Maine is famous for its picturesque, artsy villages dotting the craggy coastline from Kittery to Cutler. Rockland was long included among the scores of such charming oceanside hamlets, but over the past few years, it has quietly evolved into a world-class destination for visual art. Anchored by the Farnsworth Art Museum — an international mecca for Wyeth fans — Rockland made a quantum leap forward with the 2016 opening of the architecturally exquisite Toshiko Mori-designed Center for Maine Contemporary Art. While Rockland already boasted more galleries than any other Maine municipality — including Portland — the sleek new CMCA underscores that cutting edge contemporary art has decisively overtaken traditional plein air painting as Maine’s primary output. With the fresh blossoming of art venues, finer amenities followed. Whereas Main Street was once quaintly lined with tchotchke … [Read more...] about ROCKLAND, MAINE: FINE ART, FINE DINING, FINE ACCOMMODATIONS
Center for Maine Contemporary Art
MAINE’S MINI-MECCA: CONTEMPORARY ON THE COAST
I was the victim of a studio flood in Northampton, Massachusetts. The sewer drain next to the back door of my basement studio plugged and I was inundated with a nasty slurry of fetid water that infected my costumes, my library and anything under two and half feet in height. I was not looking forward to reliving the disaster as I headed to Tom Burckhardt’s “Studio Flood,” one of four exhibitions currently on view on at Rockland’s Center for Maine Contemporary Art (CMCA). However, much to my surprise, I was enthralled. This is a true miracle of cardboard construction in amazing detail. Creatively clever, smartly humorous, this artist’s topsy-turvy phantasmagoria of mind-bending detail is a delicious take on devastation. You cannot help but smile at its conceit. Every nook and cranny is filled with carefully crafted ephemera, all executed with exacting detail. Paint brushes, tubes of … [Read more...] about MAINE’S MINI-MECCA: CONTEMPORARY ON THE COAST
A Contemporary Showcase
CMCA Gets a Fresh Start by Eric J. Taubert Maine has tendrils. They reach out across the country and twist in intertwined curlicues around the globe. They’re tendrils of culture, influence, business, skill, notoriety and creativity. Oftentimes they’re not easy to see, until a few of them spiral together into something more organized and the root system is revealed. This is exactly what’s happening right now at the brand new Center for Maine Contemporary Art (CMCA) facility in Rockland. The CMCA has been supporting, exhibiting and sustaining arts and artists with ties to Maine since its founding in 1952. The story of this organization’s journey — from its beginnings as a scrappy upstart presenting shows in barns and backrooms to evolving into the leading contemporary arts organization in the state of Maine — is almost as unlikely as it is inspirational. “In 1967,” … [Read more...] about A Contemporary Showcase