MAEA Conference and Awards

What a day for art education!

The Maine Art Education Association (MAEA) concluded an outstanding spring conference by presenting three, no four, awards to deserving educators. But first a word about the conference. I’ve been around long enough to see institutions transform, some for the third and fourth time. I had the pleasure of working on the planning committee for the MAEA spring conference that was held on Saturday, April 2 in Rockland at the Farnsworth Art Museum and CMCA. I’m not just talking about a conference that was held in both facilities but what took place was magical. It was delightful to see the two institutions partner with MAEA to put together a very worthwhile day for art educators.

Presentation by Daniel Salomon

The conference entitled Radical Reuse was planned and implemented by a group of people who had never worked together before, some new to their positions, and everyone went above and beyond. Over a two month period every Thursday the education staffs of both institutions and the MAEA conference planners came together on zoom to plan the annual spring conference. THANK YOU to everyone for a job well done! From CMCA: Mia Bogyo, and representing the Farnsworth: Gwendolyn Loomis Smith, Katherine Karlik, and Alexis Saba. MAEA president, Lynda Leonas, coordinated the effort with board members Iva Damon and Christine Del Rossi supporting. From the Rockland school district Richard Wehnke helped.

Printmaking with Sherrie York – Lynda Leonas and Iva Damon

The keynote was provided by Krisanne Baker, Medomak Valley High School art and ecology teacher and artist. She is committed to advocating for the ocean and inspires her students to learn about water quality, availability and rights, and ocean stewardship. Guest speaker Daniel Salomon who teaches in The Hatchery at Camden Hills Regional High School provided background information on the work he is doing with students utilizing and reusing materials and the role we each can play.

Gallery tour, Farnsworth

After the opening speakers, conference participants attended sessions on printmaking with Sherrie York, art making around ‘place’ with Alexis Iammarino, toured the Farnsworth Museum, and toured CMCA. Several merchants from Downtown Rockland supported the conference goers with discounts. During the middle of the day Daniel’s students from the Hatchery, set up outside CMCA, shared several of the projects they have been involved in this year.

Alexis Iammarino demonstrating, CMCA

AWARDS PROGRAM

The day concluded with honoring the work of four educators with an amazing backdrop of quilts at CMCA. The educators are outstanding in and out of the classroom, engaged in work at the local, regional, and state level. They work (and play) tirelessly, sometimes alone and often collaborating with others. Every day they exhibit all that is right about education. In their respective institutions they have a place at the table where they continuously advocate for students and art education. We know that an excellent education in the arts is essential, and these educators strive for every student to experience just that. 

The awards committee was led by Belfast Area High School art teacher Heidi O’Donnell. Members of the committee included Hope Lord, Maranacook Middle School art teacher and Suzanne Goulet, Waterville High School art teacher, and myself. The awards, clay vessels, were created by Carolyn Brown, Camden Hills Regional High School art teacher. In addition each educator received a plaque for their classroom and a pineapple.

The 2022 Administration/Supervision Art Educator of the Year was presented to Dr. Rachel Somerville who is at Maine College of Art & Design and Westbrook Schools. She was introduced by Melissa Perkins, Congin Elementary School art teacher, Westbrook.

Melissa presenting Rachel

The 2022 Secondary Art Educator of the year was presented to Iva Damon, art teacher at Leavitt Area High School in Turner. She was introduced by Lynda Leonas, president of MAEA and an art teacher at Walton and Washburn Elementary Schools in Auburn.

Lynda presenting Iva

The 2023 Maine Art Educator of the Year was presented to Matthew Johnson, art teacher at Westbrook High School. He was introduced by Deb Bickford who also teaches art at Westbrook High School.

Lynda Leonas presented a surprise pineapple award to Heidi for outstanding leadership and contributions to the MAEA board. She is stepping down from the board as she takes on a leadership position with the National Art Education Association.

Heidi O’Donnell, right with her Belfast colleagues Linda Nicholas, middle and Kathie Gass, left

As we move away from the challenges of the pandemic I urge you to consider:

• Become a member of MAEA, if you are not already one
• Volunteer to become a board member and take on a leadership role
• Nominate a colleague who is worthy of recognition

For more information please go to the MAEA website.

Photos taken by Heidi O’Donnell and myself.

Farnsworth Art Museum

Seeking Teaching Artists for online learning

Interested in teaching online with the Farnsworth Art Museum? The Education Department is seeking teaching artists and lecturers in the fields of visual art and traditional arts, literary arts, theater, dance, music and multidisciplinary / interdisciplinary fields, and art history. Let us know a bit about yourself, your discipline and teaching experience in the form link below. At this time, all programming is offered online via Zoom. 

Visit the Farnsworth Art Museum to learn more about offerings. Submit your proposal at this link. Questions? Email Jude Valentine at jvalentine@farnsworthmuseum.org. 

