We are excited to share this year’s stellar lineup of arts experiences across the Colby Arts 2025-26 season! The artists and programs in this booklet are advancing bold scholarship, innovating across disciplines, and inviting meaningful participation in the creative process. Audiences are encouraged to get closer to art-making by attending hands-on workshops, artist talks, and community events surrounding performances on our stages and exhibitions in our galleries.
Many arts activities over the next two years will revolve around the Center for the Arts and Humanities’ 2025-27 theme, “Islands.” The theme invites us to consider global histories, climate change, and dynamic cultural exchange. Across the arts on campus and in community, programming centers this theme to engage not only complex histories but also pressing contemporary issues.
Mark your calendar now to attend performances at the Gordon Center for Creative and Performing Arts, participate in workshops at Greene Block + Studios and the Paul J. Schupf Art Center, and view exhibitions at the Colby College Museum of Art. Please visit arts.colby.edu for the full program listing (there are many more programs than fit in this booklet!) and to reserve your spots for ticketed events.
Highlighted Programs
Center for the Arts and Humanities
Islands - 2025-27 Theme
While the word “island” might conjure an image of isolation—the castaway on a pile of sand with a single palm tree— long, global histories of insularity and archipelagic thinking complicate such an image. Islands have been sites of dynamic cultural exchange for centuries. Today, islands carry an outsized burden in terms of environmental catastrophes, historical legacies of colonization, and the continued subjugation of marginalized people. De-centering continental landmasses, our theme surfaces these complex tensions and invites our communities to think through pressing contemporary issues. Island residents and their diasporas offer generative ideas for responding to the climate crisis through solidarities, rather than extractive technologies. Islands—as both place and theoretical framework—open myriad transdisciplinary possibilities. At its heart, archipelagic thinking enables endless fluid connections that illuminate relational power dynamics.
The Lyons Arts Lab: Celebrate and Elevate
Established in 2023, the Lyons Arts Lab offers unparalleled support for Colby students to advance their creative work. Colby’s Lyons Arts Lab inspires, celebrates, and elevates student work at multiple stages of a creative process—from an idea’s inception to a project’s completion. Offering creative residences on and off campus, institutional partnerships, mentorship, project support, workshops, and more, the lab allows students to liberate creative thought and action, with learning, making, and connection-building at its center. The Lyons Arts Lab underscores the transformative potential of creative curiosity in building a life of meaning, purpose, and beauty.
SEPTEMBER
Greene Block + Studios
Open House
September 5, 3 - 7 pm
Greene Block + Studios
Join Colby Arts at Greene Block + Studios to learn how you can get involved in the arts at Colby this year. From 3 to 4 pm, local educators are invited for a special happy hour to learn about teaching artist residencies and professional development opportunities. From 4 to 7 pm, there will be art-making activities and music, open to all.
Death Wings Project Reading and Residency
September 18, 7:30 pm
Gordon Center for Creative and Performing Arts
One-night reading of Bess Welden’s play Death Wings in collaboration with Waterville Creates and Two Cent Theatre, plus workshops. Full of poetry, songs, and
Please go to arts.colby.edu for the full program listing and to reserve your tickets for ticketed events.
a radical re-visioning of the Daedelus/ Icarus myth, Death Wings asks us to marvel at the wonder of flight—real and metaphorical—and the mysteries of human love, connection, loss, and letting go.
Islands Seminar: Alex Sastre-Rivera
September 22, 7 pm
Room 219, Bixler Art and Music Center
Alex Sastre-Rivera is a poet, student, and teacher from Puerto Rico. He is currently a doctoral candidate in Emory University’s Comparative Literature Program, where he studies matters of Caribbean tourism, colonial histories, media, queerness, and literature.
Developing Your Artistic Practice
September 24 - December 3, 3 pm
Greene Block + Studios
Develop a personal, lifelong art-making practice working alongside Mainebased artists. This course introduces people to various ways to make art across disciplines and media. Open to learners of all ages, with credit offered through Mid-Maine Regional Adult Community Education.
Bulla en el Barrio: Bullerengue from Colombia!
