Issue Date 1•25•17
Volume 13 No. 9
Portland Museum of Art: Unveiled Alex Serrano
On the first Friday of February, as is customary, hundreds of Portlanders flooded the streets for the monthly Art Walk. What makes this Art Walk different? The unveiling of the newly renovated Portland Museum of Art, accompanied in grand fashion by a projection art piece. Two huge scaffolding towers were erected across from the museum on Congress Square to hold the projectors. What a show! With one projection at six-thirty and the next at eight o’clock, the Portland Museum of Art was illuminated by a solid ten minutes of very interesting animation technology. With art styles ranging from cartoonish simplicity to complex 3-D renders, the experience was invigorating and surreal, as in one segment the projected bricks of the building seemed to fall away, and shapes morphed from faces to wine glasses to Rube Goldberg machines. If there is one complaint to be lobbed at this presentation, it is the impersonal quality of the projections. While the animation was attention-grabbing and certainly a technical masterpiece, the presentation lacked character. Nowhere to be seen was the home-grown, twice burned down, independent-coffeeshop-strewn, handmade moxy of Portand. Inside, visitors are greeted with many of the familiar sights and sounds of the Portland Museum of Art. The large echoing hall sports wall-sized paintings and invites visitors to explore featured traveling exhibits as well as the historic wings of the PMA. A gift shop sporting (per the PMA website) “Maine’s largest selection of art books” and a small cafe grace the interior
of the museum and make the entire establishment a bustling hive of activity. With more art in more places, the museum is now not divided by medium, but by era. In a statement published in the Portland Press Herald, Mark Bessire, museum director, said, “It’s not sculpture in one room, paintings in another and
glass in another location. We’re trying to present it all in context to create richer and better experiences for our visitors.” This is exciting for veteran museum-goers for the added explorative value of finding old favorites and newly added marvels mixed around in these hallowed halls. Along with frequent film showings and
rotating features, the Portland Museum of Art continues its proud tradition of free admissions on Fridays. As a frequenter of the PMA for at least a year, I would highly recommend the museum to Portlanders, tourists, and art freaks alike.
By the Beacon Sports Staff
count an impressive four championships for the Lady Mustangs of CMCC and four championships for your SMCC Seawolves. Championships on the men’s side of the court find four schools holding the trophy twice (CMCC, NHTI, SMCC and Vermont Tech). St. Joe’s, UMaine-Augusta and UMaine-Machias have gone on to Uniontown once. Only three times has the same school won the women and men’s championships in the same year. The Seawolves were the first team to do this in 2008; CMCC was next in 2014, and St. Josephs followed in 2015. Only the Seawolves have had the honor of both teams winning the tournament on their home court. In 2014, both Mustang teams won on the Seawolves court. The Beacon also sat down with Assistant Athletic Director Ethan Wells to learn about what SMCC and the athletic department is doing to get ready for and stage the Elite 8 tournament.
YSCC Elite 8 Headed to SMCC 4 day post-season tournament will energize the Hub
CMCC Lady Mustangs celebrate winning the YSCC on SMCC’s floor. Let’s hope it doesn’t happen this year!
After a two-year absence from the Hutchinson Union Building, the YSCC post-season basketball tournament is returning to SMCC. The tournament has been wonderful showcase for the athleticism and talent found on the courts of YSCC member schools. Last year, Central Maine Community College hosted the tournament. While CMCC seems to always have teams that are favored to win it all, it was the fifth-seated University of Maine–Machias Clippers who outlasted the Mustangs (75–70) to take top honors for the men. On the women’s side of the court, the College of Saint Joseph’s of Vermont ended up winning the tournament for the second year in a row when they bested the Moose from University of Maine-Machias, 59–52. The Fighting Saints would go on to win their first USCAA championship in Uniontown, Pa. In the eleven years that the tournament has been staged, tallies for past champions
(continued on page 2)