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Profiles: BEYOND THE STUDIO
BEYOND THE STUDIO PROFILES
ASATA RADCLIFFE Adjunct Instructor, Academic Studies
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Asata Radcliffe is a writer and multimedia artist. A California native, Asata received her MFA in Creative Writing (Fiction) from Antioch University in Los Angeles. She writes speculative fiction and essays. Her creative work culminates as multimedia collections of speculative art installation, merging writing, film, and form. Her work invites one to experience the interstitial spaces of speculative landscapes and surrealist futures. Concerned about the planet, her research includes topics of land ethics, futurism, and the nonlinear narratives of human existence. She currently lives and teaches in Portland, Maine.
Her current project centers around the Black Guards, who were African American army soldiers sent to guard the railways of Maine during WWII, from 1941-1945. The purpose of their deployment to Maine was to prevent terrorist attacks along the railways to keep Maine citizens safe during the war. Radcliffe’s Black Guards Living project looks at the day-to-day lives of these soldiers who stood watch during a time of a racially segregated country and military, a watch that embodied the incongruity of a loyal citizen-soldier whose citizenship straddled the complex liminal state of racism, a citizenship that was exercised as a matter of convenience during war-time.
The project will have multiple iterations. The first phase includes an exhibit at the Maine Historical Society. The second phase, the Black Guards Living Installation, will feature the direct installation of a train boxcar at the Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad Co. & Museum that will act as set-piece to create a visceral experience. The latter project was awarded a Kindling Fund grant by SPACE Gallery in Portland, Maine. Radcliffe has been working in collaboration with other artists for elements of the project including Jordan Carey ’19; Adjunct Instructor of Animation & Game Art Reggie Hodges; Isidro Rodriguez ‘23; Marco Soulo; Liz Rhaney MFA ’20; Coordinator of the Bob Crewe Program in Art & Music Steve Drown; Trey Jones III ‘22; Sunny Lamb ‘22 ; William Thompson III ‘22; and Isaiah Dennis ‘22.
Can you talk about the origin of this project, and how it has developed and evolved?
During the first Monson Artist Residency, as a resident, I spent most of my time in the Monson Historical Society. I was looking for information on the history of the Indigenous people in that area, when I stumbled upon a short essay written about the Black Guards by historian Bill Sawtelle. It was less than two pages and gave a brief history of the Black army soldiers who guarded the Onawa Trestle bridge (located about 30 minutes from Monson) during WWII (1941- 1945). There was a mystery about the story, and somehow, I became hooked. I wanted to know more. With the help of the Monson Historical Society researchers, I was able to pull together the beginning of this fantastic research that has led to my discovery of the significant presence these soldiers had during WWII throughout the state of Maine. They guarded the railroads in the entire state.
I contacted the Maine Historical Society, the Yarmouth Historical Society, and the North Yarmouth Historical Society, and this began my curation of photos, stories, and interviews about these men. There was never any intention on my part to ever start a historical art project. I’m not a historian. However, I felt moved to merge art and history as an archive with a presence that lives within an installation. I wanted these men to be felt, not appropriated. Racial tokenism happens a lot within Western historical narratives. My concept of art as a “living installation” is an idea similar to the French tableau vivant of the 19th century,
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but instead of human beings utilized as living objects within the installation, I present objects as sentient, casting a presence of a story within the installation in which the public can engage. My vision for this project is to present three chapters of this story in three installations. The final piece will actually replicate a tableau vivant scene; however, I haven’t unveiled that idea to the public as of yet. The exhibit that is forthcoming at the Maine Historical Society will be a re-creation of a scene that I can’t reveal. You have to go see it! The boxcar is the same idea — this notion where art doesn’t perform from a distance. The viewer can actually walk into a scene that activates as a time portal, providing a visceral engagement with history.
How has collaboration and community engagement been important to this project?
Because I am not from Maine, I’ve been going through this process of figuring out my place within this historical work. One of my favorite artists, Doris Salcedo, describes her role within her practice as that of a “secondary witness,” and that’s how I see myself telling this story. I’m not from here. I’m not from New England; thus my voice as an artist is that of a secondary witness and I feel compelled to tell the story of these men from a place of authenticity, rather than as an anthropologist. The historians and elders from the Monson Historical Society were the impetus and cheerleaders for me in this. Their enthusiasm really pushed me further and they, along with Tilly Laskey and Jamie Rice at the Maine Historical Society, are advocates of this project. As an artist, I’ve always valued collaboration, and other artists and a couple of my students wanted to be a part of the telling of this great story as well.