A Compendium of Original and Traditional Songs
September 26, 7:30 pm
Gordon Center for Creative and Performing Arts
Bulla en el Barrio invites you to an immersive evening of bullerengue, the vibrant traditional music of Colombia’s Caribbean coast. Founded and led by Carolina Oliveros and Camilo Rodriguez, the group brings the participatory spirit of the traditional rueda de bullerengue to life—an inclusive event where everyone is welcome to clap, sing, dance, and socialize while learning from this ancestral music practice.
Highlighted Programs
The Nobility of Stone
Tuhon Ray Dionaldo
October 1
Tuhon Ray Dionaldo is one of the leading Filipino martial artists. Assistant Professor of Cinema Studies Seth Kim will facilitate a conversation with Dionaldo about Filipino martial arts in U.S. cinema, a demonstration, and then a Q&A.
handcrafted object in an age shaped by AI and increasing automation. Quiet reflection emerges through focused, physical labor - material resistance and emotional management define this marble carving practice.
Colby Arts Jazz Concert Series: Virginia MacDonald Quartet
October 3, 6 pm
Greene Block + Studios
Juno Award-winning clarinetist Virginia MacDonald has established herself as a rising star of her generation. For this special First Friday concert, she will be joined by bassist Mark Lewandowski, saxophonist Charles Goold, and guitarist Dan Nicholas.
Michael Clark, Piano Lecture Recital:
Florence Price: The Life and Music of a
Trailblazing American
October 3, 7:30 pm
Gordon Center for Creative and Performing Arts
Islands Seminar: Jerome Reyes
October 6, 7 pm
Room 219, Bixler Art and Music Center
collections: [insert] boy, Don’t Call Us Dead, Homie, and, most recently, Bluff. They are also curator of Blues In Stereo: The Early Works of Langston Hughes. Smith will sign books following the reading.
youthful passions, trials, and ultimate wisdom. A portrait in sound, alive with history and human emotion.
October 3 - 27
Greene Block + Studios
Nine Colby students present carved marble blocks developed in a studio course taught by professor Bradley Borthwick. Inspired by ancient and medieval architectural motifs, these sculptures explore material practice, historical continuity, and the role of the
This lecture recital covers Florence Price’s remarkable life story, from her roots in the Jim Crow South through her tenacious pursuit of a compositional career to her leading role in the Black Chicago Renaissance. Interweaving lecture with piano pieces highlighting Price’s mastery of multiple styles, the program will feature numerous short works, some published for the first time in 2025, and conclude with her monumental Piano Sonata in E Minor.
Jerome Reyes is an internationally recognized artist, researcher, and educator working with the collaborative potentials of alterity and architecture.
Creative Writing
Kristina Stahl Writer-inResidence Danez Smith Reading
October 9, 5 pm
Gordon Center for Creative and Performing Arts
Danez Smith is the author of four poetry
Music in the Museum:
Ben Noyes, Cello: A Musical Journey
Through the Life of J S . Bach
October 10, Noon
Colby College Museum of Art
Through the timeless movements of Bach’s Suites for Solo Cello, Noyes crafts a musical journey that traces the arc of Bach’s life. Each suite becomes a chapter, with melodies that echo his
Colby Arts Jazz Concert Series: Jeremy Pelt
October 17, 4 pm
Gordon Center for Creative and Performing Arts
Jeremy Pelt is one of the preeminent trumpeters within the world of jazz and was voted Rising Star on the trumpet five years in a row by DownBeat magazine. Both maverick traditionalist and forward-looking modernist, he has worked with a great number of jazz legends while forging his identity as a band leader.
Highlighted Programs
Colby Symphony Orchestra
October 18, 7:30 pm
Gordon Center for Creative and Performing Arts
Join us for our inaugural concert, featuring three canonical orchestral works! Hear a statue come to life
Islands Seminar: Bhen Alan
October 20, 7 pm
Room 219, Bixler Art and Music Center
Bhen Alan is a visual artist, dancer, and educator. He received his B.F.A. in painting from the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth. He earned his M.F.A. in painting and a certificate in collegiate teaching in art and design at RISD. Alan was a U.S. Fulbright Scholar 2022-23 in the Philippines, where he researched and worked alongside master weavers of Indigenous tribes on 14 different islands.