RAMS Art Project

Great work Anthony Lufkin – 2018 Knox County Teacher of the Year

Art Educator and Maine Arts Leadership Initiative Teacher Leader Anthony Lufkin teaches grades K-6 in MSAD #40 and with students at the Rivers Alternative Middle School. This spring the middle school students took on an amazing project. They focused on social and health issues that impact individuals and communities. Students quickly got into a deep level of learning and the connection with these topics and issues on the brain. The topics were challenging ones and each students selected a topic to research and create a response artistically. Two other teachers worked with the students along with the Farnsworth Art Museum. This is a great example of students engaged in and taking the lead in their learning. Take a look at this video and gain an understanding of an amazing project for middle schoolers.

National Poetry Month

Farnsworth Art Museum Provides Poetry Readings

With National Poetry Month just around the corner the Farnsworth Art Museum will host a number of poetry readings as well as a poetry workshop in April to celebrate National Poetry Month.

Stu Kestenbaum

On Tuesday, April 2, 2019, at 2 p.m., Maine Poet Laureate Stuart Kestenbaum will deliver a poetry reading in the Farnsworth Library. Kestenbaum is the author of four collections of poems: Pilgrimage (Coyote Love Press), House of Thanksgiving (Deerbrook Editions), Prayers and Run-on Sentences (Deerbrook Editions), and Only Now (Deerbrook Editions), as well as a collection of essays, The View From Here(Brynmorgen Press). A former director of the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts in Deer Isle, Kestenbaum has written and spoken widely on craft making and creativity, and his poems and writing have appeared in numerous small press publications and magazines including Tikkun, The Sun, and the Beloit Poetry Journal. He was appointed poet laureate of Maine in 2016. The fee for this program is $10, and includes gallery admission to the Farnsworth Art Museum.

Award-winning poet Kathleen Ellis will lead a poetry workshop on “Inventing New Poetic Forms” on Saturday, April 13, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Farnsworth’s Gamble Education Center, 12 Grace Street in Rockland. Participants will expand their range of poetry writing styles and forms by intermeshing poetry and photography, memory, culture, and current events. Using selections from Teju Cole’s Blind Spot and works by Forrest Gander, Claudia Rankine, Cole Swensen, Wislawa Szymborska, and others as conceptual starting points, participants will jump-start four new “lyrical-essay poems.” The fee for this half-day workshop is $56 ($48 for museum members), and all abilities are welcomed.

Kristen Lindquist

At the Farnsworth Library on Friday, April 19, at 2 p.m., poet Kristen Lindquist will present “Digging for Gold: Responding to Art through Poetry.” seventeenth-century Dutch and Flemish Golden Age that produced such masters as Rembrandt and Vermeer. Lindquist will discuss the creative activity of written reflection on a work of visual art, known as ekphrastic writing, and share her poem series Goldenalongside images of the seventeenth-century Dutch and Flemish paintings that inspired them. The fee for this program is $10, and includes gallery admission to the Farnsworth Art Museum.

Ellen Goldsmith

Another program focused on ekphrastic writing, “The Art/Poetry Connection,” will be held on Tuesday, April 23, at 2 p.m. in the Farnsworth Library. Poet, teacher, and author Ellen Goldsmith will lead a participatory presentation that places eight poems beside the images that gave rise to them—Yusef Komunyakaa and Maya Lin; E.D. Hirsch and Edward Hopper; Lisel Mueller and Claude Monet; and more. The workshop will end in the museum galleries to see which works of art stimulate thinking and feeling and might lead to writing. The fee for this program is $10, and includes gallery admission to the Farnsworth Art Museum.

Elizabeth Tibbetts

Elizabeth Tibbetts’ poems reflect her attachment to Maine and her family’s history here, her love and fears for the natural world, and her experiences as a local nurse. Tibbetts will read from her books, including In the Well, which won the Bluestem Poetry Award, and her just-published book, Say What You Can, as well as poetry from others, including Kate Barnes, Maine’s first poet laureate, on Tuesday, April 30, at 2 p.m. in the Farnsworth Library. The fee for this program is $10, and includes gallery admission to the Farnsworth Art Museum.

For more information or to register for these programs, please visit www.farnsworthmuseum.org

Art Exhibits

Visit Maine museums this summer

Maine is fortunate to have several amazing art museums and other venues to view art work by outstanding artists. Some of my favorite artists and art work are on display throughout the summer and into the fall. I hope that you take time to visit one or more of the following and consider taking your students to the shows. Check them out. Please note: these are not the only shows at these locations nor are they the only locations and shows taking place this summer. Support your local art venue!

