MECA’S EDUCATIONAL PHILOSOPHY
AT MAINE COLLEGE OF ART, WE BELIEVE AN ARTIST’S LIFE CENTERS ON STUDIO PRACTICE. For us, the studio is both a public and private place where the artist undertakes research, collaboration, reflection, experimentation, and problem-solving, all in preparation for creating and presenting meaningful artwork. Students learn that a lively and enduring studio practice will allow them to become creative agents in the world. Our curriculum supports the creative spirit and drive of our students, empowering them to become artists, global citizens, and entrepreneurs. A structured and sequenced program in visual language, academic studies, and public engagement, with a wide range of choices, prepares students to transition into fulfilling and successful careers.
SALT INSTITUTE OF DOCUMENTARY STUDIES
GRADUATE STUDIES MECA offers an immersive, interdisciplinary learning experience for emerging and evolving professionals in a variety of artistic modalities. We offer a Master of Fine Arts in Studio Art, a Master of Arts in Teaching in Art Education, and a Salt Graduate Certificate in Documentary Studies.
MASTER OF FINE ARTS IN STUDIO ART (MFA)
MASTER OF ARTS IN TEACHING (MAT)
SALT GRADUATE CERTIFICATE IN DOCUMENTARY STUDIES
MASTER OF FINE ARTS IN STUDIO ART (MFA) GRADUATE PROGRAMS
MECA’s Master of Fine Arts in Studio Art is a studio-based program with a curriculum that emphasizes studio production, critical analysis, individual research, and travel. Starting with your first eight-week summer intensive, you’ll experience a truly individualized education and become a skilled, inventive, self-disciplined, engaged maker. Our structure promotes the development of a professional and sustainable lifelong practice.
MECA.EDU/MFA
Crystal Phelps MFA ’17, performance, May Intensive 2017
MASTER OF FINE ARTS IN STUDIO ART (MFA)
Artwork: Benjamin Spalding MFA ’17
RESIDENCY FULL & LOW
MASTER OF FINE ARTS IN STUDIO ARTS
FULL-RESIDENCY Our full-residency MFA gives you the option of moving to the Arts District in Portland, ME, with 24/7 access to 200,000 square feet of state-of-the-art facilities and a vibrant creative community.
LOW RESIDENCY Our low-residency MFA combines intense periods of on-campus instruction with the freedom and independence of working from any home location, anywhere in the world.
MECA.EDU/MFA
Artwork: Liz Rhaney, MFA ‘20
MASTER OF FINE ARTS IN STUDIO ART (MFA) Will Jacks and Jesse Brown, MFA ‘20 - Low Residency Program - MECA South
MASTER OF FINE ARTS IN STUDIO ART (MFA) — VENICE TRIP 2019
MASTER OF FINE ARTS IN STUDIO ART (MFA) Artwork: Sarah Emch MFA ‘17
Artwork: José Rodriguez MFA ‘17
MASTER OF FINE ARTS IN STUDIO ART (MFA)
Jon Stahly, MFA ‘21, In Studio, Fall 2019
Artwork: Katherine Coleman, MFA ‘20
Artwork: John Quigley, MFA ‘20
MASTER OF FINE ARTS IN STUDIO ART (MFA)
Roberta March, MFA ‘21, In Studio, Fall 2019
MASTER OF ARTS IN TEACHING (MAT) GRADUATE PROGRAMS
The MAT program is a 10-month intensive that blends theory with practical, actionbased learning in hands-on settings that enrich both creativity and critical thinking. Fieldwork and community engagement are essential components of the program. Like most students at MECA, the MAT candidates can be seen working in a variety of settings across the Greater Portland area, including schools, museums, and community-based learning centers.
MECA.EDU/MAT
Pictured: Chloe Horie, MAT ‘16
MASTER OF ARTS IN TEACHING (MAT)
Pictured: Andrew Cook, MAT ‘19
Pictured: Maranda Parent, MAT ‘16
100% JOB PLACEMENT
MASTERS OF ARTS IN TEACHING
At Maine College of Art, our focus is providing our students with a top-notch education that pays off in the real world. After graduation in May of 2019, by August each graduate of the MAT class of 2019 had secured a full-time job in their field.
MECA.EDU/MAT
MASTER OF ARTS IN TEACHING (MAT)
Pictured: Meredith Radford, MAT ‘19
MASTER OF ARTS IN TEACHING (MAT)
Pictured: Shea Brook, MAT ‘16
MASTER OF ARTS IN TEACHING (MAT)
Pictured: Hannah Twombley
MASTER OF ARTS IN TEACHING (MAT)
Pictured: Liz Long
MASTER OF ARTS IN TEACHING (MAT)
Pictured: Luke Hadley, MAT ‘16
SALT INSTITUTE FOR DOCUMENTARY STUDIES GRADUATE PROGRAMS
The Salt Graduate Certificate in Documentary Studies is a unique 15-week program focused on navigating the world of documentary storytelling. Take the time to critically examine your work and the work of classmates in a collaborative peer environment. Bring your passion, your ideas, your fears, your unfinished projects. Leave with a professional quality body of beautifully crafted, in-depth stories.
