The Roy A. Hunt Foundation Mike Boyson & June LaCombe Art Mart an immediate impact on our students. Make your own Dan & Nancy Poteet Candace Pilk Karu, Hon. DFA ’13 Nancy Grant The Press Hotel LLC Rebecca Lambert transformative gift by June 30, 2019, and add your name to John Powers ’95 & Leika Powers Marian Baker Macpage LLC Helene Cabour Natalie Reed ’13 Liberty Mutual Group our growing list of donors! meca.edu/donate Deborah Spring Reed Cat E. Bates ’09 Margaret & Mason Morfit Steven D. Campbell Nightingale Code Foundation Maine Humanities Council The Rines/Thompson Fund of the Edmond & Nancy Beaulieu Mary L. Schendel & Philip H. Tom & Kate Chappell Peter & Elisabeth Maine Recycling Corp. Maine Community Foundation Roos P ’19 Suhail & Leila Bisharat Gleason Margaret & THE PORTEOUS SOCIETY Jayne Robbins P ’12 Anthony Mancini, Inc. Paul Bonneau MECA’s Porteous Society recognizes Jenny Scheu Dick Curran Kathleen Sandberg P ’02 Celeste Roberge ’79 George Mason Sissy & Sandy Buck supporters who make gifts of$ 2,000 Mr. David E. Shaw, Hon. DFA ’16 Brenda Delahanty Ann C. Slocum P ’81 Donna Roggenthien & Elizabeth T. McCandless, Esq. Linda Cain or more each year to any purpose TD Bank. N.A. Designtex K.E. Smith Ronald Leeking Alan McIlhenny, Jr. & Elizabeth Rachel Chaya at the College. Gifts at this level Roderick L. Dew ’80, MFA ’00 Jessica Tomlinson & Henry Wolyniec 22 Katharine J. Watson Susan Schraft, M.D. & Ackerson Caron ’99 23 demonstrate that donors share William R. Dill, Hon. DFA ’14 & Jean USI Insurance Richard S. Berne Mr.& Mrs. Richard Casco Bay Vending Dill MECA’s commitment to providing $ $ Patricia Van Tuyl P. Mellon 2,000– 4,999 Mrs. Judy Sisson Seth Clayter & Nicole Cherbuliez students with the tools they need John Eide Neil W. & Elise R. Wallace Pilar Nadal MFA ’13 Anonymous (2) Mrs. Alice Spencer Hon. DFA ’18 & Carolyn L. Collins to take risks, think critically, and work creatively to become Mr. Richard A. Spencer Elizabeth Elicker Jane Costello Wellehan Grace Nelson ’82 the next generation of artists and thinkers. Members of the Anderson Family Foundation Toby Weston Cone P ’15 The Phineas W. Sprague Memorial Elizabeth & Paula Wood ’04 & Josh Wallach Kenneth & Mary Porteous Society receive invitations to special MECA events. Terry Beckmann Foundation Tom Elliman Diane Dahlke Wright-Ryan Construction, Inc. P. Nelson Mr. & Mrs. James Brady Phil Stevens ’91 Helen & David Fitz Thomas A. Newton Sarah Daignault Judi & Paul Clancy Carolyn Thomas Peter A. French Diane Nichols Raffi Der Simonian $ $ $ The Gene R. Cohen Charitable 500– 999 100,000 AND ABOVE Hoyt Walbridge & Stephanie Bacon Cynthia Thompson Meg Hahn ’17 Northeast Delta Dental Anna Dibble Foundation Anonymous Jane G. Briggs Warren Memorial Foundation Unum Matching Gifts Program The Hanover Insurance Group Northern Benefits Steve & Gretchen Drown Harry E. Cummings Charitable Sean Alonzo Harris Angela Adams Ms. Jane Dwyer P ’18 The Bob Crewe Foundation Diana J. Washburn Trust Dietlind Vander Schaaf & Gillet T. Page Kelly Palomera Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Donald B. Best ’81 Elizabeth Ehrenfeld Dr. Edward M. Friedman ’08 & Carol Davis Educational Foundation Patricia A. Peard Joyce Friedman $ $ The VIA Agency Constance Hayes ’80, Hon. DFA ’03 & Catherine Bloom Charles Elfe 10,000– 19,999 Sydney Davis Sharon Portelance ’82 Alison D. Hildreth ’76, Hon. DFA ’17 & Nancy R. Wade P ’20 George Terrien Rachel, Linda, Noah & Andrew Rachel A. Alvarez Flaherty ’91 Anonymous (2) Deborah H. Dluhy Elizabeth Prior ’82 Horace A. Hildreth, Jr. Brenner Brad & Ann Willauer Steven Hendrickson Fortunato Inc. Joan & Dan Amory through Laura Freid & David Gottesman Roxanne Quimby, Hon. DFA ’14 Quimby Family Foundation Juliette Gates Britton ’95 the Fiddler Fund of the Maine Caron Zand & Donald L. Head Patricia Holt Craig and Dolly Foster Matthew & Lesli Friel P’ 21 Nikki Farrand Rayburn ’11 Windgate Charitable Foundation Allison Brown ’01 & Blakeslee Brown Community Foundation Paula and Jamie Zeitlin Dr. & Mrs. Douglas Howell Emmett Freeman ’17 Roger Gilmore, Hon. DFA ’02 Lewis J. Rossignol ’17 The Betterment Fund Bill & Patty Zimmerman through Elaine Jackson J. B. Brown & Sons & Betty Gilmore Emma Sampson ’11 Kathleen Galligan $20,000–$99,999 Daniel N. Crewe a Component Fund of the Maine Mark Jamra John and Una Casey P ’18 Albert B. Glickman Family Cary Slocum ’81 Kate Gardiner ’20 Community Foundation Mr. and Mrs. Douglas R. The Estate of Veronica Benning ● Evergreen Foundation Foundation Barbara Rita Jenny MFA ’02 through Cate S. Gilbane the Robert J. Jenny Memorial Fund Coleman, Jr. Robert Sullivan Stephen & Palmina Pace Foundation E. Kent Gordon Fen & Marshall Green Gorham Savings Bank of the New Hampshire Charitable Charles de Sieyes & Carol Ward Bill & Peg Tetreault Mr. & Mrs. Malcolm P. Rogers Flavia Manske Cyrus & Patricia Hagge Foundation Carol A. Grape ’78 & Michael P. East Brown Cow Management, Inc John Tewhey
Attended ▼ Deceased ● Attended ▼ Deceased ● continued on page 24 ANNUAL REPORT OF GIVING
D’Innocente The Woodside Foundation, Henry & Shiva Darbandi George Mandell P ’16 $ Ellen A. Gutekunst ’82 Linda Laughlin Lea N. DeForest ’07 Janet Conlon Manyan, Hon. DFA ’14 1,680,918 TOTAL GIFTS Henry & Jessica Haroian Annemarie Wudarski Anne E. Dennison Rose Marasco James T. Haskell P ’19 Catherine D’Ignazio MFA ’05 Bob & Nancy Marculewicz JULY 1, 2017 – JUNE 30, 2018 $ $ Andrew Haviland ’12 100– 249 Peter F. Donnelly George Mavridis Ayumi Horie Anonymous (6) Mr. & Mrs. John H. Dorsey, Jr. Robin McCarthy ’87 & Ted McCarthy Jennifer & Richard Hubbell Melvin D. Adams III, Ed.D. John P. Doyle, Jr. Tim McCreight $ Lissa A. Hunter Diana and Tom Allen David C. Driskell, Hon. DFA ’96 Susan & Frank McGinty P ’08 President’s Fund: 139,338 Mark Johnson & Lucy Breslin Patricia Arbour Alles ’69 Rebecca Earle Jill McGowan Annual Fund: $416,971 Stuart Kestenbaum & Susan Leon Anderson ’83 Eric Eaton ’94 & Holly Hurd-Forsyth Elizabeth A. McLellan, Ph.D Webster Leslie J. Anderson & Danton Annette & Rob Elowitch Samuel R. Mechanic P ’13 Nygaard David Lakari Linda & Sam Emerson Ariana Melzer Endowment Gifts: $392,510 Edith Armstrong & Gary Lehy Dr. & Mrs. Frederick S. Larned Stephen & Joan Fitzhugh P ’05 Judy & Charlie Micoleau P ’10 Melinda Aste ’17 Marguerite M. Lawler-Rohner Jennifer & Bradford Foley P ’15 Avis & Fred Miller Shay Ayres Alison Leavitt Mark Gadzik P ’19 Senator & Mrs. George J. Mitchell Andrew Barlow ’85 The Second Abraham S. & Fannie B. Sheila Geant Rita S. Moerschel Levey Foundation Tabitha L. Barnard ’16 Victoria I. Geibel Ann & Kent Mohnkern Rob Licht ’84 Dominique Bartels Mr. Charles J. Glaser James Molleur Eli Lilly & Company Matching Gifts Sarah Beard Program Susan Godlewski Caroline Ann Mondschean Noah Beatty COLLECT: Art Sale: $68,000 Larinda Meade Peggy Greenhut Golden Jennifer B. Moore ’01 & Kenn Jackiellen Bonney ’18 Guimond Blaine D. Moores Sally & Donald Gould P ’09 $ Andrew Bove Judith & Lucien Morin Restricted Gifts: 622,682 Katie Murphy ’91 & Peter Lindsay Joel & Rebecca Gratwick Carolyn B. Branson Leeanna A. Morris MFA ’14 Diane & Steve Neal Rose Greely MECAmorphosis: $41,916 Nicole L. Bsullak ’99 Charles Stewart Mott Foundation Merle Nelson, Hon. DFA ’04 & Willard Hertz 24 Mona Bumpus 25 Leonard Nelson Holly Higgins Kathryn Murphy P ’19 Peter J. Buotte MFA ’03 Jeffrey M. Noel ’85 Jamie Hogan & The Neilan Family P ’18 Judith O’Donnell Burgess Advertising Martin Braun Sandra Nevins & Marketing Frank & Susan Ruch Kenneth Spirer & Joan Leitzer Donna Wermenchuk Donald H. Batting Jim & Amy Osborn Erin Hutton ’98 & Matt Hutton Ben & Anne Niles Nara J. Burgess ’17 Farrell Ruppert ’00 Seth & Laura Sprague Kris West