Specter: A Musical Séance
October 24, 7 pm
Greene Block + Studios
Specter: A Musical Séance is an exploration of the ghost story in its many forms, from the tragic to the mystical to the macabre. This innovative interdisciplinary program combines classical art song and solo piano repertoire with haunting visuals, original and improvised compositions, and audio recordings of Mainers recounting their personal ghost stories with Jazmin DeRice, Robin Lane, and Morgan Lee.
remembering and reimagining. Through multiple approaches to documentation and a collaborative research practice, she deepens the subjectivity of historical narratives and questions dominant visual culture.
in Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s overture to the genre-bending Don Giovanni; marvel at the mysterious four drum beats that open Ludwig van Beethoven’s spacious Violin Concerto, featuring soloist Minju Kim; and get carried away by the emotional turbulence of Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 6, Pathetique.
Islands Seminar: Sofía Gallisá Muriente
October 27, 7 pm
Room 219, Bixler Art and Music Center
Sofía Gallisá Muriente is a visual artist whose work resists colonial erasures and reclaims the freedom of historical agency, generating mechanisms for
Performance, Theater, and Dance Fall Plays
October 31, 7:30 pm and November 1, 2 and 7:30 pm
Gordon Center for Creative and Performing Arts
Far Away by Caryl Churchill; directed by guest faculty Lynne Conner
Confronting our deepest fears, Caryl Churchill’s extraordinary play depicts a chilling world where everyone is at war, and not even the birds in the trees or the river below can be trusted.
At World’s End by Nora Sørena Casey; directed by Bess Welden
Two emperor penguin parents face starvation for themselves and their baby, Baby Baby, until a strange new macaroni penguin comes on the scene.
Greedy for his food, they get concerned when the stranger and Baby Baby seem to be falling in love, until a surprising new fact makes heartbreak the least of anyone’s worries.
Tunisia88 Choir
October 30
Greene Block + Studios
Guided by the convictions that music cultivates respect for differences, Tunisia88 is a program that has introduced music in each of Tunisia’s public high schools by systematically promoting the sustainability of music education for youth and by youth. The touring Tunisia88 choir will visit Colby for a community workshop and performance.
Highlighted Programs
NOVEMBER
Colby
Jazz Band:
From the Rhythm Section
November 1, 7:30 pm
Gordon Center for Creative and Performing Arts
This concert will feature compositions from famous members of the jazz rhythm section throughout time. The unique compositional perspective of the rhythm section brings a unique energy to the music. Pianist Horace Silver’s composition “Nutville” alternates between a driving mambo and an uptempo swing feel. “Brother Mister” by upright bassist Christian McBride, has a straight-ahead groove and a catchy melody.
Two Cent Talks: Franco-American
Reading and Music
November 3, 5 pm
Greene Block + Studios
An evening of Franco-American readings and music, led by poet Jeri Theriault.
Compagnie Dyptik:
Le Grand Bal, process and excerpts
November 5
At Colby, the company will share an intimate, low-tech version of their newest work, featuring a discussion of the process and their artistic concerns, and the genre of hip-hop in France.
Colby Arts Jazz Concert Series: Brandi Disterheft Trio
November 7, 6 pm
Greene Block + Studios
Bassist Brandi Disterheft has captivated international audiences at jazz festivals in Japan, Europe, and the U.S. and at prestigious venues, including Carnegie Hall and the Vienna Opera House. Joining her for this concert are pianist Anthony Wonsey and trumpeter Antoine Drye.
Colby Wind Ensemble: Present and Past
November 11, 7:30 pm
Gordon Center for Creative and Performing Arts
The Colby Wind Ensemble’s fall concert will feature exciting works from the past and present. Kalos Eidos, composed by Carol Brittin Chambers, portrays the colors and patterns of a kaleidoscope. William Grant Still’s Folk Suite for Band weaves together some of the most widely enjoyed spirituals into this inspiring work for wind band.
Songs From Here
November 13, 6 pm
Greene Block + Studios
Join Songs From Here duo Sarah Tuttle and Bridget Convey for an evening of Maine song and poetry. This year’s program is a tribute to a few of the crafts and trades found in Maine- it includes Acadian folk songs, sea shanties, and brand-new songs about the work of the home. You might even hear a tune about blueberries!
