Alumni News

Artists at Work Awards

Aminata Conteh ’21 and Helena Jefferson ’22 were selected as interns at Indigo Arts Alliance, an arts incubator and residency program in Portland, ME, committed to cultivating the artistic development of artists of African descent that was founded by Assistant Professor in Illustration Daniel Minter, Hon. DFA ’19, and Marcia Minter, Hon. DFA ’19.

Other News

Joseph Della Valle ’97, Harlan Crichton ’12, Cole Caswell MFA ’08, Christian Farnsworth MFA ’09,

Tim Greenway Salt ’03, Program Chair of Photography Justin Kirchoff, Assistant Professor Scott Peterman, and CS faculty member Thurston Howes were featured in the show, Faculty Photography, at Cove Street Arts in Portland, ME. Ebenezer Akakpo ’01 created the installation Hope and Friendship in downtown Portland, ME, as part of the Creative Bus Shelter program organized by Creative Portland, in partnership with Greater Portland Metro and the Greater Portland Council of Governments, and made possible by a National Endowment for the Arts “Our Town” grant award. The project aims to strengthen communities by engaging local artists and arts administrators, in partnership with transit providers and in collaboration with the Office of Economic Opportunity and the Greater Portland Immigrant Welcome Center, for positive social impact and systems change. Below: Ebenezer Akakpo ’01, Hope and Friendship bus shelter installation Ebenezer Akakpo ’01, Hannah Rosengren ’13, and CS faculty member Kifah Abdullah were some of the artists to create banners and signs for Creative Portland as an addition to the city of Portland, ME’s public health campaign Stay the Course, created by LK Weiss ’11 of Portland Design Co and their team.

Jenny McGee Dougherty ’05, Maia Snow ’13, Meg

Hahn ’17, Baxter Koziol ’17, Alumni Relations & Events Coordinator Isabelle Maschal O’Donnell ’17, Anne Buckwalter MFA ’12, Adjunct Instructor in Sculpture and Foundation Benjamin Spalding MFA ’17, and Elyse Noelani Grams MFA ’20 were featured in the 2020 CMCA Biennial in Rockland, ME. Below: Work from the 2020 CMCA Biennial: 2a: Jenny McGee Dougherty ’05, 2b: Baxter Koziol ’17, 2c: Anne Buckwalter MFA ’12

Victoria Marsh ’07, Asherah Cinnamon ’08, Meg

Hahn ’17, Gabrielle Brown ’18, Ashley Page ’20, and Hannah Adams MFA ’19, were featured in the exhibition Woven Together at Engine in Biddeford, Maine, which explores the work of contemporary textile and fiber artists while examining the history of textiles in Maine.

Image 3a and 3b: Work from Woven Together at Engine: 3a: L-R Meg Hahn ’17, Ashley Page ’20, Gabrielle Brown ’18, Hannah Adams MFA ’19.

3a

Rachel Gloria Adams ’15, Ashley Page ’20,

Maddie Poitrast-Upton ’20, Aminata Conteh ’21, Assistant Professor in Illustration Daniel Minter, Hon. DFA ’19, and Marcia Minter, Hon DFA ’19, along with other community artists, painted a mural integrating the words of the artist Ashley Bryan, “Black is beautiful, uh-huh!,” in front of Indigo Arts Alliance in Portland, Maine. This piece was a part of Indigo’s Beautiful Blackbird Children’s Book Festival that honors Ashley Bryan and celebrates children’s books and their creators from across the African diaspora. Rachel Gloria Adams ’15 and Ashley Page ’20 created Fallen Blooms, a mural in downtown Portland that uses Rachel’s floral design work in tandem with cyanotypes that Ashley created in response to the death of George Floyd (part of her ongoing project In Memory of Those Taken). According to Rachel, “These prints were created to honor the lives of African Americans that have been cut short due to racially motivated violence... we present the lives of the dearly departed in a bed of flowers to pay homage to their beauty and remember the life they led with grace and excellence.” The mural shares a building

Above: Rachel Gloria Adams ’15 and Ashley Page ’20, Fallen Blooms mural, 2020

with the art installation Counting From 13, a collaboration between artists Daniel Minter, Hon. DFA ’19, Assistant Professor in Illustration Ryan Adams, and Titi de Baccarat.

