Department of Art

Framing Maine: Artists' Perspective on Place - Opening Reception and Panel, Oct. 4 5:30-7:30

An opening reception and panel discussion will be in the Lord Hall Gallery from 5:30-7:30 on Friday, Oct. 4, 2019. 

From October 4 to November 15, the Department of Art and the Maine Studies Program, will host an exhibition of contemporary Maine art that reflects how artists view and represent Maine. The exhibition will be held in the Lord Hall Gallery on the University of Maine campus in Orono.  Maine has a history of inspiring diverse forms of visual art. Representations of its varied landscape and cultural forms have given it an honored place in American art history. Depictions of Maine in paintings, drawings, prints, photographs, carvings and other media have played a significant role in how the state is viewed by the world. Indeed, in many cases artists have been responsible for shaping Maine’s historical and cultural identity. As we approach the state’s Bicentennial in 2020, considering some of the ways contemporary artists represent Maine in their art is a critical piece of celebrating and reflecting not only on our history but also on where we are today and the nature of the paths we chose to follow into the future. Co-curated by Laurie E. Hicks (Professor of Art / Director & Curator, Lord Hall Gallery), Carl Little (art critic and author) and Kreg Ettenger (Director, Maine Folklife Center & Maine Studies Program / Associate Professor of Anthropology) the exhibition includes work that, while wide-ranging in terms of medium, format and subject matter, shares one thing: a strong personal connection to, or vision of, Maine. These works represent a small but resonant sample of our incredibly rich visual and cultural diversity.

Exhibition Press Release

News release

September 12, 2019

Contact: UMaine Department of Art, 207.581.3245

Lord Hall Gallery hosts an exhibition, Framing Maine: Artists’ Perspective on Place, in celebration of Maine’s Bicentennial.

Orono, Maine — An exhibition, Framing Maine: Artists’ Perspective on Place, will opened Oct. 4 and run through Nov. 15 in the Lord Hall Gallery at the University of Maine. The exhibition will include more than 50 works, in a wide range of media, formats and subject matter that share a strong personal connection to, or vision of, Maine. These works represent a small but resonant sample of Maine’s incredibly rich visual and cultural diversity. The work of 34 artists from throughout the state are included in the exhibition:  Jane Banquer, Siri Beckman, Jeffrey Becton, Kevin Beers, Louise Bourne, Alan Bray, Elizabeth Busch, Barry Dana, Claud Dennis, Marsha Donahue, Evelyn Dunphy, Sarah Faragher, Stephanie Francis, Gabriel Frey, Deborah Heyden, Nina Jerome, MaJo Keleshian, Rosemary Levin, Michael Lewis, James Linehan, Larinda Meade, Daniel Minter, Johanna Moore, Ed Nadeau, Stan Neptune, Heath Paley, Molly Neptune Parker, Mark Picard, Robert Pollien, Barbara Putnam, Sarah Sockbeson, Antonia Small, Susan Smith and John Whalley.

An opening reception will be held in the gallery on Friday, October 4 from 5:30-7:30. During the reception, a panel of artists will speak with art historian, critic and author Carl Little about their art and experiences. The conversation will focus on the importance of art in Maine’s history and emerging cultural identity, as well as how the state has influenced the images and forms these artists create. The panel discussion will be held in Lord Hall 100.  The panel will be recorded and made available on the Framing Maine series website, framingmaine.com.

This exhibition, organized by the University of Maine Department of Art and the Maine Studies Program, is held in conjunction with the lecture series Framing Maine: Conversations with Storytellers and Imagemakers from the Pine Tree State, organized by the Maine Studies Program.

The exhibition co-curators are Laurie E. Hicks, UMaine professor of art and director/curator of the Lord Hall Gallery; Carl Little, critic and author; and Kreg Ettenger, director of the Maine Folklife Center and Maine Studies Program at UMaine.

The exhibition, reception and panel are free and open to the public. Lord Hall Gallery is open from 9 a.m.–4 p.m. Monday through Friday, and is wheelchair accessible.

Images of artwork included in the exhibition are available upon request.