P ’20 Sue Berg MFA ’01 Shannon Owen ’14 Kelly Irwin Victoria Nolan & Clark Crolius Kathryn Burns ’18 Karen Russo P ’19 Mr. & Mrs. Gregory St. Angelo, Jr. Rob & Robin Whitten Arthur & Evelyn Bernstein H. Martyn Payson John Kaminski Sue Nutty Cecilia Caldwell & Timothy Kane & Beth George Peggy & Harold Osher Paul & Jula Sampson P ’11 Katharine R. Sturgis Margaret & Skip Wilkis Chris Berry Tina Petra Phil Scavotto Denise Karabinus ’99 & Trimbak Dominique Ostuni ’17 Deborah & David Schall Fern Tavalin Sarah C. Wilson ’07 Victoria & Erno Bonebakker Nancy Dustin Phillips Michael Carr ’95 & Sarah Carr Telang Edith M. Ouellette P ’90 Elisabeth Scheintaub Betsy Therrien Gan Xu Valerie J. Botter P ’16 Mr. & Mrs. Martin Reynolds P ’17 Frances P. Caswell Alayne Klingebiel P ’18 Claudia & Harold Pachios Stephen & Lisa Schiffman Fred & Bibi Thompson Mr. & Mrs. Daniel A. Zilkha Marcia Brooks Brendan Shea ’18 Jim Cavanagh P ’83 Harry W. Konkel Peter & Helen Pachios David Schuttler P ’19 Bill & Jacky Thornton Anne B. Zill Jenepher Burton ’92 D. Ellen Shuman Dianne Chicoine Kris-Way Truck Leasing, Inc. Meg Brown Payson John & Elizabeth Serrage Lee Thornton James Cambronne & Nancy Davies Scott Simons Architects Asherah Cinnamon ’08 Alysha Kupferer Kincaid Pearson ’19 Charline & Tony Shaw P ’18 ▼ David Tourangeau Burns E. Cameron Rebecca Waxman Sneed & Doug Lauren Rachel Clayton UP TO $99 Jeanne Lavoie ’84 Sneed Emily Percival ’06 Peter & Barbara Shaw Louise Tuski Gabriel E. Adams ’02 Joan Campbell Mr. & Mrs. Andrew F. Coburn Michael E. Lewis, M.D., P ’16 Maia T. Snow ’13 Mr. & Mrs. Louis C. Pfeifle Julia Sheridan Mr. & Mrs. James M. Vance P ’06 Aglaia & Mumtaz Ahmed Sophia Cangelosi ’16 Kimberly M. Richard Lewis & Dale Lewis ’91 Priscilla Stevens ’84 ▼ Convery ’05 Kathey Pierce ’00 and Jo Pierce & Lynn Simmons ’01 Cheslye & John Ventimiglia Joanne Arnold ’79 Annette Cardullo Melissa Libby Russell B. Pierce, Jr. Melissa & Liam Sullivan Meredith Cough ’89 Peter & Christine Simonson Kaitlana Viglielmo ’20 Kyle & Stephen Atwell Kathleen F. Carlson P ’19 Mr. & Mrs. James E. Lineberger Amy Plank Michael Thompson & Theresa Catherine Cummins P ’05 John Smedley & Carole Parker P ’18 Christine J. Vincent Lynne Averill ’91 Casco Bay Frames & Gallery McNally P ’14 Mary Anne Lloyd ’83 & Russell Kay & Matt Ralston Julie M. Hahn Cunningham ’00 Carley & Barry Smith Annie Wadleigh Katharine Ayer ’98 Claude Caswell Tricia Toms French ’83 Diane & Marty Ring Mr. & Mrs. Eliot R. Cutler Paul & Vivian Smith P ’20 George R. Wallis Anna L. Baker James Chute Townsend Real Estate Megan Lloyd John Robinson The Honorable Howard H. Dana, Jr., Joseph L. Soley Donald & Paula Watson Bob & Bev BaRoss Donna J. Coffin ’63 Kay White The LMNOP Parliament Fund Emily Rogstad ’13 Hon. DFA ’85 & Susan B. Dana Dennis & Lori Solomon P ’13 Michael Welch ’68 & Mary Welch Mrs. Mary R. Barron P ’93 Jenna Crowder ’09 Sally Wigon Martha N. Lohaus ’98 ▼ Hannah Rosengren ’13 Attended ▼ Deceased ● continued on page 26 ANNUAL REPORT OF GIVING ANNUAL REPORT OF GIVING
Jack & Christine Custer Margo M. Halverson & Charles B. Sarah S. Meacham Suzanne Strempek Shea ’80 MECA’S GIVING PROGRAM Hailey Dahlberg ’18 Melcher Erjon Metohu & Eri Design Michael J. Sherwood P ’13 Peter & JoAnne Daly P ’97 Cathryn S. Hammond Jo Mogilnicki ’88 Amy Shinn IT IS ESPECIALLY MEANINGFUL FOR MAINE COLLEGE OF ART TO BE THE RECIPIENT OF GIFTS TO COMMEMORATE OR HONOR A FAMILY MEMBER, CLASSMATE, Deb Debiegun Rebecca Handy P ’21 Thomas & Cary Mondschean Deborah S. Shinn FACULTY MEMBER, OR FRIEND OF THE COLLEGE. David & Roberta deGrandis P ’05 Dickran & Marilyn Haroian Richard & Risa Moon Gina Siepel MFA ’08 Ivy Derderian ’04 Harris Foundation Matching Gifts Morgan Stanley Community Affairs Kent Simmons Every gift is important to us and we strive to keep accurate records. We apologize if we inadvertently omitted or misspelled Terrence DeWan & Associates Barbara Harrison Anna Morse ’18 Cheryl & Dennis Sinauskas P ’09 any names. Please let us know so we may correct our error. Contact us at 775-5098 or [email protected] with any Elijah River Dion ’19 Jo Hatlevig ’17 Mahasti Mudd MFA ’08 Wickham Skinner corrections or questions about the AROG, Annual Fund gifts, restricted gifts, planned gifts, charitable bequests, or other Doug Doering Barbara Hawes ’78 Samantha Myrdek ’19 Ursula & William Slavick information. Make a gift easily and securely atmeca.edu/donate. Lorie & Scott Dorrance Andrea, Terry, & Elizabeth Hook ’13 James Neuger Mr. & Mrs. John Sluder Bernie & Ed Douglas Adrea L. Jaehnig & Heidi M. Parker Diane Noble David Small & Betty Small In Honor of Honour Mack To the Dr. Edward M. Friedman ’08 To the Joan Fowler Smith Lynn Duryea Leila Jahncke Herb Nolan Julie Smith COMMEMORATIVE GIFTS Leila Jahncke and Carole Joyce Friedman Artists and Duncan Smith Endowed Michelle Edwards ’09 Penelope Jones ’84 Mr. & Mrs. Joseph Packard P ’14 Daniel B. Sobel & Kira Wigoda at Work Professional Development Scholarship In Memory of Kate Libby In Honor of Will Thompson ’14 Amy Vander Els Susan & Spencer Jones Barbara & Charles Pappas P ’80 Mary E. Southworth Endowment In Memory of Duncan Smith Cornell ’80 Michael Thompson Chris Esten ’83 Robert A. Jordan ’02 Zacary Perkins ’11 Gail Spaien Dr. Edward M. Friedman ’08 and Donald H. Batting Julie Holladay P ’80 and Theresa McNally P ’14 Carol Joyce Friedman Timothy W. Finin & Maureen Kearney Robbi Fritz Portela ’87 Roger A. Sprague Arthur and Evelyn Bernstein In Memory of Christine Maclin Marcia Ames P ’13 Mr. & Mrs. Jay Kelley To the Hildreth Family Endowed Caroline & Vaughan Pratt Dawn L. Stanley ’62 Faculty Fund Marcia Brooks C. Waite Maclin IN PERPETUITY Barbara Ritchie Fixaris ’58 David & Janet Kielty P ’20 Sarah & Jonathan Prescott P ’18 John & Marilyn Taylor Mona Bumpus In Memory of Matthieu Poster ’97 Alison D. Hildreth ’76, Hon. DFA ’17 The following gifts made between Marilyn G. Fraktman Sharon Kimball Mr. & Mrs. Charles E. Prinn III Christina Teale and Horace A. Hildreth, Jr. Helene Cabour Anonymous July 1, 2017 and June 30, 2018 to Carri Frechette James & Valerie Lane P ’92 Gaetano & Phebe Quattrucci Elie Porter Trubert & Sylvain To the Irving B. Ellis and Judy Ellis Jack and Christine Custer In Memory of Patti Sandberg ’02 Maine College of Art’s endowment Glickman Endowed Scholarship Briana Fusco ’18 Chuck & Sandra Liatsos Sandra Quinn ’87 & Edward Quinn Trubert P ’20 benefit the College in perpetuity Victoria I. Geibel Kathleen Sandberg P ’02 and provide annual income for Albert B. Glickman Paul & Jessica Gebhardt Denise Linet Joshua Reiman & Addy Suzanne J. Van Wye John Gilbert and Johanna Bernstein Sarah C. Wilson ’07 scholarships and designated Family Foundation Peter & Mabel Gerquest Kelly & Jane Littlefield Smith-Reiman Mary Linnea Vaughan MFA ’00 operating support. Mr. Charles J. Glaser 26 Annemarie Wudarski To the E. Kent and Beatrice Gordon 27 Domna Giatas Karen Lukas Mimo Gordon Riley ’86 Judith Waldron P ’04 Dickran and Marilyn Haroian In Memory of Gloria Nolin Tewhey Endowed Scholarship John Gilbert & Johanna Bernstein Justin Lumière ’17 Judi Rotenberg Ross William Webster Henry and Jessica Haroian John Tewhey To the Belvedere Endowed Fund for E. Kent Gordon Marty & Mary Gingras P ’06 Mr. & Mrs. Benjamin H. Macomber Jane S. Rowse Abigail Weiner ’20 Professional Development Susan and Spencer Jones In Memory of Sally Coleman To the Winslow Homer Scholarship Bernard & Phyllis Givertz Estelle S. Maillet ’59 ▼ Kelly Rudman ’08 Lisa K. Weiss ’11 Windgate Charitable Foundation Woodworth Brad and Ann Willauer Chuck and Sandra Liatsos David & Maria Glaser Al Mallette & Faith Oker P ’10 Aphiwat & Jaruwan Ruklittikul P ’18 Nancy F. Wheelwright To the