Break, Burn, Build, by Artistic Director Matthew Cumbie
November 14, 7:30 pm, and November 15, 2 and 7:30 pm
These productions encourage student artists to BREAK with familiar patterns, find the sparks of new ideas, let them BURN, and then BUILD new work. The production features student work from TD355: Applied Choreography, the annual facultydirected first-year dance piece, and special guests.
Elm City Small Press Fest
November 15, Noon - 4 pm
Greene Block + Studios
Elm City Small Press Fest is an all-day celebration of contemporary printed material from local and national artists,
zine-makers, independent publishers, and community collectives. Established in 2021, the fifth annual fest is organized and hosted by Colby Libraries and Colby Arts. Stop by to meet print and book artists from around the region, peruse their offerings, and participate in workshops.
Highlighted Programs
DECEMBER
Colby Arts Jazz
Concert Series:
Joe Magnarelli Quartet
December 5, 6 pm
Greene Block + Studios
Over the course of a 40-plus-year career, Joe Magnarelli has emerged as one of the premier trumpeters, improvisers, composers, and educators in jazz. For this special concert closing the Colby Arts Jazz Series, Magnarelli is joined by Richard Clements on piano, Clovis Nicolas on bass, and Joe Strasser on drums.
Colby Symphony Orchestra
December 12, 7:30 pm
Gordon Center for Creative and Performing Arts
Our second symphonic concert will be a wonderful experience for adults and children alike! Maurice Ravel’s orchestral suite Le Tombeau de Couperin will fill the concert hall with neoclassical orchestral color, and animals will spring to life in Sergei Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf, narrated by Colby’s own John Ervin. The vibrant Concerto for marimba, vibraphone, and
traditional marimba, by award-winning Colombian composer Raúl Esteban
Ardila Pineda and highlighting soloist
Alejandro Ruiz, adds a thrilling new work to the program.
JANUARY
Activist Storytelling Workshop:
Show Up . Stand Up
Speak Up directed by Bess Welden
January 27 and 28, 7:30 pm
Greene Block + Studios
In this interactive course, students
create original story-based performance pieces inspired by the issues that matter to them the most. Through a collaborative creative process, the course culminates in an evening of live performance for the Colby and Waterville communities.
FEBRUARY
Jennifer Jahrling Forese Writer-in-Residence
Zach Peckham Reading
February 16, 5 pm
Gordon Center for Creative and Performing Arts
Zach Peckham is a writer, editor, and educator. He is the author of the poetry collection As If And (New Mundo, 2026) and his writing has recently appeared in Annulet, APARTMENT, Landfill, mercury firs, Oversound, and Tilted House. He holds an MFA in poetry from the NEOMFA and teaches at Cleveland State and the Cleveland Institute of Art. He is the managing editor at the CSU Poetry Center and an editor-at-large at Cleveland Review of Books
Music in the Museum: Resinosa EnsembleTouch the Hand of Love
February 27, Noon
Colby College Museum of Art
The Resinosa Ensemble will present the program Touch the Hand of Love, featuring the world premiere of “Three Paintings” by Maine composer Philip Carlsen. Carlsen selected poems by his wife, Franco-American poet Jeri Theriault, that were inspired by paintings of Marc Chagall, Andrew Wyeth, and
Annette Lemieux. This program features a diverse collection of exquisite songs and instrumentals, exploring the depths of human love in its various forms.
Christal Brown Inspirit: A Dance CompanyWhat We Ask of Flesh
February 28, 7:30 pm
Gordon Center for Creative and Performing Arts
What We Ask of Flesh is an evening-
length dance and installation by choreographer Christal Brown inspired by the writings of poet Remica Bingham-Risher, Brown’s caregiver journey with Alzheimer’s and dementia, and her explorations of legacy. In this work, the artists’ bodies become instruments that question, connect, and dismantle the tangible and intangible histories present in us all.
Highlighted Programs
SPLICE Festival
March 5 - 7
Gordon Center for Creative and Performing Arts
SPLICE Festival presents concerts that blend engaging live performances with new technologies. It encourages submissions from performers, composers, and composer/performers, who gather for a weekend of concerts and presentations covering topics such as aesthetics, technology, and issues of performance practice, with the goal of inspiring, educating,
and sharing information amongst the attendees. SPLICE Festival is designed to foster community and to create bonds between performers and composers dedicated to music that involves dynamic, live performance with technology.
