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from 4 Letter the President Power of 6 The the Arts to Heal

14 Envisioning Resilience 20 AtheDayLifein Summer 28 Where is Not a Verb Intelligence in 42 Authentic Art & Design Education

46 A Second Act 52 HeARTs of Pine the World 66 Seeing in Color

76 Alumni Notes 82 In Memoriam 86 Charitable Giving 88 Annual Report of Giving

Winslow Loves You! ’25 Undoing, 2024 Silkscreen monoprints with water-soluble crayons

Letter from President Laura Freid Dear Readers, Creative intelligence drives new possibilities in art and design practice, and many other forms of problem-solving, world-building, and experimentation. With the advent of artificial intelligence presenting so much information instantly at our fingertips, the process of cultivating creative intelligence is perhaps more important now than ever before. Exercising our creative muscles through research, writing, studio-based pursuits, and collaborative endeavors allows us to expand critical thinking skills and approach emerging ideas with new insights and intentional curiosity.

This issue of & Magazine is designed to give you a glimpse into how Maine College of Art & Design students, alumni, faculty, staff, and community members hone their creative intelligence to improve their work, address challenges, and shape our shared experiences. You’ll find interviews and articles about the health benefits of engaging in the arts; how a retired professor transcends mediums while applying the same creative principles to her work, and the pivotal role MECA&D plays in Maine’s creative ecosystem. The following pages also highlight ways that the MECA&D community uses creative intelligence to impact our future—both locally and globally.

Students and faculty are using design thinking to help Mainers respond to climate change and they are cultivating creative intelligence in the classroom and in the world beyond our campus by grounding their endeavors in process-based approaches that value collaboration, reciprocity, and authenticity.

Perhaps you’ll recognize aspects of your own story and experience as a creative practitioner, appreciator, or supporter in the profiles and narratives found here. Ultimately, I hope these stories and ideas leave you feeling inspired to continue connecting and growing along with us at MECA&D.

Photo by Nicole Wolf

Sincerely,

Dr. Laura Freid President, Maine College of Art & Design

The Power of the

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Arts to Heal

By Meier Clark

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n recent years, neuroscientists and researchers have highlighted what many people have experienced for centuries: art, in its many forms, has a remarkable capacity to heal. “Whether through dance, song, writing, or painting, approached either as maker or beholder, health and well-being are enhanced by expressions of self, experience, imagination, and creativity,” indicates NeuroArts,1 an initiative of the Aspen Institute and Johns Hopkins University. Music, too, has been used widely in motor rehabilitation, from dance classes for people with Parkinson’s Disease to Portland-based MEDRhythms’ music-centered walking rehabilitation programs. It’s also being described as a cure for burnout. The Wall Street Journal2 recently featured a number of craft retreats designed to help attendees unplug, connect with their creativity, and rejuvenate.

Daisy Fancourt, a professor of psychobiology and epidemiology at University College London, has researched the effect of the arts on people’s health for 15 years. In her book, Art Cure: The Science of How the Arts Save Lives, she calls engaging in the arts “the forgotten fifth pillar of health,” alongside diet, sleep, exercise, and nature.

Participants in culture-centered, community-based youth arts programs “experience joy, a sense of accomplishment, and a growth in confidence and significance through their engagement in the arts,” which in turn promotes “mental and physical health or the social dimensions of life satisfaction.”3 People of all ages and stages of life can experience therapeutic effects from the arts. With all of these benefits in mind, how can we teach, learn, and live with the arts?

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1 "What Is Neuroarts?"

NeuroArts, 2025.

2 Jane Black. "Craft Retreats Are the New Burnout Cure," The Wall Street Journal, 2026.

3 Esohe Osai et al.

"Well-being and Wellbecoming Though the Arts," Wallace Foundation, 2025.

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n September 2025, Maine College of Art & Design launched our first online programs, including a Graduate Certificate in Expressive Arts Therapy, which aims to make healingcentered, therapeutic learning more accessible. No matter how students arrive to the class—as teachers, therapists, artists, administrators, or retirees—their learning centers on the transformative power of the arts. Students learn the essential elements of a welcoming, resilient learning space and practice many ways to approach the arts therapeutically.

A healing-focused learning environment has many components, according to Annie Wadleigh, an Expressive Arts Therapy student and Associate Director of Development at MECA&D. Through class projects and journals, she and her peers explore and expand upon course materials, ranging from emotional safety to neuroscience. As a lifelong artist, Wadleigh is expanding her expertise, highlighting nonviolent communication, trauma-informed practices, and adaptability in both her personal and professional lives.

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People of all ages and stages of life can experience therapeutic effects from the arts.

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“To me, the power of art to heal is in connection.” ­—Therese Weisbrot

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Cortney Frasier, a Ph.D. student at Appalachian State University, supplements her already-busy schedule with classes at MECA&D, where she applies her experience as an artist, educator, and administrator. Sharing her concerns about the many students in her district facing difficulties and disconnection, she emphasizes how immediately applicable her learning has been, as she shares resources with local art teachers to make their classrooms feel more welcoming and grounding for students.

Both Frasier and Wadleigh credit instructor Therese Weisbrot with expanding their comfort zones through class assignments. Weekly creative journal assignments ask students to try new art forms and reflect on their emotional responses.

“It challenges you to really be in your body and to listen to it,” shares Frasier. “It’s helped me to grow as a leader, as an artist, and as a healer.”

As an instructor in the Expressive Arts Therapy program, Weisbrot brings a clinical background to her teaching at MECA&D. Working primarily in medical settings, from dual-diagnosis clinics to children’s hospitals, she understands the weight of her practice. Even the simple offering of a paint palette or a ball of clay can help to relieve the acuity of a person’s stress.

“To me, the power of art to heal is in connection,” Weisbrot says thoughtfully. Much of that connection happens internally, but collaborative artwork is also fertile ground for therapeutic effects. She describes one client, a teen in end-of-life care, who felt isolated from loved ones because of her experience.

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Weisbrot describes how she and her client experimented with all kinds of art materials until they began building together with oven-bake clay.

Starting with a lone, hand-sculpted angel in the center of a board, Therese’s client began inviting her friends, family, and medical staff to help her build a village around it. Before long, the board was filled with buildings, items, and other figures, and the client’s room was warmer with camaraderie, creativity, and immense care.

“The art and connection weren’t curative of her condition,” says Weisbrot. “But they were so incredibly healing.”

Part of teaching with expressive arts therapies in mind, Weisbrot says, means committing to making the art space safe, especially when the rest of a student’s world may not be. As her Expressive Arts Therapy students learn in their classes, there is no moment too small to be meaningful.

Regardless of their lives outside of her class, she recognizes that each student is there to support healing in some capacity. She hopes to remind them that they, too, can take the time to enjoy these therapeutic effects.

Above all, Weisbrot shares, is the reminder that healing, much like artmaking, is a lifelong practice.

online.meca.edu/graduatecertificate/art-therapy

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MECA&D's online Graduate Certificate in Expressive Arts Therapy program hosted a screening of OUTSIDER, a documentary about painter Maury Ornest, whose life encompassed baseball, schizoaffective disorder, and art.

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Anna Mayer ’27 Hapswell Tapestry 2025

Envisioning Resilience

By Ezra Rose Arscott

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unning annually since 2021, the Envision Resilience Challenge was founded by philanthropist and investor Wendy Schmidt. Partnering with university art and design studios across the United States, Envision Resilience facilitates climate-change-responsive planning, design, and art innovation through student and community partnerships.

The 2025 Envision Resilience Challenge paired university students with municipal leaders in Harpswell and Bath, Maine, developing creative ideas that aimed to serve “communities facing rising sea levels and challenges related to housing, stormwater management, and coastal infrastructure, habitats, and ecology.”

As much as design solutions help envision practical responses to climate change, public art fosters community connectivity, bolstering their resilience as they face changing coastal environments.

Addy Smith-Reiman’s Public Art Studio participated in the 2025 Envision Resilience Challenge. Smith-Remain shared, “The entire ethos of the student body in the MECA&D class was the empathy and connection to community, and what can you do with objects around that. Each one came up with a very specific need, but it was all rooted in that idea of community.”

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Brian Smith MFA ’20 Voyeur in the Weeds 2025 Resin bonded crushed glass 11" x 14" x 1" Edition of 3 with 2 AP

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means to fortify optimism. About art’s role in developing climate resilience, Smith said, “It felt like we were talking about the potentiality of the future, hopefulness, and urgency for addressing the changes that are coming our way. This shift towards optimism has been a way to acknowledge that the world will change, but perhaps we have the power to change with it. In that sense, I think that's the crux of the Envision Resilience Challenge.”

While coastal communities confront the challenges of climate change today, the youth of these communities will inherit the accelerating effects of these changes and are rarely given the resources and care needed to help them reach adulthood on solid ground. In conversations about the Bath projects, there were repeated mentions of the high rates of depression, suicide risk, drug addiction, homelessness, and lack of Public Art Studio Field Trip economic opportunity for Bath teens. The harged with creating art or design Midcoast Youth Center is facing this sobering proposals to present at the end reality head-on by providing programs, space, of the semester, MECA&D students and community, and letting local youth know participating in the 2025 Envision Resilience that they matter and are needed as part of Challenge met with community members their communities’ future. in Harpswell and Bath, Maine. “I was really Niccole Cormier-Real ’27, a student in intrigued by taking the students far away Smith-Reiman’s class, proposed the project to two coastal communities where we had Roots and S’Wings. She proposed taking a rural and urban options,” said Smith-Reiman. large, unused wooden cross that once stood “I would provide as much information and tall in Bath’s landscape, and, with the help of encouragement as possible, and invite each Bath youth programs and partnership orgastudent to respond. Then I help craft what nizations like Bath Housing, Bath Ironworks, they're responding to… Part one was hearing Maine Maritime Museum, and Bath Tech, community needs in Harpswell. Part two [in turning it into community swings.

Bath] really zoned in on what the future of In shaping her proposal for the swings, community really is.”

Cormier-Real took the time to travel around Brian Smith MFA ’20 curated the 2024 the Bath community and speak with as and 2025 Envision Resilience Challenge exhi- many people as she could, intent on creating bitions. In his own art practice, Smith works something that would belong to them, so in the field of queer ecology and knows better that her conversations and proposals would than most the immense value of art as a serve as invitations to participate rather than

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Niccole Cormier-Real ’27 Roots & S’wings 2026

to extract. “I focus a lot on the process rather activities piloted by other students in the than the actual object itself. So for me it's class continue to take place at the Midcoast the collaboration, the communication. I’m Youth Center. community and process-based, and I love “We kept hearing that no matter what reusing material.” infrastructure you have, no matter what As a veteran and mother of four, architecture or open space, the true element Cormier-Real is shaped by the powerful of resilience for the future is community,” bonds and support networks created among said Smith-Reiman. “Throughout MECA&D’s military families. She knows all too well what involvement in the 2025 Envision Resilience community connections can do for resilience, Challenge, we see how cornerstones of the which is why the community partners, along- College’s culture of community, empathy, and side Envision Resilience, are providing the resilience align with the challenge and reveal support for her to complete Roots and S’Wings what a powerful tool public art can be in as her MECA&D thesis project. community resilience.”

As the power of public art grows in the Envision Resilience challenge, thanks to the work and guidance of Smith-Reiman, envisionresilience.org students like Cormier-Real bring their work brianmsmith.com to communities with generosity and collaboration. “It's a community entry point, a gathering place for conversation. I feel it's such a strong tool,” says Cormier-Real.

Looking to the future of Harpswell and Bath, Maine, Cormier-Real’s Roots and S’wings will emerge as part of Bath’s landscape, Anna Mayer's ’27 tapestry for Harpswell will be hung in their town office, and the interactive

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A ⭐

🩷

Day the in Life 🌸

🎨

📱

Monday, November 10, 2025 Behind the scenes of a Student Takeover of the @mecaart Instagram account with Sculpture major Hannah Holt ’26

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9:19 am @mecasculpture critique this morning!

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11:53 am lunch break!

2:01 pm my printmaking class will be hosting an art sale with everything we have created this semester!

MECA&D students! apply to sell your work alongside us!

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2:37 pm after our field trip, it was time for some letterpress!

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4:08 pm after class, it was time to say goodbye to my install for the BFA show

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5:57 pm goodnight MECA&D

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Hannah Holt ’26, Untitled (1 of 4), 2025.

Canvas, spray foam, spackle, modeling paste, acrylic paint, and glitter.

