MECA will be making some big changes online! We’re striving to streamline, organize and expand our social media presence. But before we make these changes, we want to hear from YOU. We want to tailor our online presence to best serve our students, faculty, and broader community.

WHO:  The entire MECA community

WHAT:  Opening up dialogue about MECA’s social media presence

WHERE: Osher Hall

WHY: To discuss and determine the most effective, productive, and engaging ways that MECA can use social media. To identify specific faculty roles and create an information workflow and posting protocol.

WHEN:  Wednesday, April 17 at noon

MECA student Chloe Beaven will receive Maine Campus Compact’s 2013 Heart and Soul Award. This award recognizes the accomplishments of six Maine students who have demonstrated exceptional leadership both on campus and within their community.

 In addition, MECA faculty member Paul Gebhardt will receive Maine Campus Compact’s 2013 Donald Harward Award for Service Learning Excellence. This award recognizes the accomplishments of faculty members in making public service an integral part of their teaching, in forging strong reciprocal partnerships, and in advocating for service learning.

MECA student Carly Soos was also nominated for the Heart and Soul Award. Students not chosen for this award will be receiving a Maine Campus Compact PILLARS award, which will be sent to your civic engagement office.

The awards will be presented at a ceremony on Tuesday, April 30^th at the State House Hall of Flags in Augusta. We will share a press release with your public relations office in the week leading up to the ceremony.  The ceremony, which includes hors d'oeuvres, will run from 2:30 to 4:00pm. We would be delighted if you would join us. 

MECA will be making some big changes online! We’re striving to streamline, organize and expand our social media presence. But before we make these changes, we want to hear from YOU. We want to tailor our online presence to best serve our students, faculty, and broader community.

WHO:  The entire MECA community

WHAT:  Opening up dialogue about MECA’s social media presence

WHERE: Osher Hall

WHY: To discuss and determine the most effective, productive, and engaging ways that MECA can use social media. To identify specific faculty roles and create an information workflow and posting protocol.

WHEN:  Wednesday, April 17 at noon

A handful of students from the Maryland Institute College of Art are visiting the MECA campus this week as part of a class called "Road, Movies, and Travelogues." The class requires students to propose and carry out a road trip and create artwork based on their adventure.

With MICA professors Nadia Hironska and Eva Wylie, the group visited MECA for a series of activities: making a collaborative print with MECA professor Adriane Herman's students and visiting local printmaker David Wolfe's studio. Their visit was encouraged and organized by the ICA, Office of Public Engagement, and Printmaking Department. 

Today that will be inviting the general public to the ICA from 1:00 to 3:00  to watch them finish a book project and speak about the project. 

Join The Affiliate Artists and Author/illustrator Scott Nash for a night of readings from his new book, The High Skies Adventures of Blue Jay The Pirate as well as other works by Nash. An open discussion and book signing will follow the actors' readings.

Designed to Play: An Exploration in Community Communication Through Sculpture

Wednesday, March 27 at 12 noon, Osher Hall

Kyle DiMare, a senior in Sculpture, worked with the local organization Learning Works / Youth Build Alternatives in Portland. Kyle designed and led a series of workshops on the design process and sculptural building. Using a model of co-creation students worked collaboratively on sculptural forms as a platform for building social relationships, and developed critical communication, problem solving and creative skills.

Printmaking Professor Adriane Herman's titled her Fall 2012 SYL class: "Gathering Influences: Collecting, Collections, Collectors, Collectibles" and challenged her students to consider new aspects and audiences of their art.

The class became a community art project at Bayview Heights affordable senior housing community in Portland. Herman, along with her teaching assistant Pilar Nadal, challenged 11 MECA students and 15 Bayview seniors to discuss the objects we collect and why we collect them. 

After prompting conversation with their handmade zines, the students created collagraph prints that were framed and donated to the senior center. 

The class was sponsored by MECA's Public Engagement program.

The following students took part in this unique class:

Anthony Zambrana
Ari Chasan
Emily Martel
Grace Hager
Hannah Hermes
Hannah Rowlett
Kelsey Haley
Kristina Buckley
Mason Hainey
Megan Daigle
Rochelle Garcia

For a compelling and comprehensive article about the project, click here. 

