In the Bedroom (2001)
Hard Tellin’… is less an attempt to define Maine, or Maine in the movies, than an opportunity to celebrate four great films that accomplish something most art should aspire to: they capture the ineffable in a place and its people at a particular moment in time. They get at something unique and a bit hard to define about us. They feel, for lack of a better word, honest.
"He gave so much time to engaging with people here. He established deep roots and connections. But he’s also an artist who brought Maine to a wider national and international conversation.” —PMA Chief Curator Shalini Le Gall in Down East Magazine
Read MoreIt’s a show you can return to often to discover new layers of this great artist’s soul. That is what makes Driskell such an original. No matter what genres or references his staggering mind and open heart are effortlessly synthesizing at any moment, the personalness of his work makes him feel intimately near and utterly one-of-a-kind.
Read MoreCould anyone produce a body of work to rival a transformative agenda that changed the course of racial politics in American culture? Probably not. But can we see Driskell’s own art through those priorities, and understand that he walked as well as he talked? Yes, we can.
Read MoreWith nearly sixty paintings and works on paper, the exhibition reveals the remarkable ways in which Driskell’s art refracts the broader cultural and political concerns of Black Americans during the second half of the twentieth century, from the Civil Rights movement to the aesthetics of Pan-Africanism and the Black Arts Movement, to the continuing influence of the Bible and the Black church.
Read MoreThis exhibition gives people a chance to appreciate Driskell’s personal artistic expression, and comes at a time when the community, country and world reflect on equity, representation and race.
Read MoreEspecially after the Black Lives Matter protests this summer, this is exactly what museums should be doing: educating, filling in the historical blanks, recontextualizing, sparking curiosity and conversation.
Read MoreThe Portland Museum of Art has received a grant for $10,000 from the Avangrid Foundation to support Art for All, the PMA’s guiding principle and commitment to Diversity, Equity, Accessibility, and Inclusion (DEAI).The grant marks the second consecutive year that the Avangrid Foundation has provided support to the PMA.
Read MoreThe $15,000 grant from the Maine Arts Commission is unrestricted, which means that the museum may allocate it where it will make the most impact. Unrestricted grants and gifts are great ways to ensure that the PMA has the resources it needs to sustainably grow for years to come, and we’re grateful to the Maine Arts Commission for realizing the impact of their support.
Read More“All museums are putting a spotlight on their collecting practices and making sure they are being equitable across the board,” DeSimone said. “This is a concentrated effort to bring works of art by women into the collection.”
Read MoreThe $300,000 grant is one of the 224 humanities projects across the country funded under NEH’s “A More Perfect Union” initiative, which supports efforts that promote a deeper understanding of U.S. history and culture and that advance civics education in preparation for the nation’s 250th anniversary in 2026.
Read More“Everyone was masked and happy; one group, a mother and three grade-schooler girls, were positively giddy. I later crossed paths with them inside, where they excitedly chattered about a Thomas Cole painting, and then a small Fitz Hugh Lane. “Woooowww — that’s so cool!” one of the girls crowed, looking at the luminous haze Lane cast above one of his harbor scenes. Inside of me, something bloomed. God, I missed this.”
Read MoreThe PMA is proud to announce the promotion of Shalini Le Gall to Chief Curator, Susan Donnell and Harry W. Konkel Curator of European Art, and Director of Academic Engagement. Le Gall will conceive and develop exhibitions, gallery installations, and programs that will enhance community engagement, access to the PMA collection, and the range of exhibitions the museum can present.
Read MoreMay has overseen several transformative projects for the museum, and can be credited with pivoting the museum toward a more equitable and diverse collection and exhibition schedule, bringing a more representational perspective to the PMA through programming, exhibitions, collection practices, and more.
Read More“Carrie Moyer and Sheila Pepe, partners in life and—occasionally—art, met in 1995 at the Skowhegan residency in Maine. Now, a quarter of a century later, the two have returned to the northeastern state for their first institutional collaboration.”
Read More“In their most ambitious joint project to date, the couple have reimagined the religious tabernacle – in Christianity, a sacred meeting place for worship, in Judaism, a portable tent used as a sanctuary for the Ark of the Covenant – as a communal space where visitors can, explains Moyer, “gain sustenance as a community with naturally occurring differences.”
Read More“…creates a place where people can congregate as a community and talk about how they want to live.”
Read MoreThe PMA’s Carrie Moyer and Sheila Pepe: Tabernacles for Trying Times and Mythmakers: The Art of Frederic Remington and Winslow Homer make artnet’s “can’t miss list” for 2020.
Read MoreCurators from the three museums will introduce the North Atlantic Triennial project Friday afternoon in Portland.
Read MoreWas Wyeth a servant of his talent, when it should have been the other way around? That’s the sense I took away from “New Perspectives”: of a gifted technician trapped by his talent, and a dispiriting sense of what might have been.
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