Youth Art Month
Exhibition Opening
March 6, 4 pm
Greene Block + Studios and Paul J. Schupf Art Center
A city-wide celebration of youth artists and arts educators with exhibitions at Ticonic Gallery and Greene Block + Studios. The exhibitions will be on view for the month of March, featuring more than 1,000 pieces of work from K-12 students in central Maine.
Manuel Muñoz Reading
March 10, 5 pm
Gordon Center for Creative and Performing Arts
Manuel Muñoz is the author of the novel What You See in the Dark and the short-story collections Zigzagger and The Faith Healer of Olive Avenue, which was shortlisted for the Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award. He is the recipient of fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York Foundation for the Arts. A book signing will follow the reading.
Manuel Muñoz Interview
March 11, 5 pm
Gordon Center for Creative and Performing Arts
All are invited to attend an interview with
Manuel Muñoz conducted by Colby students that digs further into his works, creative process, and trajectory as a writer.
The Miles and Katharine Culbertson Prentice
Distinguished Lecture: Laylah Ali
March 12
Colby College Museum of Art
This annual lecture brings renowned national and international artists to the Colby Museum. Presenters in recent years have included william cordova, Oscar Santillán, An-My Lê, Carrie Mae Weems, Leonardo Drew, Maya Lin, Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, Tim Rollins and K.O.S., among others. The 2026 Prentice Lecturer is Laylah Ali, who will share about her artistic practice, in conjunction with the exhibition Is anything the matter? Drawings by Laylah Ali on view at the Colby Museum from October 21, 2025, through April 19, 2026.
Colby Symphony Orchestra: Orchestral Masterworks
March 14, 7:30 pm
Gordon Center for Creative and Performing Arts
Our third concert of the season is packed with orchestral favorites! Bright, bubbling operatic melodies dance through The Roman Carnival Overture, by renowned orchestrator Hector Berlioz. Colby’s Benjamin Noyes will perform Dmitri Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto No. 1, written for and premiered by the great Mstislav
Rostropovich. Johannes Brahms’s lyrical Symphony No. 2 in D Major, sometimes called his Pastoral Symphony, rounds out the program with four intricate, bright movements.
Portland Ballet: New Works
March 15, 5 pm
Gordon Center for Creative and Performing Arts
Colby Department of Performance, Theater, and Dance hosts the Portland Ballet each year as a part of an ongoing partnership. This New Works performance will feature the company in newly developed works created in
partnership with Maine artists and arts organizations–including Colby–as well as student performances of work by guest artists.
Jennifer Jahrling Forese
Writer-in-Residence
Zach Peckham
Community Event
March 17, 5 pm
Greene Block + Studios
Join Zach Peckham for a community event open to all. Peckham is a writer, editor, and educator and the author of the poetry collection As If And (New Mundo, 2026).
Highlighted Programs
APRIL
Craig Santos Perez Residency
April 1 and 2
Craig Santos Perez is a native CHamoru (Chamorro) from the Pacific Island of Guåhan/Guam. He is cofounder of Ala Press, co-star of the poetry album Undercurrent (Hawai’i Dub Machine, 2011), and author of three collections of poetry: from unincorporated territory [hacha] (Tinfish Press, 2008), from unincorporated territory [saina] (Omnidawn, 2010), and from unincorporated territory [guma’] (Omnidawn, 2014). He will be in residence at Colby, engaging students and faculty.
Colby Jazz Band: Influence and Inspiration
April 4, 7:30 pm
Gordon Center for Creative and Performing Arts
The Colby Jazz Ensemble features jazz compositions incorporating a broad range of musical influences and inspirations. Revival by Dan Haerle crosses gospel with jazz, and Kris Berg’s composition Feather Report pays homage to the jazz group Weather Report. Recent Colby alumnus Karl Lackner ’22 premieres his new arrangement for big band titled Chance Again
Colby Wind Ensemble: Across the United States
April 7, 7:30 pm
Gordon Center for Creative and Performing Arts
The Colby Wind Ensemble’s spring concert guides the listener on a journey through the United States. Frank Duarte incorporates 19th-century folk songs in his composition From Atlanta to the Sea to create this military-style march. New York from a Distance by Daniel Dade takes the audience on a sonic tour through New York City.