Margaret Coleman Brown Anonymous To the Flavia Manske Continuing Bob and Nancy Marculewicz Endowed Memorial Scholarship Ms. Pauline Gobeil ’81 Mr. & Mrs. Russell Mamone P ’04 Whit Kilpatrick Russell ’09 Audrey M. White P ’94 Studies Endowed Scholarship George Mavridis Mr. and Mrs. Douglas R. Tiffany Gourley Kate & Jack Mann Jeff & Susie Saffer Charlotte & Arnold Wolf Flavia Manske Coleman, Jr. Rita S. Moerschel Amy & Martin Grohman George M. Manyan Mrs. Arline Saturdayborn ’91 Ye Yang TRIBUTE GIFTS To the Mildred A. and Harold P. The Bob Crewe Endowed Caroline Ann Mondschean In Honor of Clare Finin ’13 Nelson Endowed Scholarship Mark D. Grover Joyce Mastro P ’91 Sarah Sawtelle ’19 Jasmine A. Zateeny ’00 Scholarship in Art and Music Thomas and Cary Mondschean JoAnn Haeberle Tracy Mastro ’91 Jillian Schleicher Timothy W. Finin and Barbara Harrison Marcia Ames P ’13 The Bob Crewe Foundation Diane and Marty Ring Endowed Professor in Art and Merle Nelson, Hon. DFA ’04 and Kelsey Haley ’15 Kelly A. McConnell Judith W. Schneider MFA ’14 Peter and Christine Simonson In Honor of Matthew Klingebiel ’18 Music Leonard Nelson Christie Hallowell Roxanne McGlashan ’88 Anna Shapiro MFA ’00 Mary E. Southworth Alayne Klingebiel P ’18 The Bob Crewe Foundation To the Diane Nolan Endowed In Honor of Naomi Russo ’19 Scholarship Scholarship Phil Stevens ’91 Karen Russo P ’19 The Bob Crewe Foundation Jim and Amy Osborn Katharine R. Sturgis Lisabeth F. Barrett ’88 George Terrien Deborah Spring Reed In Honor of Thomas To the James Dustin ’81 Endowed Herb Nolan Lee Thornton 1882 Jane Briggs Alison D. Hildreth ’76 Laurence ● & Judy Sisson Cummins MFA ’05 Scholarship Victoria Nolan and Clark Crolius Charlotte and Arnold Wolf Douglas R. Coleman, Jr. Albert C. Hubbard & Christopher Joan Fowler Smith, Hon. DFA ’01 Catherine Z. Cummins P ’05 In Memory of James Dustin ’81 To the Laurence and Judy Allerton Cushman Deane Katy Stenhouse ’91 SOCIETY In Honor of Stuart H. Lane ’93 Anonymous Sisson Endowed Travel and Roderick Dew ’80, MFA ’00 Candace Pilk Karu. Hon. DFA ’13 Carl Benton Straub Scholarship Fund Maine College of Art’s 1882 Society James and Valerie Lane P ’92 Nancy Dustin Phillips gratefully recognizes individuals Robert Diamante ’93 Mark & Meredith Koerner P ’16 Dr. Philip Thompson, Jr., Mrs. Judy Sisson In Honor of the Work of Scott and In Memory of William Dustin P ’81 who have made arrangements for Lorraine Lazzari Hon. DFA ’91 Jo Orise Dodge Nancy Nash and Jamie Hogan and the College in their estate plans. Nancy Dustin Phillips Roger Gilmore, Hon. DFA ’02 Marta Morse Susan H. Webster Martin Braun Roy Milligan Constance Hayes ’80, Hon. DFA ’03 & Grace Nelson ’82 Caron C. Zand Bill and Patty Zimmerman through a Component Fund of the Maine Community Foundation FUNDRAISING NEWS FUNDRAISING NEWS
MECA RECEIVES $3 MILLION with a mindset of inquiry and the Goetting most recently served as Associ- not only that the house is sufficiently diversity of skills and knowledge that ate Head of School, External Affairs for maintained, but will enhance and further GIFT FROM THE empower our graduates to meet future Lincoln Academy, in Newcastle, Maine. support the artist-in-residence experi- LUNDER FOUNDATION market needs and to achieve meaningful Goetting previously held leadership ence for mid-career artists. It will also MECA has received a new gift of $3 million from the professional careers. positions at two independent schools and provide for an annual exhibition of work Peter and Paula Lunder family, who are longtime his work in the private sector featured by Pace House artists-in-residence at A native of Youngstown, Ohio, Dr. MECA supporters, through its charitable organiza- management consulting at Kaiser Associ- MECA and will create two related profes- Friedman arrived in Portland with his tion, The Lunder Foundation. The gift will include ates in Washington, D.C. where his clients sional development forums to be held at family in 1974. He was instrumental in the $2.5 million in additional funding for The Lunder included several Fortune 500 companies. the College. osteopathic physicians group that found- Scholars Fund, which provides need-based aid to In 2007, American artist Stephen Pace ed the University of New England and it’s undergraduate students from Maine, as well as and his wife Palmina Pace bequeathed College of Osteopathic Medicine. After a $500,000 for ongoing operations for MECA as the A their summer home in Stonington for use successful career as a vascular-thoracic College prepares for a strategic planning process. by Maine College of Art as a residency surgeon, he found new life at MECA, earn- Both aspects of the gift are in the form of a chal- and gallery, to ensure its continued use the Lunders’ contribution. “Momentum is building ing his BFA in Sculpture in 2008. He and lenge match, which, if met by MECA’s fundraising, as an artistic haven. Stephen Pace was for Maine College of Art,” said Crewe. “We’re well on his wife, Carole, live in Raymond, Maine. will result in a total of $5 million being raised for born in 1918 in Missouri and studied at our way towards generating the support we need to Ed also serves on the Board additional student financial aid, and $1 million being the Art Students League in New York attract the nation’s next leaders in art and design.” of the International Appalachian Trail raised for ongoing operations. “We are truly grateful and L’Académie de la Grande Chaumière and is an avid long-distance hiker. to Peter and Paula Lunder for this visionary gift,” in Paris. He settled in New York and said MECA President Laura Freid. “I hope their dedi- GIVING BACK: became an acclaimed artist known for his C cation to MECA's future and to our ambitious goal of ED AND CAROLE FRIEDMAN MECA WELCOMES Abstract Expressionist work and, in later meeting the financial need of talented students of all NEW VP OF years, more representational paintings In 2013, MECA Trustee and graduate Edward socioeconomic backgrounds will inspire matching INSTITUTIONAL “I am thrilled and honored to join the and drawings. Stephen and Palmina funds from MECA donors near and far.” Friedman ’08 and his wife Carole established MECA team at such an exciting time in bought the Stonington house in 1943 and The Dr. Edward M. Friedman ’08 and Carole J. ADVANCEMENT “We are pleased to support MECA's efforts to make the College’s history,” said Goetting. “The they summered there for 64 years until Friedman Endowed Artists at Work Professional 28 higher education accessible to students regardless Maine College of Art welcomed Matthew opportunity to work in a vibrant, creative, their relocation to Indiana. So far, the 29 Development Fund at Maine College of Art. This of their financial situation through this new gift Goetting as the new Vice President of and entrepreneurial environment and Pace House residency at MECA has host- vital fund supports program expenses for classes to The Lunder Scholars Fund,” said Peter Lunder. Institutional Advancement. Goetting play a role in supporting the future ed 87 artists from the MECA community, and activities that benefit BFA students to advance To date, the Lunder Scholars endowed fund has came to MECA after leadership experi- leaders and voices of our greatercom- including alumni, faculty, staff, students, their professional skills, as part of MECA’s Artists supported more than 100 MECA undergraduates. ence in both the private and nonprofit munity is both humbling and incredibly and others and has provided a singular NEWS at Work program, which has been instrumental in Daniel Crewe, MECA Board member and Chair of the sectors and began his new position on compelling.” opportunity for them to make use of this building a culture of professionalism and creative College's Development Committee, also applauded August 1, 2018. MECA Trustee, Develop- unique and inspiring location, which entrepreneurship while providing MECA students ment Committee Chair, and donor Dan THE STEPHEN includes a large studio space, a nearby Crewe said, “Goetting’s success in fund- meadow, and a scenic lily pond. raising at multiple education institutions, AND PALMINA PACE his background in providing manage- FOUNDATION MAKES ment consulting for some of the nation’s A TRANSFORMATIVE leading companies, and his personal GIFT TO MECA commitment to making a difference make him well-suited to take MECA’s advance- Maine College of Art was the recipient of ment efforts to the next level.” a transformative grant of $100,000 from A graduate of Colgate University with a the Stephen and Palmina Pace Foun- Masters in Education in School Leader- dation to support MECA ’s Pace House ship from University of Pennsylvania, residency program. The grant will ensure