8 x 10"

@mecaart @messysquiggles

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Katherine Bradford, Smokers, 2024

Where Summer is Not a Verb

By Claire Brassil

Cultivating & Sustaining Maine's Art Ecosystem

Photo by Joel Tsui ’16, Salt ’17, MFA ’19, image courtesy of the ICA at MECA&D

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hen thinking of an arts ecosystem, creative metropolises like New York City, Los Angeles, and Berlin often come to mind first. These cities’ reputations as dense cultural engines sustained by abundant populations, resources, and scale stand in sharp contrast to the lure and lore of Maine as a site of escape for artists. Our state is frequently framed as a refuge from the urban grind, where creatives seasonally retreat to focus and make work without distraction.

However, cultural producers who build their lives here are not removed from challenging realities or responsibilities. Instead, many rely on ingenuity, reciprocity, and interconnection to make a living and forge networks that enable them to pursue their practices and livelihoods. These connections, continually built and maintained in “Vacationland,” foster a creative ecosystem that is locally rooted, innovatively sustained, and actively engaged within and beyond the state. Maine College of Art & Design plays a central role in this ecosystem, providing a hub for interaction, engagement, development, and exchange that impacts the vision and direction of many Maine artists’ and designers’ careers and possibilities.

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David and Ela Horvitz, Change the Name of the Days, 2026.

Rachel Gloria Adams and Ryan Adams Heart of the City - Vol. 4, 2024.

Public mural in Portland, Maine.

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o understand Maine’s creative networks and Maine College of Art & Design’s influence on them, it helps to first clarify what an arts ecosystem encompasses. Built from a web of interconnected relationships that allow creative work to be developed, supported, and shared, the overlapping networks of cultural producers and consumers that comprise any arts ecosystem engage in ongoing idea sharing, education, dialogue, production, and critique. Artists, designers, craftspeople, educators, schools, writers, and critics shape creative ideas and discourse, while gallerists and museums—along with art fairs and auction houses in some locales—influence visibility and markets.

Studio collectives, community maker spaces, and residencies support production and connection, alongside grants and foundations that provide resources. Together, these elements create the conditions for art to be made and experienced, as well as pathways for visibility and exchange. Collectors and audiences also contribute essential perspectives, supporting creative production and fostering experimentation.

In addition to enhancing the social and cultural conditions in a given area, arts ecosystems are also economic drivers. They support job creation and local talent retention while strengthening related industries and creative economies. In Maine, our cultural industries generate approximately $2.5 billion in economic activity annually, while the creative sector supports nearly 19,000 jobs, with total wages and benefits exceeding $1 billion annually.1 By educating artists, fostering mentorship, and linking graduates to professional opportunities, Maine College of Art & Design supports the state’s creative economy and strengthens the social networks that help

Crystal Cawley teaching Continuing Studies Course, Print for Pattern

the state’s arts ecosystem flourish. Beyond the classes and courses of study offered for more than 400 undergraduate students, 100 graduate students, and over 1,000 Continuing Studies students, the College employs 115 faculty members, who share their expertise and shape the social and cultural fabric of the state’s wider creative community. Operating within a pedagogical model attuned to the needs of today’s art and design students, faculty strike a considered balance between supportive and interrogative critique while providing a curricular framework that prepares students to thrive as professionals.

Students learn not only how to make work but also how to navigate the unconventional career paths of artists and designers, which often rely on building strong interpersonal networks and sustained social and professional bonds.

MECA&D also operates as an importer of creative talent. While more than 70% of students at the College arrive from outside Maine, over 50% of graduates choose to stay 1 National Endowment for the Arts, "Maine State Profile", 2023

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Photo by Bret Woodard

Carter Shappy ’15 driving a steamroller over a woodblock print during the annual Print Jam at artist studio, Running with Scissors in Portland, Maine.

Press, all of whom count MECA&D alums among their staff and participating artists. in the state after graduating. They become Through Artists at Work, the College’s the designers, teachers, writers, makers, program supporting students’ and alumni’s entrepreneurs, gallerists, studio owners, professional pursuits, Tomlinson has played collectors, and champions of one another’s a pivotal role in helping students contribwork, who, in many ways, are shaping the ute meaningfully to the arts ecosystem in foundation of Maine’s arts ecosystem and Portland and Maine. Under her guidance, creative economy.

MECA&D undergrads and grads have gained professional footholds at established organiew people in Maine are more committed zations and companies such as the Portland to supporting artists’ professional horizons Museum of Art, Maine Crafts Association, than the founding director of MECA&D’s and L.L.Bean; they have Artists at Work program, Jessica Tomlinson. created murals for and An inveterate creative connector with an taken on design projects expansive roster of collaborators built over for area hospitals, busidecades, Tomlinson has an uncanny gift nesses, and nonprofits; for aligning needs with opportunities and and launched their own protégés with mentors. Her deep understand- creative ventures. ing of the forces that have shaped Maine’s 82Parris is one creative terrain has given her a firm grasp on such endeavor. The the histories and practices that have led to artist-run gallery and the success of thriving artists, designers, and event space in Portland’s local arts organizations like SPACE Gallery, Bayside neighborhood Jessica Tomlinson, founding Running with Scissors Studios, and Peregrine was founded in 2023 by director of Artists at Work

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MECA&D grads Hannah Day ’20, Kat Miller ’19, and Kincaid Pearson ’19, along with fellow artists Holden Willard and Annie Conant.

Over the past three years, 82Parris has grown into an established exhibition site, offering opportunities for guest curators and artists to stretch their ideas and gain new skills.

Offering six to seven shows annually during the warmer months, the space follows the seasonal rhythms of Maine while supporting projects that may not otherwise come to fruition. In 2023, their aptly titled group show, Vacationland, featured work by Maine artists whose side gigs in the tourism and Illustration major, Maya Cueva ’26 during Portfolio Day service industries support their creative practices. Other notable projects and exhibitions lot of our successful start to Jessica,” Pearson include Nick Gervan’s solo show Portlanders says. “She’s a wealth of knowledge and an which featured photographs he captured amazing resource.” around the city at night while recovering Looking ahead, Pearson’s vision for from a traumatic head injury, and the group 82Parris is firmly rooted in the realities show Mystics of Home curated by Kat Miller, of sustaining an arts nonprofit. “Since we that explored the roles of nostalgia and imag- received our 501(c)(3) status, managing the ination in shaping a sense of belonging. organization has become my creative outlet.

Support from more established Because I’m so passionate about our longevartists and arts administrators has proven ity, that’s where my energy is going right now. essential to the success of 82Parris. Plans Our goal is to have a sustainable budget and for the organization coalesced during a funding stream by the start of 2028. Beyond winter Pearson and Willard spent living the budget, being a connector to grow the and working in artist Katherine Bradford’s spiderweb of organizations and people who home and studio in Brunswick, where they want to see the arts thrive is at the core of had the time and space to think, make, and ideate in partnership with the gallery’s other founders. Bradford, who seasonally offers her Maine house and studio to emerging artists, continues to support 82Parris through donations to its auction fundraisers alongside other established Maine artists, including MECA&D graduates James Parker Foley MFA ’20 and Meg Hahn ’17. The gallery’s 2025 year-end auction grossed more than $11,000, helping to fund projects in the year ahead.

Pearson also credits Tomlinson with providing invaluable advice and mentorship Redford Reece '26 and Stan Lambert '25 performing in their during the gallery’s formation. “I attribute a exhibition at 49 Oak titled Faith in Something More

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Ralph Pugay, Selected Drawings, 2018–2025.

Photo by Joel Tsui ’16, Salt ’17, MFA ’19, image courtesy of the ICA at MECA&D

Opening of 82Parris's inaugural show, House Warming in 2023

what we are trying to do. We’re really trying to build a network among artists and alternative arts spaces within Maine and beyond.”

Tomlinson recalls similarly deliberate efforts in early-2000s Portland to build bridges with creative ecosystems beyond the state’s borders, pointing to initiatives like Two Degrees Portland, a campaign designed to introduce “interesting people” to one another across disciplines and cities. “Maybe it was a little too effective,” she laughs, reflecting on the influx of out-of-staters Graphic Design majors Molly Lawrence ’26 and Avery Johnson ’26 who have since put down roots in Maine. pitch their brand proposal to Portland Museum of Art representatives for their Professional Studios course The effort ultimately forged enduring ties between writers, artists, designers, and technologists who settled locally while lthough this metaphorical shrinking of remaining connected to New York, Boston, distance has provided many positive Los Angeles, and beyond, opening pathways outcomes, Maine’s higher profile has been that others have since followed. accompanied by a sharp rise in the cost of Tomlinson also notes that the panliving. With Portland home prices up 85% demic helped collapse entrenched assumpand the number of rentals costing more than tions about geographic limitations to con$2,000 per month increasing by 171% since nection. “You no longer have to live in New 2019, current economic realities dampen the York to be known in New York,” she posits, conditions artists need to thrive. Pearson pointing to Maine-based artists with national cites a lack of affordable studio space as one success such as Anne Buckwalter MFA ’12, of the biggest impediments to emerging represented by Zürcher Gallery in Manhattan, artists’ progress. Efforts on the part of local organizations and funders aim to counteract “You no longer have these impacts, such as SPACE’s Kindling Fund, a re-granting program affiliated with the Warto live in New York to be hol Foundation that provides project grants known in New York.” to Maine Artists, MECA&D’s Belvedere Fund, —Jessica Tomlinson which supports professional development for craft artists, and the Onion Foundation’s and Tessa Greene O’Brien MFA ’16, who has organizational grants that offer operational shown with Candice Madey Gallery (NYC) and project support to arts organizations. and Halsey McKay Gallery (Easthampton, NY).

Individual artists are also tackling Pearson sees a direct arts pipeline between these challenges by sharing their resources New York City and Maine, citing Karma and connections. Tessa Greene O’Brien makes Gallery’s outpost in Rockland and other New a concerted effort to build bridges through York-based gallerists who have their eye on her channels to the broader art community. and ties to Maine artists.

She runs the Instagram account Aunties Projects (@aunties_projects), which posts

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Every Infinitessimal Thought at Sarah Bouchard Gallery in Woolwich, Maine

classified ads for creative circles in Maine and New York City. Started in August 2024, the account now has more than 3,000 followers and shares posts offering or seeking short- and long-term housing, studio space, rideshares, art transport, pet sitting, and more. O’Brien takes a collectivist approach to her career, attributing her success, in part, to those who helped her along the way. Today, she aims to, as she puts it, “Drag others through any door I open along with me.” This can mean suggesting artists to curators for shows, fielding introductions to gallerists, offering advice and support, and consistently showing up for the broader creative community in person and online.

The creative community in Maine— and in Portland, particularly—is a small pond. This allows for connections to develop organically, with many finding they are connected by less than one degree of separation.

“I was looking at New York and then realized I could honor the integrity of my artists’ work by creating a gallery in this space, here.”

—Sarah Bouchard MFA ’11

Natural Affinity, an exhibition and event organized by Zach Liljeholm ’25 at SPACE Gallery in Portland, Maine

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Matt Crane, tidal tail, 2016, featured in One Less Traveled, an exhibition on view through May 2027 at LongWoods Preserve in Cumberland, Maine, curated by MECA&D Gary Ambrose Chair of the Sculpture Program Joshua Reiman.

A significant upside of this accessible scale is the opportunities that MECA&D students can access as a result. Adjunct Instructor of Graphic Design Amy Parker teaches a professional practice class for Graphic Design majors, which helps students get to know the various design studios and designers in Portland. These early introductions have led to internships and jobs for students and recent graduates at the VIA Agency, Garrand Moehlenkamp, and other local design studios. Parker has spent much of her career in Boston and finds Portland’s creative climate to be more collaborative and kind. As she succinctly puts it: “You can’t be a jerk here.

Everyone knows you too well. And if they don’t know you well, they know of you.”

coast from Portland, boasts a roster of artists and work that are not necessarily shown elsewhere in the state. Bouchard opened the gallery in 2021, after several years as the director of the Corey Daniels Gallery in Wells, Maine. An artist in her own right who has balanced a personal creative practice with curatorial and gallery work, she has worn many hats and understands the value of a committed artist-gallerist relationship. These deeply valued connections, which are central to her gallerist work, have taken many forms and relied on communal support to flourish over the years.

“There are phenomenal artists here in Maine—both seasonally and year-round— who aren’t necessarily getting the visibility their work deserves in the state. When I first started out [on my own], for a short period, I was meeting with clients and showing work out of the back of my car. And then a very strong artist who is a complete powerhouse nudged me to start my own gallery. I was looking at New York and then realized I could honor the integrity of my artists’ work by creating a gallery in this space, here.”

Bouchard also credits collectors with whom she had established relationships, helping her get the gallery off the ground.

But the artists who continue to work with

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owever, Maine’s sprawling geography and dearth of urban centers allow some exceptional artists and essential ideas to operate undetected by the broader creative ecosystem. Sarah Bouchard MFA ’11 has set out to correct some of these omissions by bringing the national and international creative conversation to the forefront in Maine.

