MECA’s annual art sale supports working artists and gives collectors an opportunity to purchase work by emerging and established artists

This October 8 through 10, Maine College of Art will hold its third annual art sale, a fundraiser in support of MECA’s Scholarship Fund. Collect is a three-day salon-style extravaganza of art that gives buyers an opportunity to discover emerging artists, view new work by established artists, and start or add to an art collection. The art sale features a unique, diverse, and unexpected array of original work in a variety of genres with a range of sizes, prices, and media, including furniture, sculpture, jewelry, paintings, prints, photography, textiles, drawings, and more. One to five works in any media are priced by the artists and sold to benefit MECA, with 50 percent commission or full donation options. Each of the artists has a tie to the MECA community, including MECA students, alumni, faculty, staff, and others.

According to Annie Wadleigh, MECA’s assistant director of development, last year’s sale raised over $100,000 for the school, and of the 198 artists who participated, 113 were alumni. “One of our greatest success stories from last year was how work by Tessa O’Brien, MFA ’16, that was sold in the art sale led to many other connections and opportunities for her in the Portland community, due to that exposure,” she says. The art sale reflects MECA’s mission to educate artists for life, as well as its Artists at Work program philosophy, which is to provide students with the skills, opportunities, and experiences to be creative professionals for life. “Creating a meaningful career starts the day a student enters MECA and continues throughout their life as an alum,” says Wadleigh.

In the above gallery, MH+D presents a preview of the works in this year’s art sale.