How have you had to adapt this project due to the COVID-19 pandemic?
This first Black Guard exhibit, A Convenient Soldier, was supposed to open at the Maine Historical Society in May, but has been postponed. I had also planned to visit the archive at Cornell University, and the National Archives in St. Louis. That’s all on hold. With so many things being cancelled, including artist residencies and other events, it’s a really groundless and scary time for an artist. I’ve invested so much of myself into this project, and an uncertain postponement has been challenging. Can you imagine the artists whose shows were completely cancelled? I can’t even imagine the grief that accompanies such a loss, as we as artists put in so much sweat equity and endless time, years even, into one project. The good thing is that the support is there from my collaborators. This is a history that has been there to be tapped into. I plan to see it through.
1. Black Guards Radio Drama Recording. Actors pictured are Jordan Carey ’19; Isidro Rodriguez ’23, Adjunct Instructor of Animation & Game Art Reggie Hodges, and Marco Soulo. Sound Engineering done by Liz Rhaney MFA ’20 and Coordinator of the Bob Crewe Program in Art & Music Steve Drown 2. Black Guards in North Yarmouth (1942)
BEYOND THE STUDIO PROFILES
MARY ANNE LLOYD ’83 Program Chair & Assistant Professor of Illustration
Mary Anne Lloyd is a 1983 MECA graduate with a BFA in Graphic Design who has deep roots in Portland, Maine. Lloyd’s professional illustration experience includes branding; children’s publishing; and editorial, commercial, and product work for national clients such as Nickelodeon, Hasbro Toys, and the Got Milk? campaign. Her illustrations have been published in Scholastic and LB Kids – Little and Brown Company Books for Young Readers, as well as by Chicago Review Press and Klutz Press. Lloyd’s teaching career began in 2005 when she joined MECA as an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Illustration. In 2015, after cochairing the department for two years, she accepted the role of Chair of Illustration. Lloyd’s local work is well known throughout the community and has been featured on Hannaford’s reusable grocery bags, on the Kennebunk Animal Welfare Society’s commercial vans, and as the branding for Rosemont Market and Bakery. Lloyd has received Parents’ Choice and Broderson awards and participated in artist residencies at the Hewnoaks Artist Colony and Pace House, both in Maine. In addition, she has exhibited work at the Portland Public Library and served as a Board of Education member at the Portland Museum of Art, also both in Maine.
I am a department chair, educator, mentor, colleague, critic, cheerleader, and alumna -- sometimes all in a day.
It is my responsibility to students to practice what I preach. I continue to maintain a working studio and teach full-time. That involves a lot of juggling on my part. In an average week, I work with many different personalities on a wide array of tasks. Students are juggling, too, often five classes at a time. I tell them it’s good practice for their future, but to remember your clients won’t forgive you if you miss a deadline. The illustration industry can be unpredictable. As a freelance illustrator, you need to be flexible, tenacious, gritty, and, most importantly, resourceful. Teaching is all that, too.
I love working with clients who want to make the world a better place. I recently finished an illustrated logo for Youth Full Maine, a local nonprofit and sister program to The Locker Project that connects foodinsecure children in Southern Maine with nourishing food to improve their learning capacity, health, and future. During this COVID-19 crisis, they have been diligently distributing dry goods and fresh produce via curbside. An ongoing and larger project on my desk is with the great folks at Wyman’s -- the largest and oldest wild blueberry
company in Maine. When they told me about their overall mission and specifically their “No Bees, No Berries” campaign, I knew they were the client for me! Though, truth be told, the client does the choosing! But it’s nice to feel good about a client who has deep roots in Maine and is passionate about the future of our planet.
Most illustrators work remotely from their studios. We communicate with clients via phone or email, sketches are discussed, and finals are delivered digitally. Though my two newest clients are Maine-based, I have had clients from all over the country. With students working remotely now, I tell them this is just a little practice for their future career in illustration.
All illustrations by Mary Anne Lloyd ‘83
BEYOND THE STUDIO PROFILES
MATT HUTTON Program Chair, Woodworking & Furniture Design
Matt Hutton was instrumental in establishing the Woodworking & Furniture Design program at the Maine College of Art in Portland, Maine, where he is currently Professor and Chair of the program. Hutton and his wife, Erin (’98), own and operate Studio 24b, a design and fabrication studio that produces custom woodworking and furniture for private, corporate, and hospitality spaces around the country. His work is heavily influenced by Midwest architecture and Japanese design; two places that Hutton has spent time living and being influenced.