Her gallery in Woolwich, 30 miles up the

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The Collect Art Sale at the Institute of Contemporary Art at MECA&D

Opening of Lines / Loopholes at the Institute of Contemporary Art at MECA&D

In Maine, our cultural industries generate approximately $2.5 billion in economic activity annually.

A perennial experimenter, Bouchard continues to find innovative opportunities to collaborate with artists within the gallery Ayana V. Jackson, Consider the Sky and the Sea, 2019. framework. In 2025, she partnered with Portland-based artist Kate Russo, who is represented by the gallery, to co-curate Every how our spaces, geography, and networks Infinitesimal Thought, an exhibition that drew shape the kind of arts ecosystem Maine can connections between traditional embroidery sustain allows participants to adapt to its and the language of contemporary abstracidiosyncrasies and evolve to meet these realtion. Featuring works that combine thread ities. By embracing seasonal rhythms in their with pencil, oil paint, photography, and gold careers and deliberately building strong creleaf, the show brought together artists from ative ties within and beyond the state, artists two continents, exemplifying how creative sustain a network that transcends geographic ideas transcend geography. and seasonal constraints.

“This is the first in a series of exhibiThese artists, educators, gallerists, and tions where I worked with an artist to realize advocates represent just a fraction of those a dream curatorial vision,” Bouchard shares. sustaining Maine’s arts ecosystem. Like “The point of the series is to have an artist many Mainers, they rely on ingenuity to who hasn’t curated learn more about the forge unconventional careers shaped by both curatorial process, and Kate was an amazing necessity and intention. They thrive through partner to experiment with.” collaboration and mutual support, carrying When considering qualities artists the foundation built at Maine College of Art need to thrive in Maine, Bouchard points to & Design into the state’s evolving, interdea hardiness of resolve and comfort with sol- pendent creative landscape and across the itude. Maine’s rugged landscape, sparse pop- broader regional, national, and international ulation, and fierce winters create conditions arts ecosystems. that require one to manage well in relative isolation. Bouchard speculates that while the cycle of retreating to the studio and emerging @aunties_projects with new ideas connects to a long tradition 82parris.com among Maine’s artists, it doesn’t have to be sarahbouchardgallery.com woodscreative.co a limiting factor. If anything, understanding

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Photo by Joel Tsui, image courtesy of the ICA at MECA&D

her were the primary drivers for her new endeavor. They have encouraged, advised, cajoled, and advocated for her, just as Bouchard does for them and their work.

Authentic Intelligence and Art & Design Education

By Meier Clark

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There’s no question that artificial intelligence is everywhere. From ChatGPT to Nano Banana, these large-scale generative models are reshaping expectations for teaching, learning, creativity, and intelligence as a whole.

What place does artificial intelligence, specifically generative models, have in art and design? How does Maine College of Art & Design emphasize students’ creativity and artistic process in a world that includes generative artificial intelligence? One key way is to help students develop their creative intelligence.

Creative intelligence refers to an individual’s “ability to adapt to changing environments, solve problems in innovative ways, and engage in divergent thinking.”1 It emphasizes versatility and resilience in the face of challenges that require creative thinking. Studied for decades, creative intelligence is uniquely human.

With the fast pace of the world and the growing presence of generative artificial intelligence, creative intelligence is an increasingly valuable skill. Rhode Island School of Design, for instance, offers a Creativity Workshop in its Continuing Education department that emphasizes hands-on experimentation in a constructive environment. In their words, “Students are challenged to let go of preconceptions and encouraged to experiment, play, and make.”

Creativity, critical thinking, empathy, and resilience are central to our pedagogy at MECA&D. While the range of artistic disciplines at MECA&D requires different approaches to creative intelligence, there is one common denominator: an emphasis on process. While artificial intelligence obscures the generation process in favor of a single, simple final product, MECA&D foregrounds the development of students’ practices. Students’ creative intelligence shines and develops through the challenges of the artistic process.

In addition to developing students’ processes, our instructors emphasize the human elements of the artwork students create. In one department, this might mean analyzing the tactile elements of a piece. In others, students may trace the many overlapping histories of an artistic tradition. Art, regardless of its discipline, requires a human touch.

Video game terrain generated

by Adam deGrandis '05 using procedural tools.

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1 Arpan Yagnik, Unleashing Creative Thinking, 2025.

Adam deGrandis ’05, Assistant Professor of Animation & Game Art, recognizes that his discipline has long been a site of computer generation. In order to build an open-world game, for instance, a designer needs to use a procedural generation to populate repeated assets, including trees, backgrounds, and textures. By delegating these simple tasks to an algorithm, game designers can focus on tackling other challenges. The struggle of narrative, character creation, and playthrough all require innately human creative intelligence.

Experiences without this human aspect often fall flat, primarily because the models are generative and not creative. For example, deGrandis explains, if you prompt a generative AI model like ChatGPT or Midjourney to create an image of a castle, it will produce an image that is an average of all the many thousands of castles it has been trained on. This image is a “best guess” result based on the prompt, which tends to suppress “outlier” input data (usually those that are more creative or inventive) in favor of a generic result.

“Those outliers are the most creative and most interesting,” says deGrandis. That’s where our students thrive. A walk through the hallways, studios, and classrooms shows these projects proudly on display, addressing a wide range of topics.

No matter the artistic pursuit, the College educates artists for life. It supports students as they

Photos by Natalie Conn, Salt '07

tackle the challenges of developing their own artistic voices, helping them to develop the skills to use and think critically about their tools. No matter what tools a student uses in their work, creative intelligence is the most important skill for developing an artistic voice uniquely their own.

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Kate Clark's ’26 thesis exhibition, Authentic Intelligence, reflects on the shortcomings of AI, asking viewers to represent and plot experiences on scales of good to bad and emotional to physical.

Authentic Intelligence in Art & Design Education 45

Margo Halverson on how creative practice evolves

A Second & magazine 46

F

Act

or more than three decades, Margo Halverson served as Program Chair of Graphic Design at Maine College of Art & Design. After retiring in December 2023, she returned to campus, not as a professor emerita, teacher, or critic, but as a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) student in Ceramics. While her transition from graphic design to clay may seem unusual, to Halverson it reflects the creative inquiry that has guided her entire career.

Halverson’s narrow studio, tucked away on the 5th floor of MECA&D’s Porteous Building alongside other ceramics majors, overflows with the spoils of her prolific clay process. On the left, vessels of all shapes and sizes peer out from packed shelves. To the right, her canvas-covered table is peppered with glaze test tiles beneath a bulletin board replete with inspirational images and glaze recipes.

“I don’t really consider working in clay a transition, but rather it's an evolution,” she shares, perched on a studio stool. “I'm just making ideas visual in a new material.”

By Claire Brassil 47

N

ot one to take the direct route, Halverson entered the world of design after earning a BFA and Master of Fine Arts in Photography at Arizona State University (ASU). When she expressed interest in creating photo books, a portfolio reviewer suggested she study graphic design—a discipline that Halverson had never heard of, much less considered. She returned to ASU at the age of 27 (feeling “old” at the time), and set about building a foundation in this new discipline.

Upon completing her studies in the late 1980’s, Margo joined the graphic design field during a time of rapid transition. What had been a vocation rooted in cutting, pasting, and photo typesetting steadily shifted to the digital realm. After beginning her teaching job at Maine College of Art & Design, Margo continued to evolve with the discipline while maintaining her own design studio in partnership with her husband, Charles Melcher. But as the days of laying out work by hand gave way to hours in front of a computer, she sought a counterbalance to the requisite screen time. MECA&D’s Continuing Studies classes in ceramics served as a necessary antidote. Clay offered an opportunity to work with her hands and a different set of constraints within which to iterate and experiment.

“Keeping my hands in clay versus figuring out how technology would impact my profession, as well as how to integrate it into the curriculum, was a welcome departure.”

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T

he classes also served a secondary purpose: they provided a place to develop a creative community. Any artist or designer knows that professional and peer connections are a critical counterpart to making work. However, building meaningful relationships can sometimes elude even the most socially oriented.

“When I moved to Portland, I knew no one. I thought I'd take an evening class in ceramics. So I had classes with (fellow MECA&D professors) Mark Johnson, Lucy Breslin, and Marion Baker. I had all the greats.

“My teachers were also my peers, who became my friends, which was not unusual for me or for this place.”

Halverson is also the co-founder of DesignInquiry, a non-profit collective engaged in redefining how designers work together. Through DesignInquiry, she has developed opportunities to foster dialogue, connection, and growth that have influenced creative communities across the country and abroad. This unique approach to design research can be applied to any medium. Without the need to distinguish between student and teacher, anyone approaching a process or project with curiosity can learn and impart knowledge simultaneously.

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“It isn't about the thing you create, it's about all of those pieces along the way that get you there.”

B

oth clay and design require navigating a balance between idea and material, intention and accident. They demand that the maker stay alert to subtle shifts—whether in the dynamics of a layout or the behavior of a particular clay body. These parallels aren’t always obvious but reveal themselves through a visual vocabulary developed over years of practice. “You realize your references follow you,” Halverson shares. “Your eye stays your eye, no matter what you’re making.

“In graphic design, you have to be constantly listening, and also picturing the receiver. With clay, it’s similar in that you involve the user, especially in functional work. It’s similar in the process of responding to what’s in front of you. The thing you make is the artifact of the idea; for life and expression, it needs to remain alive, which happens when you are responding all along the process without chasing preconceived results.”

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F

or anyone considering a return to creative practice or plunging into a new medium, Halverson offers some simple guidance: Let process lead; whether at the wheel or on the screen, the act of making reveals its own direction.

And above all, put in the work, find an attitude of play, and just do it.

“During my 32 years of full-time teaching at MECA&D, I sometimes would talk about ceramics, or I would suggest that a student take a course, so that they understand process. That it isn't about the thing you create, it's about all of those pieces along the way that get you there.”

Returning to clay was not a departure for Halverson but a reaffirmation that creative practice offers lifelong opportunities for evolution. Creative work, regardless of medium, welcomes possibilities that emerge and to begin again.

margohalverson.wordpress.com @margohalverson

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HE ARTS OF & magazine 52

The power of sports and the arts to connect

By Leah Brooks

PINE

Photo courtesy of Josh Lane

P

53

ortland, Maine’s soccer club, Portland Hearts of Pine, took the city, and much of the state, by storm, kicking off its inaugural season in the spring of 2025 and quickly becoming one of the most sought-after tickets in New England. The club led USL League One in attendance that season, sold more merchandise than any other team in the league, and saw its first single-match ticket for the 2026 season sell out in under five minutes.

Across the country, data shows that shared cultural experiences, whether in stadiums or galleries, are among the most powerful drivers of belonging. According to the National Endowment for the Arts, nearly 50% of U.S. adults attend arts or cultural events annually, while research from S&P Global Market Intelligence suggests that nearly 70 percent of U.S. sports fans have attended a live professional game.

And at a time when human connection feels increasingly fragile, their role has never been more important. Studies from organizations such as the U.S. Surgeon

Photo by Chris Linscott

Photos courtesy of Lauryn Hottinger

General have identified social isolation as a growing public health concern, with about half of U.S. adults reporting loneliness, and community participation cited as a key factor in improving mental and emotional well-being.

It’s the shared experience that both arts and sports provide that can foster the social connection that transforms individuals into a community.

A

t Maine College of Art & Design, we’ve collaborated with the club on several projects over the past year, and we’ve seen firsthand how creative practice and community spirit can intersect, amplify one another, and create new pathways for engagement across the city.

“It takes a village. Long before Portland Hearts of Pine had its name, Maine’s creative community was already shaping what this

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“Long before Portland Hearts of Pine had its name, Maine’s creative community was already shaping what this club would become.” — Josh Lane club would become,” said Josh Lane, Vice President of Marketing at Portland Hearts of Pine. “Artists and creatives have been foundational at every step: helping design the logo, illustrating posters, documenting moments, infusing a distinctly Maine DIY spirit into how this club shows up in the world. Their work has given form to this vision of ‘The Way Soccer Should Be.’ Through visual and emotional rallying points, it's the work of

this creative network that helps turn ‘The Soccer Club of Maine’ and the motto ‘Lead with Your Heart' into a story that belongs to every person who has their heart in Maine.”

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Photos courtesy of Hugh McCormick

DESIGNING IDENTITY

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Photo by Paula Wood

“[This logo represents] not only a city, a state, and an entire region, but also a culture centered around the world’s most beloved sport.”

— Hugh McCormick ’15

W

hen Hugh McCormick ’15 was approached to design the team crest and visual identity for Portland’s future professional soccer club, he understood immediately that the assignment was bigger than branding.

“This logo would be tattooed on countless fans,” McCormick said. “Representing not only a city, a state, and an entire region, but also a culture centered around the world’s most beloved sport.”