Two Cent Talks: Jessica
Anthony and Ron Currie
April 14, 5 pm
Greene Block + Studios
Join Maine-based novelists Jessica Anthony and Ron Curie for readings and discussion. Anthony is the author of The Convalescent (2009), Chopsticks (2012), Enter the Aardvark (2020), and The Most (2024). Curie is the author of God Is Dead (2007), Everything Matters! (2009), Flimsy Little Plastic Miracles (2013), The One-Eyed Man (2017), and The Savage, Noble Death of Babs Dionne (2025).
Music in the Museum:
Scheckmate - Born in Iberia: Music for
Guitar and Cello
April 21, Noon
Colby College Museum of Art
The music of the Iberian Peninsula reflects the influence of Moorish, Jewish, and Christian cultures, among others. The ethnic musical traditions of the New World also played a part as they were carried back to Spain and Portugal,
including genres like the sarabande and the chaconne. Composers featured include Granados, Falla, Piazzolla, and Villa-Lobos.
The Centre for the Less Good Idea
April 2026
Gordon Center for Creative and Performing Arts
Founded by William Kentridge and Bronwyn Lace, the centre aims to find the less-good idea by creating and supporting experimental, collaborative, and cross-disciplinary arts projects. The centre will be in residency for a week, opening up their collaborative process to campus and community participants.
MAY
Colby Symphony
Orchestra and Choirs at Colby: Choral Masterworks
May 2, 7:30 pm and May 3, 3 pm
We close our concert season by collaborating with invited soloists and
Colby Choirs for Giuseppe Verdi’s operatic, epic Requiem. The program also features Franz Schubert’s Overture in D major, D. 26, “In the Italian Style,” inspired by Gioachino Rossini and written by the young composer in hopes of receiving an operatic commission from a Viennese theater. This concert will also celebrate the student winner of the annual Music Department Concerto Competition.
JULY
Colby College Museum of Art Community Day
July 2026
Colby College Museum of Art
This annual community-wide celebration is hosted at the museum on campus in late July. Free and for all ages, the event brings partner organizations, local groups, businesses, and artists for a day of art-making, games, tours, music, performances, and food. Community Day 2025 was generously supported by the Fullgraf Foundation.
On View At The Colby College Museum of Art
ON CAMPUS
Gertrude Abercrombie: The Whole World Is a Mystery
Through January 11, 2026
The first nationally touring presentation of work by this critical figure in the mid-20th-century Chicago art and jazz scenes.
Faculty
Biennial
September 11–October 1, 2025
Works in a diverse range of media created by Art Department faculty members.
Is anything the matter?
Drawings by Laylah Ali
October 21, 2025–April 19, 2026
Retrospective exhibition of Laylah Ali’s meticulous, narrative-rich drawings that probe complex themes like race, power, and social tension through her unique and enigmatic visual style.
Everyday Devotions: Gifts from the Alex Katz Foundation and Beyond
February 12–May 31, 2026
Drawn primarily from the Alex Katz Foundation Collection, this exhibition explores the creative possibilities of collage, including examples made with a range of different processes and combinations of materials.
Alex Katz | Out of Sight: A Drawing Survey
May 21–October 11, 2026
Organized in close collaboration with the artist, this career-spanning exhibition represents the first institutional effort since 1991 to unite drawings from across Alex Katz’s entire career, providing a fresh look at one of the most influential American artists working today.
Also
on view:
The Colby College Museum of Art’s collection of more than 10,000 artworks represents the full breadth and complexity of American art, and also includes works by international artists from antiquity to the present.
Some American Stories, displayed in the Lunder Wing, is a thematic presentation of works from the Colby collection that takes visitors on a journey from before the founding of the United States to the present day. In the Paul J. Schupf Wing for the Works of Alex Katz, a rotating selection of artworks from the museum’s nearly 900 paintings, drawings, prints, and sculptures by the artist is on view.