Illustration Professor Jamie Hogan has announced the release of "Here Come the Humpbacks". The book follows a mother whale and her calf along their annual migration from the warm waters of the Caribbean to their feeding grounds off the coast of New England, portraying the ways they sing, breathe, and avoid dangers. 

The book is now available in hardcover.

>>More info.

MECA'S doors will be open to the community from 5-8 for First Friday. Please join us for some extraordinary shows and exhibits!

Dan Dendanto and Frank Dendanto: Bump

Auspice | Through March 2 | Zand Head Gallery
New works from Woodworking and Furniture Design and Photography Majors
Woodworking and Furniture Design featuring works by Rangeley Morton, Jacob Michaud, and Forest Gagne; Photography featuring works by Kayla Goulden and Laurel Davis.

Break Down the House/ Build the House | Through March 2 |Free Street Hall Gallery
Vivaldi: Hierarchy & Form
Students from Charles Melcher's Graphic Design 102 class.

MAP PROJECT 15 | Through March 2 | Free Street Hall Gallery
Featuring works from Graphic Design Juniors from Charles Melcher's Graphic Design class.

New Work: Nick Norris |Through March 2 | Friedman Gallery
New work form Nick Norris, Junior Painting Major.

The Peninsula School | Through April 7 | ICA at MECA
The Peninsula School is a student initiated, community oriented, independent free school that sources creativity from the individual through a trans-disciplinary curriculum in contemporary art and design, while exploring an understanding of their relevance and contribution to society. Art work from The Peninsula School will be available for viewing when the ICA is open for viewing.

Indiana artists explore Hoosier ties in upcoming gallery exhibition

INDIANAPOLIS—An upcoming exhibition at Gallery 924 at the Arts Council features the fine art furniture of Cory Robinson and Matt Hutton. Both Robinson and Hutton are natives of Indiana and studied at Indiana University Purdue University’s Herron School of Art & Design. The artists explore their Hoosier roots in show titled, Beyond Vernacular.

“As a gallery that shows and supports contemporary Indiana artists, we understand the Indiana or Midwest aesthetic is somewhat elusive and often difficult to define,” said Shannon Linker, director of artist services and Gallery 924. “However, Hutton and Robinson seem to have a clear vision of what it means to understand and embrace the visual language of the often simple, but comforting iconography of rural Indiana. They have brilliantly married high design, functionality, and their own personal histories.”

Both Hutton and Robinson found themselves on parallel professional paths, which began in undergraduate studies at Herron School of Art and Design and continued to San Diego State University where they both received MFA’s. Since then, Hutton co-founded the woodworking and furniture design program at the Maine College of Art, where he now works; and Robinson is an associate professor of furniture design and fine art department chair at Herron.   

‘Beyond Vernacular’ will open during IDADA’s First Friday Art Tour Friday, March 1 and be on display at Gallery 924 at the Arts Council from March 1 to 29.

What: Beyond Vernacular

Where: Gallery 924 at the Arts Council of Indianapolis | 924 North Pennsylvania Street Indianapolis, IN 46204

When: March 1 – 29, 2013 | Gallery hours: Tuesdays – Fridays 10 p.m. – 4 p.m., Thursdays 10-6 | Special opening Friday, March 1, 6 p.m. – 9 p.m.

About Gallery 924 at the Arts Council

Gallery 924 provides a mix of programming highlighting central Indiana contemporary artists, including solo shows and curated group shows.  The 1,300 square foot gallery is located in the former home of Rollerland and the current home of the Arts Council of Indianapolis.

About the Arts Council of Indianapolis

The Arts Council of Indianapolis builds financial support and widespread appreciation for meaningful engagement in the arts. As the chief advocate for the arts and artists in Indianapolis, the Arts Council provides grant opportunities and professional development resources for central Indiana arts organizations and artists. It owns and operates the Indianapolis Artsgarden, Gallery 924, a 1,300 square foot fine art gallery featuring work by central Indiana artists, and recently launched power2give, an online fundraising platform for arts, cultural, and humanities organizations. For more information visit indyarts.org.

