| Final Days: Gather Up the Fragments October 27, 2011 - February 5, 2012 Gather Up the Fragments: The Andrews Shaker Collection tells the story of the first and most avid collectors of the Shaker art, Faith and Edward Deming Andrews. From the 1920s through the 1960s, the Andrews actively pursued Shaker objects, collecting mainly from the Shakers themselves. Through careful documentation and scholarship, the Andrews illuminated these materials and their collection has bequeathed to future generations the most comprehensive body of evidence on the culture of the United Society of Believers. The exhibition, which includes more than 200 objects, is the most comprehensive collection of Shaker materials ever assembled and features the work of Shaker communities in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and New York. Works on view include Shaker furniture, printed works, visual art, tools, textiles, and small crafts collected during four decades. Gather Up the Fragments is organized by Hancock Shaker Village, Pittsfield, MA and toured by International Arts & Artists, Washington, D.C. Funded in part by the National Endowment for the Arts. Media support is provided by WCSH 6. Exhibition catalogue available at the Museum Store. In the News Critic’s Pick, The Boston Globe, Sunday, November 27, 2011. “Portland show is a study in simplicity by design” by Sebastian Smee, The Boston Globe, Sunday, November, 13, 2011 “Fascinating Shaker show speaks of spirit occupying form” by Philip Isaacson, The Portland Press Herald, Sunday, November 13, 2011 “Gathering Up the Fragments of Shaker Life” by Ed Beem, Yankee Blog, Wednesday, November 9, 2011 |  Oval Boxes, Mount Lebanon, NY and Canterbury, NH, circa 1840. Andrews Collection, Hancock Shaker. Photo by Michael Fredericks. |
| Making Faces: Photographic Portraits of Actors and Artists January 14, 2012 - April 8, 2012 Two newly acquired portfolios by Berenice Abbott and Robert Doisneau, filled with portraits of famous artists and actors of the mid-20th century, prompted this look at the art of photographic portraiture. Drawn from the Museum’s growing collection of celebrity portraits, the exhibition of 35 works will examine the way in which appearance, poses, and props help to define the public perception of an artist’s work, whether it be on the stage or in a museum. Other photographers whose works will be on view include Philippe Halsman, with images of notable early television personalities such as Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, Imogene Coca, and Jackie Gleason; and Barbara Morgan, whose photographs of the choreographer Martha Graham, capture the essence of modern dance. The exhibition will also feature portraits of some of Maine’s leading artists including Andrew Wyeth, Stephen Etnier, Louise Nevelson, Robert Indiana, Brett Bigbee, and Dozier Bell, whose work will be on view in the Museum’s third floor galleries. This exhibition is sponsored by The Maine Mall. View Image Gallery |  Greg Gorman, United States, 1949, Andy Warhol, 1986, archival pigment print, 24 3/4 x 20 inches. Gift of Barbara M. Goodbody. |
| Tanja Alexia Hollander: Are You Really My Friend? February 4, 2012 - June 17, 2012 Facebook friendships exist in the nebulous world of cyberspace. Social networking creates a forum where we may connect or reconnect deeply with dear friends or become acquainted with new ones on a superficial level. What happens when we reach across real time and space to physically connect with these same “friends”? In her new exhibition, Maine artist Tanja Alexia Hollander examines that question; she collapses the intangibility of cyberspace by traveling around the world on a modern-day odyssey to actually visit her 600 (and growing) Facebook friends. In this rich and multi-dimensional project, Hollander photographs her Facebook friends, prints images on paper, and exhibits the prints on gallery walls, causing her cyber-friend connections to become real and personal. Hollander’s process will be explored by encouraging interaction through visitor comments and an ever-changing installation of portraits through the run of the exhibition. Are viewers supposed to acknowledge the artist’s creativity, photographic skill, and role within the tradition of portraiture, or should we instead critique the management of her Facebook page? This exhibition is the fifth in a series of exhibitions called Circa that explores compelling aspects of contemporary art in the state of Maine and beyond. Circa is a series of exhibitions featuring the work of living artists from Maine and beyond. In the News Exhibition Events |  Tanja Hollander, June Fitzpatrick, Portland, Maine, 2011, Archival pigment print. Courtesy of Carroll & Sons, Boston, MA. |