I was hired at MECA in 2002 for a oneyear contract. MECA used to have a SelfDesign major and a lot of students were using it to study woodworking and furniture design. I was brought in to work with Jamie Johnston, now Professor Emeritus, to create a curriculum to support the growing interest in this area. Within the first few years, I fundraised to support the acquisition of new machinery for the department, built the curriculum, and the Woodworking & Furniture Design major was approved by our accreditors. I was hired full-time in 2004; since then our studio has moved permanently to the third floor of the Porteous building and has been extensively renovated.
Since graduating our first majors in 2006, we’ve had Woodworking & Furniture Design students go on to work as solo artists, create their own businesses, become faculty at prestigious universities, design for large companies, and participate in residencies and community programs across the country. We’ve even hired two of our alumni at MECA: Assistant Director of Exhibitions and Adjunct Assistant Professor of Woodworking & Furniture Design Nikki Rayburn ’11 and Adjunct Faculty & Studio Technician of Woodworking & Furniture Design John Gardiner ’07, MFA ’14.
They feed off each other, for sure. I don’t feel comfortable asking my students to do things that I cannot or do not do. I like to practice what I preach and often take a “lead by example” approach to teaching. I let my students know what I am doing in the studio and it inspires them in many ways. When I was a student, having that type of connection with my faculty is what I remember the most. It also requires me to be aware of what’s happening within our field and for me to stay current. Much of woodworking is problem solving, so all of what happens in conversations with students helps me when I think about how to work on my own designs. There’s a constant exchange of energy and it helps me when discussing their work, too. I also experience a wide range of learned lessons since I operate a business of my own. Those lessons are certainly passed on to students. Sometimes it’s pragmatic things like discussing how to plan for taxes, hire employees, hire lawyers, or obtain insurance, but other times it’s more philosophical such as what direction to take a business in, how to approach design and object making, and how to work with clients. I also do a lot of work for public spaces that have a high demand for function and longevity so there is an added layer of complexity involved in these projects that I pass along to my students, which is based on firsthand knowledge.
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I recently completed four large custom pieces for Diversified Communications, located up the street from MECA. I created a new board room table, a side buffet table, a coffee table, and a food serving table that were used as part of an office renovation project. I’m really excited about the work for several reasons. First, it is for a great company and wonderful people and I love that the work is used by so many individuals on a daily basis. Second, it was a challenge. Each piece was technically difficult and often physically demanding. The board room table is built in seven sections so that it could be brought in and assembled in pieces. It also required a lot of veneer work, which is demanding and time-consuming.
At this point in time, we have not had significant changes. My studio is at my home and I’m able to work. While I have all that I need here to work, getting the work done has been difficult as my mind is occupied with the suffering of so many people in the world and the impact on my children’s lives. I’m slowly getting back into a groove and I have some amazing clients that I’m currently working with, which has helped me focus and generate energy in the studio. I’m working on some custom bedroom furniture and a dining table at the moment.
BEHIND THE STUDIO PROFILES
KAROL CARLSEN MAT ’20
In the spring of 2020, as teachers across the country moved to online and remote teaching, we spoke with MECA Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) candidate Karol Carlsen about her student teaching work.
In what ways has the MAT Program prepared you to move teaching and learning online?
Since the beginning of the MAT Program, we have been using online platforms for all of our learning — from turning in assignments to sharing resources, documentation, assessments, and our ePortfolio. We have been recording ourselves teaching classes, and I have been making demonstration videos online as well. Because so much of what we do in this program is online already, I had all the tools I needed to make an easy transition from teaching in a physical classroom to teaching online.
How are you approaching online learning with your students?
I am currently developing and posting assignments for 6th, 7th, and 8th grades. The middle school where I am student teaching gives all the students laptops, so luckily I am able to continually reach my students and post new assignments. For each lesson, I make a demonstration video that goes over the project and shows students any techniques they might need to know. To accompany the video I also provide a document that lays out the project description, stepby-step directions, and offers additional resources, such as links and project examples. With each of the lessons, my aim is to get students thinking creatively. For example, one of the 8th-grade lessons is a mixed-media self-portrait. Since not all students will have access to the same materials, or even art materials at home, I encourage students to get creative with everyday items that they do have in their home and explore how they can transform these into art materials.
Can you describe a challenge that you have faced in the transition to remote learning?
With remote learning, the biggest challenge for me right now is communicating with my students about their work and giving feedback. Currently I am asking students to submit their work either through Google Classroom or by email. While this is great — I can see their work and they can ask me questions — it does make it harder to carry on a conversation to ask students what they are thinking about or give them suggestions on how to improve.