A (L-R) Jack Emory, Lunder Foundation Board of Directors; Paula C Photo by Tim Greenway Salt ’03 B Lunder Hon. DFA '17; Peter Lunder Hon. DFA '17 FUNDRAISING Artists at Work Director Jessica Tomlinson and donor Ed Freidman B ’08 in MECA’s Artists at Work street-front gallery space featuring artwork by Kimberly Convery ’05. LIFELONG LEARNING
WILSONART’S STUDENT CHAIR DESIGN COMPETITION THE SPACE OF FREEDOM BY KIFAH ABDULLA, MECA Continuing Studies Instructor
“You are a talented artist!” the art teacher then to the war fronts during a major said, when he stood beside my desk look- war. There were new challenges I faced: ing at my drawing in the 4th grade art trauma, threat, death and the unknown class in elementary school in Iraq. fate of war. is words sparkled in my head, Despite all of that, I took refuge in my stimulating my creativity. He secret powers: my pen and a little sketch H invited me to attend an after- notebook. A year and a half later, I was school studio. A few days later would be captured at the war front and became a the first moment I entered the studio. prisoner of war. For over eight years, I Immediately, I loved the smell of oil was held as a prisoner. It was a horrible colors, which filled my nose. Those colors situation, and I was deprived completely increased the vibrancy of my imagina- of everything; only my mind and vast tion. I felt the pure delight of a child. In imagination still belonged to me. My middle and high school, I learned from longing to practice art never stopped. my teachers about how to mix colors and When I had a pen in secret, I drew utilize the harmony of light and shadow. Photo by Kyle Dubay '18. portraits of the other prisoners and their I read a lot about art movements and beloveds. When the guards discovered me, master painters. For the past 14 years, Wilsonart, a leading manufacturer and I was severely punished. I never stopped Since that point, I knew that art would because art was my safe space. During 30 provider of engineered surfacing solutions, has sponsored a 31 national Student Chair Design Competition, founded and led by play a major role in my life. But I never my time as a prisoner, I nearly died. My design historian and material expert Grace Jeffers. The Compe- thought the transformative power of art appendix exploded, but I found it to be tition is hosted at a different university each year, and MECA would heal my broken soul throughout another chance to paint after surgery in was fortunate to be selected as the 2017-18 host institution, my difficult life experiences. I became the hospital. When I was returned to the an activist for peace, and I found myself prison, they started a savage mission of which included a generous donation to support the program. Kifah Abdulla, Looking For Light, acrylic on This year, the theme was “wood, trees, and the forest,” reflecting opposing the dictatorial regime in Iraq brainwashing me. For the reminder of canvas, 69” x 60”, 2013 both the importance of the timber industry in Maine and Wilso- during the 1970s. My paintings were the years in prison, art was my place nart’s commitment to educate architects and designers about banned because they did not correspond of safety. responsibly sourced wood. Through a semester-long class and with the regime’s policies. Later, I was After my release, I practiced art intense- collaborative brainstorming, model making, material experimen- prevented from attending the art studio ly, to heal the deep harm caused by tation, and one-on-one dialogue with Jeffers and Woodworking and the regime began to prosecute imprisonment. I didn’t feel safe because & Furniture Design Professor and Chair Matt Hutton, each its opponents, including artists. I was of the arbitrariness of the dictatorship. student designed and constructed their own chair utilizing threatened and attacked by the regime’s Another difficult journey began: for 21 Wilsonart plastic laminate. At the completion of the course, each followers in college. years I was a refugee in three countries. student presented their designs to a jury of industry profes- The space of freedom disappeared from Art was a means of healing and creativity, sionals. The grand prize winner this year was Joseph Goodwin my political, artistic, and literary life, and until I became an American citizen. Art MFA ’19 for his design “Tool for Translation,” which turned the art was the only place where I could rebel, is magical in its healing process, and my complex pop icon of the chainsaw into a chair. He received a shout out against the regime, and heal. work is a reflection of that. My ambition $3,000 scholarship, and, along with five runners-up, showcased My difficulties had not ended, however. I is to engrave my mark in contemporary Kifah Abdulla, Those Dreaming Of A Window, his work at the International Contemporary Furniture Fair in was sent to compulsory military service, art on America and on the world. ■ acrylic on canvas , 48" x 57", 2012 New York City, attended by thousands of media, architects, designers, manufacturers and other industry professionals. ■ Kifah Abdulla is an artist, poet, activist, soldier, POW, exile, teacher, and international citizen who teaches class- es in calligraphy and painting through MECA’s Continuing Studies Program. Born in Baghdad, Iraq, he moved
by Joseph Goodwin MFA '19. Photo courtesy of Wilsonart. courtesy Photo '19. MFA Goodwin Joseph by Translation for Tool to Portland, Maine, in 2011. As a young man, Kifah was a soldier in the Iraq-Iran war where he was captured لازيام تيم and spent over eight years as a prisoner of war, which inspired his book of poetry, Dead Still Dream a dual-language book published in both Arabic and English, translated by Brook DeLorme (attended) ’03 , ملحي and designed by Daniel Pepice ’03. ALUMNI NEWS ALUMNI NEWS
work. The 2018 Pace House residents were Isak Applin ’98, Goodbye Jay Melinda Aste ’17, Jenna Crowder ’07, Cat Bates ’09, Raymond Douglas Ewing ’12, ISAK APPLIN ’93 Cozy Side Tables, Jarrett Mellenbruch MFA ’14, Veronica Perez MFA ’16, Visiting wool, baltic birch WATERCOLOUR, GOUACHE Assistant Professor in Photography Kate Greene, Professor AND COLOURED PENCIL ON plywood, lami- of the MFA in Studio Art and Printmaking Adriane Herman, PAPER, 16" X 11.8", 2017 Desmarestia Aculeata nate, walnut, 14” x 12” x 22” each. and former Program Chair of Printmaking Elizabeth Jabar. CELESTE ROBERGE ’79 With support from the Stephen and Palmina Pace Foundation, CYANOTYPE ON SOMERSET Less of a Girl PAPER, 22" X 30" JO TATLOCK ’18 Caren-Marie Michel ’78, 2. Ames Lily Pond Stonington, acrylic, CMYK SCREENPRINT W/ 8” x 16”, 2017. HANDCOLORING ON CANSON, 10” X 13”, 2018.