A graduate of Maine College of Art & Design’s Graphic Design program, McCormick created the custom “Pine Bandit” typeface for the club using inspiration from hand-painted signage at Portland’s historic Portland Company Complex. The result was a brand identity unmistakably rooted in Maine and embraced by fans across the state.

Now based in Colorado, McCormick remembers watching an early Hearts of Pine promotional video while working a cattle drive in Wyoming.

That combination of authentic design, storytelling, and shared cultural experience triggered an unfamiliar pang of homesickness in him. “For the first time in my life,” he said, “I felt homesick.”

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THE CLASSROOM AS A COMMUNITY LAB

I

n the fall of 2024, Graphic Design faculty member Amy Parker partnered with Hearts of Pine through her Professional Studio course, which gives students experience working with real-world clients and creative briefs.

Students were tasked with developing brand proposals for a youth-centered community initiative connected to the club that would later become Hearts of Pine Foundation. Hearts of Pine Foundation focuses on developing impact programming to build infrastructure and provide opportunities for youth to engage with the community through soccer.

Working in teams, students presented their concepts directly to club leadership, navigating the same creative conversations, revisions, and professional expectations they would encounter in the design industry.

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Photos by Kari Herer

Graphic Design major Zach Liljeholm ’25 said the collaboration reinforced the social role design can play.

“This collaboration was a wonderful reminder that design is only as good as its ability to serve and impact people,” Liljeholm shared. “There was so much compassion and love for the people of Maine imbued into every step of this work.”

The project demonstrated how Maine College of Art & Design provides opportunities for students to build relationships beyond the classroom, including those with organizations working to shape civic culture in Maine.

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FAN CULTURE AS CREATIVE PRACTICE — Josh Ricker

S

occer supporters’ groups are known around the world for transforming fandom into a visual spectacle through music, banners, murals, and large-scale illustrated displays known as tifos, which are unveiled inside stadiums before kickoff.

Hearts of Pine have their own dedicated and passionate supporters’ group, known as Dirigo Union. Josh Ricker, Dirigo Union Board Member and Treasurer, set the scene by sharing, “On a single Hearts matchday, you’ll find banners, flags, scarves, DIY crafts, and colored smoke filling the stadium, and that’s all before kickoff. Throughout most of the match, Dirigo Union supporter section becomes a blend of art, color, and subtle Maine references. But nothing brings art into our space quite like a tifo. These 30x50ft banners are unveiled a few times each season, featuring entirely new artwork every time.”

Photo by Natalie Conn, Salt ’07

“We cannot speak more highly about working with MECA&D students.”

In the fall of 2025, Dirigo Union issued an open call for artwork for the group’s final tifo of the season. Onyx Anastasia-Ramsay ’27, a junior Illustration major, learned about the opportunity through faculty member Sarah Shaw and, per the open call instructions, submitted a design inspired by Pennywise, the character from the HBO Series Welcome to Derry, and a nod to Maine author Stephen King and the seasonal atmosphere of the match.

After collaborating with the supporters group on revisions, Anastasia-Ramsay’s illustration was hand-painted onto a 50-foot banner and unveiled before thousands of fans at a sold-out stadium.

“It was an amazing experience to see my work unfurl in front of hundreds of people,” Anastasia-Ramsay said. “I’m so thankful to Dirigo Union for choosing me for this job.”

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Photo by Natalie Conn, Salt ’07

Tifo by Onyx Anastasia-Ramsay ’27

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Photo by Chris Linscott

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Photo by Neil Shelley, the Knack Factory and “Up the Hearts”

Tifo design by Avery Johnsen ’26

Photo by Chris Linscott

A

very Johnsen ’26, a Graphic Design major, had also submitted a design to the open call, and in the spring of 2026, Dirigo Union reached out with a new ask: design a tifo for the theme “Maine, Home for All.” On working with Anastasia-Ramsay and Johnsen, Ricker shared, “After doing this twice, we cannot speak more highly about working with MECA&D students. It is amazing to work with original designers that also happen to be right down the road.

“Aside from being incredible displays, these tifos create genuine moments of connection. Whether you’re helping lift it over your shoulder to the fans behind you or standing beneath it alongside hundreds of other Mainers, it makes you pause, appreciate the art, and feel proud of where you’re from.

It’s the kind of shared moment supporters rarely forget.”

“It makes you pause, appreciate the art, and feel proud of where you’re from.” — Josh Ricker

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DESIGNING FOR CULTURE AND COMMUNITY F

or Portland-based artist and designer Yai Deng, the connection between design and community is central to his creative practice.

Deng, who also serves as receptionist at Maine College of Art & Design, was commissioned in 2024 to design a promotional poster for Hearts of Pine’s jersey reveal event at the State Theatre.

His poster design captured both the club's visual identity and the energy surrounding Portland’s emergence as a soccer city.

Deng’s work helped reflect the overall experience of art intersecting with this cultural phenomenon: as Hearts of Pine have rapidly become one of Maine’s most visible cultural institutions, artists and designers have helped shape how the club looks and feels, and how it connects to the public.

Photos by Natalie Conn, Salt ’07

heartsofpine.com hmdc.co @mecad.gd @slapfish_art @averyj0hnsen @nully1999

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Seeing the World in color

By Leah Brooks

A

lina Gallo MFA ’08 received her Master of Fine Arts in Studio Art from Maine College of Art & Design in 2008. In 2017, with her husband Giuliano Matteucci, she founded A. Gallo Colors, following a period of research into Timurid, Safavid, and Ottoman manuscripts in collaboration with the Metropolitan Museum Department of Islamic Arts, the Topkapi Palace Library in Istanbul, and the Museum of Art at Bowdoin College’s Islamic Manuscript Collection.

Handmade in Italy, A. Gallo watercolors are crafted according to a traditional recipe of raw pigments, gum arabic from the acacia tree, local honey from Umbria, and rosemary essential oil. Every batch of paint is made from premium pigments and handpoured into pans. This intensive process creates a very pigmented, luminous, and pure paint with excellent lightfastness that activates beautifully when wet.

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Alina Gallo in front of the A. Gallo Colors Showroom

A. Gallo Colors Showroom and Atelier is located in Assisi, Italy, and their products are sold in specialty shops around the world, from Soho, New York, to London, Paris, Rome, and Madrid.

CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT YOUR EARLY RELATIONSHIP WITH ART AND COLOR? WHAT FIRST DREW YOU TO PAINTING? As a child, I remember seeing colors very vividly in that space between waking and sleeping—flashes, fleeting patterns, shifting forms. It wasn’t tied to anything physical, which made it even more fascinating. That experience stayed with me. They were vivid and fleeting, and I think they gave me an early sense that color could be emotional, atmospheric, and alive on its own. I think it made me curious not just about how to use color, but what color actually is—something that exists both as a physical material and as a kind of internal perception, almost as if it has its own life, its own sort of agency.

WHAT LED YOU TO PURSUE GRADUATE-LEVEL STUDY IN ART, AND WHAT WERE YOU EXPLORING DURING YOUR MFA AT MAINE COLLEGE OF ART & DESIGN? I pursued graduate study to better understand not just how to make work, but how it’s experienced; how materials, objects, and viewers interact on a more intuitive, pre-verbal level.

During my MFA, I was exploring non-representational dimensions, moments where color, material, or rhythm operate independently of what’s being depicted and the idea that meaning doesn’t exist in a fixed way, but emerges through encounter— through the emergent relationship between the viewer, the body, and the work unfolding over time. I became particularly interested in how even subtle shifts in material, repetition, or arrangement could shape perception.

That’s also when I began to think of color not just as something descriptive, but as a kind of language, or even a tool, something that actively constructs experience rather than simply illustrating it.

HOW DID YOUR EDUCATION AT MECA&D SHAPE THE WAY YOU THINK ABOUT MATERIALS AND CRAFTSMANSHIP AND PREPARE YOU FOR BUILDING YOUR COMPANY? My education and mentorship experiences at MECA&D really shaped how I think about both materials and making, not just in terms of technique, but in terms of meaning and experience. The training in critical theory taught me to question how things function, how they’re perceived, and what kind of relationships they create with the viewer or user.

It gave me an interdisciplinary framework for interpreting how meaning is constructed and experienced.

At the same time, it helped refine my intuitive sensibility, learning to trust perception, while also being able to articulate and challenge it.

That way of thinking became foundational when building my company. I don’t

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see it as separate from my artistic practice.

Creating a business is, in many ways, a creative act. The products are not just objects, but designed experiences.

So craftsmanship, for me, isn’t only about quality or tradition, but about how materials carry meaning, how they’re encountered, and what they evoke. Whether it’s a pigment, a brush, or a package, each element has the potential to shape perception.

In that sense, the brand itself becomes a kind of artwork, where every decision, from material sourcing to color to form, contributes to a larger experiential and conceptual whole.

WAS THERE A SPECIFIC MOMENT WHEN THE IDEA FOR A. GALLO COLORS BEGAN TO FORM? It wasn’t a single moment, but more of a gradual convergence. I had been thinking a lot about color as both a material and a

perceptual experience, and was already working with traditional paint-making methods in my own practice. This led to a period of more focused research into historical techniques and materials, in dialogue with institutions such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Topkapi Palace Library in Istanbul, and the Museum of Art at Bowdoin College.

A. Gallo Colors emerged from that intersection. In 2017, my husband, Giuliano Matteucci, and I founded the company in Assisi, building on an ongoing exchange between our practices—his as an artist and photographer, and mine rooted in material research and painting.

That dialogue took shape in a very specific context—the Umbrian hills, surrounded by the frescoes of Giotto and the natural landscape. It was a collaborative and iterative process in which ideas developed through constant exchange between us and the materials themselves.

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From that, we began creating the first curated sets of watercolor, inspired by these traditions, while also rethinking how artists encounter and experience color today.

DID YOUR ARTISTIC TRAINING PREPARE YOU FOR ENTREPRENEURSHIP—OR DID YOU HAVE TO LEARN AN ENTIRELY NEW SKILL SET? My artistic training prepared me to build something. The ability to think critically, to work through uncertainty, and to shape an idea into a coherent experience translates directly.

The business skills we had to learn along the way, but the underlying mindset, the ability to see connections, make decisions, and build with intention, came from our training as artists.

In a way, the absence of a traditional business mindset at the outset was important.

It allowed the project to begin without being driven by a bottom line. It started almost as an experiment, an attempt to understand what place handmade, artist-made tools might have in the contemporary world.

WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO YOU TO PRESERVE TRADITIONAL PIGMENTMAKING TECHNIQUES? Because they carry knowledge that is both material and cultural. Through my research into historical paint-making traditions, I became very aware that pigments aren’t just colors—they’re tied to specific places, histories, and ways of working.

For millennia, color, drawn from the earth, has shaped the unfolding of human imagination, serving as language, ritual, and revelation, woven into the fabric of our creative and inner life. & magazine 70

its full character. Because we work on a small scale, we can also be very nimble, producing artisan batches of exceptional pigments, such as ground meteorites gleaned in the Moroccan desert, violet lake pigment derived from logwood, or raw sienna from the historic quarry at Monte Badia.

Preserving these techniques is a way of maintaining that relationship to material. One that is slower, more intentional, and more directly connected to the origin of color.

HOW DOES HANDMADE PAINT CHANGE THE EXPERIENCE OF PAINTING FOR ARTISTS? Handmade paint makes the material more present. Working directly with traditional recipes, you become very aware of how the color behaves, its personality, its consistency, how it moves.

That awareness shifts the relationship between the artist and the work. It becomes less about controlling the material and more about working in dialogue with it.

At the same time, it allows us to maximize pigment load and avoid unnecessary fillers or brighteners, so the material retains

MANY OF YOUR PALETTES FEEL ALMOST LIKE ART OBJECTS IN THEIR OWN RIGHT. HOW INTENTIONAL IS THE DESIGN EXPERIENCE AROUND THE MATERIALS? It’s very intentional. I think of each palette as an object of encounter, not just something functional, but something that shapes how you approach painting.

The arrangement, the materials, even the scale, everything is designed to slow you down and heighten your awareness. In that sense, the palette becomes part of the experience, not just a tool.

That extends to our collaborations with Italian artisans, from brush makers like Tintoretto in Arezzo to Florentine marbled paper studios trained in the sixth-generation workshop of Giulio Giannini e Figlio. The hand-painted labels on Fabriano paper, the marbled packaging, and the Fedrigoni paper box bring a kind of synergy and aura to the object, where different traditions of making come together. The palette becomes not just a container of color, but a convergence of materials, gestures, and histories.

WHAT EXCITES YOU MOST ABOUT THE FUTURE OF A. GALLO COLORS? What excites me most is the possibility of continuing to expand what a color practice can be: deepening our work with materials, developing new collaborations with institutions and pigment experts, and drawing on historical traditions while creating new ways for people to engage with color.

