Ceramics alum Greg Giegucz '97 was awarded a Pollock Krasner Foundation Grant. The grant extends for one year and will be used to develop new drawings and paintings for a solo exhibition at Big Bunny Fine Art in April 2012 which will coincide with the New Orleans Jazz Fest. Giegucz shared the news with MECA and said, "I am so grateful and proud of the many positive life changing experiences at MECA. I continue to carry the fondest memories of Maine."

 The Maine Arts Commission, the Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance and Artists in Context present a OneBook Club event featuring the book "Felt: Fluxus, Joseph Beuys, and the Dalai Lama" by MECA faculty member Chris Thompson. Read the book, and then join the author and your community of fellow readers for a discussion. The event takes place on  Thursday, October 27 from 7pm to 9pm at the  Frontier Cafe in Brunswick.

"Felt" centers on a highly publicized yet famously inconclusive 1982 meeting between German artist Joseph Beuys and the Dalai Lama. Thompson—an associate professor of art history at Maine College of Art in Portland—explores the interconnections among Beuys, the Fluxus movement, and Eastern philosophy and spiritual practice.

The community is an extension of our campus. Below you will find examples of where our students are working on projects with local businesses and nonprofits that make Portland unique.

All first year students at MECA are required to take the class FYIn, which introduces them to each other, the college, and the local community. The class of more than 120 students is divided into six groups, each with a community partner and real world project. This year’s partners are: Cultivating Community, Spiral Arts via Youth Alternatives, King Middle School, Space Gallery and The Portland Freedom Trail.

Students in Samantha Haedrich's Graphic Design class are working with the Portland Pirates to create a new logo in celebration of the hockey team's 20th anniversary.

Scott Nash’s Illustration students are working with Portland Rotary on designs for the public clock in Monument Square.

Students in Dana Sawyer’s philosophy course The Potentials of Human Consciousness are partnering with the Cambodian Buddhist Temple in Portland.

Students in Elizabeth Jabar’s Second Year Lab collaborated with Pickwick Independent Press (founded by alum Lisa Pixley ‘07). Students carved letter forms and make a giant outdoor letterpress to print tweets on canvas sheets that were then strung on rope and hoisted to the top of the Artist Studio building during Block Party. They are also partnering with the League of Young Voters on creating printed matter related to voting issues.

Paul Gebhard's students in The Art of Teaching Art will be partnering with The Telling Room and local Portland youth on their anthology and exhibit Searching for ME.

Maine College of Art students will have an exhibition of work in the Monument Square branch of Key Bank in November. As the official sponsor of the popular First Friday Art Walk, Key Bank is partnering with a different arts organization each month.

Students in Christina Bechstein’s Public Art class are partnering with TedXDirigo and the Institute of Contemporary Art at MECA to participate in INSIDE OUT, a large-scale art project that transforms messages of personal identity into pieces of artistic work.  This global project asks local communities to produce black and white photographic portraits to discover, reveal, and share the untold stories and images of people around the world. The students are identifying subjects for large photographic portraits related to issues of voice and audience in the first Portland mayoral election. Look for them around the city during the first week of November.

Students in Matt Hutton’s Woodworking & Furniture Design elective class Design: A Sustainable Approach are working with Allagash Brewing Company. As part of their process for the Curieux ale, Allagash uses 30-gallon whiskey barrels. This fall, students are tasked with using these discarded barrels as their case study for the semester. Research includes understanding the origin of the product, developing a prototype, and then producing a new object, either sculptural or functional. Finished pieces will be on view at the Allagash retail store in late winter.

The exhibition of work by Maine Art Teachers ""My Other Hat" is now on display at Maine College of Art in the Zand Head and Hall Galleries through October 21st.

An opening reception will be held on Friday, October 7th from 5- 8 pm during First Friday Artwalk and is courtesy of the MECA Advancement Office.

This exhibition brings together the creative work of 45 Art educators from around the state and celebrates the studio practice and exploration that takes place beyond the classroom.  This show features a variety of media including: drawing, painting, printmaking, photography, collage, mixed media, ceramics and sculpture.  Artists represented in this show teach in Maine's public and private schools and universities and are members of the Maine Art Education Association, an arts advocacy organization that encourages innovation and research in art education, the exchange of ideas and practices among teachers, and promotes the artistic learning of children.