The Pilgrim's Progress at Able Baker Contemporary

The Pilgrim's Progress features artwork made by people for whom a sincere approach to religion and/or spirituality is integrated into both life and creative practice. Devotion and spiritual belief take forms as diverse as the people who hold these beliefs, but the number of contemporary visual artists who prioritize spiritual life is relatively small. The artists represented in The Pilgrim's Progress all follow their convictions with an honesty that shapes and expands the boundaries of their art-making practices. The resulting artwork is meditative, narrative, contemplative, and strange.

Artists include:

Jon Blatchford
Flynn Donovan
Peter Flynn Donovan
Elizabeth Jabar
Haley Josephs
Antone Könst
Richard Brown Lethem
Shon Mahoney
Michael Waterman

The Cloud of Unknowing, Screenprint on Paper, 2016, 32 x 40 in

Future Bridges: Provoke the Vote

Provoke the Vote

The MECA Public Engagement program in collaboration with artists Elizabeth Jabar and Colleen Kinsella of Future Mothers presented Provoke the Vote. Students and faculty were invited to create a visual campaign to inspire the public to participate in the electoral process and vote in the 2016 election. Artworks for this project included a range of media and methods including prints, posters, zines, buttons and social media.  

The special one night only event featured the Future Mothers/Future Bridges Tent  and a live poster printing and postcard dissemination effort. There also was a Freedom Of/Freedom For interactive installation.  Maine Campus Compact and the League of Women Voters were present to register voters and provide information.

Building Bridges at National Night Out

National Night Out occurs in neighborhoods across the country on the summer evening of August 2. National Night Out is all about taking back our streets and public parks for a fun multicultural gathering that celebrates neighbors, the outdoors, and in our case, East Bayside!

It all starts with a parade from Mayo Street Arts at 6 pm, winding through Kennedy Park and East Bayside to Peppermint Park for a free BBQ, performances by youth and local musicians. 

Speaker at Maine Migrations, Past and Present

Colby College, April 26, 2015

Maine Migrations, Past and Present brought together folks who study, work with, care about, or are themselves members of minority communities that immigrated to Maine, both recently and many generations ago. We explored common dynamics across diverse immigrant communities as well as the similarities and differences among their experiences in Maine.

Maine Migrations, Past and Present was a part of the 2014-15 Annual Humanities Theme, “Migrations,” organized in conjunction with Colby’s Maine Jewish History Project.

Elizabeth Jabar's talk entitled "Art, immigrant identities, and education" was presented during the Art and Maine’s Immigrant Communities section of the conference. 

Future Mothers: The Way We Work

Creating a Space for Learning and Meaningful Exchange

People often ask Future Mothers how and why we work together and how our prints are made. These questions are usually followed by a comment on the challenges of collaboration. My answer is informed by my work/life experience as an educator and printmaker. My pedagogy and practice is shaped by a list of notable women artists, scholars, and activists. My list includes powerful women such as Nancy Spero, Louise Bourgeois, bell hooks, and Suzanne Lacey, among others. As a young art student, these women modeled lives of creative risk,meaning and lasting impact , and their work continues to present me with transformational ideas and values. One of the most important ideas from these artists that shape my teaching/making in the classroom and the studio is creating a space of learning and exchange based on listening, inclusion, and dialog. In her book Leaving Art, Suzanne Lacey writes, “within this paradigm getting people to talk with each other, and perhaps as a result think or act differently, is a critical role for artists, creating meaningful rituals of our civic life”. She continues in her book to discuss “the importance of revealing women’s experiences, ideas, and activities through art, and the use of art forms to generate situations where people would interact in human ways”.  The work of Future Mothers strives to build this active space of learning and continue this legacy of inclusion, listening, and dialog. In the print shop, in the classroom , or in the Future Mothers Tent, our work is made with, by, and for others to create liberatory spaces and meaningful exchange.