• Bates College Museum of Art (Lewiston) – Amazing Maine artist Dahlov Ipcar created art until she passed earlier this year. “Dahlov Ipcar: Blue Moons & Menageries” includes a wide variety of her art work. Read the story of how she impacted a Maine child who now as an adult curated the show. June 1 – October 6
• Center for Maine Contemporary Art (Rockland) – Brunswick artist John Bisbee is an inspiration to all, especially those who are dyslexic. In his first solo show “John Bisbee: American Steel” in 10 years, he forges and welds nails in amazing ways. It is a powerful show. In a recent article from the Portland Press Herald John tells about his present work – stretching himself in many ways and even including text. June 30 – October 14
• Monhegan Museum of Art & History – Celebrating the museums 50th birthday with 80 of the artists who came to the island to create and were awed and inspired by its indescribably light and rugged beauty. July 1 – September 30
• Portland Museum of Art  – “Painter and Poet”. At a young age, Ashley Bryan noticed the lack of children’s books with African American characters. Through his work as an artist, author, and educator, he has committed himself to filling that void in black representation by creating books about the African and African American experiences. The show includes drawings, paintings and puppets. Consider taking your students to see Ashley’s amazing art work, sure to inspire. Ashley is a kind and gentle giant who lights up a room when he walks into it. At age 95 he continues creating. August 3 – November 25
• Farnsworth Art Museum – “Stories of the Land and Its People”  includes artwork created by 162 students in grades 4 and 7 from Appleton, Lincolnville, and Hope Schools. A wide variety of work that is based on the study a variety of subjects including Maine studies, science, environment, poetry, and geography. May 20 – September 9
• Colby College Museum of Art (Waterville) – John Marin exhibit “Modern Wonder” includes a wide breath of Marin’s work. He looked at towering skyscrapers and bustling streets of Manhattan and rollicking waters and windy coast of Maine and saw great forces at work. June 5 – August 19

Education at the Farnsworth

Summer Opportunities

The Farnsworth Art Museum, located in Rockland, has a full schedule of opportunities this summer and into September.

On May 20 over 585 visitors attended the opening event of the yearlong Stories of the Land and Its People 2018 exhibition. Attending the event included students, families, educators, artists, and community members. The event kicked off at the Strand Theatre in Rockland with a red carpet entrance and three original performances by 4th grade students at Lincolvnille Central School, Appleton Village School, and Rockland’s South School. Everyone enjoyed poetry readings, films, puppet shows, and collaborative projects by over 165 midcoast students. Eighteen educators and artists were honored at the stage. The exhibition is on view until September 9 with a special tour on July 11, 1:30.

Stories of the Land and Its People program includes 4th and 7th grade students who used the art experience to study a variety of subjects including Maine studies, science, environment, poetry, geography, and more! The exhibit includes interactive stations, digital work and touchable items created for visitors to enjoy. The museum provides this arts in education program free of charge to Mid-coast Maine schools. Funding is provided by several organizations including the Maine Arts Commission.

The Farnsworth’s Stories of the Land and Its People program was developed and led by Andrea L. Curtis, Arts in Education Program Manager, and celebrates its 7th year working with local Maine schools.

Teaching artist Scot Cannon leading students in performance. Photo credit: Michael O’Neil

Other Farnsworth Art Museum learning opportunities this summer include:

• Special Gallery Tour: Ai Weiwei Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads: Gold. Wednesday, June 27, 1 p.m. Meet in the Main Lobby at the museum
• The Wyeth Experience, Fridays and Saturdays through, July through September, 9:45 a.m. – 12:45 p.m. Tour begins at the Wyeth Center. The tour includes an intimate look at select Wyeth works at the Farnsworth’s Wyeth Center, and continues by van to the Olson House for an in-depth tour.
• Raising the Stakes Poetry Writing Workshop with Kathleen Ellis, Monday – Friday, July 9 – 13, 9 a.m. – noon, Gamble Education Center.
• Intro to Plein-Air Watercolor with Annie Bailey, Monday – Friday, July 9 – 13
  10 a.m. – 4 p.m., Gamble Education Center.
• Wyeth Day Lecture: Christina’s World at 70, Thursday, July 12, 2 p.m.,
  The Strand Theatre.

Poetry is Risky Business

Poetry Writing Workshop – Farnsworth Art Museum

Winter Windows Project

Farnsworth Art Museum

The Farnsworth Art Museum in Rockland announces a unique opportunity: Winter Windows Project – Deadline for submission of ideas: June 1, 2018. Submission information.

Farnsworth Winter Windows is a Farnsworth Art Museum project designed to showcase the work of Maine artists in our Main Street windows through temporary installations of original artwork. The Museum seeks proposals from artists to create a site-specific installation for display in the windows of the Farnsworth Art Museum from November 23, 2018 to January 15, 2019.  This initiative will add an exciting component to the downtown streetscape during the holiday months, coinciding with Rockland’s Celebration of Lights and the Farnsworth’s Share the Wonder Celebration. The finalist will received a $2,500 award, inclusive of all expenses involved in the project.