Jo Tatlock ’18 was named the 2018 MECA fellow at Pickwick Independent Press, receiving a one-year keyholder membership, Heather Beard which provides opportunities to develop both their fine art MFA ’05. Untitled and freelance/client-based portfolios and broaden their artistic (Vermont), silver network. Pickwick Independent Press is a fine art printing facili- gelatin print, 10” ty founded by Lisa Pixley ’07 and owned and operated by Pilar x 10,” 2016. 32 Nadal MFA ’13. 33
MECA RESIDENCIES
Bryan Stryeski ’01, Izabella Provan ’15, Jacqueline King ’17, and Elaine Angelopoulos MFA ’09 were selected for the 2018 Alumni mid-career artists Elizabeth Jabar, Isak Applin ’93 and Residency at MECA, which provided studio space, opportunities Jarrett Mellenbruch MFA ’14 were also awarded stipends to to connect with MFA visiting artists, faculty and students, and a recognize their accomplishments and encourage their public open studio day. 2018 MECA ALUMNI that surrounds us. Their perspec- ARTISTS AT professional development. tives range from the micro to TRIENNIAL WORK AWARDS MECA, as one of several art schools invited to select an artist the macro, revealing new views Elaine Angelopoulos Curious Nature, at the ICA at The Belvedere Fund for Profes- MFA ’09, Quotes of to attend the summer 2018 Monson Artists’ Residency, selected of familiar terrain.” The artists MECA, brought together a diverse sional Development in the field Dissent: A Dialogue Kyle Downs ’07, a multi-disciplinary artist. Downs has an MFA were Celeste Roberge ’79, Mark group of 15 artists employing of crafts at MECA was estab- with Vesna Mackovic, in Sculpture from the Ohio State University, where he now lives, Marchesi ’99, Bryan Stryeski various media who draw lished in 2008 and supports the still image of a perfor- attended Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in 2014, ’01, Sarah Camille Wilson ’07, mance in action, 2017. inspiration from the natural professional and studio practice and recently taught a course at the School of the Alternative in Danielle Gerber ’12, Kristin world. Guest curator Shannon of qualified artists. The 2018 Black Mountain, North Carolina. Fitzpatrick ’13, Kayla Goulden Rankin ’97 said, “These artists awardees were Emily Rogstad ’13 ’13, Sam Richardson ’15, Isabelle explore our relationship with the to upgrade the ventilation system The family of Barbara Rita Jenny MFA ’02 established the Jarrett Mellenbruch O’Donnell ’17, Catherine Quat- natural world through investi- in her metalsmithing studio and MECA Baie Ste Marie Artist and Family Residency in New MFA ’1404, Hermit trociocchi ’17, Lenka Konopasek gating the structure of reality, Melinda Aste ’17 to purchase a Edinburgh, Nova Scotia in in 2008. The 2018 residents were Kyle Reflecting on the Ten MFA ’01, Alisha Gould MFA ’10, Thousand Things, hermit daily rhythms, beauty, texture, desktop CNC system to accelerate Downs ’07, Caren-Marie Michel ’78, Jennifer Moller MFA ’03, Charley Young MFA ’14, Annika crab, wood crate, plants, and emergent patterns, illuminat- her product experimentation with and Heather Beard MFA ’05. Earley MFA ’16, and Tessa Greene coconut fiber, mirrors, 32” ing the various forces affecting woodworking. O’Brien MFA ’16. Located in Stonington, Maine, the Pace House residency allows x 40” x 42”, 2015.
ALUMNI ALUMNI NEWS ecosystems and the environment MECA faculty, staff, and alumni space and time to further their Bryan Stryeski ’01, The Rockies (cropped), acrylic on paper, 16” x 20”, 2017.
creative years of development, were one of six early career artists chosen to MECA WELCOMES Elijah Dion ’19, Audrey Robidoux ’19, receive an Emerging Artist award, which NEW ALUMNI and Emma Whitaker ’17. Each was recognizes exceptional early career artists MFA alumni who were at MECA circa 1998 and friends held a mini reunion on the Eastern Promenade in Portland, Maine, and talked about what they’ve been awarded $1,000 and had work included by highlighting their work through RELATIONS up to for the last 20 years. (Left to Right:) Brian Cronin, Jill Dalton ’99, Anna Shapiro MFA ’00, Susan Bickford MFA ’01, Cecelia Metz, Richard Metz MFA ’00, at an exhibition at the Joseph A Fiore exhibitions and special events. AND EVENTS Rachel Katz MFA ’00, Catey Draper MFA ’00, Roderick Dew MFA ’00. Photo by Susan Bickford MFA ’01. Art Center in Jefferson, Maine. Nate Willever ’11 was featured in an exhibition of work from residents at the COORDINATOR The National Council on Education in Clay Studio in Philadelphia. Isabelle O’Donnell '17, a familiar the Ceramic Arts (NCECA) was held Iva Milovanovic ’16 had work included in face to many at MECA, was hired OTHER NEWS in Pittsburgh this year.Josh Primmer the Juried National Exhibition. Emmett as the new Alumni Relations and Emily Rogstad ’13, The Metals Collective exhibited work at Casco Bay Artisans, at Blue, ’01 represented the Clay Arts Center Freeman ’17 was representing Morean Events Coordinator. O’Donnell Aquamarine Drips, and in REFRACTION, their fourth annual exhibit at The Bearded of Port Chester, NY, where he is the Arts Center in St. Petersburg, Florida, earned her BFA in Painting from oxidized sterling silver Lady’s Jewel Box, all in Portland, Maine. Founded by MECA alumni, ceramic technician. Adam Chau ’10 was where he has a funded residency. ■ and aquamarine, 2” x 1” the collective includes Michael Hoffheimer ’92, Maria Wolff MECA and has worked on campus 34 x 0.25”, 2018. (attended) ’03, Ann Thompson (attended) ’05, Emily Percival ’06, in various capacities for almost 35 Naomi McNeill ’08, Cat Bates ’09, Shelby Goldsmith ’14, six years, first as a student worker Mary Forst ’16, and Catherine Quattrociocchi ’17. at the ICA and as a Resident Assis- Jacqueline King’17, tant, and then, after graduation, as Pussy Grabber's Every two years, the EMMA Collaboration brings 100 renowned Exhibitions Assistant at the ICA Cat Bates ’09, Gauntlet (detail), brass, artists and craftspeople together from around the world to Poise Cuff gypsum, poster, 2017. and as the Painting Technician create art in in the Boreal Forest of Northern Saskatchewan, 2, stainless for the BFA program. She has also This year, Jude Valentine ’78 was selected to represent MECA steel/bronze worked for the Portland Muse- at the Emma Collaboration, which funds the conference cost. composite, 2.5” um of Art, as well as with local A long-time resident of Maine, Jude Valentine received an MFA x 2”, 2017. galleries and artists. Isabelle is a in visual art from Vermont College of Fine Art and has received practicing artist and has exhib- numerous awards for her work. ited her work throughout Maine MECA alumni and faculty who were accepted to participate in and the country at venues that the Center for Maine Contemporary Art’s biennial included Dylan include Able Baker Contemporary Veronica Perez MFA ’16, untitled Hausthor ’15, Baxter Koziol ’17, Isabelle O’Donnell ’17, Julie K. in Portland, Maine; the Boston lean (your feminism is too Gray MFA ’12, Gina Siepel MFA ’08, Joel Tsui ’16, MFA ’19, Assistant University Stone Gallery; and the aggressive), fake flowers, mortar, Professor of Foundation Hilary Irons, and Assistant Professor of Center for Maine Contemporary MFA and Sculpture Julie Poitras Santos. foam, 46" x 12" x 12", 2015. Art in Rockport, Maine. Her work SPACE Gallery in Portland, Maine, awarded 2018 Kindling Fund has been published in ArtMaze grants to Mali Mrozinski ’04, Jenna Crowder ’09, Julie K. Gray ALUMNI OPPORTUNITIES Magazine and Friend of the Artist, MFA ’12, Pilar Nadal MFA ’13, Salt Visiting Instructor of Film and Photography Yoon S. Byun, and Joanne Waxman Library Director MAINE COLLEGE OF ART RECOGNIZES OUR ALUMNI AS and she has attended residencies Shiva Darbandi, along with library staff collaborator Cody Ross. AN ESSENTIAL PART OF OUR COMMUNITY. PLEASE VISIT at the Stephen Pace House and MECA.EDU/ALUMNI TO LEARN MORE ABOUT OUR ALUMNI Hewnoaks Artist Colony, both The winners of the 2018 Joseph Fiore Painting Prize, an instrument BENEFITS, GRANTS, AND OTHER OPPORTUNITIES. in Maine. Email [email protected] of encouragement and support for artists during their early to contact her. ALUMNI CLASS NOTES ALUMNI CLASS NOTES