###

>>Matt Hutton Faculty bio

MECA ANNOUNCES 2013 ART HONORS RECIPIENTS

Portland Museum of Art, Dahlov Ipcar, and Candace Pilk Karu Recognized for Artistic Leadership and Excellence
 

Portland, Maine - Maine College of Art will hold the 17th annual Art Honors gala celebration to recognize leaders in Maine’s creative sector on Thursday, May 9, 2013.

This year, the College presents the Award for Leadership as a Visual Artist and the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Fine Arts to Dahlov Ipcar; the Award for Leadership in Art Philanthropy and the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Fine Arts to Candace Pilk Karu, and the Award for Leadership in the Visual Arts to the Portland Museum of Art.

The awards will be presented at the College’s Porteous Building at 522 Congress Street in downtown Portland. The event begins at 5:30pm and the awards ceremony is scheduled at 6:30pm on May 9.  Cocktails and tapas throughout the evening will be accented with live music and the thesis exhibition of graduating students.  The Class of 2013 will join the creative black tie party.  Support of Art Honors is available at three levels: Patrons at $1,200, Host Committee at $250 and general at $50.  

For more information visit meca.edu/arthonors or please call 207-775-5098.

About the Honorees:
The Award for Leadership as a Visual Artist and the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Fine Arts recognizes Dahlov Ipcar’s deep and far reaching influence as a Maine artist with international recognition, and her contributions to the arts and letters for more than seventy years.  

The Award for Leadership in Art Philanthropy and the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Fine Arts to Candace Pilk Karu honors her 21 years of service to the College and pays tribute to her personal belief that the arts play an important role in our civil society by encouraging emerging and living artists.

The Award for Leadership in the Visual Arts to the Portland Museum of Art acknowledges the museum's significant past and future contributions to Portland, Maine, and the nation and celebrates the deep and historic connection between the two institutions since their joint founding in 1882.

Art Honors recognizes artists, philanthropists and art educators with significant ties to Maine who offer MECA’s students, as well as the public, powerful examples of lives in the arts. Past honorees have included Roxanne Quimby, S. Donald Sussman, David Driskell, Bernarda Shahn, Beverly Hallam, Will Barnet, Neil Welliver, Alex Katz, Robert Indiana, Alison Hildreth, Angela Adams and Pandora Lacasse, among others.

Located in the heart of the Portland Arts District, MECA offers a BFA degree in 10 studio majors, an MFA in Studio Arts, a Post-Baccalaureate in Art Education and continuing studies for youths and adults. The Institute of Contemporary Art at MECA and the Joanne Waxman Library are free and open to the public. For more information, see www.meca.edu.

###

[Image by Gabriella Sturchio '12]

MECA held a three-day charrette on February 1,2 & 3. Graphic Design students, faculty, and Pentagram's Eddie Opara worked together to rebrand and re-define MECA's institutional identity. The weekend was a great success and we were able to emerge with two solid concepts. While there is still much work to be done before deciding on a specific direction to move forward with, we are hosting an open forum community session on Tuesday, February 26 at 5pm in the Cafe to learn more about the design process and to see variations of both concepts. 

Here are the details:

WHO:  The entire MECA community

WHAT:  Presentation and dialog about MECA's logo development process and progress

WHERE: MECA Cafe

WHY: To generate awareness and dialog about a very important topic: The future of MECA's visual identity

WHEN:  Tuesday, February 26 (5-6pm)

Dinner will be available as usual ($8 per person) along with a complimentary ice cream sunday bar. All are invited to attend. 

Joseph Rosshirt just released his first iOS game for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. The all-ages interactive game is now available for download in the App store.

Rosshirt graduated from MECA's Illustration program in 2011.

Due to predicted storm conditions, MECA will be closed Friday & Saturday, February 8 & 9.

MECA’s Visiting Artist and Guest Lecturer Series invites professional artists, educators, curators, thought leaders, and creative entrepreneurs to present on topics of interest and importance to the MECA community. All lectures in this series are open to the public at no charge.