MECA.EDU/SALT
Pictured: Sam Leeds, Salt, Fall 2019
SALT INSTITUTE OF DOCUMENTARY STUDIES (SALT)
Pictured: Nicki Stein, Jack Pombriant, Emma Klein, Salt, Fall 2019
Artwork: Lynn “Kip” Kippax
Artwork: Bryan Thomas
SALT LEGACY & ARCHIVE
GRADUATE PROGRAMS
THE SALT LEGACY Documentary work is creative and artistic; it’s a powerful form of communication and a tool for public engagement. Since 1973, the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies has taught students from all over the U.S. and around the world to become truthful, thorough, creative, and responsible storytellers and documentarians. The Salt Institute consists of the Salt Graduate Certificate in Documentary Studies, the Salt Story Archive, and a variety of week-long intensive documentary workshops.
THE SALT STORY ARCHIVE The Salt Story Archive is a repository of all Salt stories and publications collected since Salt’s inception. Take a look around and you’ll find yourself jumping from a tale of lobstering in the ’70s to a story exploring the lives of new immigrants looking to call Maine home. Discover work documenting everything from the back-to-theland movement to gender diversity, cold-case crimes, and alleged alien abductions. saltstoryarchive.com
MECA.EDU/SALT
SALT INSTITUTE OF DOCUMENTARY STUDIES (SALT)
Artwork: Shane Thomas McMillon
SALT ALUMNI GRADUATE PROGRAMS
WHERE THEY WORK + + + + + + + +
Associated Press National Public Radio Utne Reader Newsweek US News & World Report The New York Times National Geographic The Washington Post
+ + + + + + + +
StoryCorps Photo District News (PDN) Radiolab This American Life Studio 360 The New Yorker Third Coast Time
WHO THEY ARE + Jessica Alpert, Modern Love Podcast, WBUR + Morrigan McCarthy, Photo Editor, The New York Times + Gregory Warner, International Correspondent, NPR + Zoe Chace, Producer, This American Life, NPR + Trevor Brown Jr, Freelance Photographer, former Team Photographer for the Denver Broncos/Colorado Rockies + David Y. Lee, former Photographer, Time, Newsweek + Matt Kielty, Radiolab, WNYC Radio
MECA.EDU/SALT
Artwork: Briget Ganske
SALT INSTITUTE OF DOCUMENTARY STUDIES (SALT)
Artwork: Tommy Galloway
SALT INSTITUTE OF DOCUMENTARY STUDIES (SALT)
Artwork: Yevonnie Lowe
SALT INSTITUTE OF DOCUMENTARY STUDIES (SALT)
Pictured: Gary Hardcastle, Salt, Fall 2019
MAKE ART, MAKE A LIVING ARTISTS AT WORK
Artists at Work connects students and alumni with opportunities and experiences to help them become creative professionals for life. An arts education teaches skills such as risktaking, critical thinking, creative problemsolving, collaboration, and innovation for a new entrepreneurial economy. Artists at Work provides students and alumni with connections to internships, community partners, commissions, opportunities, grants, and professional development residencies.
CAREERS IN THE ARTS Gallery Director • Art Therapist • Arts Consultant • Conservation Technician • Program Developer • Director of an Independent Print Press • Author • International Correspondent • Arts Consultant • Freelance Photographer • Freelance Writer •
WHERE ALUMNI WORK Museum of Modern Art Preparator, Dept. of Photography Epic Decade Founder and CEO New York Times Photo Editor NPR Producer, This American Life Denver Broncos Freelance Photographer Time Photographer Parsons School of Design - The New School Adjunct Professor Artscope Magazine Artist, Writer Correspondent Newsweek Photographer Radiolab - WNYC Senior Producer
MECA.EDU/ARTISTSATWORK
Artwork: Tessa Greene O’Brien MFA ‘16
EXPLORE MAINE
SENSE OF PLACE
ACADIA NATIONAL PARK
PEAKS ISLAND
PORTLAND, MAINE
BREAKWATER ACCESS TRAIL
JORDAN POND
TURN ART INTO A CAREER MAINE STATE PIER
ALUMNI
DANA BELL, MFA ‘04 Dana Bell was born in Detroit, Michigan in 1974 and lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. She studied with Vito Acconci and Joanne Greenbaum at the Maine College of Art while working towards her MFA. Bell has shown her work in Prague, Bratislava, New York, Detroit, Chicago, and Los Angeles at institutions including The Pacific Design Center, Paris London West Nile, D’amelio Terras, The Chelsea Art Museum, The Parrish Art Museum, and Dvorak Sec Gallery. Dana’s work has been featured on the Huffington Post, Hyperallergic, and the New Yorker’s Short List.