DOWNTOWN
Love Your Langlais: A Community Curates
Through October 20, 2025
Imagining
an Archipelago: Art from Cuba, Guam, the Philippines, Puerto Rico, and Their
Diasporas
July 11, 2026–June 6, 2027
This exhibition will present a vibrant array of contemporary artworks related to these islands’ intertwined histories of occupation and colonization by both Spain and the United States. Stay tuned for announcements about public programs, special performances, and collaborations throughout 2026 and 2027.
Bernard Langlais, Untitled (Giraffes), 1975–76. Stained and painted wood. 43 3/4 × 23 1/2 × 10 in. (111 × 60 × 25 cm), 36 × 17 1/2 × 6
Celebrating Bernard Langlais, a beloved Maine artist, this project invited the Waterville community to help choose the works in the exhibition.
Mawte: Bound Together
November 19, 2025–April 13, 2026
Guided by guest curator and Penobscot basketmaker Sarah Sockbeson, this exhibition of contemporary Wabanaki art showcases community collaboration. Bringing together artists to co-develop this project, Sockbeson and her cohort reimagine exhibitionmaking, modeling collective storytelling from an Indigenous perspective.
Senior Art Exhibition
May 8–23, 2026
A presentation of the graduating Colby College students’ capstone projects in studio art.
By Design: The Worlds of Betsy James Wyeth
June 12–November 2, 2026
In partnership with the Brandywine Museum of Art and the Farnsworth Art Museum, this multi-sited exhibition explores Betsy James Wyeth’s (1921–2020) environmental, architectural, and interior design. Colby Museum’s contribution to this project features four contemporary artists who were invited to respond to Allen and Benner Islands, which Betsy purchased in 1979 and 1990 and transformed over decades.
(91
×
The Bernard Langlais Collection, Gifts of Helen Friend Langlais, 2010 334, 2010 309
Sally Egbert, Perfumes, 2010 (detail). Acrylic paint, paper, fabric, and watercolor on canvas. 70 × 60 1/8 in. (177.8 × 152.7 cm). Gift of the Alex Katz Foundation, 2015 046
Laylah Ali, Untitled, 2005, from Typology series (detail). Ink and graphite on paper. 14 × 11 in. (35.5 × 27.9 cm). Collection of the artist
Gamaliel Rodríguez, Correctional Faith, 2022 (detail). Acrylic, ink, and gold leaf on paper. 72 × 52 in. (182.9 × 132.1 cm). Museum purchase from the Museum Art Purchases Fund, 2023 043
Gertrude Abercrombie, Tree, Table, and Cat, 1937 (detail). Oil on canvas. 40 × 30 in. (101.6 × 76.2 cm). Private collection, Illinois. Photo: Michael Tropea
Colby Museum Programs
Art Break
Every first and third Thursday at 12:30 p.m. during the academic semester, a different museum staff member, intern, community collaborator, or special guest facilitates and guides participants to look carefully at a single work of art on view in the galleries.
Art in the Park
Waterville Creates, Waterville Public Library, and the Colby College Museum of Art have joined forces to offer creative art programming for all ages every Thursday in the summer at Castonguay Square in downtown Waterville.
Art Queeries
This series brings together campus and local communities to explore queerness and queer life through art with conversations led by museum staff and special guests, followed by a free community meal.
Community-Based Workshops
Ongoing workshops taught by experienced educators and professional artists take place in our Mirken Education Center, campus galleries, Paul J. Schupf Art Center, and Greene Block + Studios. Participants are encouraged to delve into interdisciplinary approaches to visual art, writing, and performance-based projects inspired by works on view at the Colby Museum.
Frame by Frame
Curated film screenings inspired by the Colby Museum’s collection and exhibitions presented in collaboration with the Maine Film Center at the Paul J. Schupf Art Center in downtown Waterville.
K-12 Students and Educator Programs
The Colby Museum helps classroom educators and students of all ages discover personal and curricular connections with visual art through field trips, art-making, educator professional development, distance learning, and digital resources.
Music in the Museum
A series of live performances featuring local and regional musicians, curated by the Colby College Music Department.
Lunder Institute for American Art
Expanding the boundaries of American Art
The Colby Museum’s Lunder Institute for American Art supports innovative research, scholarship, and creative production grounded in critical inquiry, interdisciplinary collaboration, and a steadfast commitment to expanding the contours of American art.
