Founded in 1952, the Center for Maine Contemporary Art (CMCA) is a contemporary arts institution, presenting a year-round program of changing exhibitions featuring the work of emerging and established artists with ties to Maine. In addition, CMCA offers a full range of educational programs for all ages, including gallery talks, performances, film screenings, and hands-on workshops. In 2016, CMCA opened a newly constructed 11,500+ square foot building, with 5,500 square feet of exhibition space, designed by architect

Toshiko Mori Toshiko Mori (born 1951) is a Japanese architect and the founder and principal of New York-based Toshiko Mori Architect, PLLC and Vision Arc. She is also the Robert P. Hubbard Professor in the Practice of Architecture at the Harvard University Gra ...

. Located in downtown

Rockland, Maine Rockland is a city in Knox County, Maine, in the United States. As of the 2020 census, the town population was 6,936. It is the county seat of Knox County. The city is a popular tourist destination. It is a departure point for the Maine State ...

, across from the

Farnsworth Art Museum The Farnsworth Art Museum in Rockland, Maine, United States, is an art museum that specializes in American art. Its permanent collection includes works by such artists as Gilbert Stuart, Thomas Sully, Thomas Eakins, Eastman Johnson, Fitz Henry Lan ...

and adjacent to the Strand Theatre, the new CMCA has three exhibition galleries, a gift shop, a lecture hall, an ArtLab classroom, and an open public courtyard.

History

The Center for Maine Contemporary Art was originally established in Rockport, Maine as Maine Coast Artists, an artists' cooperative including Denny Winters, William and Stell Shevis, William Thon, Mildred Burrage, William Kienbusch and Francis Hamabe. For its first fifteen years, the center had no permanent space and a rotating slate of volunteer curators. Early exhibitions were held at the Rockport town office, in a barn, in a storage loft, and in a former schoolhouse, among other venues. Nevertheless, those shows also included such artists as

Alex Katz Alex Katz (born July 24, 1927) is an American figurative artist known for his paintings, sculptures, and prints. Early life and career Alex Katz was born July 24, 1927, to a Jewish family in Brooklyn, New York, as the son of an émigré who ha ...

Louise Nevelson Louise Nevelson (September 23, 1899 – April 17, 1988) was an American sculptor known for her monumental, monochromatic, wooden wall pieces and outdoor sculptures. Born in the Poltava Governorate of the Russian Empire (present-day Kyiv Oblast, ...

Fairfield Porter Fairfield Porter (June 10, 1907 – September 18, 1975) was an American painter and art critic. He was the fourth of five children of James Porter, an architect, and Ruth Furness Porter, a poet from a literary family. He was the brother of photo ...

, and

William Zorach William Zorach (February 28, 1889 – November 15, 1966) was an American sculptor, painter, printmaker, and writer. He won the Logan Medal of the arts. He is notable for being at the forefront of American artists embracing cubism, as well as for ...

, to name just a few. In 1967, a new director, Mildred Cummings—whose husband, Willard Cummings, was a founder of the

Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture The Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture is an artists residency located in Madison, Maine, just outside of Skowhegan. Every year, the program accepts online applications from emerging artists from November through January, and selects 65 t ...

—oversaw the purchase of a former firehouse and livery stable in Rockport. Over the next nearly five decades in that location, the center thrived, incorporating itself as a non-profit, and in recognition of its broadening scale, renamed itself the Center for Maine Contemporary Art in 2002. Among the hundreds of artists that have shown at CMCA are

Lois Dodd Lois Dodd (born 1927 in Montclair, New Jersey) is an American painter. Dodd was a key member of New York's postwar art scene. She played a large part and was involved in the wave of modern artists including Alex Katz and Yvonne Jacquette who exp ...

David Driskell David C. Driskell (June 7, 1931 – April 1, 2020) was an American artist, scholar and curator; recognized for his work in establishing African-American Art as a distinct field of study. In his lifetime, Driskell was cited as one of the world� ...

, Alan Magee, John Walker, Neil Welliver,

Robert Indiana Robert Indiana (born Robert Clark; September 13, 1928 – May 19, 2018) was an American artist associated with the pop art movement. His iconic image LOVE was first created in 1964 in the form of a card which he sent to several friends and acq ...

, and

Jamie Wyeth James Browning Wyeth (born July 6, 1946) is an American Realism (arts), realist painter, son of Andrew Wyeth, and grandson of N.C. Wyeth. He was raised in Chadds Ford Township, Pennsylvania, and is artistic heir to the Brandywine School traditio ...

References

External links

* Art museums and galleries in Maine Museums of American art Museums in Knox County, Maine Education in Rockland, Maine Art museums established in 1952 1952 establishments in Maine {{US-art-display-stub

History

See also

References

External links