SAM GREENSPAN, SALT ‘06 Sam Greenspan is an award-winning radio reporter, producer, and artist. Sam graduated from Salt in 2006, and went on to have an award-winning career with the innovate podcast 99% Invisible. He is also the creator of Bellwether. In an interview with Salt at MECA in 2019, he described the project in the following way: “Bellwether is a podcast of “speculative journalism.” I like to say it’s true stories of the world as it is through the lens of what it might become. I report longform nonfiction stories from our time and they’ve been found in the future by a pair of data archeologists. And so it’s essentially narrative nonfiction told within the frame of a sci-fi radio serial.”
JON RUDNICKI, MAT ‘20 Jon Rudnicki is a Maine native and past Associate Director/Interim Director of Admissions at Maine College of Art. He is a former member of the Peace Corps, serving in Burkina Faso, and currently Vice President of Initiative: Eau, a non-profit that brings clean water to under-resourced communities in West Africa. Jon will be doing his student teaching in an International Baccalaureate primary school in Lagos, Nigeria. To round out that experience, he will be student teaching at another IB art program in Maine at Greely High School.
MECA.EDU/ALUMNI Photo by: yK le Dubay ‘18
FACULTY
GRADUATE PROGRAMS
Graduate faculty at MECA thrive on inspiring and establishing a challenging culture that values artistic excellence, civic engagement, and creative entrepreneurship. Our faculty understand and respect diverse ways of learning and teaching. Students forge strong personal bonds with their instructors that transcend studio discipline and last far beyond their MECA experience.
MECA.EDU/FACULTY
CHRIS STIEGLER, CHAIR OF MFA Chris Stiegler is an art historian and curator who founded the projects Town Hall Meeting and The Institute for American Art. Chris holds BAs in art history and printmaking from the University of Delaware and a Master of Modern Art in market history, connoisseurship, from Christie’s Education.
(Left) Katarina Weslien, (Middle) Alexandra Silverthorne, MFA ‘10, (Right) Julia Poitras-Santos - Summer 2019
+ The MAT Program emphasizes learning by doing. Our dedicated faculty ensure individualized attention, and positive peer interactions help to develop bonds that support each other’s goals. + Our interest in nurturing research-intensive, cross-media interdisciplinary practices is reflected in the diversity of instructors who teach for the MFA. Each year we invite practitioners to teach with us who model the expansive, exploratory attitudes that the MFA hopes to foster amongst its student body. + Salt faculty members are working documentarians and teaching professionals who help provide a strong foundation for students to make their best work.
KELLY McCONNELL, PROFESSOR, CHAIR OF MAT Kelly McConnell is a dynamic artist-educator with over 20 years of teaching experience in graduate school, college, early childhood, K-8, and professional development for educators. Her work involves collaborative, authentic, project-based work in schools, museums, and community and alternative settings with learners of all ages and walks of life.
COLIN CHENEY, PROFESSOR, CHAIR OF SALT
(Left) Visiting Artist Inka Essenhigh, (Right) MFA Faculty Gail Spaien
Colin is a writer and poet. The recipient of an MFA in Creative Writing from New York University, he taught Expository Writing at NYU for five years; he’s also taught Creative Writing in the City University of Hong Kong’s Low-Residency MFA program. His awards include a Pushcart Prize and a Ruth Lilly Fellowship from the Poetry Foundation.
VISITING ARTISTS
GRADUATE PROGRAMS
1
Eneida Sanches with MFA Students, Summer 2019 at Indigo Arts Alliance, Portland, ME
Maine College of Art’s Visiting Artist and Guest Lecturer Series invites professional artists, curators, educators, creative entrepreneurs, experts, and thought leaders to present on topics of interest and importance to the MECA community. From critically acclaimed painters to wellknown film producers, visiting artists play an important role in the overall educational experience here at MECA. MFA SUMMER LECTURE SERIES Each summer the MFA Program brings a roster of nationally and internationally renowned artists to lecture, teach, curate, and offer critiques with students during an interdisciplinary summer intensive.
