The Portland Museum of Art, the Colby College Museum of Art in Waterville and the Bowdoin College Museum of Art in Brunswick will jointly host the Ninth Biennial Association of Historians of American Art (AHAA) Symposium, Sept. 24 to 26. It is the first time the symposium — held biennially since 2010 — will take place in Maine. Registration is now open.
The three-day event will draw on Maine’s artistic history to explore the nation’s complex visual legacy during the US semiquincentennial. Sessions will address Indigenous histories and archival temporalities, environmental construction and destruction, racial geographies, Jewish experiences in American art, disability studies, evolving definitions of national identity and more. The symposium opens at the Portland Museum of Art with a roundtable on how regional institutions are reimagining their roles within Indigenous homelands.
Dedicated lightning rounds at Colby and Bowdoin will spotlight graduate and undergraduate researchers alongside established art historians. A new feature this year, object-based gallery talks will highlight the collections of all three host museums.
Collateral programming on Sept. 24 and 27 includes guided exhibition tours at the Portland Museum of Art and excursions to the Winslow Homer Studio at Prout’s Neck, the Victoria Mansion in Portland and arts institutions in Rockland, including the Farnsworth Art Museum and the Center for Maine Contemporary Art.
Free chartered buses will run from Portland to Waterville on Friday and to Brunswick on Saturday. Attendees must indicate their intent to use the buses during registration.
The symposium is co-chaired by Jessamine Batario, Linde Family Foundation curator of academic engagement at the Colby College Museum of Art, and Tanya Sheehan, Ellerton M. and Edith K. Jette professor of art and humanities division chair at Colby College.
Registration is $60 for non-student AHAA members and $35 for student members. Travel grant applications are due June 19 and registration closes Sept. 10. AHAA membership is required to register. For more information or to register, visit ahaaonline.org/page/symposium or email ahaamaine@gmail.com.
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