Who Can Apply

Individuals, or teams of artists in Maine are eligible to apply for participation. Participants must be 18 years or older. All media will be considered. The project invites submissions from artists including but not limited to architects, filmmakers, graphic designers, painters, photographers, sculptors, textile designers, and woodworkers. Artists may submit proposals individually or as a group. One submission per artist, please.

Proposals

Proposals should include a one-page written description of the concept for the work, including dimensions and materials; one to three sketches of the proposed work (e.g. front view, detail); and one-page artist resume.  Artist teams may submit a single-page resume for each team member.  The entire proposal, consisting of the description, sketches and resume(s) must be submitted as a PDF document.  Sketches must accurately represent the work proposed; works not accurately represented may be disqualified. Entries should be complete by June 1, 2018. The finalist will be informed by August 1, 2018.

The Space

The Main Street window space is 82 inches high by 464 inches wide and 36 inches deep. The space comprises the four pairs of windows to the immediate right of the Farnsworth Administrative entrance, directly on Main Street.

VIEW and DOWNLOAD a schematic of the space.

Review

Proposals will be reviewed by Michael K. Komanecky, Farnsworth Chief Curator; Anneli Skaar, Farnsworth Creative Director; and Tom Weis. Weis is a designer, educator and cofounder of Steel House in Rockland. Weis holds a master’s degree in industrial design from the Rhode Island School of Design, where he also teaches. His work has appeared in the Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum, Time Magazine and The New York Times.

The jury will announce the winning entry on August 1, 2018

Installation

The finalist will meet with Farnsworth staff in August to see the Main Street window space, and to discuss installation requirements and parameters, including the schedule.  The finalist is responsible for delivering and installing the work in the Main Street windows, and for removing the work following the end of the project.  If there are any substantial changes to the work during fabrication, including those that do not conform to the accepted proposal or space limitations, the finalist must consult with the Farnsworth curatorial staff. Works that differ markedly from the proposal submitted may be disqualified from the project.  Installation will take place from November 13-21, 2018, and will be unveiled on November 23.

PLEASE NOTE:

Although proposals in all mediums are encouraged, thorough consideration should be taken to the fact that this is a temporary installation. Please use common sense in submitting designs with minimal impact on the space and that can be easily be removed at the end of the display period. If you have questions regarding limitations, please feel free to direct them to the email on this page. Submissions that are deemed unrealistic or potentially harmful to the space will not be considered.

If you have any questions about program participation, please EMAIL.

Congrats Shirley Stenberg

Knowledgeable AND ‘salt of the earth’

Ellen Goldsmith, this year’s Chair of the Docents, with Shirley at the December meeting. Photo by Vas Prabhu

I love meeting people who I consider ‘salt of the earth’. People who are filled with fundamental goodness. One such person, who I was fortunate to meet many years ago, is Shirley Stenberg.

While studying for her MA masters degree at USM Shirley developed instructional materials about each of the three well known Wyeth family artists; N.C., Andrew, and Jamie. The materials were developed for the use of teachers to help prepare their students for a field trip to the Wyeth Center at the Farnsworth Art Museum. Shirley’s creation of the Teacher’s Manual for those materials and her accumulated knowledge about the Wyeth painters had brought about her truly informed background about them and their works, which became a valuable resource for the Farnsworth during Shirley’s tenure as a Docent. All the while learning, Shirley became an “authority” on the three Wyeths.

In December at a luncheon, Shirley was recognized for her quarter-century of volunteer service by the Farnsworth Art Museum Docents. She was presented with a lifetime membership to the Farnsworth. For several years Shirley had been a Community Representative to the Education Committee of the Board of Trustees and she served twice as the chair of the Docents.

I had the opportunity to meet Shirley many years ago when I was teaching middle school students not to far from the Farnsworth. I quickly learned of Shirley’s knowledge which equaled her ability to connect with young adolescents. She was fabulous!

I understand that Shirley received a standing ovation after her remarks. Much deserved by someone who is ‘salt of the earth’!

Happenings at the Farnsworth

Art Museum in December

The Farnsworth Art Museum has several opportunities during December.

• On a Mountain in Maine opens on December 17th in the galleries.
• Art Talk: Unexpected Journeys: Louise Nevelson and Pedro Guerrero, Thursday, December 7, 2pm
• Membership: 20% discount through December 15 – use code GIFT365 at checkout
• Art Talk and Film: Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes: When Art Danced with Music, Thursday, December 28, 2pm
• Dramatic Reading: All She Must Possess, Saturday, December 30, 2pm. New play about the famed art-collecting Cone Sisters of Baltimore.