work was also included in Bech Space, Self Portrait an outdoor group exhibition at the Renee Bouchard ’99, Untitled, oil, acrylic, watercolor, Sharpie, PETER IVA MILOVANOVIC ’16 Untitled Shelburne Art Museum in Shelburne, house paint, plastic spoon, and partial paint tube on unstretched SHELLENBERGER ’90 CLAY, GLASS, YARN, SAGE LEWIS ’04 VT, and in Interior Effects: Furniture in canvas, 48” x 60”, 2010-2017. AUTORADIOGRAPH PHOTO RUBBER, PLASTIC, WOOD, FLATTENED SCULPTURE Contemporary Art, a group exhibition OF A CLOCK’S MAINSPRING 5' 8" X 3' 10", 2017 MADE FROM by 10 New England artists at Fitchburg CREATED THROUGH INKJET-PRINTED Art Museum in Fitchburg, MA. EXPOSURE TO RADIOACTIVE AWAGAMI JAPANESE MATERIALS PAPER, 4” X 5”, 2017 1980s Things Fall Away Connie Hayes ’80 exhibited new paint- MATT BLACKWELL ’77 ings in Windows at Dowling Walsh OIL ON CANVAS, 36” X 36” Gallery, Rockland, ME, and gave an artist’s talk. Greg Dyro ’81 wrote an online article for MovieMaker Magazine about the importance of motion picture still photography, based on his long career Jess Beyler ’82 started a new proj- Executive Director of the Stanley-Whit- in the film industry. ect called 100 Famous Views of the man House, a living history center and Universe, inspired by NASA photo- museum in Farmington, CT. Julie Freund ’81 had work included graphs of deep space. at a group exhibit at Thos. Moser Aaron Williams ’94 had a solo exhibit Showroom in Freeport, ME, along with John Cooley ’84 recently finished an of new work entitled Primitive Man at fellow alums Scott Moore ’78, Michael enlargement of a piece he created in MEN Gallery in New York City. Vermette ’80, Joshua Ferry ’94, and 1983 while attending Portland School of Bridget Spaeth ’95 Anne Ireland ’94. Art (now MECA) entitled The Shatter- co-curated and had work included in 36 ing. 37 Lenora Leibowitz ’81 exhibited work the exhibit That Third Thing, which in Mother Daughter at Kimball Street Lori Austill ’85 exhibited her encaustic also included work by Penelope Jones Studio in Lewiston, ME. paintings at Gallery 302 in Bridgton, ’84, Cynthia Davis ’90, and MECA ME, and at Maine Medical Center in Painting Professor Honour Mack at Portland, ME. Speedwell Projects, Portland, ME. Louise Bourne ’88, Geraniums, oil Thomas Connolly ’87 had a solo exhibit Heidi Powell ’97 opened her own food on canvas, 40 x 30" 1960s 1970s Industrial Maine: Our Other at Greenhut Galleries in Portland, ME. distribution business, Dirigo Wholesale, Landscape at University of in Portland, ME. C. David Thomas ’68, Hon. Matt Blackwell ’77 exhibited Christina Davis ’87 had work exhibited Southern Maine’s Lewis- DFA ’16 had a solo exhibi- paintings in a two-person in the Casco Bay Artisans’ Summer 2018 Isak Applin ’98 had work included in ton-Auburn College Atrium tion at Galerie la Eskalera show at Greenhut Galleries Maine Art and Artists Show in Portland, Around the Mountain Again, a two-per- Art Gallery in Lewiston, ME, in Merida, Mexico, and in Portland, ME. ME. son exhibition at The New Standard along with fellow alums three pieces included in Louise Bourne ’88 had an exhibit Gallery in Surrey Hills, Sydney, Austra- Lillian Byrne Heyward ’77 Kate Katomski MFA ’02, and the exhibition The Art of called Change of Season at the George lia. designed the billboards Bronwyn Sale MFA ’16. Her Combat Veterans at the Marshall Store Gallery in York, ME. Sarah Andrews McNeil ’98 launched a for the hit movie Three work was also included in Cultural Center at Rocky new business with her husband John. Billboards Outside Ebbing, Plein Air Paintings From the Neck in Gloucester, MA. He Odd Alewives Farm Brewery is located Missouri, which has won 67 Bay of Fundy in St. Andrews, 1990s was the producer of the film in a former alpaca farm in Waldoboro, awards, including four Gold- New Brunswick, Canada. Camouflage: Vietnamese en Globes and three Screen Peter Shellenberger ’90 had an article ME. Celeste Roberge ’79 had Brush Strokes With History, Actor’s Guild awards, as well about his autoradiographs -- photos Renée Bouchard ’99 had an exhibit of a solo exhibit entitled which screened at the 27th as seven Oscar nominations. created through using exposure to work spanning 20 years at the Unitari- Thinking While Walking Woods Hole Film Festival in radioactive materials -- featured in a an Universalist Fellowship in Caren-Marie Michel ’78 Under the Sea at Waterfall Woods Hole, MA. Wired Magazine online article. Bennington, VT. had work included in The Arts in Belfast, ME. Her
ALUMNI ALUMNI NOTES CLASS Andy Verzosa ’92 was hired as the
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end-long transdisciplinary, professional development retreat Landis was published in Nicole for a curated group of cross-disciplinary minds, with Rita Adrian King ’12, 2 Canister the Keene Sentinel and she Adam Chau’10, Tablets, porcelain tile with computer gener- Duennebier ’05, Leduc, in Wakefield, NH. Her ensemble B.R.A.C.E. (Bifurcated Pitcher, wheel-thrown has been appointed by Gov. ated selfie in cobalt, 2018. Still Life with stoneware, laterite slip, ka- Radical Anarchist Cultural Enterprise) performed at the olin slip, nuka glaze, soda Chris Sununu to serve on Grapes and Center for Maine Contemporary Art in Rockport, ME and a New Hampshire’s Millennial Black Mold, fired to cone 11, 11”, 2017. documentary video of performance work created during her Advisory Council. acrylic on panel, 20” x 16” MASS MoCA residency was also shown at CMCA. Abbeth Russell ’11 exhibited Crystal Heiden ’06 and Tori Marsh ’07 collaborated on a work in Day of the Dead at sculpture entitled Osprey Medallion that was funded by Stones & Stuff as well as in the Town of Seymour’s Culture and Arts Commission and Paintings, with Maia Snow installed at the Paul Pawlak, Sr. Fish Bypass and Park at ’13 and Toni Jo Coppa MFA Tingue Dam on the Naugatuck River in Seymour, CT. Heiden ’13 at Go Yan Gallery, both in also had her video included in Boston Biennial 5, an online Portland, ME. venue of The Biennial Project. Bret Weese ’11 participated Jon Byrer ’99 exhibited his paintings at various libraries Matt W. Moore ’06 celebrated the 10th anniversary of his in the Tewksbury Communi- Dylan Hausthor ’15 was Ellis-Beauregard Foundation throughout Maine, including the Bass Harbor Memorial business, MWM Graphics. ty of Artists’ group exhibit at selected as a finalist in and he and Tyler Guilmette Library, Brooklin Friend Memorial Library, Freeport Arthur Halvorsen (attended) ’07 had work selected for Z Gallery in Lowell, MA. the Lensculture Exposure ’15 had collaborative work Community Library, Northeast Harbor Library, and The State of Clay 10th Biennial Show at Parsons Gallery in Aaron Patrick Decker Awards and received a shortlisted for a Gomma Camden Library’s Harbor Arts Festival. Lexington, MA, for which he received an award for best use expect to graduate in 2019. ’12 gave a jewelry and juror’s choice award from Grant and included in the of color. He also had work included in the Beyond The Brick- Steven Brooks ’09 had work metalsmithing lecture at Michael Mack for one of indie publication Hunger. 