RECENT VISITING ARTISTS AND GUEST LECTURERS INCLUDE: + Laylah Ali + Ahmed Alsoudani ’05 + Huma Bhabha + Diana Cooper + Spencer Finch + Michelle Grabner + Ann Hirsch + David Humphrey + Steve Locke + Roberto Lugo + Sam Messer + Helen Molesworth + Jim Shaw + Garth Clark + Hrag Vartanian + Ander Mikalson + Jamillah James + Eneida Sanches + Charlie Hewitt + Bradford Nordeen + Jessi Reaves + Michael Menchaca + Leila Day + Jaed Coffin
Charlie Hewitt, Summer 2019
HOUSING
HOUSING AT MECA
MECA.EDU/HOUSING
Pictured Above: S&F
We believe a graduate educational experience should be an immersive one—a place where artists feel at home, and can explore their craft while taking in all that their city has to offer. That’s why MECA offers a variety of housing options for students in the graduate programs, ranging from studio-style dorms to loft apartments and more. S+F
MONUMENT
Affectionately known as “Hot Sauce,” this dorm offers double and triple open-concept apartments, each equipped with its own bathroom and kitchen (the latter containing a stove, oven, fridge/freezer, dishwasher, and sink). These are quiet, apartmentfocused communities, perfect for grad living. MONUMENT Right in the heart of Portland, the monument building is located on Portlands renowned Monument Square, just steps from the library, MECA’s Porteous Building, and the picturesque downtown. Each of these double and quad open-concept apartments are equipped with a bathroom and kitchen (the latter containing a stove, oven, fridge/freezer, dishwasher, and sink).
AMBASSADOR
Each room is furnished with a set of furniture for each student including a standard twin bed frame, mattress, dresser, desk and chair. Residents have access to common rooms in other Residence Halls, including the Shepley Kitchen. Students have access to unlimited laundry in all residence halls. Both apartments have heat (adjustable per room), AC, washer/dryer
SHEPLEY
OAK
S&F
Artwork by: Pilar Nadar MFA ‘13
MFA
MAT
2 YEAR MFA IN LOW/FULL
RESIDENCY PROGRAM OPTIONS
20-25 STUDENTS STUDY DOMESTIC AND ABROAD OPPORTUNITIES
24/7
ACCESS TO STUDIO SPACES (FULL RES)
1:10 FACULTYSTUDENT RATIO
LOW RES STUDENTS WORK WITH LOCAL MENTORS
100% 15
WEEK STUDENT TEACHING
JOB PLACEMENT POST-GRAD
10 MONTH PROGRAM 12-16 STUDENTS
Salt 15 WEEK
GRADUATE CERTIFICATE
16 GRADUATE CREDITS 15-20 STUDENTS
1:6
FACULTYSTUDENT RATIO
ROUTINE GUEST LECTURES FROM WORLD-FAMOUS DOCUMENTARIANS AND PODCASTERS
WEEK-LONG INTENSIVE HOSTED BY SALT AND MAINE COLLEGE OF ART’S CONTINUING STUDIES BRANCH
1 WEEK IN PODCASTING, DOCUMENTARY, OR DIGITAL STORYTELLING
MFA
APPLY TO MECA MASTER OF FINE ARTS IN STUDIO ART
TO APPLY, PLEASE SUBMIT THE FOLLOWING:
+ + + +
A completed online application form A letter of intent Portfolio: 20 images or 10 min of film Transcripts from all undergraduate & graduate level programs/institutions attended
+ Two letters of recommendation + Resume or CV + A non-refundable $50 application fee ($70 for international applicants)
MAT
APPLY TO MECA MASTER OF ARTS IN TEACHING
TO APPLY, PLEASE SUBMIT THE FOLLOWING:
+ A completed online application form + Artist statement + Portfolio, 15–20 work samples with no more than 5 minutes of film/video that is a representation of recent work, ranging from six months to a year, with accompanying image list + Transcripts from all undergraduate & graduate level programs/institutions attended
SALT
+ + + +
Contact information of two recommenders Current CV Interview Praxis tests • Core Academic Skills for Educators (5712 Reading, 5722 Writing, & 5732 Math) • Praxis II exam (5134 Art: Content Knowledge)
+ A non-refundable $50 application fee ($70 for international applicants)
APPLY TO MECA SALT INSTITUTE OF DOCUMENTARY STUDIES
TO APPLY, PLEASE SUBMIT THE FOLLOWING:
+ A completed online application form + A letter of intent and two short pitches for two stories that you would like to potentially pursue while at Salt. + Portfolio • Audio Track: two short audio stories, ranging from 3-5 minutes • Visual Track: two short video stories or 20 images creating a visual narrative
+ Transcripts from all undergraduate & graduate level programs/institutions attended + Names of two recommenders + Resume + A non-refundable $50 application fee ($60 for international applicants)
GET MECA SWAG! JUST VISIT MECA.EDU/VIEWBOOKGIFT, FILL OUT THE FORM, AND WE’LL SEND YOU A SURPRISE GIFT!