The Portland Museum of Art has acquired the works of four Maine College of Art & Design alumni! The pieces were featured in As We Are, which offered a snapshot of the Contemporary Art Scene in Maine and included the works of 14 emerging artists, 10 of whom were MECA&D alumni or faculty.
The pieces acquired are Gay Bar (shell sculpture) and Red Sky at Night (drawing) by Brian Smith MFA ’20, Every Morning (quilt) by Rachel Gloria Adams ’14, Becoming a Ghost of Myself by Maya Tihtiyas Attean ’23, and "Posted, Cape Elizabeth" by Tessa Greene O'Brien MFA '16.
On the acquisition, Smith shared, “When I came to Maine for the MFA accepted students day, I explored around town and caught the 2018 Biennial exhibition on First Friday at the PMA. I remember being blown away by the caliber of work I saw, and that exhibition really helped solidify my choice to move to Maine. I very consciously had the thought that it'd be such a dream to show there one day, so this moment of having been on view in the PMA, and them acquiring works from me feel like extremely important milestones in my career—meeting a goal I set back when I decided to move here.”
The exhibition, along with the acquisitions, has enlivened our student body, giving them a plethora of alumni to be inspired by.
Sayantan Mukhopadhyay, The Associate Curator of Modern & Contemporary Art and the curator behind As We Are at the PMA told us, "Since arriving in Maine two years ago, I have been consistently inspired by the spirit of exchange and generosity among artists here. There is a longstanding legacy of artists working in and around the region, and it is exciting to see that history alive and well. There is no greater time to be an artist here than today and MECA&D is at the forefront of generating the future's talent."