Because I am not there to ask them questions about their work and process, I’m working on getting students to ask themselves these questions — to get them to think more creatively and deeply. The lesson plans I am developing now include a formative mid-project assessment where the students are given a list of questions and either individually or with someone from home, they will write out or record their answers, and send these to me. My goal for this is to get students to look more critically about their work and to allow me to better understand their thought process and offer assistance when needed. This process is modified directly from the MAT’s curriculum — we have always had both a formative and summative assessment. The formative assessments were there for us to receive feedback, review our work, and go back into it making it better.
What does the MAT support network look like?
There is deep camaraderie within our cohort, which is typical for the MAT
Program. We are always in constant communication and have had online meetings every week with each other throughout the program. Lesson plans are a great example: we have a rich dialogue around lesson plans, and we are able to improve and refine our own plans and offer feedback to others by sharing tools and knowledge with each other. It’s very collaborative. Technology and collaboration are embedded in everything we do.
What are your future plans?
I am currently in the process of applying for art teacher positions here in Maine. My goal as an educator is to work either at the elementary or middle school level where I will focus my teaching on developing creative thinking and choice-based learning. The last few weeks of the MAT program is devoted to helping its teacher candidates to develop professional materials such as websites, resumes, and interview skills. These workshops and the feedback we receive help us to be the most prepared for future jobs.
BEHIND THE STUDIO PROFILES
JOSHUA REIMAN Associate Professor, Associate Professor, Sculpture and MFA in Studio Art and Sculpture Program Chair
Joshua Reiman is an artist working in sculpture, film, video and photography. Reiman’s work deals with themes of exploration, artistic expression, identity, nature, and contextual inquiry. His short film works offer an array of lush landscapes with characters that guide audiences through layered conceptual ideas about art, history, and popular culture. His sculptural work has ranged from kinetics to cast iron and installation, always using humor to start serious conversations.
As Time Washes Over Us
Joshua Reiman, Associate Professor of the MFA in Studio Art and Sculpture as well as Chair of MECA’s Sculpture Program, has embarked upon a global project that pushes the boundaries of the studio to extend across the world. His experimental film project As Time Washes Over Us considers mortality through marine life,
Facing Page. Joshua Reiman with professional photographer, commercial diver, and master scuba diver trainer Erlendur Bogason in Eyjafjordur, Iceland 2. Diving in Maine selfie by Joshua Reiman
history, science, and poetry. The themes are timely and it includes locating and filming five of the longest living animal species in the oceans of the world using underwater digital super 16mm cameras and film. Some of these animals live between 200 and 600 years. Reiman became a certified scuba diver to realize his vision, which includes trips to Iceland, Italy, Singapore, British Columbia, and Greenland. Financed in part by a number of grants, including a Maine Arts Commission Media Arts Fellowship for 2020 and a MECA Faculty Development Grant, he hopes to ultimately engage students and larger audiences through screenings in museums, galleries, film festivals, and other platforms.
Reiman’s film projects have become longer and more in-depth over the past 10 years. He said, “My inspiration comes from reading Gilgamesh (the oldest poem ever written) around the time of the birth of my son Ole. In the poem, mortality is in question and the elixir for immortality lays at the bottom of the ocean. At the same time, I read in Science Magazine about marine biologist Julius Neilson who has been researching the Greenland Shark and discovered through an eye
lens sample that these sharks can live over 500 years.” Reiman has been consulting with scientists, divers, and ecologists to mentor his work and completed a trip to Iceland to film the Icelandic Clam (Arctica islandica). The other animals to be featured in this film are The Immortal Jellyfish (Turritopsis dohrnii) in Rapallo, Italy; the Neptune’s Cup (Cliona patera) in Singapore; the Greenland Shark (Somniosus microcephalus) in Baffin Island, Greenland; and the Red Sea Urchin (Mesocentrotus franciscanus) in Vancouver Island, British Columbia.
Originally planned to be a three-tofive year project, with the intention of traveling to Vancouver Island this summer, Reiman’s schedule has been revised due to the COVID-19 pandemic, though he still hopes to visit Singapore sometime in 2020 or 2021. “This work is to help bring consciousness to the fragility of life and the animals in the oceans of the world. My approach will be a very different lens on ancient ocean species and the hardships they are facing due to the current environment.” Visit joshuareiman.com to learn more about Reiman’s work.
3. Film still of a Wolf Fish by Joshua Reiman, Eyjafjordur, Iceland 4. Film still of a Lump Fish by Joshua Reiman, Eyjafjordur, Iceland