We offer four key containers for audiences to engage with: Fellowships, Lunder Institute @, Summer Think Tank, and our soon-to-launch Audio Archive. Each serves as an invitation to participate in and learn from the dynamic, evolving conversations shaping the field of American art today.
Fellows
Thursday Art Party
Designed by members of the Colby Museum’s Student Board, this once-asemester celebration at the museum features art activities and performances for all Colby students.
You’re Speaking My Language
These language-based social events, in collaboration with various language departments at Colby College, offer an opportunity to practice language skills, connect with other learners, and converse about art. This series is open to all visitors and speakers at all levels.
Each year, the Lunder Institute supports a cohort of emerging, mid-career, and senior practitioners whose work advances new ideas and practices in American art. Fellows engage deeply with Colby College and the greater Waterville community through public lectures, workshops, studio visits, and classroom dialogues.
2025 fellows include Ernest A. Bryant III, william cordova, Alexandra Grant, Hannah Haynes, Michael Namingha, and Dianne Smith. 2026 fellows will be announced in December 2025.
Lunder Institute @
Lunder Institute @ invites art institutions worldwide to reflect on and reimagine American art, its histories, and its futures. This initiative promotes transparency, collaboration, and critical reflection across the field through internal dialogue and public programming.
In 2024, Lunder Institute @ partnered with six institutions. The 2026 schedule will include the Yale Center for British Art, Tate Britain, Royal Academy of Arts, and the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice.
Summer Think Tank
Summer Think Tank convenes artists, scholars, museum professionals, and culture bearers for generative, interdisciplinary dialogue. While conversations are not open to the public, they are recorded and preserved for future research through our growing archive.
Summer Think Tank 2025 focused on centering performance art in American art.
Lunder Institute @ Audio Archive
Launching in partnership with the Colby College Libraries and hosted on JSTOR, the Lunder Institute Audio Archive will feature recorded conversations from all Summer Think Tanks, along with oral histories, public programs, and convenings. The archive will be available to the Colby community in spring 2026, with broader public access beginning in 2027.
Photo by Ben Wheeler
Photo by Ashley Conti
Photo by John Meader
Lunder Institute Summer Think Tank 2025
Lunder Institute @
Colby Arts Community Engagement
Colby Arts is positioning Colby and Waterville to be a hub for arts learning in the region by advancing partnerships to offer innovative programming with local school districts, amplifying the community connections of Colby faculty and student artists, and hosting statewide convenings.
Colby Arts K-12
Across disciplines Colby Arts offers K-12 classrooms arts integration projects advancing curricular goals, field trips to venues on Colby’s campus and in downtown Waterville, and teaching artist residencies to support students to find their own creative voices and make original work. Colby Arts also supports educators across all subject areas with workshops and convenings on how to infuse artsbased strategies into their teaching.
SIGNATURE PROGRAMS: Gordon Center Presents
Classrooms attend performances of world-class artists across disciplines at the Gordon Center for Creative and Performing Arts. Colby Arts works with teaching artists and educators to prepare students for the visit through curriculum development and creative engagements prior to the show.
Developing Your Artistic Practice
Develop a personal, lifelong art-making practice working alongside Mainebased artists. This course introduces students to a variety of ways to make art across disciplines and media. Students develop a portfolio that reflects their individual voices, as well as work collaboratively with each other. The course is open to learners from 9th grade on and is offered through Mid-Maine Regional Adult Community Education every fall.
First Fridays
Visit downtown Waterville every first Friday evening of the month to meet artists, listen to live music, attend exhibition openings and workshops, and come together for all things creative.
Colby Arts
Colby Arts is building a culture of creativity that is innovative, bold, and socially conscious.
Arts Office
Center for the Arts and Humanities
Colby College Museum of Art and its Lunder Institute for American Art Creative Writing Program
Department of Art
Department of Cinema Studies
Department of Music
Department of Performance, Theater, and Dance
Lyons Arts Lab
To get more information about Colby Arts, see all upcoming events, and reserve your tickets, go to arts.colby.edu.
Follow along on Instagram and Facebook at colby.arts
