Abbeth Russell
Portland, Maine
Abbeth is a painter and performer who has been active in the Portland community for over a decade. Since graduating from Maine College of Art in 2011, with a BFA in painting, she has been in more than 65 art shows in the greater Portland area. Abbeth is the founder of Protect Portland’s Creative Community and the co-founder of Hidden Ladder Collective.
Will Hessian
Eastport, Maine
William is a visual artist, game designer and social worker. He has traveled the country doing art events with the Hidden Ladder Collective, and performing miniature art hunts for the public. William creates board games, including PBL Robots, a card and dice game. William grew up in Minnesota and now lives in Maine.
J.M. Syron
Brunswick, Maine
J.M.’s couture intends to help define our place in the 21st century, a place where we each choose a life of love, not a life of power over. A life where a non-binary view of humanity eliminates Racism, Sexism and Homophobia. Changing our outfits to change our attitudes is one step in changing our Fathers Traditional world definition and strangle hold.
Hayden Maltese
Chicago, Illinois
Hayden is an artist from Rochester, New York. He received his Bachelor of Fine Arts from Alfred University in 2020 with a focus in painting and printmaking. In the process, he has exhibited in numerous locations throughout the U.S., most notably in NYC, West Palm Beach, and Kansas City. He is currently residing and working in Chicago.
Brianna Gerrish
Presque Isle, Maine
Brianna discovered her affinity for clay while completing a BFA at the University of Maine at Presque Isle. Her intuitive process reveals the rippling patterns, cavities, and grooves that make up nature’s organic language of form. Her sculptures capture the visual, material, and spiritual makeup that unite us all as one in nature.
Maxwell Nolin
Belfast, Maine
Maxwell’s paintings are a unique synthesis of realism and the visionary experience. His work focuses on capturing the emotional and psychological complexities of the human experience through portraiture. Born and raised in Massachusetts, Maxwell studied drawing and painting at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.
David Estey
Belfast, Maine
David’s paintings are purely improvisational but as a Mainer, he cannot escape the rugged beauty, harsh realities, Down East humor or global humanity of life here. He has exhibited successfully in PA, NC and Maine, with 22 solo shows and over 80 group/juried exhibits. He is collected in 20 states and seven countries and has produced over 10,800 pieces of art.
Kat Logan
Wiscasset, Maine
Kat’s love of nature fills her canvases with images of birds and landscapes and her music describes her deep connection to life and place. She recently enjoyed an artist residency for 18 months at the home of artist, Dahlov Ipcar and the Zorach family. She has taught throughout her career and is inspired to incite creativity.
Don Best
Norway, Maine
Don is a wood artist and fifth-generation Mainer. He spent his childhood in Cumberland County and graduated from MECA with a degree in painting and a minor in sculpture in 1979. Don uses a uniquely additive and subtractive approach to his sculptures, which are finished with his painter’s sensibility. His work has been featured and exhibited across Maine.
Wade Zahares
Lyman, Maine
Wade is Both a fine artist and a children’s book illustrator, he has always loved to draw. Since graduating from MICA in Baltimore, he has been a full-time, professional artist. Wade works exclusively in pastel; he is drawn to the intimacy of the chalk and the ease with which he can blend colors. His biggest inspiration is the New England landscape.
Adeline Goldminc-Tronzo
Elliot, Maine
Adeline was born and educated in Paris, France. In the mid-70s she moved to NYC where she studied at the ASLNYC. She also holds a BFA in Art and Philosophy. Over the past 41 years, she has exhibited her work across the US & Europe & her work is held in numerous private collections both here and abroad. She now teaches painting & drawing at MECA.
Munira Naqui
New Gloucester, Maine
Munira is a visual artist who was born in Chattogram, a bustling port town on the coast of Bay of Bengal, now Bangladesh. She has been living in the USA since 1982. Her work is shown regularly at the Salon Realites Nouvelles, Paris France, Cove Street Arts in Portland and Corey Daniels Gallery in Wells. She is represented by Gallery Nine in Amsterdam, Netherlands.