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Recently, we’ve begun exploring this through a series of collaborations with cultural institutions. We created exclusive palettes for the Galleria Borghese, inspired by the permanent collection, including one based on Caravaggio’s original palette, and we’ve just begun working with the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.

At the same time, we’re developing more material-focused projects, like a special edition of Yirrkala pigments, generously shared with us by the late Steven Patterson of Derivan and the Buku-Larrnggay Mulka Centre. These are historically significant natural earth pigments from the Arnhem Land region, used in indigenous Australian art practices and often connected to ancestral narratives of fire, water, and cultural identity.

Equally inspiring is the growth of our team. We are now around twenty people across production, our flagship store, and administration; many have been with us for years. It’s been incredibly rewarding to see them develop their skills, take on more responsibility, and refine their craft over time.

As an artisan business, we’re deeply committed to supporting the next generation through training in traditional techniques as

well as an understanding of how those skills can exist within a contemporary, sustainable business. For us, it’s not only about preserving knowledge, but about creating the conditions for it to evolve and remain vital.

WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE A YOUNG ARTIST LOOKING TO BREAK INTO THE ART WORLD? I would say: focus on developing a way of seeing, rather than trying to fit into a system.

Work with intensity and depth, build a relationship with your materials and your ideas that feels genuinely yours. Don’t be afraid to involve others, let go of ego.

And don’t be afraid to create your own context. Sometimes building something, whether it’s a project, a platform, or even a company, is a way of extending your practice rather than stepping away from it.

agallocolors.com

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Alina Gallo’s

Guide To color & inspiration

3

1

A favorite artist

known for color?

Oh gosh, do I have

to pick just one?

Favorite pigment color of all time?

LAPIS LAZULI* KATARINA GROSSEI*

2

JOAN MITCHELL*

A color you think artists overlook?

RAW UMBER It carries a deep material history and has a quiet way of shaping temperature and transparency.

CECILY BROWN*

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A beautiful design object?

4

OLIVETTI LETTERA 22 TYPEWRITER*

5

A place in the world known for its colors?

VINIcUNca* The Rainbow Mountain in Peru

6 8

A book about color every artist should read?

BOOK OF EARTH

A galle

by Heidi Gustafson

HAUSE

ry that

A color you think defines the present moment in art?

PEARLESCENT GRAY

7

consist

ently in

R & WI

spires

you?

RT H

9 A museum that changed the way you see color?

FONDATION LOUIS VUITTON

10

in Paris

A historic or contemporary artwork with an incredible palette?

OPEN WALL*

by Helen Frankenthaler, 1953

Seeing the World in Color 75

*photo credits

on p. 100

ALUMNI NOTES Group Exhibitions

The Center for Maine Contemporary Art in Rockland, ME, featured exhibitions curated by and featuring alumni. Dylan Hausthor ’15 curated the group exhibition The Sun, Trying to Disappear; Meg Hahn '17 curated Fruition, a collaboration between Allison Cekala and Nate Luce; Tessa Greene O’Brien ’18 curated From the Collection of Lord Red by Kyle Downs ’07.

Let Me Grow Dark, an exhibition from Little Death and This Temporary Space, featured the work of Chip Barchilon MFA ’20, Katia Dermott ’22, Midori Morrow MFA ’22, Maya Tihtiyas Attean ’23, and Peter Wallis ’06.

Photo by Natalie Conn, Salt '07

The Portland Museum of Art acquired works by four alumni of Maine College of Art & Design following their inclusion in As We Are. The newly acquired works include Gay Bar (shell sculpture) and Red Sky at Night (drawing) by Brian Smith MFA ’20, Every Morning (quilt) by Rachel Gloria Adams ’09, Becoming a Ghost of Myself by Maya Tihtiyas Attean ’23, and Posted, Cape Elizabeth by Tessa Greene O’Brien MFA ’16.

Vivian Beer ’00, Eleanor Brown ’26, Quinn Cotnoir ’27, Jenny McGee Dougherty ’05, Mae Kenny ’25, Wills Phillips ’25, Ben Spalding MFA ’17 and Visiting Professor, Aaron T Stephan MFA ’02, and Ryan Wight MFA ’23 were included in the exhibition One Less Traveled, curated by The Gary Ambrose Sculpture Program Chair, Associate Professor Josh Reiman.

Tabitha Barnard ’16; Patricia Brace ’06; John P. Gardiner ’07, MFA ’14; Dylan Hausthor ’15; Benjamin Spalding MFA ’17; and Ryan Wight MFA ’23 were included in Lines / Loopholes: Maine College of Art & Design 2026 Faculty Triennial, which presented the work of nineteen artists who teach across the College in Academic Studies, Animation & Game Art, Ceramics, Printmaking, Photography, Painting, Sculpture, Textile & Fashion Design, Woodworking & Furniture Design, and Master of Fine Arts (MFA).

Photo by Kari Herer

The 2025 Alumni Triennial Assembly, juried

by Kiko Aebi, Katz Curator at the Colby College Museum of Art, featured work by Isak Applin ’98; Kyle Downs ’07; Nicole Duennebier ’05; Dylan Fruh MAT ’20; John P. Gardiner ’07, MFA ’14 and Dr. Gordon Johns PhD 2237; Jodie Mim Goodnough, Salt ’07; Dylan Hausthor ’15; Emmett Jorgensen ’24; Baxter Koziol ’17; Sage Lewis ’04; Kevin Mosca ’18; Olivia Propeck ’24; Mira Ptacin, Salt ’03; Elizabeth Scutt ’23; Joanne Steinhardt MFA ’02; Peter Wallis ’06.

Joanne Steinhardt MFA ’02 Shared Spaces, 2024.

Kohler toilet, miniature tile, grout, wire, glue, glass, glass beads, acrylic paint, ink, Bristol board, fabric, Sculpey, paper, colored pencil, plastic, micro lumber, plaster, electrical.

18 x 20 x 70"

Thomas Connolly ’87 and Grace Hager ’15, MFA ’23 were included in the Center for Maine Contemporary Art's 2025 Biennial. The exhibition was a survey of contemporary art by artists with ties to Maine, and featured 29 artists selected from a pool of over 450 applicants by jurors Keith Fox, Tom Keyes, and William Hathaway.

Tabitha Barnard ’16 In the Meadow (detail), 2025.

Archival Inkjet Print.

24 x 20"

John P. Gardiner ’07, MFA ’14 Blackhole Quantum Tunnel 2.7, 2026.

Dyed Wood Veneers, Italian Bending Poplar.

63 x 63 x 5"

Alumni Notes 77

Bachelor of Fine Arts

Photo by Kari Herer

Maya Tihtiyas Attean’s ’23 photograph titled Reclaiming is featured in Maine: A Force within American Art (1890-2026) at the Farnsworth Museum in Rockland, ME. Attean also had a solo exhibition, Does the Land Remember?, at Notch8 Gallery in Portland, ME.

Rachel Gloria Adams ’09 Every Morning, 2024.

Acrylic, corduroy, linen, cotton, wool 61.5 x 71.5"

Rachel Gloria Adams ’09 was featured in several exhibitions including a large-scale mural installation at the Worcester Museum of Art titled The More I Wander, The More I Love, a collaboration with Ryan Adams.

Adams' work is also included in Maine: A Force within American Art (1890-2026) at the Farnsworth Museum in Rockland, ME.

Photo by Lotus Rosalina Hebbing

Trina Baker’s ’93 animation titled Ball Lightning screened at IFFBoston at the Brattle Theater in Cambridge, MA and the Somerville Theater in Somerville, MA. Joanne Felice Boucher ’84 had work featured in Blue Raven Gallery in Rockland, ME and also wrote and published a book titled The Making of a Mechanical Heart: Self-discovery, joy, and forgiveness on the road to dying.

Patricia Brace ’06 A Sun Without A Sphere: 80° N (detail), 2025.

Archival inkjet print mounted to aluminum, inset frame.

Mask by George Brace.

17 x 25"

Patricia Brace ’06 was featured in several exhibitions including Lines/Loopholes at the Institute of Contemporary Art at MECA&D, Portland, ME; CAP at the League of NH Craftsman, Concord, NH; CAP at Watershed Center of Ceramic Arts, Edgecomb, ME; Activating the Labyrinth at UNE Gallery, Portland, ME; Tout le Monde at SEE/SAW Gallery, Rochester, NH; The Whispering at Sordoni Art Gallery, Wilkes University, Wilkes-Barre, PA; Book of H(ours) at Parsonage Gallery, Searsport, ME; Cosmic Things at George Marshall Store Gallery, York, ME; Cave at Zand Head Gallery, Portland, ME; and Echo Locator, Field Projects, New York, NY (Online).

Additionally, Brace was selected for the 2025 Maine Craft Apprentice Program through the Maine Craft Association.

Daniela Flint ’18

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Jenna Crowder ’09 was the Artist in Residence at Joshua Tree National Park for the month of December 2025, working on a novel that takes place between the Great Basin and Mojave deserts.

Hannah Day's ’20 small work exhibition, Minutae, was held at Belgrade Commons in Belgrade, ME. The exhibition was presented

by Lights Out Gallery.

Anysa Williamson Denby ’25 opened a storefront in downtown Portland, ME called AWD Studio + Shop, and features work by several alumni including her own line of textiles.

Kyle Downs ’07 had a solo exhibition titled From the Collection of Lord Red at the Center for Maine Contemporary Art in Rockland, ME. Ray Ewing ’12, photo editor for the Vineyard Gazette, was named photojournalist of the year at the New England Newspaper & Press Association awards.

Daniela Flint ’18 was included in the Amarillo Museum of Art Biennial and also had an interview featured in New England Art News.

Zoe Fox ’21 opened their tattoo shop in Brunswick, ME. Seraphina Gillman ’25, Joce Leo MFA ’25, and Hannah Tripp ’25 were all awarded the Emerge Artist-in-Residence in Print or Clay at Running With Scissors for the 2025–26 cycle.

Candice Gosta ’20 was awarded the David C. Driskell Fellowship from Indigo Arts Alliance.

Meg Hahn ’17 curated the group show, Earthy Glimmer, at Perimeter Gallery in Belfast, ME, which featured the work of Brendan Shea ’18.

Leigh Kapantais ’24, in collaboration Maine Authors Publishing, illustrated three children’s books including Three Wise Girls by Patty Bondant and The Chronicles of a Guinea Pig by Kayla James.

Mae Kenny ’25 exhibited work at The Gallery at Jimmy’s in Portsmouth, NH. Baxter Koziol’s ’17 body of work was showcased in An Absolute Everything at Buoy Gallery in Kittery, ME. Marcel Lewis ’25 will be a 2027 Artist-inResidence at Sculpture Space in Utica, NY. Stefan Mallette ’10 worked with P3 to design a Critter-verse for an animation projected on the L.L.Bean interim flagship tent during the 2025 holiday season, and also designed and completed a mural for a local business in Portland, ME. Abby Mechanic ’13 became president of the Furniture Society Board of Trustees and became Facilities Manager at Parsons School of Design for Wood, Metal and Light Lab. Autumn Noel ’25 was selected as one of 14 award winners out of nearly 200 applicants worldwide for the Women in Animation (WIA) Scholarship.

Olivia Van Oot ’24 was included in the exhibition titled A Craft of Their Own: Fine Woodworking in Maine at the Farnsworth Museum in Rockland, ME. Dominique Ostuni ’17 was the February 2026 cover story for Ceramics Monthly Magazine.

Max Ouellette ’24 completed a short film titled Antsy Antics and has been accepted into several animation festivals including The New York Short Animation Festival NYC (Honorable Mention), The Couch Film Festival Canada (Nominee), The Amsterdam Movie Fest (Best Animation), Frames of New York Film Festival (Finalist), The Berlin LiftOff Film Festival, CinemaKing International Film Festival Bangladesh, Iconic Indie Film Awards Pakistan, Tunisia Animation Cinema Days, PopCon International Film Festival, Tlanchana Fest Mexico, Film Festival David Taiwan, and Animation Screenings Film Festival Striped Tale Georgia.

Redford Reece ’26 was named one of ten recipients of the International Sculpture Center’s 2026 Outstanding Student Achievement in Contemporary Sculpture Award.

Naomi David Russo ’19 was featured in the exhibition LIFE FORMS: CONNECT at Triangle Gallery in Rockland, ME alongside faculty member Ling-Wen Tsai.

Makena Schwab ’24 worked on the animated pilot New Earth for Hekate Tales and has been working as a background artist for Studio Moya.

Carter Shappy ’15 was featured in the 32nd issue of Pressing Matters Magazine.

