June 8 is a big day in Rockport, ME…
On June 8, we will be witnesses not to history so much as to the future. On that date, Maine Media Workshops will open its new gallery space in Rockport Village in the newly renovated Shepherd Building (18 Central St). It’s a way overdue development and a very welcome one in the Maine fine art photography community.
Maine Media Workshops has always had a low-profile presence in Maine. And yet people come from all over the globe to attend classes with world-renowned photographers. What gives? It’s time MMW takes a leadership role in defining Maine’s own fine art photography community and this new gallery could be a terrific launching pad.
With Rockport’s CMCA (Center for Maine Contemporary Art) ready to move forward once again under the leadership of Director Suzette McAvoy, the midcoast could become a real center for Maine’s huge, but impossibly scattered and unconnected, fine art photography community. Could MMW be the home or jumping off point for a Maine Fine Art Photography Association and opens its doors and connections to enable Maine’s own community of world-class photographers to become a powerful, organized community within the larger population of Maine’s artistic citizens? I think it could. And I think it’s time.
M. Bernard, I’le St. Louis, Paris, 1999 © Peter Turnley. All Rights Reserved.
The new MMW gallery kicks off with an exhibit of photojournalist Peter Turnley’s work – read the press release here. It mentions the role the gallery hopes to play in the revitalization of Rockport Village itself. There is a new restaurant on the street level in the building called “Shepherd’s Pie” and I bet it will become an important player in that goal as well. By the way the restaurant’s phone number is not yet listed with Directory Assistance and it will be a big help to you if I give it to you: 207-236-8500. It was not easy to get this information!!
The opening reception for Turnley and the gallery is Tuesday, June 8 from 6:30 – 8. Let’s hope it’s the beginning of something vital for Maine’s own photographic artists as well as the world’s.
June 2, 2010 at 3:34 am
[...] to this wonderful organization and an important boost to downtown Rockport. Heather Frederick posted about this today and gives a bit more background. The opening of the gallery and Peter Turnley’s [...]