2000s yard 10th Annual Juried Show at the Archie Bray Foundation exhibited in Reclaimed Life Rhode Island School of his projects. He is a recip- Tabitha Barnard ’16 had her in Helena, MT. at Rising Tide Brewing Design (RISD) in ient of the Bakery Photo photography featured in the Gabriel Adams ’02 had work included in In Situ, which he Asherah Cinnamon ’08 had work included the University of Company in Portland, Maine. Providence, RI. Collective and SPEEDWELL/ exhibit Cult of Womanhood also curated, at the Tbilisi History Museum in the country New England Gallery’s Annual Invitational Sculpture Danielle Gerber ’12 was projects’ Emerging Artist at Speedwell Projects in of Georgia. Eight artists presented new works in response to Garden Show in Portland, ME, which also featured work by awarded an Emerging Award, and his work was Portland, ME. 38 the museum as part of Living Room III, which aims to rein- 2010s 39 Isabel Kelley ’13. Artist Studio Equipment featured in the exhibit Past vigorate and open new perspectives through engagement Greta Grant ’16, MAT ’18 Adam Chau ’10 had a solo Grant by the Maine Crafts the Pond, Setting Fires and artistic practice. Kori Handwerker ’08 is attending graduate school at the exhibit of tiles combined at SPEEDWELL/projects had work featured in the Center for Cartoon Studies in Vermont from which they Association, exhibited work two-person exhibit The John Cahall ’04 had work included in STP Creative’s Group with computer-generated in Portland, ME. He was at Gallery 301 in Bridgton, Light Shines Down Toward Show at the Milk Gallery in Chelsea, NY. selfies at Harvard Univer- ME, and received Second in awarded a studio residency sity’s Ceramics Program with a monthly stipend You at New System Exhibi- Sage Lewis ’04 had work included in a two-person exhibit of Crystal Heiden ’06 and Tory Marsh ’07 with Osprey Show for her work at the Office for the Arts. in Rockland, ME, by the tions in Portland, ME. photo-based works called Elemental States at Akari Salon in Medallion. Photo by Gillian Russo/Courtesy of Saco Bay Artists Show in Iva Milovanovic ’16 Portland, ME. Her series of flattened paper sculptures called Voices Newspaper. Addison de Lisle ’11 won Ocean Park, ME. was named as the 2018 Thin Sections and an installation called Orbital Range were an award as a finalist for Kate Katomski MFA ’01, Adrian King ’12 was chosen Etchant-Satre Fellow at the on view in Poetics of Place at the Satellite Art Show in Miami, an Emerging Artist Studio to be featured in the annual Hope, HER Chandelier, Mixed Media, 6” x 20” x Archie Bray Foundation in FL, and at Gravy Studio & Gallery in Philadelphia. She was Equipment Grant through selection of emerging artists 20”, 2017. Helena, MT. a visiting artist at Hartwick College in Oneonta, NY. Her the Maine Crafts Associa- in Ceramics Monthly. artist book Mars Analogues was published by Visual Studies tion. He received his MFA in Sara Inacio ’17 served Chun-Hua “Hanji” Workshop. Blacksmithing/Metalsmith- as a campus minister at ing at the Southern Illinois Chang ’14 and her husband, MECA, conducted collective Rebecca Shelly ’04 had an art quilt included as part of the University Carbondale in Atom O’Chang, who are art making and dialogue exhibit Livable Planet? at the Chico Art Center in Chico, CA. 2018. Maine animators and through the collaborative Nicole Duennebier ’05 exhibited new paintings and draw- partners in O’Chang Studios, Danya (Pugliese) Landis ’11 project Ears and Hands, and ings in View into the Fertile Country at 13FOREST Gallery are creating the first ever is co-founder of Machina travelled to North Africa for in Arlington, MA, and was one of three artists exhibited in full-length animated feature Arts, an innovative arts an internship with Green the concurrent solo exhibit Pushing Painting at the David film by and for Mainers, enti- advocacy center located in Olive Arts, an international Winton Bell Gallery at Brown University in Providence, RI. tled The One Strain to Rule artist residency business in Keene, NH. An article about Them All. Patricia M. Brace ’06 organized GROUNDWORK VII, a week- Tetouan, Morocco.
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Art in Durham, NH. Justin co-founded the core group WeddingWire. An article about her Angela Warren MFA ’11 was awarded Samara Yandell MAT ’18 was hired by Kirchoff, Professor and that organized MIT’s 2014 award was published in Bermuda’s The a fellowship to the Vermont Studio Biddeford Middle School to teach 3D Program Chair of Photog- first breast pump hackathon Royal Gazette. Fiander also teaches Center in Johnson, VT. design to sixth, seventh, and eighth raphy, and Gail Spaien, (a second took place in 2018). photography classes online at The Art Shirah Neumann MFA ’12 had an graders and has also been teaching at Professor of Painting and A documentary has been Institute of Pittsburgh. exhibit of work entitled Windows at the Kennebunk Beach Improvement MFA, were also included. produced about the project Andrew Harrison MFA ’08 had his the Jewish Community of Amherst Association. Kate Katomski MFA ’02 and was played at MUCA sculpture, A Tree for Andrew Williams, Hall Gallery in Amherst, MA. Roma in Mexico City. had solo exhibits at Kimball included in the Governors Island Toni Jo Coppa MFA ’13 had work SALT Street Studios in Lewis- Patrick Perry MFA ’06 had Fair, on Governors Island in New York included in Pairings at Kelly Stelling Tim Greenway Salt ’03 exhibited ton, ME, and at the Betsy work included in multiple Harbor. Contemporary, Manchester, NH, in Jacaruso Studio & Gallery in exhibitions as part of the geological photographs in Mackworth Reenie Charrière MFA ’09 co-produced the New Members Exhibition at NAWA Island Transformed: Rocks Reimagined, Rhinebeck, NY. Infinite Archive collective an Arts Appreciation Week at The Gallery in New York City, and in Art of based in New York City, exhibited in the Portland City Hall Aaron Stephan MFA ’02 Nueva School, Hillsborough, CA, where Recovery at Columbus Museum of Art Rotunda in Portland, ME. installed his ambitious including Locations at the she works as a lower school arts teach- in Columbus, OH. sculpture, Paths Woven, at Brooklyn Waterfront Artists er. She was an artist-in-residence at the Maisie Crow Salt ’06 screened her film Coalition in Brooklyn, NY; Tessa Green O’Brien MFA ’16 and JACKSON, a documentary about the the San Diego International Peoria PlayHouse Children’s Museum Rachel Manley ’15 were featured in an Aaron Stephan MFA ’02, Paths Woven, maple and Claro Airport. The piece, which in Peoria, IL, where she exhibited her lives of three women caught up in the walnut, 16’ x 16 ’x 70’, 2018. Photo by Pablo Mason. Shirah Neumann MFA ’12, article and visual studio tour about the complex issues surrounding abortion took a year to create, Garden Window (Bird work and created a collaborative work business Better Letter Hand Painted resulted from a $275,000 called Magic Carpet. She was inter- access in Mississippi, at SPACE Gallery Garden), watercolor on Signs published in Design*Sponge, a in Portland, ME. Haley Macherone ’17 MFA commission award from paper, 15” x 15”, 2018 viewed on Peoria Public Radio WCBU received a second place daily design blog. Anna Shapiro MFA ’00 the San Diego airport 89.9 about the project and had work on Willa Kammerer Salt ’09 traveled award in the 2017 VSA Veronica Perez MFA ’16 was awarded had new work exhibited authority, Tessa Greene display at the Peoria Art Guild. She also and conducted interviews as part of a Emerging Young Artists a studio residency in Rockland, ME, at Con/textile/ized, a group O’Brien MFA ’16 worked as exhibited work in Less is More More documentary about the leading edge Competition, which is a Jean which included studio space and a exhibit at the Jamestown an assistant on the project. or Less in a Monastery in Nurri, Italy, of early education in the southern Kennedy Smith Arts and monthly stipend, from the Ellis-Be- Art Center in Jamestown, RI. Liz Sweibel MFA ’03 had and at the Bojagi Forum 2018 in Seoul, states. She also did video work with the 40 Disability Program of the auregard Foundation. 