Brendan Shea ’18 was featured in the duo show, Dust in an oyster shell, at Blue Boy in Savannah, GA. Peter Shellenberger ’89 had an exhibition at ZERO STATION, and had work included in Seeing What Isn’t There at All Street Gallery in New York. His work is also featured in a book titled The Haunted: Contemporary Photography Conjured in New England, edited by Jocelyn Lee. Anoushe Shojae-Chaghorvand ’17 was appointed Assistant Professor of Art, Sculpture at the University of Arkansas.

Alumni Notes 79

Photo by Natalie Conn, Salt '07

Pia Paulina Guilmoth ’15 presented Flowers Drink the River a solo exhibition at CLAMP in New York City, and also won the Jury Special Mention at Paris Photo for their book, Flowers Drink the River.

Mae Kenny ’25.

Ringing In My Head

Jeanne Simmons ’91 had two solo exhibitions: Interweavings: Photography and Sculpture by Jeanne K. Simmons at Central Washington University, in Ellensburg, WA, and Jeanne K. Simmons: Rooted at the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art in Scottsdale, AZ.

riel Shurchio ’12 Infinity, 2023.

Silver gelatin contact print.

16 x 20"

riel Sturchio ’12 received the Robert Giard Grant to support creating work for their project before the last lilac blooms, a 15-yearlong project focusing on the intimate worldbuilding between queer non-normative twins and was also awarded a 2026 Guggenheim Fellowship.

Mai Snow ’13 was selected to attend the MASS MoCA studio residency program, and was awarded the MECA&D x MASS MoCA fellowship for alumni.

Master of Fine Arts in Studio Art Elaine Angelopoulos MFA ’09 was featured in an exhibition at the Consulate General of Greece in New York, NY.

Photo by Luc Demers

Anne Buckwalter MFA ’12 had a solo show titled Manors at the Farnsworth Art Museum in Rockland, ME.

Anne Buckwalter MFA ’12 Duet, 2024.

Gouache on panel.

40 x 30" Photo courtesy of Farnsworth Museum and Rachel Uffner Gallery

Maysey Craddock MFA ’03 exhibited new work at Cris Worley Fine Arts at the Dallas Art Fair in Dallas, TX. Michel Droge MFA ’10 was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship in Greece and Iceland for a research-based project titled Light, Salt, and Stone.

Drew Eastwood MFA ’24 was selected as a solo Artist-in-Residence at the Kolaj Institute in New Orleans, LA. James Parker Foley MFA ’20 opened an apartment gallery called Club Magic, which opened with an exhibition titled Infinite Games, also a fundraiser for Foley’s upcoming residency for emerging trans artists. Foley founded the Ultraviolet Studio Project, a residency program for trans artists in

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Portland, Maine and also established a project space called club magic. In addition, Foley curated a show (under the moniker club magic) as part of the inaugural Trans Art Fest in New York City. Restraint features 12 trans artists, including Jane Love MFA ’20 and H Peters MFA ’27.

John P. Gardiner ’07, MFA ’14 was featured in an exhibition titled Maine Wood at the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship in Rockland, ME, and was included in Field Notes, an exhibition at the Newburyport Art Association in Newburyport, MA. Amelia Garretson-Persans MFA ’16 founded Dream Club, an art, animation, and film program offering workshops for school-age children.

Jenna Girolamo MFA ’25 had her piece, Spring, featured in Suboart Magazine.

Kimberly Vose Jones MFA ’12 was an Artistin-Residence at Ardeche Verte in France and had a solo exhibition in Montreal at the Flowers Art Gallery at Dawson College in Montreal, Quebec.

Lynn Sisler MFA ’21 was featured at Cove Street Arts in Portland, ME, in the exhibition Critters.

Brian Smith MFA ’20 was featured in a solo exhibition, The Deep Sea is a Dark Room, at Moss Galleries in Falmouth, ME.

Ben Spalding MFA ’17 opened a solo exhibition titled Go Bang! at the Farnsworth Art Museum in Rockland, ME. Spalding was also awarded the David C. Driskell Fellowship from Indigo Arts Alliance.

Photo by Natalie Conn, Salt '07

Tessa Greene O’Brien MFA ’16 had her debut solo exhibition in New York City titled Poems From Here, co-presented by Alexandre and Candice Madey galleries.

Aaron T. Stephan MFA ’02 had a solo exhibition titled Murmur at the Center for Maine Contemporary Art in Rockland, ME.

Benjamin Spalding MFA ’17 Face off (detail), 2020.

Mesh, hardware, nails, metal mounting.

30 x 18 x 32"

Master of Arts in Teaching Megan Brand MAT ’25 was awarded the 2025 Preservice Art Educator of the Year from the Maine Art Education Association.

Charlotte Caron MAT ’23 was named the 2026 New to the Profession Art Educator of the Year by the Maine Art Education Association.

Salt Graduate Certificate in Documentary Studies Peter Lang-Stanton, Salt ’14 produced a piece for CBC’s show Love Me, which was also featured on NPR’s Snap Judgment. Peter’s piece about his son learning to talk was featured on 99% Invisible. Peter was interviewed by Ira Glass and featured on This American Life, and he launched a new local project: ANTLERS: Maine’s Audio Magazine.

Isaac Kestenbaum's, Salt ’08, award-winning podcast, Midnight Son, was adapted into the Hulu true-crime documentary, Blood and Myth, which premiered in the fall of 2025.

Julia Rush, Salt ’24 was named the Science Communication Fellow for the 2025 Schoodic Institute Cathy and Jim Gero Acadia EarlyCareer Fellowship.

Kaitlyn Schwalje, Salt ’18, wrote, directed, and produced a feature-length documentary titled Unless Something Goes Terribly Wrong, which premiered at the 2025 Camden International Film Festival.

Jo Strogatz, Salt ’24 won the NPR College Podcast Challenge Grand Prize.

Ariana Nedelman, Salt ’21, won a Peabody Award for her podcast When We All Get to Heaven.

Alumni Notes 81

Unless Something Goes Terribly Wrong poster

photo by Kari Herer

The One Second Man, 2023.

Oil on pine, standard framing, green, Velcro, Dino Mega Tub Collection palm tree.

44 x 11 x 72"

In Memoriam

Baxter Koziol ’15 An Artist With Boundless Imagination

Baxter Koziol ’15, 29, died on February 4, 2025. He was born in Cambridge, New York, on May 18, 1995.

Baxter majored in Painting and graduated from Maine College of Art & Design in 2015.

He was the recipient of the Full Tuition Scholarship, possessing a rare acumen for art that set him apart from his peers. After graduating from MECA&D, Baxter attended the Yale Norfolk Summer School of Art (2016) and the Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture (2017). He received his MFA in Sculpture from the Yale School of Art in 2024.

His visionary work was seen in institutions such as the deCordova Museum, the Newport Art Museum, Tribeca galleries, and other sites across the country. His work was featured in the recent alumni triennial exhibit, Assembly, in the ICA at MECA&D. Baxter saw potential in everything. He went through life collecting, saving, and repurposing, all while creating something entirely new and distinct. This resonated both in his craft and in the way he navigated the world. He hand-stitched everything, crafting superheroesque suits and imagined fabric characters, creating his own fantastical, otherworldly world. He was known to create gifts for those he loved, including intricate hand-stitched figurines and patchwork clothing. His family said, “Baxter was encouraged from the very beginning to thrive creatively. He found his penchant for fiber art and stitching most likely by osmosis from his mother, Karen, also an artist and inarguably his biggest fan.”

In Memoriam

In his free time, he was renovating a long-abandoned house that most people would have knocked down. His focus, inherent determination, and the magnitude of his creativity enabled him to make anything, and make it well, from fabric worlds to saunas to pierogis.

His family wrote, “For all his achievements, Baxter was also defined by a gentle, carefree boyishness. Some of his greatest passions were movies, superheroes, and toys, though he cannot be reduced to a mere collector. He approached these interests with the intellectual and analytical mind of an artist and a profound thinker. They also just simply brought him so much joy. He was playful to his core, particularly with his sister, Hazel, with whom a near-private language existed."

Baxter’s ability to perform magic through his creativity and kindness will be missed by those who loved him and by those whose lives Baxter only briefly brushed.

In Memoriam

Doug Vollmer Beloved MECA&D Science Teacher

Doug Vollmer and grandson Tannus.

Video Still from Reading the Water: Lectures on Home Video Ecology From the Gulf of Maine, 2007.

Doug Vollmer, former Adjunct Assistant Professor of Academic Studies and beloved faculty member for 40 years, passed away on January 16, 2025. Doug taught Natural Sciences at Maine College of Art & Design from 1976 through 2015. Along with Associate Professor Bob Jenkins (1947-2024), Doug helped design and furnish the Science Lab Classroom in MECA&D’s Porteous building. Doug envisioned a space where curious art students could interact with numerous specimens, ideas, and ecological warnings and truths. At one time, the lab housed a display of about 100 different marine specimens collected by students and by Doug. “It’s like a library,” he explained at the time, “creatures are available to students taking the course and to any other art student who is interested.”

Students could “check out” the creatures for temporary reference in their studios.

The Natural History of Coastal Ecosystems became a standard and much beloved course over Doug’s 40 years at MECA&D. Teaching and learning had been at the center of his life since he joined the College, and by all accounts before that, too—he had already been teaching for 20 years when he joined the MECA&D faculty. He was truly a life-long learner, which may be one reason he was such a successful, engaging teacher. Long before experiential learning became a popular term among teachers, Doug was doing it. As one alum said, “He made me realize education could be different. He was the first person who made me love science. I had spent high school sitting in classrooms memorizing facts and studying images and then, there I was, knee-deep in the marshes.” Doug retired from MECA&D in 2016.

Part Darwin and part Steve Irwin, but always uniquely Doug, he leaves a legacy of selfdescribed “ethically responsible pedagogy” combined with a personal, affectionate flair for investigating both the science and the art of nature. Doug believed that artists have a duty to raise awareness for important social and environmental issues, and that art, as a type of speech, is more effective than very technical approaches.

Doug Vollmer earned his BA at the University of Maine and his MST at the University of Montana. He received National Science Foundation grants in radiation biology and marine biology and was a collaborative producer of the award-winning video Reading the Water: Lectures on Home Video Ecology From the Gulf of Maine, which documents the interrelationship between three generations of Vollmer men as they explore the Maine shores. It was directed by his son Niklas Sven Vollmer in collaboration with Doug and grandson Tannus Vollmer and is available on Vimeo. In 2017, Doug was the recipient of the National Marine Educators Association (NMEA) Outstanding Teacher Award, which recognizes effective and innovative classroom teaching. In addition to his college teaching (including MECA&D, St. Joseph’s College, and the University of Maine), Doug taught innumerable workshops to kids and adults in a variety of settings from Maine to Montana. Doug is survived by his wife Kristina; son Niklas, daughter Jennifer, grandsons Tannus and Maximilian, brother Donald, and other relatives.

In Memoriam

Michèle Benoit Dion ’82 Portland School of Art Graduate

Michèle Benoit Dion ’82 passed away at 72 on Feb. 28, 2025.

She was born in Lewiston to Robert Ovila and Jeannette Benoit Dion, and most recently resided in Augusta, Maine. After graduating from Lewiston High School, Michèle completed studies at Portland School of Art (now Maine College of Art & Design), where she majored in Graphic Design, and cultivated her love of painting. She worked as a graphic designer before starting her career as an investigator with the Maine Human Rights Commission.

Michèle had a passion for writing and worked diligently to produce several novels, not yet published. She belonged to a book group that met weekly, was a keen photographer, and worked for community events. She had a talent for moving through life while finding beauty in the most ordinary places. Michèle was described as having "a larger-than-life laugh, quick to make sly and witty comments to get others to join in on the laughter." The beach was her favorite place to be as she found solace in the calming nature of those surroundings.

Michèle was predeceased by her parents and her brother, Robert O. Dion Jr., and is survived by her four sisters: Joanne Dion and husband Tom; Claudette Dion Agren and husband Douglas; Ann Marie Payne and husband Dwight; and Deborah Dion Simon and husband Bryan; as well as many nieces, nephews, and dear friends.

In Memoriam

Maximize Your Impact: Charitable Giving Through Your IRA IRA Rollover • Make a gift using your IRA to support our students today • Tax-free withdrawal • Fulfill your Required Minimum Distribution IRA Charitable Rollover allows individuals 70 1/2 and older to transfer up to $111,000 annually per person from their IRAs to charitable organizations without the withdrawal being treated as taxable income. The withdrawal can be counted toward your Required Minimum Distribution.

How do I make my gift?

Contact your IRA custodian and follow their procedures to request a “Qualified Charitable Distribution.” The check must be accompanied by your name and address in order for you to receive a written acknowledgment from us.

Please provide the recipient information below to your custodian, along with our Tax ID# 01-0378758. Please direct your check, drawn from your IRA account, to be made payable to Maine College of Art & Design: Maine College of Art & Design Attn: Development Office 522 Congress St. Portland, ME 04101

For more information, please contact Annie Wadleigh at awadleigh@meca.edu or 207-699-5015.

