The Maine Print Project: Celebrating 200 Years of Printmaking in Maine

The largest collaborative arts project in Maine’s history, Celebrating 200 Years of Printmaking in Maine is an innovative series of exhibitions, education programs, and symposia about all aspects of Maine printmaking. Organized by The Maine Print Project, a statewide collaboration of 25 art museums and nonprofit arts institutions, Celebrating 200 Years of Printmaking in Maine will take place from August 2006 through May 2007.

The Maine Print Project was formed as a collaborative organization by leading Maine arts institutions and museums with the purpose of offering an unprecedented opportunity to showcase an array of Maine printmaking in every region of the state. Bruce Brown, Curator at the Center for Maine Contemporary Art, is the coordinator and chair for The Maine Print Project.

Exhibitions

The exhibitions, on view from Ogunquit to Presque Isle, will feature prints from the early 19th century to the present and include such artists as Peggy Bacon, Richard Estes, Beverly Hallam, Charlie Hewitt, Alison Hildreth, Winslow Homer, Edward Hopper, Robert Indiana, Dahlov Ipcar, Yvonne Jacquette, Alex Katz, Rockwell Kent, John Marin, the Ogunquit circle, Neil Welliver, and many others.

Educational Programming

In addition to the exhibitions, The Maine Print Project will offer a special series of education programs, including master classes by printmakers, demonstrations of printmaking using antique letterpresses, silkscreen and wood block classes, handmade bookmaking workshops, family printmaking festivals, lectures on the history of Maine printmaking, and visits to printmakers’ studios. A highlight of the Project will be a symposia series featuring noted Maine printmakers, historians of Maine printmaking, and other artists and scholars.

Related Publication

DownEast Books and The Maine Print Project will publish The Imprint of Place: Maine Printmaking 1800 - 2005, an illustrated historical overview of Maine printmaking, written by David P. Becker, a distinguished scholar in the field. The history of Maine printmaking has never been documented and substantially collected in one volume, and is a rich and fascinating -- but largely hidden -- area of American art. Available in September at all Maine Print Project institutions and from DownEast Books.

About this site

Click on Exhibitions for a list of participating institutions, then click on the institution name to pull up a page about that particular show. From that page, the institution name links to its home page, where you can find directions, hours, and more information about the museum.