The 2016 MECA Thesis Exhibitions
This month, nearly 100 students will graduate from Maine College of Art (MECA) as emerging artists in their respective fields.
The college’s annual spring event, MECAmorphosis, celebrates the 2016 graduates and raises scholarship funds to educate the next generation of artists. As part of MECAmorphosis, the BFA and MFA thesis exhibition opens, free to the public, on May 6, in conjunction with Portland’s First Friday Art Walk. Master of arts in teaching (MAT) graduates will also have work on display. Exhibition coordinator Christopher Patch is collaborating with student curators to oversee the presentation, which includes shiny sterling silver and steel tools by Betsy Lewis that are artful and clinical in their precision; an organic, mottled stoneware bowl by Gillan Doty that is exquisite in its imperfection; and a photograph by Greta Grant that captures the nuances of rippled water after a gleeful jump, to name just a few of the works. “This year’s collection of exploratory concepts and innovative designs culminates in a full sensorium of experience,” says Patch. The exhibition runs from April 29 through May 21. On the following pages, MH+D presents a preview.