Annual Report Of Giving As of June 30, 2025 Maine College of Art & Design is proud to present our Annual Report of Giving to acknowledge and thank our donors for gifts made between July 1, 2024, and June 30, 2025, which totaled:

$4,343,181

Photo by Natalie Conn, Salt ’07

Thanks to our strong community of supporters, MECA&D continues to thrive. We are deeply grateful to all of our donors for their vital contributions to our mission to educate artists and designers for life; embolden a diverse group of creative thinkers to ask questions and solve problems; and activate students of all pursuits to make art, make an impact, and inspire change. Add your name to our growing list of donors, including alumni, friends, foundations, and others by making your gift at meca.edu/giving.

The Porteous Society Donors who make leadership gifts of $2,000 or more each year to any purpose at the College share the College’s commitment to provide our students with the tools and support they need to become successful in their chosen creative careers. Leadership donors at this level are invited to special private events throughout the year.

$100,000 and above

Parallax Art Center

Cary Slocum ’81

AlGar Foundation

Deborah S. Reed

VIA

The Bob Crewe Foundation

Malcolm and Susan Rogers

The Davis Family Foundation

Estate of Peter L. Sheldon*

Diane Garthwaite, Hon. DFA ’24

Estate of Joan Fowler Smith*

Elizabeth M. Wiseman Scholarship Fund of the Maine Community Foundation

Roger Gilmore, Hon. DHL ’02

Spotify Studios Union

Estate of Albert Hubbard*

Estate of Philip K. Stevens, Jr. ’91*

The Lunder Foundation

TD Charitable Foundation

Roxanne Quimby, Hon. DFA ’14

The WC & EJ Thornton Foundation

Jenny Scheu and John Ryan

Palmer Walbridge Foundation

The Weld Foundation

$20,000–$99,999 Anonymous Abbagadassett Foundation Inc. Jane G. Briggs Jennie and Chris Coyne Dr. Edward M. Friedman ’08 and Carole Joyce Friedman, Hon. DFA ’22 E. Kent Gordon Stephen and Palmina Pace Foundation

Abby and Barry Wark Kathryn Yates

$10,000–$19,999 Joan and Dan Amory John Bisignano and Bettina Swirkal Memorial Scholarship Fund of the Maine Community Foundation John Bubar Dan Crewe, Hon. DFA ’21 Diversified Maine Community Foundation Dr. Jeremy J. Nobel

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$5,000–$9,999 Michael Boyson and Nancy Grant Sandy and Anne Butterfield Robert and Kathleen Crispin Henry Donovan The Holt Family Fund of the Maine Community Foundation Betsy and Christopher M. Hunt, Hon. DFA ’13 The Roy A. Hunt Foundation The Jeremy Moser and Laura Kittle Fund Marianna C. Pierce Bibi and Fred Thompson The Rines Thompson Fund of the Maine Community Foundation Roople Unia and Graham Wellman

$2,000–$4,999 Judith Allen-Efstathiou Anderson Family Foundation Bath Savings Institution Jaden Kyung-Moon Bauch ’25 Nancy and Michael Beebe Don Best ’81 David and Jean Betses, Willard Publishing, Inc.

Bill Dill, Hon. DFA ’14 and Jean Dill

Northeast Delta Dental

Deborah H. Dluhy

Northland Management Corp.

donnersmith

Suzi Osher*

Heidi and David Fitz

The Press Hotel LLC

Dr. Laura Freid and Dr. David Gottesman

Donna Roggenthien and Ronald Leeking

Judy Hamlin ’82 and Gordon Hamlin

Ineke Schair Susan Schraft, M. D. and Richard Berne

Kelley and Francis Boero

Harvard Pilgrim Health Care / Point32Health

Maury Bohan

Alice Ingraham

John Bowdren

Jessica Jeffries ’15

Joseph and Susan Buchek P ’24

The William Sloane Jelin Charitable Foundation

Robert and Barbara Burgess

Jensen Baird

P.W. Sprague Memorial Foundation

Canopy by Hilton Portland Waterfront Hotel

Kennebec Savings Bank

Peter and Mindy Standley

Brian and Jeana Cho

Meredith and Mark Koerner P ’16

Jann Sterling

Judi and Paul Clancy

David Lakari

Clark Insurance, A Marsh & McLennan Agency LLC Company

Sue and Tom Lambe

The Harry E. Cummings Fund of the Maine Community Foundation Charles de Sieyes and Carol Ward Designtex Dietsch Family

Rebecca Lambert Margaret Lawrence ’93 Laurianne Listo June McCormack Suzanne and Cornelius McGinn The Stephanie Hope Mull Memorial Scholarship of the Maine Community Foundation

ANNUAL REPORT OF GIVING 91

Brian Smith MFA ’20 Sodexo Alice Spencer, Hon. DFA ’18 and Richard Spencer

Kristin and Warren Valdmanis Ashley Wernher-Collins ’16 and Scott Collins Vanessa White-Capelluti Wipfli Wright-Ryan Construction, Inc. Caron Zand

*Deceased P Parent

$1,000–$1,999

Emily Johansen

$500–$999

Richard* and Karin Anderson

Joseph’s of Portland

Anonymous (5)

Lori A. Austill ’85

Joy Family ’25

Cornelia Greaves Bates

Maya Amrich Kuvaja ’97

Leslie Anderson and Dan Nygaard

Chris and David Beneman

June LaCombe

Stephanie Berry

Catherine Callahan LeBleu

Matt Blackwell ’77

Karin Lium

Cathy Bloom

Mancini Electric, Inc.

Clements Charitable Trust

Roberta March MFA ’21

The Gene R. Cohen Charitable Foundation

Adam Masterman MFA ’24

Margaret and Dick Curran

Kathleen and Warren McKeon P ’02

Christina Davis ’87

Ann and Kent Mohnkern

Roderick L. Dew ’80, MFA ’00

Kenny and Mary Pennell Nelson

Jenny McGee Dougherty ’05 Kerem Durdag Edison Press Elizabeth Elicker Donald Endrizzi and Peggy Pennoyer Kenneth Eng Marian Godfrey Gardner Nancy Glover Alisha Gould MFA ’10 Nancy Bowling Gramps Rebecca and Joel Gratwick Jeanette Hagen Grace Hager ’15, MFA ’23 Arlene and Daniel Holtzman P ’23 (Parents of Joe Holtzman ’23) Lisa Houck Elinor S. Hudson Anne Ireland ’94 and Kenneth M. Cole III Cade Jarvis ’20

Anne and Vince Oliviero through the Arthur W. Purdue Foundation Peter Pachios and Helen Stevens Philadelphia Insurance Companies Sam and Teresa Pierce Frances E. Prinn Olivia Propeck ’24 Laura and Paul Retherford Mary Schendel and Phil Gleason David E. Shaw, Hon. DFA ’16 Charles David Thomas ’68, Hon. DFA ’16 USI Insurance Services, LLC Waypoint Brokers Collective Rob and Robin Whitten Brad and Ann Willauer Mr. and Mrs. Richard G. Wright

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Maya Attean ’23 Amy Bartlett-Goodness ’04 MJ Benson Allison Brown ’01 and Blake Brown Natalie Brown ’23 Stephen Chentow and Kathleen Ryan Tracey Cockrell Carolyn L. Collins Louisa Donelson Dana M. Dowling P ’26 Anne Dustin P ’81 Nancy Dustin East Brown Cow Management, Inc. Jack and Kay Emory Margaret Fast Michael Fillyaw Photography Grace Formica Kathleen Galligan John P. Gardiner ’07, MFA ’14 Alexander Garthwaite and Julie Brown-Garthwaite P ’25 Carol Grape ’78 and Mike D’Innocente Sara Gray Margo Halverson and Charles Melcher Susan Haskins-Doloff Edwin Heisler

Candace Pilk Karu, Hon. DFA ’13 Rachel Katz MFA ’00 Wendy VE Kaye Kathryn Knight-Wise The Second Abraham S. and Fannie B. Levey Foundation Lesley MacVane, Salt ’02 and Roger Berle Mascoma Bank Jennifer and Daniel Mayer P ’27 Avis and Fred Miller

Sandra Tardo-Long Izzy Van den Heuvel Stuart and Karen Watson Louisa Wickard Jeffrey P. Wolf ’97

$250–$499 Anonymous Melvin D. Adams III and Derrick Dyer Gary and Elaine Ambrose P ’06

Margaret Morfit

Ian Anderson and Kari Radasch ’97

Heidi and Kevin Munc P ’25

Dan Bailin

Vanessa Nesvig

Hilary Bassett

Jeff Noel ’85 and Cathy Burnham

Andrew and Linda Brenner

Northern Benefits of Maine LLC Sue Nutty Amy Nolan Osborn and Jim Osborn

Joel Ellis Brown Thomas C. Carney Sandi Carter Aaron M. Cheever ’97 Diana and Charles Coit Alice Dillon

Dan and Nancy Poteet

Neale Duffett, Darlene Panzino, and April Fortier

Celeste Roberge ’79 Nick Rossi Abbeth Russell ’11 Bill and Peggy Ryan Jim and Lynn Shaffer Rebecca Waxman Sneed and Douglas Sneed Ari and Natalie Solotoff Aaron Staples ’08

Bevin Holmberg Jeanne Holtzman and Tom McDermott P ’13 Richard and Jennifer Hubbell Mark Johnson and Lucy Breslin Tamara Jones Tim Kane Brian Killeen MAT ’19 James Kuhn Margaret Leonard ’82 W.B. MacDonald Peter Maloney ’25 Naomi Grace McNeill ’08

Jax Perry MFA ’27

Sean Roarty ’25

Mr. Robert Herold and Ms. Joan Sarles

Craig and Dolly Foster Olwen and Peter Gardiner P ’14

Larinda Meade Susan V. Morris Mahasti Mudd MFA ’08 Jillian Mumley ’26 Ali and Munira Naqui Grace Nelson ’82 Leonard and Merle Nelson, Hon. DFA ’04 Andrea Raynor ’92 Holly Ready ’94 Daniel N. Reardon Natalie Reed ’13

Linda Gerson

Noriko Sakanishi ’70

Sam Giberson

Lin Snow ’20

Cate and Richard Gilbane

Rachel Somerville

Shelby Goldsmith ’14

Sophia Sutherland

Sally and Don Gould P ’09

Unum Matching Gifts Program

Rebecca and Joel Gratwick Ralph Harding

ANNUAL REPORT OF GIVING 93

Patricia VanTuyl

Amy Vander Els

Dianne Chicoine

Micah D. Johnson

Cerata Virens ’25

Andrew and Judith Coburn

Donna Katsiaficas

Brian Wilk ’95, Hon. DFA ’25 and Linda Wilk ’95

Sarah Daignault

Stuart Kestenbaum and Susan Webster

Paula and Jamie Zeitlin

Nancy R. Davison Anysa Denby ’25 Anne E. Dennison

$100–$249

Katia Dermott ’22

Anonymous (4)

Doug Doering P ’20

J.B. Adler

Tom and Sarah Dowd

Aglaia and Mumtaz Ahmed P ’94

Joel Eckhaus and Donna Doughten

Tom and Diana Allen

Linda and Sam Emerson

Amanda Anderson

Maggie Fehr ’89

Kyle and Stephen Atwell

Joshua Ferry ’94

Katharine Ayer ’98

Stephen and Joan Fitzhugh P ’05

Sally and Ron Bancroft Harold Barnard Betsy Barrett Andrea Berne William Blake Lisa and Scott Boing P ’26 Erno and Victoria Bonebakker Pamela Bosco ’89 Katie Bove Carolyn Branson Doris Brossy S. Bruce Brown Burgess Advertising & Marketing Jane Burke Murals ’77 Jordan Carey ’19 David and Cheryl Carter Frances P. Caswell Tom and Kate Chappell

Dai Kozuru ’90 Ken Kraft Ted and Susan Kutscher James and Valerie Lane P ’92 Nancy Larsen Justine Louise Lasdin MAT ’19 Rob Licht ’84 Peter R. Lindquist ’81 and Sarah Ruef-Lindquist Martha Lohaus ’98 David Low Carol MacLeod

Rachel Flaherty ’91

George E. Mandell P ’16

Julie Coxe Freund ’81 and Daniel Freund

Kate and Jack Mann

JoAnne and Richard Fuerst James H. Gambrill

Andrew Marsters Tracy Sunday Mastro ’91

Give Lively Foundation, Inc.

