Each year, graduate candidates in the Master of Fine Arts in Studio Art (MFA) program at the Maine College of Art & Design (MECA&D) descend on the city of Portland for an eight-week intensive during the summer trimester. During this time, students bond as an artistic cohort and engage in interdisciplinary conversations that will challenge and inform the art created throughout the program.
Central to the MFA Summer Intensive is the intimate exchange between our emerging artist candidates and the prestigious talent of the Visiting Artists on site each week for lectures, critiques, and studio visits.
We are pleased to announce the 2024 Summer Visiting Artist Lecture Series, running June 17–July 31, which will include the thinking and work of:
- Sonya Schönberger, a visual artist whose practice deals with biographical fractures against the background of political or social upheavals. Monday, June 17, 5:30 pm.
- Heather Guertin, paintings contain a diverse variety of mark-making and reference a large collection of visual subject matter, she uses abstraction in her work as a passageway to better understand form. Monday, June 24, 5:30 pm.
- Annika Earley, makes intimate works on paper about the gendered gaze, the demands and joys of motherhood, sensuality, and the measures women take to protect themselves in a patriarchal world. Wednesday, June 26, 5:30 pm.
- Andrew Roberts, a visual artist exploring the material dimension of horror through digital animations, installations, sculptures, and poetry. Monday, July 1, 5:30 pm.
- Deepanjan Mukhopadhyay, works within various object and image-based practices, investigating shifting meanings within post and neocolonialism while still reflecting on the very mediums of representation that he uses. Wednesday, July 3, 5:30 pm.
- Anina Major, a visual artist who utilizes the vernacular of craft to investigate the relationship between self and place as a site of negotiation. Monday, July 8, 5:30 pm.
- Tawni Shuler, is a painter inspired by life in the ranchlands of Wyoming and the history of American landscape painting. Monday, July 15, 5:30 pm.
- Aaron T Stephan, work explores the role of public monuments, the impact of their history on public discourse, and the possibility to reposition them for a new future. Wednesday, July 17, 5:30 pm.
- Jane Wong, a poet, visual artist, and author of the memoir, Meet Me Tonight in Atlantic City. Monday, July 22, 5:30 pm.
- Summer J. Hart, an interdisciplinary artist and writer from Maine living in the Hudson Valley, New York. Wednesday, July 24, 5:30 pm.
- Demian DinéYahzi, is an artist, poet, curator, and founder of R.I.S.E. (Radical Indigenous Survivance & Empowerment), an artist/activist initiative dedicated to the education, dissemination, and evolution of Indigenous art and culture. Monday, July 29, 5:30 pm.
- Edra Soto, a Puerto Rican-born artist, curator, educator, and co-director of outdoor project space The Franklin. Wednesday, July 31, 5:30 pm.
In 2023, the MFA Visiting Artists Series featured names such as Chiara No, Jen Liu, Tra Bouscaren, Leon Benn, Lourdes Correa Carlo, Monique Long, Alicia Eggert, Sebastian Black, and Gina Seipel.
Visiting Artist lectures are open to the public on a space-available basis. For more information, visit meca.edu/academics/visiting-artists.