Bonnie Bishoff
Brunswick, Maine
Bonnie grew up in PA and attended Oberlin College where she studied Studio Art and Environmental Studies. Upon meeting J.M Syron they began collaborating on carving and furniture projects. They developed the use of patterned polymer clay veneers for surface design on furniture and have continued to innovate techniques with this medium.
Jeffery St. Peter
Presque Isle, Maine
I was born and raised in Caribou, Maine. At age 3 I started drawing and continued throughout my childhood. In 2003 I began studying art with Therese Provenzano at UMFK. During that time I got into a life altering car accident leaving me with a brain injury and PTSD. In 2011 I started working with artist Jean Pilk; who influenced my art profoundly.
Nancy Nevergole
South Portland, Maine
Nancy was born and raised in Plymouth Meeting, PA. Graduated from Pennsylvania State University in 1972. Began to study ceramics in PA, and soon after moved to Maine. I continued to learn in evening classes and apprenticeships. I have shared communal studios for close to 40 years. My work is predominately sculptural and above all in clay.
Jeffrey Ackerman
Morrill, Maine
Jeffrey studied painting & sculpture at Washington University in St. Louis, and SUNY at Albany. His work was in the CMCA Biennial 2020 and in 2017 he had a solo exhibition at the Maine Jewish Museum in Portland. His paintings & sculptures depict dramas that take place in psychic landscapes or imagined architectural spaces, inhabited by fanciful characters.
Lynn Duryea
South Portland, Maine
Professor Emerita of Art at Appalachian State University in Boone NC, Lynn Duryea was a studio artist working in Maine before earning a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Florida. She now works in Maine full-time, in South Portland and on Deer Isle. Through elemental shape & form, her reference is to architectural, structural & mechanical elements.
Jonathan White
South Portland, Maine
Jonathan’s work in clay is inspired by industry and nature. He earned a BFA ceramics at RISD. He is self employed, 1995-present. His work has been shown in galleries nationally.
Baxter Koziol
Portland, Maine
Baxter studied painting at MECA (BFA 2017) and has attended residences at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Monson Arts, Hewnoaks, Surf Point Foundation, and the Ellis-Beauregard Foundation. "I deconstruct used clothing to create new textiles. These blankets, rugs, and apparel are flesh extensions, waiting to be activated by a body...”
Samaa Abdurraqib
Portland, Maine
Samaa moved to Maine in 2010 to teach college students. PhD school taught Samaa that words need to be researched and well-argued to be powerful, and she got very good at creating those kinds of words, but forgot how to write other kinds of words. After 15 years away from poetry and creative non-fiction, Samaa is trying to be brave once again.
Eddie Langlois
Dover, New Hampshire
Eddie has had a long theater career as an actor, director and producer. He is perhaps best known for his inspired and stunning set and costume design, always achieved on a shoestring. He started sculpting in early 2000 and was drawn to paint soon thereafter. You can see how the theater inspires his painted and sculptural work.
Nancy Barnes
Searsport, Maine
“After 50 years of painting, you might think that I would have a reasonable grasp on the process. But, nope. It's still the same frustrating and exciting activity it was at age 18...” While Maine's natural landscape is wild and beautiful, Nancy’s interest is in human activity. She enjoys the liveliness and challenge of painting a constantly moving world.
Gigi Aea
Camden, Maine
“After 50 years of painting, you might think that I would have a reasonable grasp on the process. But, nope. It's still the same frustrating and exciting activity it was at age 18...” While Maine's natural landscape is wild and beautiful, Nancy’s interest is in human activity. She enjoys the liveliness and challenge of painting a constantly moving world.
Oliver Walter Solmitz
Rockland, Maine
“Like many artists, art chose me, rather than my having chosen art: making is what my life is about...” Oliver’s work is an interdisciplinary process ascending from an undergraduate degree in architecture, combined with graduate studies in sculpture and the color relationships of painting.