Applications for the 2020 residencies at Maine Farmland Trust’s Joseph A. Fiore Art Center opened December 31st, 2019 and close March 1st, 2020. Next summer the Center will host six visual art residencies: most residency placements will go to Maine artists, a couple will go to out-of-state and international artists, and one is reserved for a Native American artist living in Maine. In addition, the Center will offer one performance/interdisciplinary arts residency and one literary arts residency (for Maine writers), as well as an academic writing residency open to applicants from New England. The Fiore Art Center residencies are competitive– in 2019, 75 artists applied to the residency program and nine applicants were awarded a residency.
The residencies take place in July, August and September and span one month each. Residents receive a stipend, a private room, and a studio. Artists at any career stage may apply; arts applicants are selected based on the quality of their work samples, their artist statement, and demonstration that their work has a relevant connection to the environment at large, or rural Maine and agriculture specifically.
Applicants to the academic writing residency should be in the writing stages of an academic paper or dissertation focusing on subject matter related to Maine Farmland Trust’s mission (e.g. farmland protection, access, and transfer; farm viability; food systems; agro-ecology; soil health; climate change and agriculture).
The Fiore Art Center also offers a 5-month seasonal position for a resident gardener with an affinity for the arts. (For more information on this position, visit https://www.mainefarmlandtrust.org/job-opportunities/)
This will be the fifth summer that the Fiore Art Center has offered the residency program. Director Anna Witholt Abaldo is excited to be working with the most expansive jury panel yet. “We chose essay and non-fiction as our focus for the literary arts residency this year,” she explains, “and are thrilled to have Maine’s celebrated author Jane Brox as our 2020 juror for this category. For our visual arts panel, we are fortunate to have noteworthy Maine realist artist, Linden Frederick, alongside interdisciplinary artist and CMCA associate curator Bethany Engstrom. Together this duo brings a depth in painting, drawing, installation and video which is a terrific fit for our multi-disciplinary residency” she added. Heather Lyon rounds out the ranks as the performing and interdisciplinary arts juror. “Not only is Heather Lyon a rising star in Maine’s contemporary art scene, as an alum of our residency program, she naturally brings a keen understanding of what kind of artist might get the most out of this residency experience on a conserved farm – and who might offer a unique contribution.” The fifth jury member on the 2020 panel is Ellen Stern Griswold, Maine Farmland Trust’s Policy and Research Director, who will be jurying the academic writing residency.
Art Agent Maine is the state’s dedicated art agency, founded and run by Aurora Winkler, who has spent more than fifteen years in Maine’s art world as a gallery manager, director, and curator. The agency represents working artists across Maine and New England, handling gallery submissions, outreach, catalogs, promotion, and exhibition curation so that artists […]
Shop Maine Craft presents “Stopping & Staring: New Works by Lisa Houck,” on view through Nov. 10 at the Center for Maine Craft in West Gardiner. The exhibition brings together linoleum block prints, mosaics and watercolors inspired by birds, trees, landscapes and the interconnected rhythms of nature. Across these media, Houck transforms familiar elements of […]
Triangle Gallery in Rockland will feature three exhibitions during the First Friday Art Walk from 5 to 7 p.m. Oct. 2. An artist talk with Carter Wentworth at 3 p.m. will begin the day’s festivities. Wentworth’s solo exhibition, “Sound of Rain Crossing the Lake,” has been extended through Oct. 31 in the upstairs gallery. In […]
The Kittery Art Association presents “Shifting Colors,” on view through Oct. 25 at its gallery in Kittery. The exhibition celebrates the beauty of change while exploring impermanence, memory and the cycles of life. Autumn serves as a season of reflection, transition and renewal. An opening reception will take place from 5 to 7 p.m. Oct. […]
Cynthia Winings Gallery in Blue Hill will host an informal artist talk with Elizabeth Adams at 5:30 p.m. Oct. 2, with the gallery remaining open until 7 p.m. Adams will discuss her work, her ideas about color and the ways textiles enter her process. The talk will allow time for questions, conversation and discussion with […]
The Union of Maine Visual Artists, based in Harpswell, will hold its statewide annual meeting from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Oct. 17 via Zoom, with possible local gatherings for members who want to share lunch and watch together. Members interested in hosting a gathering can add it to the UMVA Members Calendar for inclusion […]
The Deer Isle Artists Association presents “Transitions,” on view through Oct. 18 at its gallery in Deer Isle Village. The exhibition explores changing seasons, evolving forms and shifting moods through painting, ceramics, glass, photography and metalwork. Featured artists are Christopher Brumfield, Ethan Cohen, Jean Gresham, Jill Finsen, Susan Keating, June Kellogg, Jadyn LaDeau, BC Martin, […]
Rockport artist Carol L. Douglas has work in fall exhibitions and charity auctions in Maine and California, and her latest “Monday Morning Art School” article offers a drawing exercise focused on close observation. FALL EXHIBITIONS “Drawn to Creation: Two Views,” featuring Douglas and Naomi Aho, remains on view through Oct. 9 at Carol L. Douglas […]
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