
Arnela Mahmutovic '17
I have been pushed outside of my comfort, a very tight academic approach to painting, into alternative . . .”
Describe a body of work that you are currently working on. I am currently exploring the contrasts between my Bosnian upbringing and how moving to America created an intense shift in my personal development. My primary medium of choice is oil paint, but more recently I’ve been diving back into my love for drawing at […]Read More

Meg Hahn '17
Of the objectives I intended to learn while interning at Elizabeth Dee (the daily operations of a . . .”
By being involved in the gallery’s administrative aspects, I was able to not only work but witness, as well, how the multiple functions of a gallery come together.Read More

Meg Hahn '17
MECA has definitely helped shape how I am as an artist and has increased my passion for learning and making . . .”
Describe a body of work that you are currently working on. Overall my studio practice is focused on formalist abstraction; exploring the relationships between color, material, and shape. Currently I have been working on ways to create space through these elements with drawing materials like charcoal, graphite, and pastels, but also . . .Read More

olivier ’19 installs UFO Citing: A tribute to Lynn E. Catoe as the first artist in residence at the Joanne Waxman Library
olivier ’19 recently installed their site-specific piece UFO . . .”
olivier ’19 recently installed their site-specific piece UFO Citing: A tribute to Lynn E. Catoe in the Joanne Waxman Library stacks, serving as the very first artist in residence for the space. The installation spans the entirety of the library moving from the entrance, where the viewer is met with a collection of books from local . . .Read More

Dan Gillotte '93
I took a chance and my art school training helped me to be ready for all the challenges I face.”
Dan Gillotte ’93 is “chief executive grocer," as he likes to call himself, of the Wheatsville Food Co-op, a grocery business with sales of $35 million in 2016. He also continues to paint and plays the sousaphone in a New Orleans-style marching zombie band. He was recently profiled in the Austin Business Journal and we were so . . .Read More

Matthew Blackwell '77
MECA&D, Portland School of Art Alum Matthew Blackwell '77 won a 2015 Guggenheim Fellowship. Often . . .”
MECA&D, Portland School of Art Alum Matthew Blackwell '77 won a 2015 Guggenheim Fellowship. Often characterized as “midcareer” awards, Guggenheim Fellowships are intended for men and women who have already demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the arts.Read More

Ahmed Alsoudani '05
With rudimentary English skills and a vague knowledge Portland, Ahmed Alsoudani fled his home in Baghdad, . . .”
With rudimentary English skills and a vague knowledge Portland, Ahmed Alsoudani fled his home in Baghdad, Iraq and arrived at Maine College of Art & Design. While working several jobs to support himself, he earned his degree in painting, went to the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture and then Yale University School of Art . . .Read More

Sage Lewis '04
My passion for artistic expression drives each endeavor.”
Sage Lewis ’04 earned her MFA in Painting and Drawing from Ohio State University (OSU) and in 2015 completed a 10-month Artist-in-Residence fellowship at Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar, where, in addition to teaching in the Department of Painting and Printmaking, she was given a studio and access to the many facilities the . . .Read More

Keeping Track of Time by Prof. Philip Brou at 3S Artspace in Portsmouth
Opening with an artist reception on Friday, August 5 . . .”
Opening with an artist reception on Friday, August 5 (5:00-8:00pm), Keeping Track of Time is a solo exhibition by Philip Brou at 3S Artspace in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. In addition to being an educator at MECA&D, Brou is an artist and amateur runner. During 2021 he brought his studio practice and running together; making a drawing . . .Read More

Philip Brou
ON HIS ART
I love the contradictory nature of painting. It is a language that constantly undermines itself. . . .”
ON HIS ART I love the contradictory nature of painting. It is a language that constantly undermines itself. In my opinion, painting is not a discipline suited for finding solutions, but it is unbelievably good at perpetually generating questions. ON MAKING ART IN MAINE Last weekend I went for a long walk on a beach and did […]Read More

Honour Mack
I think all artists wear two hats. One is as a maker and the other is as a seer.”
When does the tipping point from private perception to an awareness of public perception occur in your work? How do you know this point has been reached? As a painter, I spend all of the creative process alone. I think all artists wear two hats. One is as a maker and the other is as […]Read More