Art Teacher Selected for Monhegan Residency

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                 CONTACT: Susan Danly

May 14, 2015                                                             207.747.4586

Nathaniel Meyer, Wreck of the Venus, 2013, oil on canvas, 36″ x 24″

PORTLAND— Three artists with significant ties to Maine have been selected as the 2015 recipients of the Monhegan Artists’ residency: Coreena Affleck (Yarmouth), Justin Richel (Rangeley), and Nathaniel Meyer (South Portland). Affleck and Richel will benefit from five‐week sojourns on Monhegan Island, and Meyer has been awarded the two-week residency for Maine K–12 art teachers, which was added to the program three years ago.

This year marked the first time that the Monhegan Artists’ Residency (MARC) was opened up to artists at all career levels, which brought in a 30 percent increase in applications. The jurors for 2015 were Bruce Brown, collector and former curator at the Center for Maine Contemporary Art; artist Lauren Fensterstock; and Laurie Perzley, Fine Art Director and Curator at Thos. Moser Gallery and MARC Board Member. “It took many hours to come to a decision given the high quality of applicants,” says Brown. “We selected the multi-media artist Coreena Affleck, painter, printmaker, and ceramicist Justin Richel, and painter Nathaniel Meyer with the belief that their diverse media will result in accomplished work and continue to add luster to the important legacy of MARC as a distinguished residency whose very location on Monhegan Island is truly important in the history of American art.”

The Residency supports the creative growth of dedicated Maine artists working in all media by providing them with time and space in which to work free of interruption and constraint. “During the jurying process, we had a lively discussion about art, the possibilities of an artists’ retreat, and the impact of visiting artists in communities,” says Fensterstock. “Monhegan’s rich history as an artist retreat inspires both a reverence for legacies past and an ongoing framework for innovation.” Since its founding in 1989, the organization has sponsored more than 50 artists, providing them with living quarters, studio space, and a small stipend.

The Monhegan Artists’ Residency Corporation is a non-profit organization supported by individual donations and foundation grants. For information, go to monheganartistsresidency.org or visit us on Facebook.