Story of UMaine’s Sculpture Trail featured in Slippery Rock Gazette
An article about the self-guided walking tour of sculptures at the University of Maine, developed in 2016 by Marisue Pickering, a professor emerita, and John Pickering, an alumnus, was featured in the May 2018 issue of the Slippery Rock Gazette. Three of these more than 30 sculptures were created as part of the Schoodic International Sculpture Symposiums, a series of five events between 2007–14 that invited talented sculptors to Maine and “engaged individuals and communities in public art and resulted in a large public art collection in Eastern Maine,” according to the symposium website. UMaine hosted the 2012 symposium. The Pickerings are retired, and having written a book featuring local attractions, wanted to promote sculptures on the UMaine campus. The couple worked with the Division of Marketing and Communications on the project. The owners of the Littlefield Gallery in Winter Harbor, who have UMaine connections, also played an important role in the process, donating a number of pieces to the campus, the article states. Two sculptures have recently been added to the UMaine tour, one by Kazumi Hoshino and the other by Andreas von Huene. Other artists include Hugh Lassen, Mark Herrington, Tim Shay, Johnny Turner, Matt Foster and Jesse Salisbury. Some of the art on campus has been paid for through the Percent For Art program. The Pickerings said they plan to continue working with UMaine and others to promote the tour and Maine attractions. All of UMaine’s self-guided walking tours are online.