First Traces at CMCA 2008

First Traces at CMCA 2008

Highlighting the creative processes by exhibiting artists’ first drafts, thoughts, and inspirations, the Center for Maine Contemporary Art (CMCA) presented an exhibition of sketchbooks titled First Traces, curated by Britta Konau from October 31 – December 20, 2008....

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Nikki Schumann — Thirty years apart

Nikki Schumann — Thirty years apart

I hold my sketchbooks near and dear as they’ve always been a safe and solitary place to play, like the swing set in a nearby park when no one else is there. These images are from two sketchbooks filled more than thirty years apart. The black and white thumbnail...

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Streaming Consciousness with Richard Iammarino

Streaming Consciousness with Richard Iammarino

“Wanderer—there is no path…the path is made by walking…” Luigi Nono Introduced By Kathy Weinberg I recently took a ramble through Richard Iammarino’s selection of his works from his 60 years of making art, featuring sculpture, drawing, painting, woodcarving, travel...

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Judy LaBrasca — Why I keep a sketchbook

Judy LaBrasca — Why I keep a sketchbook

For quite a few years, I’ve been teaching a class called “Sketchbooks: Cultivating a Daily Practice”. The students who take this class are invariably interesting people. Each one has a particular reason for signing up, often including a desire to start drawing, or to...

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Stephen Petroff — Sketchbooks as Publication

Stephen Petroff — Sketchbooks as Publication

Reading a poem aloud is publication.  Stapling a few drawings and poems together, and handing out the results to strangers in Tompkins Square Park is publication. Working out the project of creation as it spreads through the pages of a sketchbook is...

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Sarah Bouchard — TCELFER REFLECT

Sarah Bouchard — TCELFER REFLECT

The first snow of the season fell on a Saturday evening, December 10th, 2017. The weather was mild, and it was an easy and eagerly awaited start to the coming winter. That night, I received images of SELF TCELFER (pronounced “self self-er”), an outdoor sculpture I had...

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Without Question: Legal Commentary by Ari Solotoff, Esq.

Without Question: Legal Commentary by Ari Solotoff, Esq.

Without question, Sarah Bouchard’s story recounting the destruction of her sculpture is disheartening.  There is a natural feeling of injustice when something of value has been damaged, in this case irreversibly.  Whether faced with physical damage to a...

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Elizabeth Tibbetts Poetry — Introduced by Betsy Sholl

Elizabeth Tibbetts Poetry — Introduced by Betsy Sholl

The following three poems are by Elizabeth Tibbetts, from her new book, Say What You Can, to be published by Deerbrook Editions,  Spring 2019. Elizabeth grew up in Camden and has worked as a nurse for many years.  Her poetry is rich, in observation, stunning sensual...

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Kifah Abdullah Poetry — Introduced by Betsy Sholl

Kifah Abdullah Poetry — Introduced by Betsy Sholl

Kifah has translated his poem H.O.M.E. into English from the Arabic.  In English it shows the influence of the ghazal, a Persian poetic form, which involves couplets that repeat the same word at the end of each couplet.  You can hear the influence of that pattern here...

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Carlo Pittore — The Impossible Dream

Carlo Pittore — The Impossible Dream

There are no exceptions: without independence there can be no art. The history of art tells us that all powerful artists broke with the past, and with their contemporaries, and created independently. Giotto broke with Cimabue and the Byzantine tradition and developed...

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Robert Shetterly — Reflections on Portrait Exhibit

Robert Shetterly — Reflections on Portrait Exhibit

Before coming to Syracuse University for the opening of the Americans Who Tell the Truth portrait exhibit, a number of people asked me what it was going to feel like to see all the portraits at once. In retrospect, this question seems like asking a thirteen year old...

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ARRT! and LumenARRT!

ARRT! and LumenARRT!

The Artists' Rapid Response Team! is a project of the Union of Maine Visual Artists, and receives additional help from the Broad Reach Fund at the Maine Community Foundation. ARRT! works to give a visual voice to progressive organizations, schools and community groups...

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Robert Shetterly — UMVA Request

Robert Shetterly — UMVA Request

Dear Friends and Members of the UMVA: Money is not an easy thing for me to ask for.  But if the UMVA is going to carry on doing all the important things we do (see below) we need you to JOIN or RENEW your MEMBERSHIP today.  Go to  www.umvaonline.org...

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William Hessian — UMVA News

William Hessian — UMVA News

Dear Members of the UMVA,  I am proud and honored to be named the interim President of the Union of Maine Visual Artists. President Robert Shetterly's skilled leadership and excellence in the position has been a huge inspiration to me and my work within the UMVA....

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UMVA Lewiston Auburn Winter 2019 Update

UMVA Lewiston Auburn Winter 2019 Update

UMVA-LA  has had an exciting few months! Our Annual Harvest Masquerade Ball was wonderful as always and the new owners of the Agora Grand Event Center offered a magnificent venue.  We have hope that this event will continue to grow and be a staple for the community’s...

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Invitation to contribute to the Spring 2019 Issue: Sanctuary

Invitation to contribute to the Spring 2019 Issue: Sanctuary

Art, in its various forms, helps to define an era. For many of a certain generation the opening chords to the song “Gimme Shelter” send a chill and recall the chaos of the 1960’s.  In childhood, sanctuary can come from a fort between two chairs and blanket, or a perch...

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