41 Her work was also included Korea. Harvard Graduate School Kennedy Center. The work work included in the exhibit in Urban Wildlife: Learning of Education. ■ was exhibited in Electrify!, a Excessive Frugality at Odetta Michel Droge MFA ’10 participated to Co-Exist at the Rhode MAT nationally touring show that Gallery, in Allow Me to in a two-person exhibition called Day Island School of Design ISB was hosted locally at Engine Reintroduce Myself at the Trip at the Frank Brockman Gallery in Ouda Baxter MAT ’17 is living and gallery in Providence RI. in Biddeford, ME. Cigar Factory in Long Island Brunswick, ME. She exhibited paint- teaching in China at an international Susan Bickford MFA ’01 City, NY, and in Abductions ings and drawings at The Gallery at L/A bilingual school for 3-8 year olds and Susan Bickford MFA ’01, organized stillness 18, a and Reconstructions at Real Memory of Movement in Arts in Lewiston, ME, and was awarded is learning Mandarin. She created drawing used on postcards fourth annual gathering of Art Ways in Hartford, CT. For Starlight Park in the Bronx, a Maine Farmland Trust Joseph A. an audio and sculpture installation promoting the (stillness) artists across disciplines, the latter, she participated NY; and River Rising at the Fiore Art Center 2018 Residency in in Easton, PA, as part of a Lafayette event, 18” including musicians, writers, in a Live Culture Episode Bronx River Arts Center Jefferson, ME. College Garde-House Residency and visual artists, foragers, and discussion about her art on in the Bronx, NY. His work is planning a backpacking trip to New an astrologer, in celebration WPKN 89.5. was also included in Infinite Zealand. of nature and a sense of Alexandra Metral Archive: NYPL at the place, at the Joseph A. Fiore MFA ’04, an artist and New York Public Library, Art Center in Jefferson, ME. research affiliate at MIT which also included work by Shelley Stefan MFA ’06, Tim Gaudreau MFA ’02, Media Lab, continues to be Maisie Crow Salt '06, stills from the documentary film JACKSON, 2016. Randy Regier MFA ’07, and Barbara Rita Jenny MFA ’02, involved with the Make the Sarah Bouchard MFA ’11. and Kirsten Reynolds MFA Breast Pump not Suck Hack- ’04 displayed work as part of athon project. Along with Melanie Fiander MFA ’07, a New Hampshire Chari- Catherine D’Ignazio MFA Salt ’05 runs Finander table Foundation grantee ’05, who is now an Assistant Foto, based in Bermuda, exhibit at the University of Professor of Data Visual- which received a Couple’s New Hampshire Museum of ization and Civic Media Choice Award for 2018 from at Emerson College, she IN MEMORIAM IN MEMORIAM
imothy “Tim” Norris ’79 “Tim will be remembered School. He attended Portland School of South Portland, for his legendary bear hugs, of Art (now MECA) from 1977 to 1978, TMaine, passed away his distinctive saddle shoes returning to Bangor to graduate from at the age of 65 on Septem- (worn all over the globe) D’Lor Beauty School. He had a career ber 23, 2017 after an 11-year and his loud and deep laugh. of more than 35 years as a hair stylist battle with renal cancer. He Tim was the very definition at Akari, as co-owner of the boutique earned his BFA in Sculpture of what it means to live a salon Watson & Worthley in the Old from Portland School of full life. Despite his long Port, and at Satori Salon & Spa, all Art (now MECA) in 1979 and journey with cancer, he in Portland, Maine. He also did hair, his MFA and MA in Sculp- never stopped teaching makeup and floral arrangements for ture and Art History from each and every one of us weddings and other special events and Arizona State University in how important it is to seize was a highly regarded amateur photog- 1988. Norris worked as an every earthly moment we rapher. In 1986, Stephen met the love art history instructor and are blessed with.” Norris is of his life, Bradbury Blake, with whom curator of visual resources survived by Terry, his wife he spent a joyous 31-year adventure. Scott Robert Leombruno '89 at MECA for almost seven of 35 years, their daughter They were married on August 18, 2013 years in the 1990s. He spent Emily, his grandson Dexter at the Harraseeket Inn in Freeport much of his life exploring Lee, and his mother painting and designing. His and enjoyed gardening, nature, hiking, the world, including travels and brother. cohorts and classmates kayaking, traveling, and photography. Paul Bloodgood MFA '02, Slight Wind, oil on board, 19" x 23," 2009 to Chile, Spain, Guatemala, Scott Robert Leombruno ’89 found his style and devotion Stephen is survived by his husband Thailand, and Korea. He passed away on Oct. 2, 2017 admirable and worthy, and Brad, his daughter Annika Blake-How- mer’s disease. Born in Nyack, New became increasingly aphasic and was a scholar of history and at his home in Fort Bragg, his friends found a deep and land, three sisters, and other relatives. York, in 1960, he graduated from Yale required assistance for daily living, art, an accomplished writer California. Born in Glens quiet wisdom in and about University in 1982, and then spent four painting was the last independent and photographer, and a Falls, New York on Jan. 20, him. He loved nature and years living in rural Maine and New thing he could do,” his wife said in an genuine storyteller. In 2005, 1967, Scott was a graduate was a talented musician, Hampshire before moving to Manhat- article published in ARTNews. “His after founding Nandupress, tan in 1986. Bloodgood produced drive to paint was stronger than his 42 of Glens Falls High School finding solace in daily hikes 43 he self-published his novel and the Portland School of on the coast and inspiration predominantly abstract paintings drive to put food in his mouth.” He is Seasons in the Kingdom, Art (now MECA), as well as in live and recorded music rooted in landscapes. He began survived by Adams and two children, about a broken American the University of Southern throughout the day. Scott organizing shows in 1991 under the Able and Castle Bloodgood. ■ soldier and a Korean woman Maine. After teaching at is survived by his parents, name AC Project Room in New York falling in love. He spent 21 various schools in New Mary and John Quirk and City, which ran for more than a decade, years working as a customer England, Scott accompanied Ormondo and Frances closing in 2001. His work was widely service gate agent at Delta his two brothers to the Leombruno; his siblings and exhibited and in 2009 he was awarded Airlines. He was known for southern California area their spouses and a number a Guggenheim Fellowship. In 2002, he his loyalty to his beloved in the 1990s and settled in of other relatives. married Kelly Adams and earned his Red Sox, and was a loving MFA from MECA. In 2003, he devel- Mendocino County, Califor- Stephen W. Watson husband, devoted father oped a 350-color interior house paint nia, in 2015. Scott was a gift- (attended) ’98 of Scarbor- and grandfather, and a loyal palette, based on artist Paul Klee’s color ed art teacher and brilliant ough, Maine, passed away friend. His family wrote, artist who loved drawing, systems, for Martha Stewart’s Omni- on November 27, 2017 after media, Inc. He also taught at Rutgers a ten-year battle with Stephen W. Watson (attended) '98 University, Cooper Union, Bennington brain cancer. Watson was College, and other institutions. Despite born in Bangor, Maine, on Paul Bloodgood MFA ’02, an artist, his brain injury, he kept working and December 22, 1957, enjoyed teacher, and experimentally minded his exhibit in 2012 at the Newman Paul Bloodgood MFA '02 a country childhood in gallery owner, died on May 4, 2018, at Popiashvili Gallery in New York City Levant, and was a 1976 the age of 58 from early onset Alzhei- was widely praised. “Although he graduate of Herman High
IN MEMORIAM Tim Norris '79 MAINE COLLEGE OF ART 522 CONGRESS STREET PORTLAND, MAINE 04101
MECAmorphosis Spring Gala Fashion Show + Thesis Exhibition FRIDAY, MAY 3, 2019 Celebrating MECA’s graduating professional artists.
Artwork and texture background by Cal Murphy, '19 meca.edu/mecamorphosis
SUMMER ART SALE
Maine College of Art’s Summer Art Sale JUNE 22 – 29, 2019
Featuring the original works of students, faculty, staff, alumni, and friends.
meca.edu/collect