Seating is limited. Call 207.699.5010 for more information. Supported in part by the Gene R. Cohen Charitable Foundation, the Isabel K. Pease Trust, and friends of the College through the Osher Chair Naming Program.

2.13 // WEDNESDAY 12:00 - 1:20pm

ANNA VON MERTENS | Artist Talk

Anna Von Mertens superimposes layers of meaning and themes into her quilts, which resemble color field paintings or sculptures.  Using a computer to design her richly complex work, she painstakingly hand dyes her material and uses a stitching pattern that can incorporate as many as 100,000 stitches in one piece.  She was the recipient of a 2010 United States Artists Simon Fellowship and a 2007 Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Biennial Award and currently lives in Peterborough, NH.

Sponsored by Metalsmithing & Jewelry
_________________________________________________________________
2.15 // FRIDAY 6:30 - 8:00pm

DEREK JACKSON | I Want Sex

Derek creates narrative portraiture that is rooted in performance, blurring the line between documentary and fantasy. His technical role is often that of a mediator, with photography being the initial point of contact in a process that may include painting, drawing, installation, video, and live performance.

Sponsored by Public Engagement
_________________________________________________________________
2.21 // THURSDAY 12:30 - 1:30pm

BEN SEVERNS MFA '13 | Our Kind Will Be the First to Blaze a Trail Into a New Life

Ben Severns’ sculptures, installations, performances, photographs, videos, and sound sculptures are meant to mark the divide between what is and what could be as he strives to build a more perfect world. He was born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, earned his BFA at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, and is an MFA student at MECA.  He has worked with galleries in Minnesota and Maine, as well as with the Science Museum of Minnesota, the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, and the Walker Art Center's Open Field project.

Sponsored by MFA Program
_________________________________________________________________
2.28 // THURSDAY 12:30 - 1:30pm

ADAM DEGRANDIS '05 | The Art of Play

MECA alum Adam deGrandis has worked at game development studios across the country and has been involved with the production of award-winning games for PC, Mac, web, mobile, and console platforms. He currently lives in Portland, Maine, where he teaches at MECA and works a freelance game artist, catering to the growing community of small, independent game developers. In 2012 he acted as principal artist on the eagerly awaited co-op heist game, “Monaco,” which is set to be released this spring.

www.adamdegrandis.com and www.monacoismine.com

Sponsored by New Media
_________________________________________________________________
3.7 // THURSDAY 10:30 - 11:50am

TONI JO COPPA MFA '13 | On the In-Between

Toni Jo Coppa is a MFA student at MECA who is primarily a painter, in love with the figure and psychological scenarios.  She received her BFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and was awarded a Zorach scholarship to attend a residency at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. She has exhibited her work at the Knoedler Gallery in New York City, and has received grants from the New York Foundation for the Arts and the Puffin Foundation.

Sponsored by MFA Program
_________________________________________________________________
3.19 // TUESDAY 10:30 - 11:50am

CHIE FUEKI (Artist in Residence) | Artist Talk

In her intricate and colorful works, Chie Fueki interweaves her exposure to diverse customs with an outsider’s fascination toward American popular culture. Divining a subject archetypically American, Fueki explores the ceremonial, ritualistic, and seasonal occurrence of team sports. The superhuman status of players, the tribe mentality of spectators, the spiritual and mythological connotation of animal mascots, and the symbolic use of color and numbers are all made palpable within a disciplined structure that is itself reminiscent of the game. She is represented by Mary Boone Gallery in New York City.