Rachel Gloria Adams ’15, Al Tomas ’19,

Ian Colwell ’20, Alejandra Cuadra ’20, and Assistant Professor of Illustration Daniel Minter, Hon. DFA ’19 were featured in the exhibition One Day at a Time, curated by Ashley Page ’20, at the Portland Public Library in Portland, Maine, in collaboration with Pilar Nadal MFA ’13 of Pickwick Independent Press.

Heather Flor Cron ’20, Veronica A. Perez

MFA ’16, and Adjunct Instructor in Academic Studies Asata Radcliffe created temporary public installations in Portland, Maine, as part of SPACE Gallery’s Re-Site, a public art and Portland history-telling initiative that was coorganized by Meg Hahn ’17. Veronica Perez MFA ’16 was the recipient of a 2020 Ellis-Beauregard Foundation Fellowship Award for Maine visual artists, paired with a solo exhibition at the Center for Maine Contemporary Art in Rockland, ME.

Alumni Opportunities

Maine College of Art recognizes our alumni as an essential part of our community. Please visit meca.edu/alumni to learn more about our alumni benefits, residencies, grants, and other opportunities. To share a news story of your own, email Alumni Relations & Events Coordinator Isabelle Maschal O’Donnell ’17 at alums@meca.edu.

FREEDOM LEIGH HAMLIN (Attended) ’04

Freedom Leigh Hamlin was born on January 27, 1981, after the American hostages were freed from Iran (thus the name Freedom) and passed away at 39 years old on June 30, 2020. She grew up in Rockland, Maine, and graduated from Rockland District High School where she excelled academically and athletically. In her youth, she was an accomplished equestrian, taking home numerous blue ribbons. She later attended Maine College of Art, where she polished her skills as a jewelry maker and painter. Freedom received certifications in Philadelphia and Tucson and enjoyed going to area schools and sharing her craft with the children of Rockland. She and her mother owned a jewelry shop in downtown Rockland, where she loved taking her mother’s designs and bringing them to life. She is survived by her mother, Heidi Stevens, and her stepfather, David Hooper, of Rockland; her father David Hamlin and her stepmother, Cindi, of South Thomaston; her three children Alexandra Bunker, Xavier Luce, and Lux Luce; siblings Cassie Burrows, Zeke Hamlin, and Taylor Hamlin; and many other relatives and friends. One of Freedom’s favorite places to be was the private beach of Chickawaukie Lake, where she shared simple and extraordinary times with her mother and children.

Michael Whitney Gallagher, 37, of Hickory, North Carolina, passed away on Tuesday, November 3, 2020, at Catawba Valley Medical Center. He was born August 9, 1983 in Omaha, Nebraska. Michael studied architectural and engineering design at Southern Maine Community College and graduated from Maine College of Art with a BFA in Woodworking & Furniture Design. He took workshops at Haystack Mountain School of Crafts and Penland School of Crafts, and in 2009 he was awarded a MECA Belvedere Grant for professional development. He worked at Arcadia Designworks, LLC; as the Woodshop Manager at North Carolina State University Craft Center, where he also taught classes; and for over 11 years as a designer and builder for Atreeom, LLC, a small family furniture company. Most recently he had become the owner of Strauch Fiber Equipment Co. He also ran a custom woodworking and furniture shop out of his studio and was a member of Hickory Young Professionals. He is survived by his former wife, Tanya Casteel ’06, and their daughter Aeon Casteel Gallagher, of Asheville, North Carolina; fiancée Ashley Chapman and her daughters Presley and Lillian Olson of Newton, North Carolina; his parents Carl Andrew Gallagher and Linda Ann Lovgren Gallagher of Lincoln, Nebraska; his brother Robert Andrew Gallagher of Milford, Ohio; and many nieces, nephews, cousins, and other extended family members.