Robin McCarthy ’87 and Ted McCarthy

Peggy Greenhut Golden

Tim and Jay McCreight

Kerry Goulder ’25

Frank and Susan McGinty P ’08

Diane L.E. Green-Minor Karl and Janet Hager P ’15 Barbara Hawes ’78 Connie Hayes ’80, Hon. DFA ’03

Maureen McHugh Samuel Mechanic P ’13 Susan Meixell ’93 Jerry C. Millhon P ’95

Holly Higgins

Carolynn Molleur

Jamie Hogan

Leeanna Morris MFA ’14

David Hutchins ’87

Anna Morse ’18

Kathy Irving

Katie Murphy ’91 and Peter Lindsay

Jamie Isaacson Linda Jackson-Washburn

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Diane and Steve Neal

Anne and Ben Niles

Steven Thompson ’82

Jill Dalton ’99

Judy O’Donnell

Jeanne Titherington ’73

Deb Debiegun

Jo Ophardt ’25

David Tourangeau and Marjorie Getz

Lea DeForest ’07

Claudia and Harold Pachios Stephen Pannone ’81 Meg Brown Payson Jeff and Sarah Peterson Lois P. Poster P ’97 Sandra Quinn ’87 and Eddie Quinn Christina and Terry Rielly P ’23 Frank and Susan Ruch Sarah Ruef-Lindquist and Peter Lindquist ’81

James Turack Christine J. Vincent

Tim Finin and Marcia Ames P ’13

Annie Wadleigh

Marilyn Fraktman

Mr. Neil W. Wallace

Carri Frechette

William Webster

Lisa Gent

Mardie Weldon

Phyllis and Bernard Givertz

Donna Wermenchuk

Pauline Gobeil ’81

Kay K. White

Sharon Greenlaw

Rosemary Whitney

Marcie Parker Griswold, Salt ’04

Andrew Xenos ’12

Betsy Scheintaub

Up to $99

Ellen Seidman

Anonymous (2)

Michael and Tammy Sherwood

Niru Aggarwal and Frank Robbins

Amy L. Shinn

James Baker and Laura Dixon

Jenepher Burton Johanson ’92

Martha de Lyra Barker P ’18

John and Janice Siegle

Kathleen Bender

Dennis and Cheryl Sinauskas P ’09

Sue Berg MFA ’01

Kenneth Spirer and Joan Leitzer Abby Sprague ’25 Seth and Laura Sprague Andy and Thera Stack P ’16 Dr. Constance Joy Stevenson P ’03 Ryan Swedenborg MFA ’25 The Sylva Family ’14 Peg, Bill, and Isa Teatreault ’18

Barbara Harrison Andrea and Terry Hook P ’13

Stephen and Lisa Schiffman

Sarah Shor and Tim Ewald P ’26

Peter F. Donnelly

Cheryl Boissoneau Valerie J. Botter P ’16 Betty Bricker-Small and David L. Small Christopher and Leah Brooks

Emmett Jorgensen ’24 John Kaminski and Wendy Cherubini Michael Lewis P ’16 Karen Lukas Estelle S. Maillet ’59 Joyce Mastro P ’91 Karol Maybury P ’25 Sarah S. Meacham Judith and Lucien Morin Carol Nale Dorothy and Bogdan Olaru

Christine Byrne

Claire Olson-Crocker

Claude Caswell

Will O’Shea

James C. Chute

Joseph and Susan Packard P ’14

Maysey Craddock MFA ’03 Carol A. Crothers

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Barbara S. Pappas P ’80

Tony Payne Abby Peck Cynthia Pettengill Russ and Lisa Pierce Roxanne Pizzuto ’89 Phoebe Porteous Gaetano and Phebe Quattrucci Whit Kilpatrick Russell ’09 Pam Ryder P ’17 Susie and Jeff Saffer Suzanne Strempek Shea ’80 Deborah S. Shinn Karen Siatras ’91 Jack Silverio Hugh Sisson Addy Smith-Reiman and Joshua Reiman Paul and Vivian Smith P ’20 Eli Sobel Dawn L. Stanley ’62 Melissa Sullivan Polly Talbott Mara Tieken V Vale ’87 Joel Van Tassell Michael C. Welch ’68 Audrey M. White P ’94 Sally Wigon

1882 Society Maine College of Art & Design’s 1882 Society gratefully recognizes individuals who have made arrangements to benefit the College in their estate plans. Please contact Annie Wadleigh, Associate Director of Development, at awadleigh@meca.edu to learn more about making a legacy gift to the College.

Several additional donors have made their planned gift intentions known but prefer to remain anonymous.

Jane Briggs Allerton Cushman Roderick Dew ’80, MFA ’00 Deborah H. Dluhy John Eide Roger Gilmore, Hon. DFA ’02 Constance Hayes ’80, Hon. DFA ’03 Alison D. Hildreth ’76 Candace Pilk Karu, Hon. DFA ’13 Mark and Meredith Koerner P ’16 Marta Morse Grace Nelson ’82 Lois P. Poster ’97 Deborah Spring Reed Katy Stenhouse ’91 Hoyt Walbridge, Ph.D Susan H. Webster Caron C. Zand

Sarah Camille Wilson ’07 Jasmine Zateeny ’00

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FY25 Giving to Maine College of Art & Design Fundraising Events: $139,459 // 3% Restricted Gifts: $480,513 // 11%

Campaign Gifts: $1,948,587 // 45%

Annual Fund: $625,063 // 14%

Total: $4,343,181 Endowment Gifts: $1,149,559 // 27%

Maine College of Art & Design’s Giving Program Every donor is vital and we strive to keep accurate records. We apologize if we inadvertently omitted or misspelled any names. Please let us know so we may correct our records. Contact us at 207.699.5015 or advancement@meca.edu with any comments or questions about our giving programs. Making a gift is easy and secure at meca.edu/donate.

ANNUAL REPORT OF GIVING 97

Commemorative, Tribute, and Legacy Gifts It is especially meaningful for Maine College of Art & Design to be the recipient of gifts to commemorate or honor a student, graduate, family member, faculty member, or friend of the College. Gifts to our endowment benefit the College in perpetuity and provide annual income for scholarships and designated program and operating support. Annual Fund and Restricted Gifts provide additional vital funding for specific projects that otherwise might not be possible.

In Honor of Derek Boing ’26

In Memory of Jim Dustin ’81

Lisa and Scott Boing P ’26

To the James Dustin ’81 Endowed Scholarship

In Memory of Mary and Chip Chadbourn To the Alfred “Chip” Chadbourn Endowed Scholarship Nancy Bowling Gramps Susan Haskins-Doloff Ted and Susan Kutscher Mr. and Mrs. Richard G. Wright In Honor of the Class of ’87 Sandra Quinn ’87 and Eddie Quinn To the Madelyn B. Cohen Visiting Artists Endowment Fund The Gene R. Cohen Charitable Foundation To the Roderick L. Dew MFA Travel Grant Roderick L. Dew ’80, MFA ’00 In Memory of Bill Dustin ’81 To the James Dustin ’81 Endowed Scholarship

Anne Dustin P ’81 Nancy Dustin To the Dr. Edward M. Friedman ’08 and Carole Joyce Friedman Artists at Work Professional Development Endowment Dr. Edward M. Friedman ’08 and Carole Joyce Friedman, Hon. DFA ’22 In Memory of Doris Ann Holman To the Christine Maclin Continuing Studies Endowed Scholarship Fund Doris Brossy Carol A. Crothers Neale Duffett, Darlene Panzino, and April Fortier Sharon Greenlaw Carolynn Molleur Claire Olson-Crocker Cynthia Pettengill Mara Tieken

Nancy Dustin

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To the Impact Award Scholarship Fund Parallax Art Center In Memory of Dahlov Ipcar Thomas C. Carney In Memory of Donald C. Lerch ’49 Nancy Larsen In Memory of Kate Libby ’80 David and Jean Betses, Willard Publishing, Inc. To the Lunder Scholars Fund The Lunder Foundation In Honor of Abby Mechanic ’13 Samuel Mechanic P ’13 To the Mildred A. and Harold P. Nelson Endowed Scholarship Leonard Nelson and Merle Nelson, Hon. DFA ’04 To the Diane Nolan Endowed Scholarship Anonymous Amy Nolan Osborn and Jim Osborn

In Memory of Anne Honeywell Orr

In Memory of Joan Fowler Smith

In Honor of Scott Stevenson ’03

To the Anne Honeywell Orr Memorial Endowed Scholarship

To the Joan Fowler Smith and Duncan Smith Endowed Scholarship

Dr. Constance Joy Stevenson P ’03

Anonymous

Estate of Joan Fowler Smith

Stephen Chentow and Kathleen Ryan

In Memory of Bonnie Spiegel

To the Pace House Stonington Endowed Fund Stephen and Palmina Pace Foundation In Honor of Polk Millhon Prudhomme ’95 Jerry C. Millhon P ’95 In Memory of Hugh William Rooney Holly Higgins The Salt Fellowship Scholarship Fund Lesley MacVane, Salt ’02 and Roger Berle In Memory of Patti Sandberg ’02 To the Patti Sandberg ’02 Memorial Award Kathleen and Warren McKeon P ’02 In Memory of Patti Sandberg ’02 Sarah Camille Wilson ’07

Heidi and David Fitz To the Spotify Studios Union Scholarship for the Salt Institute of Documentary Studies at MECA&D Spotify Studios Union In Memory of Margaret “Peg” Libby Standley ’52 To the Margaret Libby Standley ’52 Endowed Scholarship Peter and Mindy Standley In Memory of Lana Sternick ’16 Valerie J. Botter P ’16 In Memory of Philip K. Stevens, Jr. ’91 Judith and Lucien Morin In Memory of Philip K. Stevens, Jr. ’91 To the Philip K. Stevens, Jr. ’91 Endowed Scholarship Fund Anne E. Dennison Estate of Philip K. Stevens, Jr. ’91

ANNUAL REPORT OF GIVING 99

In Memory of Joanne Waxman To the Joanne Waxman Endowed Scholarship Rebecca Waxman Sneed and Douglas Sneed In Memory of Alice Homer Willauer To the Winslow Homer Endowed Scholarship Brad and Ann Willauer In Honor of Kathryn Yates To the Anne Honeywell Orr Memorial Endowed Scholarship Betsy Barrett In Honor of previous MECA&D Board of Trustees Chair Kathryn Yates Dr. Jeremy J. Nobel

LEADERSHIP TEAM Laura Freid, President Beth Elicker, Executive Vice President Ian Anderson, Vice President of Academic Affairs & Dean of the College Laura Retherford, Vice President of Development EDITOR Leah Brooks, Director of Marketing & Communications DESIGN Claire Christensen ’23, Graphic Designer COVER Hannah Holt ’26 BOARD OF TRUSTEES Abigail Wark, Chair Diane Garthwaite, Vice Chair Nathan Aranson Daniel Bailin John Beliveau Michael Boyson C. P. (Sandy) Butterfield Jordan A. Carey ’19 Jeana Cho Jennie Coyne Stacey Dietsch Deborah H. Dluhy Kerem Durdag Edward Friedman ’08, Hon. DFA ’22 Kathryn Knight-Wise Meredith Koerner P ’16 Sue Lambe Roberta March MFA ’21 Marianna Pierce Susan A. Rogers Gimbala Sankare Jenny Scheu Kristin Kellogg Valdmanis Brit Vitalius Kathryn Yates EMERITUS TRUSTEES Joan L. Amory Jane G. Briggs Daniel N. Crewe, Hon DFA ’21 Alison Hildreth '76, Hon. DFA ’17 Betsy Evans Hunt, Hon. DFA ’13 Candace Pilk Karu, Hon. DFA ’13 Paula Crane Lunder, Hon. DFA ’17 Deborah Spring Reed Maine College of Art & Design 522 Congress St Portland, ME 04101 1.800.639.4808 meca.edu / info@meca.edu

IMAGE CREDITS SEEING THE WORLD IN COLOR “Lapis lazuli (lazuritic metamorphite) (Sar-e-Sang Deposit, Sakhi Formation, Precambrian, 2.4-2.7 Ga (?); Sar-eSang Mining District, Hindu-Kush Mountains, Afghanistan) 8” by James St. John, CC BY 2.0 Messeplatz with CHOIR installation

by German artist Katharina Grosse at Art Basel 2025 CC BY 4.0 “‘Edrita Fried’ de Joan Mitchell (Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris)” by Jean-Pierre Dalbéra, CC BY 2.0 “Cecily Brown, A Swan Comforting a Snake, Oil on linen” by Ali Eminov, CC BY-NC 2.0 "Olivetti Lettera 22 Typewriter Marcello Nizzoli" by Austin Calhoon, CC BY-SA 3.0 "Vinincunca - Montaña arcoiris" by EdsonFuentesMera, CC BY-SA 4.0 Helen Frankenthaler. Open Wall, 1953. Oil on canvas. 53 3/4 × 131 in. Kenneth C. Griffin Collection. © 2026 Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, Inc. / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

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