Sponsored by the Painting Department
_________________________________________________________________
3.20 // WEDNESDAY 12:00 - 1:20pm

EMILY ZILBER | Curator's Talk

Emily Zilber joined the  Museum of Fine Arts in Boston in the fall of 2010 as the first Ronald L. and Anita C. Wornick Curator of Contemporary Decorative Arts. She is responsible for the MFA’s vibrant program of contemporary decorative arts, including guiding acquisitions and developing a presence for craft and design throughout the museum. She also oversees the Daphne and Peter Farago Gallery, a dedicated space for modern and contemporary craft, design, and decorative arts, which opened in September 2011.  Her current projects include the exhibition New Blue-and-White, which focuses on contemporary interpretations of ceramic history

Sponsored by Metalsmithing & Jewelry
_________________________________________________________________
3.21 // THURSDAY 12:30 - 1:30pm

AARON PATRICK DECKER '12 | Constellation: A Group or Cluster of Related Things

Recent Windgate Fellowship award recipient and MECA graduate Aaron Decker discusses the research he conducted on groups of jewelry artists, gallerists and curators within Portugal and Estonia.  Inquiring into the origin and the cultural identity of the work from each respective country, Aaron conducted and catalogued interviews that are being published by Art Jewelry Forum, a nonprofit contemporary jewelry organization.   His work is based around a variety of questions, including, “ Is art identified as ‘art’ everywhere one goes? What happens when the ink on paper bleeds across cultural lines, and these intricacies which once separated us, begin to break down into new formations?”

Aaronpatrickdecker.com and aaronpatrickdecker.wordpress.com

Sponsored by Artists at Work
_________________________________________________________________
3.28 // THURSDAY 12:30 - 1:30pm

SYLVIE ROSENTHAL | Minor Architecture and the Lower Astronomy

Sylvie Rosenthal started building at age six, making circuses, catapults, rockets, and robots at the Eli Whitney Museum, where she was introduced to the work of inventors and artists such as Alexander Calder, Leonardo da Vinci, and A.C.  Gilbert. Her formal study of traditional European woodworking at the Rochester Institute of Technology’s School for American Crafts (BFA ’03) tempered these explorations and instilled a dedication to craftsmanship. Over the last ten years, she has gained recognition for her intricate and detail-oriented furniture, sculpture, contraptions and art objects that are infused with humor and steeped in the impossible. She is pursuing a Masters Degree in Art at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and is a former Windgate Fellowship recipient..

Sponsored by Woodworking & Furniture Design
_________________________________________________________________
4.4 // THURSDAY 12:30 - 1:30pm

NINA SCHWANSE | Artist Talk

Nina Schwanse’s video and live works frame performance as a comic, mimetic, melancholy, hideous, and deeply unreliable form of communication. Her invocation of generic D-list celebrities, notorious cultural figures such as Amy Fisher, confused anchorwomen, morbidly obsessed football fans, and swamp people “refresh the typically didactic terrain of mediated female objectification with verbal and visual wit,” writes critic Kevin McGarry.  She was the 2009 recipient of a full fellowship at the University of New Orleans MFA program, and is currently a member of Good Children Gallery, an artist-run collective. She lives and works in New Orleans with her cat.

ninaschwanse.com
goodchildrengallery.com
blog.art21.org/2010/03/08/profile-nina-schwanse-artist-new-orleans

Sponsored by Visiting Artist Committee

_________________________________________________________________
4.6 // SATURDAY 8:00 - 9:30pm

JOHN FIREMAN | An Evening with John Fireman

John was born and raised in New York City. He earned his BFA in Film Studies from Yale University, after which he worked as a story editor and producer at New Line Cinema. John's primary focus is feature-length experimental documentary films, though he also works with video, video/sound installation, photography, electroacoustic music composition, and performance. His work was included in Perfoma 2011, and has been presented at the Abrons Art Center and the Museum of Art and Design, both in New York City. Holland Cotter, art critic for the New York Times, called John's documentary work “very funny.”  In the fall, John will show an interactive video work at FIAF (French Institute Alliance Française - NYC) as part of the "Crossing the Line" series.  

Sponsored by MFA Program
_________________________________________________________________
4.18 // THURSDAY 12:30 - 1:30pm

PILAR NADAL MFA '13 | Up Until Now

Pilar Nadal currently lives and prints in Portland, Maine as she pursues her MFA at MECA.  She combines all the skills gained in her past careers as an art teacher, ice-cream truck driver, and sign-maker into a super powered art maker, especially through Tired Press, the portable printmaking project she takes out into the community. Primarily a printmaker, Pilar is also interested in education and public engagement.

Sponsored by MFA Program